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Andy said: "How were things left?"
"Nothing is resolved! Neville has gone back to Number Ten Downing Street. But most of the cabinet is holed up in Simon's room at the Commons." Sir John Simon was Chancellor of the Exchequer. "They're saying they won't leave the room until Neville sends the Germans an ultimatum. Meanwhile, Labour's National Executive Committee is in session, and discontented backbenchers are meeting in Winston's flat."
Daisy had always said she did not l
ike politics, but since becoming part of Fitz's family, and seeing everything from the inside, she had become interested, and she found this drama fascinating and scary. "Then the prime minister must act!" she said.
"Oh, certainly," said Fitz. "Before Parliament meets again--which should be at noon tomorrow--I think Neville must either declare war or resign."
The phone rang in the hall and Grout went out to answer it. A minute later he came back and said: "That was the Foreign Office, my lord. The gentleman would not wait for you to come to the telephone, but insisted on giving a message." The old butler looked disconcerted, as if he had been spoken to rather sharply. "The prime minister has called an immediate meeting of the cabinet."
"Movement!" said Fitz. "Good."
Grout went on: "The foreign secretary would like you to be in attendance, if convenient." Fitz was not in the cabinet, but junior ministers were sometimes asked to attend meetings on their area of specialization, sitting at the side of the room rather than at the central table, so that they could answer questions of detail.
Bea looked at the clock. "It's almost eleven. I suppose you must go."
"Indeed I must. The phrase 'if convenient' is an empty courtesy." He patted his lips with a snowy napkin and limped out again.
Princess Bea said: "Make some more coffee, Grout, and bring it to the drawing room. We may be up late tonight."
"Yes, Your Highness."
They all returned to the drawing room, talking animatedly. Eva was in favor of war: she wanted to see the Nazi regime destroyed. She would worry about Jimmy, of course, but she had married a soldier and had always known he would have to risk his life in battle. Bea was pro-war, too, now that the Germans were allied with the Bolsheviks she hated. May feared that Andy would be killed, and could not stop crying. Boy did not see why two great nations such as England and Germany should go to war over a half-barbaric wasteland such as Poland.
As soon as she could, Daisy got Eva to go with her to another room where they could talk privately. "Boy's got a mistress," she said immediately. She showed Eva the condoms. "I found these."
"Oh, Daisy, I'm so sorry," Eva said.
Daisy thought of giving Eva the grisly details--they normally told each other everything--but this time Daisy felt too humiliated, so she just said: "I confronted him, and he admitted it."
"Is he sorry?"
"Not very. He says all men of his class do it, including his father."
"Jimmy doesn't," Eva said decisively.
"No, I'm sure you're right."
"What will you do?"
"I'm going to leave him. We can get divorced, then someone else can be the viscountess."
"But you can't if there's a war!"
"Why not?"
"It's too cruel, when he's on the battlefield."
"He should have thought of that before he slept with a pair of prostitutes in Aldgate."
"But it would be cowardly, as well. You can't dump a man who is risking his life to protect you."
Reluctantly, Daisy saw Eva's point. War would transform Boy from a despicable adulterer who deserved rejection into a hero defending his wife, his mother, and his country from the terror of invasion and conquest. It was not just that everyone in London and Buffalo would see Daisy as a coward for leaving him. She would feel that way herself. If there was a war she wanted to be brave, even though she was not sure what that might involve.
"You're right," she said grudgingly. "I can't leave him if there's a war."
There was a clap of thunder. Daisy looked at the clock: it was midnight. The rain altered in sound as a torrential downpour began.
