Faith and Beauty (23 page)

‘It’s by Alix. Madame Grès. She dresses Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. This frock is one of a kind. You won’t find anyone else wearing it.’

Clara couldn’t stop herself from touching it, feeling the slippery flow of the satin between her fingers, marvelling at its colour, the blue of a deep summer sea.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said decisively. ‘I can’t take it.’

‘That’s a shame. It’s not my size.’

‘I mean it’s too generous.’

‘Miss Vine. You mistake my motivation. I’m off to New York any day now. Do you really think I want to weigh myself down with ladies’ gowns?’

Bundling the dress into a bag, Epstein handed it to her with a smile and said, ‘Wear it tonight. I’ll meet you there. The party will be fun, but be careful please. Don’t say anything that could compromise you. The Gestapo are already everywhere. They’re deciding who to arrest if war comes.’

It was strange to stroll through the streets of Paris again. Everything about the city sharpened Clara’s senses, making her surroundings appear in immense clarity, the details finely set like jewels. In St Germain, people in cafés were eating ice cream from little silver bowls and the scent of frying onions wafting out of an upstairs window made her mouth water. Pungent herbs floated from the door of a spice shop and the intoxicating yeasty aroma of baking bread issuing from a boulangerie was so potent she could barely walk past. She passed galleries and shops full of bric-a-brac, elegant little bookstores and a parfumier whose aromatic floral haze drifted seductively into the street.

Crossing the Seine she reached the first arrondissement, the heart of French fashion. The little streets around the Place Vendôme and the Rue Cambon were full of milliners and fashion salons and the perfect place for window shopping. On the ground floor were the mirrored cocoons of the haute couturiers with their gilt fittings and silk drapes while above them ateliers of seamstresses bent, patiently stitching the latest creations of Worth and Chanel and Balenciaga. For a moment Clara dallied in front of a blue Schiaparelli jacket, with gold buttons and a rich scarlet lining, before turning away.

In the end she bought some Gauloises – good tobacco was like gold dust in Berlin and people had resorted to stretching it with rose petals and grass – and several bars of Menier chocolate. Then she made her way to the Hotel d’Angleterre.

Chapter Nineteen

The Hotel d’Angleterre in the Rue Jacob was a long way from the Ritz, both in geography and décor. The chandeliers in the gloomy hallway wore a slight coat of dust, the stone steps with their twisty wrought-iron banisters smelled of cleaning fluid and the gilded chairs in the reception area were showing their age. But Clara’s room, at the back, overlooking the courtyard, was clean enough, papered in faded
toile de jouy
, with a heavy wooden armoire, a basin prettily tiled with flowered designs and even a bar of soap. She picked it up and sniffed it greedily. It had a fragrance of lemon and cream, so unlike the soap at home that was mostly a rank combination of animal fat overlaid with detergent. After a speculative moment, Clara parcelled the little tablet away in her bag.

She travelled light – she always had – right from her days in repertory theatre in London, so there was not much to unpack. Once she had removed her clean underwear from the suitcase and hung her fresh blouse in the armoire, she washed, then pulled on dark stockings and a pair of lizard-skin T-straps with a peep toe, and reached for the Madame Grès evening dress.

It was beautiful enough laid out on the bed, but when she put it on it came alive. It fitted perfectly and the material, far from being heavy, moved like gossamer. It looked timeless, as a classic dress should, and it possessed a kind of purity that meant it would never date. The glimmering satin clung to her body, flattering her curves at the bodice and flowing in Grecian folds from the waist.

Next she put on Steffi’s pearl necklace, feeling its unfamiliar weight heavy against her neck, took out a bottle labelled
Soir de Paris
and touched a dab behind her ears. As the perfume, with its voluptuous notes of vanilla and violet, rose and mingled with the Paris air, it reminded her of Leo, who had loved it, and suddenly it was as though he was standing right there beside her, in the room.

She felt his presence so powerfully that she turned instinctively and stared around her. She felt his smile, his touch, his ironic humour. The shards of gold in his green eyes, the warmth of his arms encircling her. It was as though the whole of his personality had been distilled into an intense and visceral reality.

Was this Leo, or had the force of her longing conjured a phantom out of empty air? Her mind went back to the precious weeks they had spent last year and for the first time she realized that it no longer mattered that she had refused his proposal of marriage. She didn’t require any ring from him. Her commitment was deep inside. A band of longing that tightened round her heart when she thought of him. Despite everything she had been told, she held on to the belief she would see him again.

The Dingo Bar was at 10, Rue Delambre, a small street leading south from the Carrefour Vavin. The key to its success was the barman, Jimmie Charters, a one-time boxer from Liverpool, whose jovial presence drew a loyal crowd of wealthy American and British expatriates. Steps led down from the side of the bar to a nightclub crammed with people, as though all the tension and energy of the streets was somehow contained in this crowded arena full of smoke and heat. The dance floor was surrounded by tiny tables and on the dais, a chanteuse was singing Noël Coward’s
Night and Day
. It was one of Clara’s favourites, the rhythm tapped out like a heartbeat, its words coiled into her brain:

Whether near to me or far,

No matter, darling, where you are,

I think of you, night and day
.

It was almost impossible to move amid the crush of bodies. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, her gaze snagged on Thomas Epstein at the bar, drinking a Negroni. Beside him, the barman was pouring champagne into a glass containing a slice of peach, a sugar cube and brandy and offering it to a rangily beautiful woman with a clear brow and a loud laugh.

‘Who’s that?’ asked Clara, standing next to Epstein at the bar.

‘Lee Miller. Another American. Paris is crammed with them.’

A glance around the bar, at the Brooks Brothers suits and healthy tans, seemed to confirm it.

‘Americans are always more optimistic than the rest of us. They won’t let any war get in the way of their fun. There’s a gossip columnist here, Elsa Maxwell, who has taken to replacing RSVP on her invitations with ICNW. It stands for In Case No War. Amusing, eh?’

‘What about the British? Are they still coming to Paris?’

‘Sure. They don’t dare go to Berlin any more, but Paris is just a hop across the Channel.’

As if on cue, from behind them came a high English voice, strident with self-assurance and too much champagne. Clara turned to see a young woman, her body encased in a metallic silver and jet gown as tight as a bicycle inner tube. There was an empty bottle of champagne at her elbow and she was haranguing an earnest young man, who was braced against the bar, unable to escape. He flinched as she waved her glass in his face.

‘Don’t tell me there’s going to be a war, Jack! What a doom monger you are. Nothing will happen. France lost a million and a half men in the war, can you imagine they will go through that again? For the French, simply having to drink chicory coffee constitutes a major sacrifice.’

‘I recognize that woman,’ said Clara quietly. ‘It’s Dolly Capel. She’s a friend of our family.’

The Capels were a wealthy landowning dynasty, who had been generous donors to the Anglo-German Fellowship. Their support was heartfelt. They were said to keep a Meissen porcelain statuette of a Nazi stormtrooper on their mantelpiece – a present from von Ribbentrop.

As if sensing she was being watched, Dolly wheeled round, double-took and enveloped Clara in a hot embrace, smelling of sweat and Guerlain’s
Mitsouko.

‘Clara! Darling! Fancy finding you here! Where’s Angela?’

‘My sister? Certainly not here.’

‘Aren’t you with her? I thought you were with her?’

‘She’s not in Paris, as far as I know.’

‘Isn’t she? Well tell her to come. I’m having a simply glorious time. At least here people refuse to let this war talk cramp their style. There’s a shop window near me where all the mannequins have gas masks over their shoulders with little coloured bows on. Isn’t that just like the French? So elegant. In London it’s all Kirby grips and cardigans. The first hint of war and everyone gets out the sackcloth and ashes.’

‘Are you on holiday here?’ asked Clara, mildly incredulous.

‘Absolutely, darling. And I’m making the most of it. I was booked onto a slimming course at a spa but the staff said war was coming and we would all starve so I thought why bother to do the Germans’ work for them? Besides, everyone’s here. D’you know the Mitfords? I saw Nancy just yesterday. She’s been down in Perpignan in the south with that husband of hers, helping Spanish refugees. They’re in camps there apparently, on the border, and Nancy had to drive a Ford van full of supplies. Can you imagine? I think it’s tired her out because when I bumped into her in the lift of my hotel she was frightfully short with me.’

Sharing a lift with Dolly Capel would reduce anyone to silence, Clara thought.

‘She said she’s writing a new novel. The pursuit of something. I forget. What’s Nancy pursuing, do you think?’

Peace, probably. But Dolly did not stop for an answer.

‘Anyhow, I’d just been shopping and bought this adorable frock. I thought it was frightfully slimming but Nancy said I looked like I had been swallowed by a boa constrictor. What do you think?’

‘It’s very striking.’

‘Thank you, sweetie. Oh . . .’ As though in an afterthought, Dolly turned to the man beside her and said, ‘Have you met Jack? Perhaps I should introduce you two. Clara Vine, this is Jack Kennedy. His father’s the American ambassador.’

The young man standing before Clara was exceptionally thin, with a square-jawed, pale face and a broad smile that revealed flawless American teeth. A row of dazzling ivory as regular as piano keys, the kind you never saw in European mouths, filtering black tea and rough tobacco. His expression, too, had an earnest optimism about it that seemed unique to his nation. The family of Joe Kennedy, the American ambassador to London, had cut a swathe through English society and Angela had frequently relayed how glamorous they were and how good at tennis.

He looked at Clara gratefully, scenting escape.

‘We haven’t met,’ she said, taking his hand, ‘but you’ve met my sister Angela Mortimer.’

His skinny frame belied his strength. His handshake was strong enough to crack a safe.

‘So you’re Angela Mortimer’s sister! Are you just over from England too?’

He pulled over a bar stool, took out a pack of Gauloises, leaned forward and flipped a lighter.

‘Berlin actually.’

‘A tourist?’

‘I live there.’

He was instantly focused.

‘As it happens, I’m just back from Danzig and Warsaw.’

‘What did you make of it?’

‘The Poles were dreading a Nazi attack, but I’m not sure. And even if it came, would the Poles really fight over Danzig?’

‘Everything’s politics with Jack,’ said Dolly, bored already. ‘Don’t expect any chat, Clara. He doesn’t make small talk.’ She turned to leave, doodling a finger on Clara’s shoulder.

‘If you do run into Angela, ask her to look me up. I’m at the Montalembert.’

As Dolly disappeared, Clara turned back to the young man with his wide smile and quiet intensity. She guessed that as an ambassador’s son, Jack Kennedy might be privy to more information than a regular tourist. Softly she said, ‘Yes. I think the Poles will fight. And they’ll lose.’

Kennedy sighed, and rubbed his lower back. Perhaps the complexities of what he had witnessed in his tour of Europe had taken a physical toll.

‘You know, Miss Vine, at one time I genuinely believed that Fascism was right for Germany and Italy. Their freeways were so impressive. The societies were orderly. I thought their evils were nothing compared with Communism. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m still trying to understand the fascination that surrounds Hitler. Do you understand it?’

Clara thought of the cheering birthday crowd that she had stood in so recently, and the Führer shrine in the home of Lotti Franke.

‘A little.’

Something about the expression on Kennedy’s face, the earnestness in his eyes, roused in Clara a passionate desire to explain. Here was an American, the son of a very influential figure, who had, until recently, believed that Fascism was the right answer for Europe. Now he was asking her opinion. She must do everything in her power to let him know what the Nazi regime was really like. And yet . . . how much could she tell him, without compromising herself? Even here in Paris, even in the depths of a backstreet bar in Montparnasse, the Gestapo were entrenched. She recalled Epstein’s warning.
Don’t say anything that could compromise you here. The Gestapo are everywhere already. They’re deciding who to arrest if war comes.

She couldn’t stop herself.

‘If you’d seen Hitler’s birthday parade you would know the extent of his ambitions. He’s mobilized two million men. He won’t hesitate to attack Poland, if he thinks he can get away without the Soviet Union, Britain or France intervening.’

‘But that’s precisely what will stop him, isn’t it? The Soviet Union.’

‘I’m not so sure. We’re far too complacent about that. There’s speculation about a pact between Germany and Russia.’

‘Coming from a family like mine that’s always jawing about politics, I know that some people will speculate about anything. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.’

‘It might. And if it did, it would allow Hitler to continue his aggression towards the rest of Europe.’

‘The French seem very confident about their Maginot Line.’

‘Only because they underestimate the National Socialists. Don’t let yourself do the same, Mr Kennedy.’