The Dangerous Years (33 page)

‘Now look what you’ve done,’ she said in mock complaint. ‘He was such a nice young man. He’s desperately in love with me, did you know?’

‘The young puppy needs his arse kicking,’ Kelly growled.

She laughed and he realised she was tipsy. ‘We are in a bad temper, aren’t we?’

‘Is he the makee-learn gigolo who’s taking you around?’

She laughed again. ‘That? Oh, do try to be serious. He tags along, that’s all.’

‘I arrived home to find the house empty as usual. Where were you?’

She shrugged. ‘It’d be equally to the point to ask where
you
’ve been?’

‘At the club.’

‘Until nearly one o’clock?’

‘I didn’t fancy coming home to an empty house.’ He hated the lies that passed between them and remembered how he’d once sworn that he’d never behave like this. He’d imagined then that
his
marriage would be straightforward and honest, but that had been in the days when he’d expected his wife to be Charley. It was different now. He saw Christina looking at him quizzically and decided attack was the best form of defence.

‘Where were you?’ he asked again.

‘Dining out.’

‘Where, for God’s sake?’

‘The Jenners’. You know the Jenners. They’re that couple who asked us to Cannes. We didn’t go, of course, because you were in a foul mood and had to go to that stupid ship–’

‘To hell with the Jenners!’ Kelly snapped. ‘Why did you tell me you’d be at Thakeham?’

‘Well, I
was
going to be. But then I had this invitation.’

‘You might have informed me.’

She was unmoved by his rage. ‘You wouldn’t have turned up. And, in any case, I didn’t know you were coming on leave.’

‘I’m not on leave. I have the weekend.’

‘There you are! You don’t expect me to send you a stream of notes down to Portsmouth in case you decide to come home, do you? “I’m going out for drinks with the Playfairs,” “I’m dining at the Joneses’” “I’m going over to Le Touquet for golf.” The crew would think I’d gone mad.’

‘You said you wanted to talk. What about?’

She smiled. ‘You know, I’ve completely forgotten.’

He didn’t believe her. She’d simply changed her mind. ‘It’s not much fun’ he growled, ‘when I come and haven’t the foggiest idea where you are.’

She shrugged. ‘You can always resign your commission.’

‘That’s a bloody silly thing to say,’ he shouted in sudden fury, ‘when I’m on the brink of high rank!’

She laughed. ‘
You
’ll never reach high rank, my love. Very soon there won’t be a navy because we shan’t be able to afford one. Father says that this government’s precious deficit isn’t twenty-three million, or even thirty-eight million, as some people are saying; it’s a hundred and twenty million. He got it from a member of the May Committee and since they were appointed to enquire into the country’s financial situation, the chances are that he’s right.’

‘So what will he do?’ Kelly growled. ‘Juggle a few investments to make up for any losses
he
might incur?’

She smiled. ‘
His
finances’ll be all right,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry.’

The following day’s newspapers were full of the May Committee’s report. What Lord Clemo had said was true. The country’s real deficit was over a hundred and twenty million pounds and the remedies they suggested were explosive. Unemployment benefit should be reduced, they claimed, weekly contributions increased and a means test introduced. In addition, the salaries of teachers, police and service personnel should be docked by ten per cent.

‘Ten per cent!’ Kelly snorted. ‘Good God, the troops barely get a living wage as it is!’

‘Can’t see why you’re worrying,’ Christina said. ‘Not with all the money
we
have behind us. Anyway, it’ll be the holiday season before long and everybody’ll soon forget all about it digging sand pies and bathing and buying the kids ice cream.’

Kelly glared at her over the paper. ‘There’ll be a lot of people who won’t be able to afford ice cream,’ he snapped. ‘Including a lot of people in my ship!’

The news made depressing reading. Despite the Labour Party’s promise at the last election to reduce unemployment, it had now reached the unprecedented figure of two and a half million and all the boasted schemes of public works had come to nothing. The nation’s morale seemed to be declining rapidly, in some parts of the country four men seeking every available job. Unemployment had become a social problem, and even emigration didn’t help much because the dominions were in equally difficult straits. Only those who were already wealthy seemed untouched and the politicians seemed to be entirely devoid of vision.

‘Up the revolution,’ Christina said gaily. ‘Bring your own bombs. If we’re all going to end up in the tumbrils, I’m certainly going to have a good time first. I’m not staying in listening to the gloom on the wireless. I’ve arranged to go to Norfolk. Father’s giving a house party. Are you coming?’

Kelly stared at her bitterly. He couldn’t imagine a revolution for the simple reason that the country seemed to be swamped in apathetic misery.

‘No, I’m not,’ he snapped. ‘And I don’t suppose it occurs to you that since I only manage to get home rarely, it might be a good idea if we spent the time together.’

She beamed at him. ‘As a matter of fact,’ she said, ‘no, it doesn’t occur to me. It never has. In any case, we’d only spend all our time slinging insults at each other, so we might just as well go our own way.’

‘Then don’t blame me if I don’t bother to make a point of coming to London!’

‘She was maddeningly cheerful. ‘Oh, I
don
’t blame you,’ she pointed out. ‘After all, I’ve made it very clear that
I’m
not going to suck up to the Admiralty, and I’m certainly not going to drop on one knee to the captain of your ship like everybody else in the Navy. It’s the most sanctimonious outfit I’ve ever come across. Nobody has the courage to answer back to a senior officer in case it causes a bad mark against his name. They’re the worst lot of toadies I’ve ever come across.’

Kelly glared, doubly furious because what she said was true. Since promotion depended on a good report from a commanding officer, the Navy was full of tensions as everybody jockeyed for appointments. Simply by getting one in a fleet flagship in home waters, officers could gain seniority; and their wives were equally involved in the rat race, because no one dared put a foot wrong in case they were damned forever.

‘I don’t suppose I’ll be back before you return to your ridiculous ship,’ Christina went on.

‘You’re
never
here,’ Kelly snorted.

She was quite unruffled. ‘Thinking of seeking a divorce on the grounds of desertion?’ she asked. ‘Because it won’t work, you know. My father doesn’t believe in it. That’s why I had to stay married to Arthur Withinshawe. It offends his sense of what’s right. He was brought up a churchman, you see, and although he didn’t hesitate to drive my mother to an early grave, he wouldn’t have dreamed of divorcing her. If I divorced you, old thing, I’d find myself cut off without a penny. Makes for marital fidelity.’

‘And extra-marital activities!’

She beamed, quite unmoved by the accusation. ‘Shall I give your love to my father?’ she asked.

‘You can tell your father to go to the devil,’ he snorted.

They spent the day in the house together but rarely in each other’s company. At lunch time, they ate at opposite ends of the table, but Kelly read a report he had to work through and Christina huddled over the newspaper.

‘Country’s losing gold,’ she announced.

‘Oh?’

‘This damn May report. It was a stupid time to publish it now. It’s convinced everybody abroad that the country’s insecure. They’re all starting to withdraw their money. Somebody’ll have to do something to prop up our credit.’

It was largely gibberish to Kelly. He’d never had enough money to worry about.

‘You’re in a foul temper,’ Christina observed.

‘Of course I’m in a foul temper! The bloody government wants to cut the matelots’ pay.’

‘Steady on, old thing,’ she warned. ‘You’re talking about my father.
He
’s government.’

‘Then it’s a pity he can’t use his influence to help my poor bloody men. The buggers want to take even more from a 1919 man.’

‘What in Heaven’s name is a 1919 man?’

He tried to explain. ‘Men who joined the Navy after 1925 got less pay and now those bastards in the government – including your bloody father, I expect! – not only want to cut pay but they also want to make pay equal
first
for the men who joined before.’

She gestured. ‘Well, if one man can manage on three bob a day, why can’t another?’

‘Because, for God’s sake,’ Kelly shouted, ‘the man on three bob a day’s usually unmarried with no commitments! The man on four’s an older man with a home and a family and more than likely hire purchase commitments!’

‘If they can’t afford these things, they shouldn’t go in for them.’

Kelly felt desperate as he tried to explain. ‘How the hell do they provide a home for their wives and kids
without
hire purchase?’ he snarled.

During the afternoon, Christina slept in preparation for her departure to Norfolk, while Kelly moved about the house, bored. In the evening, she appeared in the hall, dressed to kill and with the maid behind her holding a suitcase.

‘Call me a taxi, there’s a dear,’ she said.

He called the taxi with bad grace. As she left, she pecked his cheek. He was well aware that with the money she provided he was hardly in a position to complain and he felt he was selling his soul.

The evening paper was full of gloom again. The gold losses that day had risen to over two million and it was prophesied there would be more the following day.

‘What the hell’s wrong with the bloody country?’ he demanded out loud to the empty room.

He flung the paper aside in disgust. The evening stretched ahead of him in a defeating emptiness. He could go back to his ship but he suspected already that the story of his marriage had got around and there were whispers about its lack of success circulating round the wardroom.

In the end, he picked up the telephone and dialled Vera von Schwerin again.

The country continued to stagger from one crisis to another. Unimaginative politicians offered schemes which were worthless and, as far as the poor were concerned, entirely surgical, cold-blooded and inhuman, and still there remained the firm prophecy that the following year, despite everything that was tried, there would be a deficit of a hundred and seventy million. The run on gold continued so fast that a loan the government had negotiated abroad was draining away more quickly than it was arriving. Cuts in pay seemed to be drawing nearer with every day.

‘Think they’ll do it?’ Kelly asked Verschoyle.

‘Bound to,’ Verschoyle said. ‘They’re going to cut unemployment benefits and
they
affect nearly three million voters. Service cuts affect less than a third of a million, not all on the electoral roll either. Of course they’ll cut.’

‘It won’t be worth staying in. People will resign.’

‘That’d be a pity,’ Verschoyle said shrewdly. ‘Because, after the Geddes Axe, survival alone’s a recommendation. You’re either bloody clever or bloody crafty, and either way that’s a useful thing to be if a war should come; and if that bastard Hitler gets power in Germany, it might. Much better to go on leave as I’m going to do. Everybody else in this ridiculous hierarchy’s going. The whole Admiralty Board for a start. Not that they’re what you’d call a strong board. The First Sea Lord’s got a prodigious memory for names and he’s a member of the Magic Circle, but he shows no talent for producing miracles.’

With the increasing tension and the drain on gold, a further international loan was negotiated but it soon became clear that unless the government showed itself willing to do something about the financial crisis, nobody was going to throw good money after bad, yet the May Committee’s suggestions were still unpalatable and suddenly, towards the end of August, the country found its rulers had changed.

The Prime Minister had not resigned. When the split in his government had shattered the Labour Party with the thunder of a breaking sea wall, he had simply remained in office and agreed with the Conservatives and Liberals to form a coalition. Only nine members of the Parliamentary Labour Party followed him and Lord Clemo was out of office.

‘Well, that’s a remarkable effort if you like,’ Harrison observed to Kelly. ‘A Prime Minister without a party and a second-in-command who leads the largest group in the House. The only thing you can say about it is that the world’s financiers seem pleased and the drain on gold’s been halted. Perhaps it’s all over.’

‘I doubt it, sir,’ Kelly said dryly. ‘There’s a quote in
The Fleet
that might be of interest.’

‘That’s a socialist rag,’ Harrison said sharply.

Kelly stood his ground. ‘It’s still correct, sir.’ He started to read from a sheet of paper Boyle had typed out for him. ‘It’s supposed to have been written by a chap in the Mediterranean. He says “God knows how any Royal Commission came to the conclusion that the poor misused matlow’s pay can be reduced. They might have been expert economists but never, surely, humanists. Did any of the commissioners visit a sailor’s home to see how his money is spent? Did they ever live with sailors in small ships to see how it’s earned?”’

Harrison frowned. To him, the Bible and the Navy were the two greatest forces for good in the British Isles and he had no time for anyone who tried to tamper with them.

Kelly went on earnestly. ‘There’s a loss of confidence between officer and man I don’t like, sir,’ he said.

Harrison gazed coldly at him. ‘The Navy will loyally accept the sacrifices,’ he observed, ‘if equivalent reductions are made throughout the public services and in unemployment pay. The Admiralty Board have said as much. Anyway, we’re due for Scotland on September 7th. That ought to keep everybody busy.’