"Hmm, very pleasing." "I think we can pronounce your ladyship fully recovered." "I had hoped the scarring might improve." "But it still seems so livid." "One rather feels obliged to make jokes about zip fasteners, and so forth." "I hope that isn't wishful thinking." "Because I don't want to have to open you up again." "This old tummy wouldn't stand for it." "There were no complications with my first child." "Time to shut up shop, I think." "No more babies." "I'm sure your husband will take care of matters." "Nurse will help you with your hat." "Stop please, Spargo." "There's no need to wait." "Beryl!" "I was just passing by and I thought I'd help take the children home!" "Oh, very well, your ladyship." "All present and correct." "Yes." "I'll push." "Be careful, your ladyship!" "It's really heavy." "'Hallo." "Herzogpark zwei zwei neun.'" "Persie, is that you?" "Are we going to have the usual conversation?" "Does Agnes send her love, and say the door is always open?" "We both want you to know that you're welcome to come home." "Don't wait till the world goes up in flames." "Hallam!" "You're the only person I know who thinks the world is going to go up in flames." "Everyone else has been all smiles since Munich." "'I think the Jewish population might disagree with that.'" "I told Agnes how you were living, and she wasn't very happy." "Did you tell her that we kissed?" "No." "I suspect that's for the best." "What a to-do!" "Poor baby will be quite out of sorts, coming back early from her walk!" "What was that naughty nursery maid thinking?" "Beryl was following orders from me." "Agnes, how very timely!" "I just answered the telephone, and it was for you." "But I've asked you to leave that to the staff, Blanche!" "I can't waste time with petit bourgeois ceremonial." "It might be the British Museum." "It's a woman called Kennedy." "She sounds American." "Oh, I beg your pardon, my lady." "Mrs Kennedy." "Do you think the tan gloves, or the blue suedette?" "I think the tan introduces a nice autumnal note." "Seasonal, neat, and without excess pretensions." "But the suedette go with my shoes." "I've never met my nephew's wife, she looks like a mannequin in her photographs." "Is he a big noise then, this nephew?" "He had a desk job with the income tax in Belfast for nine years." "But he's very ambitious." "He's come home to London, and set up selling insurance." "What's the matter?" "Is my rabbit's foot not straight?" "It's straight." "But it looks matted round the claws." "Well, genuine fur will always perish." "But I wore it on my Sunday coat when Tommy was a boy." "We will be inviting their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and His Excellency and Mrs Kennedy will be bringing two additional guests, their son Jack, and someone she describes as a business acquaintance, a Mr Caspar Landry." "Very good, my lady." "You will be requiring full, formal settings?" "Naturally." "It's what this house does best." "I have to say, you don't half look well, Auntie Clarice." "That must be the Belgravia air." "Oh, I don't get much of that, dear!" "I'm not like Enid, all manicured and coiffed at her perfume counter!" "She does herself down, Enid." "When my dad was at his last, she turned up at the hospital with these beautiful biscuits." "Lovely they were, all sort of purple and round, like little cushions." "You mean my violet macaroons!" "Most households buy them in from French confectioners, but I've always made my own." "I thought they might tickle Godfrey's palate." "Were they the last thing he ate?" "No, he'd gone beyond swallowing by that point." "But I've never tasted anything so good." "Cyril." "Elbows." "And stop staring." "She's got a dead dog's paw on her." "Aunt Clarice, I am sorry!" "What have I said about passing remarks?" "It's off a rabbit, not a dog." "You can touch it if you like." "He's been a bit out of sorts since we arrived." "Missing his pals, I reckon." "There are some lovely parks in London." "You should get him out and playing." "He'd soon make friends." "Well, he's got his family for now, hasn't he Auntie Clarice?" "Yes, he has." "I feel horribly awkward about the whole thing." "We've scarcely seen the Kents since he suggested I take a letter to Herr Hitler!" "The Duchess sounded delighted to accept." "And the Duke is one of your oldest friends." "Ambassador Kennedy isn't one of my oldest friends." "He'll have some sort of plan, just you wait and see." "Everyone has a plan, Hallam." "That's how things get done." "I'm sorry, I ought to be more enthusiastic." "I suppose I was shaken by your news." "Oh, yes." "My news." "Was that the thing you dreaded most?" "Being told no more?" "The thing I dreaded most was having none at all." "And we were spared it." "They've made us complete, haven't they?" "The children?" "Yes." "Of course." "Dinner plates and soup cups, ready for inspection!" "That's beautiful!" "Is it porcelain?" "Says Limoges on the back." "I reckon the gilt's been chipped on this one." "Not by me." "This has been in mothballs since before I came." "And make sure you root out the finger bowls." "I've Grilled Lime and Shrimp in mind for the hors d'oeuvres." "I have received advance notice of the bill of fare." "Her ladyship has in fact requested oysters." "But I go upstairs to discuss the menus!" "I was planning to suggest a New World theme for the Kennedys." "Poulet Maryland, perhaps, and a seafood chowder!" "Johnny, fetch the cellar book." "I shall recommend a Riesling to Sir Hallam for the first course." "Schloss Vollrads, I think, if we can get the '36." "A German wine?" "War has been averted, Mrs Thackeray." "We must rise above petty historical frets." "In your opinion, maybe." "Dr Mottershead, these papers were deeply personal to Lady Holland." "There are hundreds of letters, there are her journals." "There are writings even I was not allowed to see!" "Since she appointed me her literary executor," "I imagine she was happy for me to read them all." "You had no alphabetic system, no coherent filing code!" "It was entirely coherent to both she and I!" "Letters from Sir Hallam tied with blue ribbon, telegrams preserved in her alligator glove-case!" "She chose her own methods, and I maintained them." "My sister was a romantic." "I suppose you read her memoirs." "I typed every single sentence." "You deserve a medal." "I'd prefer it if you didn't speak of my mother that way." "Especially in front of Mr Amanjit." "I was speaking to Mr Amanjit." "A letter came for you." "Could you please tell me where I might find the ink?" "The i's have it." "For the meanwhile, they are positioned next to interment, items destined for." "Who are you doing that one for?" "Mr John F Kennedy." "One imagines the central initial is intended to add gravitas." "According to the Tatler, he's still at university." "I hope he can keep up with the conversation." "This'll be my delivery." "From Harrods." "A Harrods' van?" "Outside 165?" "They come here all the time." "They don't come making deliveries for staff!" "If Miss Buck were here, she'd say you'd forgotten your place." "If Miss Buck was here, she'd say the same to you." "Let go, let me do it!" "Harrods." "You're too generous." "You know that." "Who else am I going to spend my nest egg on?" "I've seen titled children on quite inferior scooters." "I am going to make my way, you know." "Oh, I don't doubt it, dear." "One day, there's going to be nothing but the best for my little soldier." "Oh, your dad used to call you that." "I know." "We used to have such lovely Christmases." "I think of us all sometimes, crammed into the parlour in Edmonton, with the gas light hissing and a trifle on the sideboard and I think, "How did that come to pass?"" "How can a family just fizzle out, like fireworks?" "It's fate, isn't it?" "Well, fate, and the Spanish flu." "Oh, God." "Oh, here." "Mucky pup." "I haven't fizzled out, Auntie Clarice." "You've still got me." "You've got me too, for what it's worth." "Look, Auntie!" "Eunice, the oysters have arrived." "I want them shucked, the minute you've buttered the dariole moulds." "Please don't make me, Mrs Thack!" "It's like fingering phlegm." "What, may I ask, are these?" "They're just a few violet macaroons." "Lady Agnes ordered florentines to go up with the coffee," "Mrs Kennedy favours them." "Violet macaroons were not commissioned." "Well, I actually made those for my family." "As a gift, in my own time." "And utilising your own ingredients?" "It's only a bit of ground almond and some sugar!" "And a bottle of violet essence and six whites of egg." "And half a dozen yolks, which one imagines have already graced the plughole." "If you had any relatives to speak of, Mr Pritchard, you'd be sneaking them gratis Silvo and complimentary hock." "And well you know it!" "So you needn't get on your high horse with me!" "Write me out a bill." "Don't provoke me." "And you needn't include the yolks." "They're going in a mayonnaise." "Blimey." "Haute cuisine in the nursery now, eh?" "I've swapped with Eunice." "She's putting the nappies through the wringer." "Don't you cut yourself on that knife." "I used to do this all the time, in my father's public house." "Mother didn't like me even going in the kitchen, but when those crates arrived you could smell the seaside coming off them." "Taste it too, if you had a sneaky one." "Go on." "You want to be careful." "Feeding me aphrodisiacs." "You want to be careful, making lewd remarks." "That will be eight shillings and eight pence." "Plus sixpence deposit on the tin, which I would prefer to see returned." "I shall be keeping the tin, thank you." "Consider it purchased, for another half crown." "We followed events at Munich very closely at the Embassy, and I admired your opposition to Chamberlain." "I see." "I don't agree with it, but dissent takes guts." "Sir Hallam was not without allies, Mr Kennedy." "Churchill and Eden both shared his point of view." "And where are they?" "Marooned on the back benches." "Ambassador Kennedy always studies form." "Never makes an ill-considered move." "That's why I like him." "I have caution bred into my bones, my parents were pharmacists who fled a pogrom." "I presume they were Jewish." "They still are." "We just spell our name a little differently." "That's the American way." "We move forward, we mutate." "We don't turn heritage into a feather bed." "Sir Hallam's heritage is more interesting than you'd think." "They made their money from asbestos mines." "I heard he sold them, and invested cleverly." "Yes." "I'd have held on to them, and researched their role in textiles." "With a war on the horizon, anything flame retardant has potential." "But there isn't a war on the horizon any more." "Take Mr Kennedy." "He made his money from moonshine and motion pictures." "He gave the people what they wanted, now he's getting his heart's desire." "And what's your heart's desire, Mr Landry?" "I'd rather like to dance with you." "A rumba, if the band were good enough." "The challenge I'm faced with, Hallam, is that I need access to brains entirely geared to European policy." "They must be the finest brains available, and at my disposal in the long-term." "For the next ten years, the affairs of the world are going to focus on Europe." "My son Jack's senior year thesis is based on that very supposition." "Isn't it, Jack?" "Yes, Sir." "Hallam, as and when we return to Washington, my sons and I are going to need a consultant advisor in overseas diplomacy." "I think that's a very perspicacious plan." "Well, the position is yours, if you wish to accept it." "But what did Sir Hallam say?" "Did he say he'd go?" "I told you!" "He said he was flattered by the offer, and he'd give it his best consideration." "Meanwhile Lady Agnes laughed and said, "What an enthralling prospect!"" "Upstairs." "Whilst there's still some air in these souffles." "You'd better start on the dishes." "And watch out for the gilt, in case you chip it and get charged." "May I help you, sir?" "I was wondering, ma'am, do you have such a thing as a spoonful of baking soda and some water?" "Only, I feel a little nauseous, and I generally find that will settle things." "Of course, sir." "I've oil of peppermint, if you prefer." "No." "Just the baking soda, please." "I'm sorry, ma'am." "Can you direct me to the bathroom?" "This way." "Would you like me to fetch anyone, sir?" "Your mother, perhaps?" "You could be my mother, for a minute." "Do you have children?" "No, I have a nephew." "And a great-nephew, Cyril." "He's a smashing little chap." "Family, hey?" "Like my father once said, if you have thirty cousins, you're halfway home." "Simply because you have somewhere to run." "The florentines have melted!" "They look like something a cat's sicked up!" "Somebody must have left them on the plate rack near the gas." "It wasn't me." "Lady Agnes'll do her nut." "Go in the pantry, get me the tin with Windsor Castle on!" "They look like they'll taste of perfume." "Upstairs!" "Excuse me!" "Where do you think you're going, with my family's macaroons?" "Coffee cannot be served without petits fours." "Johnny, carry on!" "I've paid for those!" "They are my property!" "Johnny!" "Proceed!" "Excuse me, ma'am." "I think I need to rejoin the party." "Oh, of course, dear." "You've been very kind." "You do not address any guest of the family upstairs as dear!" "Let alone the son of the American Ambassador!" "As far as I was concerned he was just a poorly young man who needed looking after." "Spending time with my family's brought out my caring side." "It's brought out your foolish side." "You have a duty to the family upstairs!" "I don't think you should be lecturing me about my duty!" "Given your record in the war." "Oh." "Four left." "Fancy." "So, you only owe me... six and eleven." "What for?" "The macaroons you sent upstairs, and you may post the remittance to me at 26 Mafeking Road, Pimlico." "Which will be my residence from this evening onward." "I resign!" "Tin pot martinet." "I think you know what you should do, although I'll wait for a decision for the sake of form." "Sir." "You've always done things so elegantly!" "I'm only sad that I'm too old to come out dancing with you." "Nonsense, Mrs Kennedy!" "Will you take care of Jack?" "He's recovered his colour, but he doesn't know London at all." "He'll be supremely safe with us." "Agnes, unhand that boy." "He's barely 21." "Dorchester, was it sir?" "Oh, no, not the Dorch!" "Bag O' Nails Club, Soho, I think." "It does so make my heart leap up, to see you embracing society again." "You were absent far too long." "I know." "It wasn't good for Hallam, he needs my support and I intend to give it." "Even if we end up in America." "Wither he goest, thou shalt go." "That's rather biblical, for the Bag O Nails?" "Believe me, on occasion, this place puts Sodom and Gomorrah in the shade." "Sir." "I want Hallam to say yes to Joseph Kennedy." "I want him to go where he'll feel valued and respected." "And you want me to have a little word?" "I've had to show the bartender how to mix martinis." "He was using too much vermouth." "An imperfect martini?" "Well, that would never do." "Thank you, Mr Landry." "Better?" "I rather think it is!" "I worked shifts in a speakeasy when Prohibition was coming to an end." "I knew that one day very soon, the whole of America would be waking with a headache and crying out for a pill." "I see." "So you studied the poison to find the antidote." "And I did." "It comes in the form of a soluble tablet, and now every bathroom in America has a bottle on the shelf." "The whole of my fortune is founded on a thing that dissolves when you drop it in water." "Oh." "A rumba!" "Oh, yes." "But they're playing it so badly." "I'm sorry to say I just saw red!" "He's been over-reaching himself ever since our housekeeper went into the sanatorium." "Telling me what I can and can't do." "I mean, it's not as though Lady Agnes had taken me in under some sort of sufferance." "I'm highly skilled and I had to be enticed." "Thank you, dear, is it sugared?" "One and a bit, just the way you like it." "They're all hanging on to 165 like limpets, and what for?" "A cursory, "Thank you and goodbye" ""and we're all on the next boat to America?"" "Aren't you having tea, dear?" "I have to be up in the morning." "Oh." "Anyway, I just thought," "I don't have to stand here tugging on my forelock." "I've got savings." "I can retire, now I've got somewhere to go." "Say yes." "I'm giving it my serious consideration." "And then say yes." "Sometimes, old chap, one simply comes to a fork in the road." "One doesn't know why the path should bifurcate, where the new lane leads, or why." "I'm going to be sent to Australia next year." "Governor General." "No." "But carpe diem." "And all of that." "You're talking Latin." "It's probably time to go home." "I absolutely refuse to flag or fade." "I've asked the band to play my favourite song, and I am determined to enjoy it." "Any time you're Lambeth way" "Any evening, any day" "You'll find us all doing the Lambeth walk." "I don't think that American could believe his eyes!" "Caspar Landry?" "The hangover king?" "You won't be saying his name so scornfully in the morning." "And neither, I suspect, will I." "Did we ever do this when we were young?" "Not together." "Not in evening dress." "And we're not old!" "Not yet." "Shall we be brave, darling?" "Shall we make sure we never have to say we didn't dare?" "Would you say yes?" "Would you go back to America?" "I'd go anywhere with you." "It's two o'clock in the morning." "Who is this?" "Who's calling?" "Hallam?" "I don't want to be here any more!" "'They're arresting people, burning schools and synagogues.'" "Persie?" "Where are you?" "Stay calm." "Tell us exactly what is happening." "They're attacking shops." "Jewish shops." "There are buildings on fire everywhere!" "Das Telefon ist nur fuer Notfaelle vorgesehen." "Help me." "Hallam." "I want her home." "Oh." "Ah." "I think Cyril was caught a bit short in the night." "Cyril!" "Not again." "I'm sorry, Aunt Clarice." "You couldn't quickly rinse them through?" "Tom went out early, and I've got to walk Cyril to school." "Oh, yes, of course." "I'm glad to be of help." "I've already spoken to Whitehall." "Our man called from Berlin, and says the rioters are still going at it." "Dozens of synagogues have been destroyed, and arrests of Jews run into the tens of thousands." "This is the latest edition of the Express." "There were even attacks on Jewish orphanages!" "They say the German government condones it." "Of course they condone it, Agnes!" "They brought it about, as surely as if it was ordered by decree." "Don't you understand that?" "I'm reading the papers in an attempt to understand that." "But let's not snap, we're both tired Will you try to speak to Persie today?" "I shall do my best." "And before you ask," "I won't be calling Joseph Kennedy, now is not the time to be heading for America." "England has been pushed to the edge of the abyss." "Any assumption that war has been averted, that Hitler was tamed or constrained by the Munich Pact is over." "I have work to do." "But you haven't had any sleep." "Or any breakfast!" "Sir." "There has been a telephone call, from Mrs Fuller at Harbury House." "Lotte's headmistress?" "What's the matter?" "Mrs Fuller did not wish to say." "But she asked that either you visit, as Lotte's legal guardian, or that I do." "Do you have time?" "It's not distracting you from any work?" "No, I have no work to do, sir." "Where are you now?" "Are you safe?" "'Not really.'" "Friedrich and I have had a difference of opinion." "Political opinion?" "No." "He thinks we ought to marry." "And I think if we did, I'd be in exile for ever." "Because he's divorced." "Or he would be, by then." "Persie." "This is no time for histrionics!" "Get yourself to the station, and make your way to Hamburg on the first available train." "'There'll be boats to Harwich twice daily.'" "All very sensible advice, except you seem to presume that I'm in funds." "'Are you out of funds?" "'" "I'm a kept woman, Hallam, who's been thrown out." "And I'm leaving my mink behind on point of principle." "Hallam." "I'm begging you to help me." "You're family." "You don't need to." "* I hear them calling for you *" "* Beware, a spider lurks about *" "* And a fire has broken out *" "* Can you hear them?" "*" "* Can you hear your children crying?" "*" "You have touched my heart with that, Lotte." "Her diction is delightful, isn't it?" "Now." "Run outside and join in games, Lotte." "Mr Amanjit and I will come and watch you." "Yes, Mrs Fuller." "Thank you, Mr Busch." "Her late mother used to sing her that in German." "So did Lotte, when she first came here." "But she's forgotten how, now." "Or so she says." "She wants to be English, like everybody else." "She will never be English, like everybody else." "She is a Jewess, she is of a different race." "Sir Hallam really has been extraordinarily generous with Lotte." "I know she was only his housemaid's child, yet he takes care of her every need." "He was afraid of what may happen, if she was sent back to Frankfurt by herself." "I'm sure you're aware of what happened last night." "I am." "And it sickens me, the attacks on the Jews will gather apace, there'll be orphans without number." "I want to help more children, Mr Amanjit." "Two, even three, little girls!" "Lotte's rabbi says people are desperate to escape." "He did give me the address in London for the Central British Fund for German Jewry." "But there's also a man called Mr Silverman who might advise." "It all sounds terribly confusing, nothing seems straightforward." "That cannot be right." "Nothing is right in the world just now." "And nor will it be, for a very long time." "Which is why we must try to do the little good that we can." "Thank you for your time, Mr Silverman." "And thank you for your interest, sir." "There is so much we are trying to achieve." "I will do my utmost to assist." "Oh, Mr Amanjit." "What is my transgression this time?" "I had hoped to avoid an upbraiding, you may note I have avoided your territory today." "Dr Mottershead." "I have not come before you with any complaint." "I have come to beg a favour." "On behalf of a place where your skills are gravely needed." "And there's a Queen of Puddings to follow, which a little bird told me Master Cyril might like." "Perhaps you'd like to carve, dear, as you're the man of the house." "It would be my privilege and pleasure." "It's like a Sunday dinner..." "on a week night." "Oh, an ounce of planning saves a pound of trouble!" "We'll have the leavings minced up in a shepherd's pie tomorrow and then I've a chicken and a ham to be delivered Thursday." "And I've lodged an order for store-cupboard staples with Partridge's in Sloane Square." "I don't want you putting yourself out of pocket." "Oh, don't worry about that, dear." "The bill won't come till the end of the month." "What sort of organisation is this?" "Is it a dedicated charity, or a government department?" "It's where the anguish of the trapped is kept." "There are rooms like this all over London." "Jews write daily from Germany and Austria." "These are cries for help, people begging to be rescued." "Letters drowning, under the weight of letters." "A thousand more arrive daily." "It is not as if they can't get out of Germany." "Travel is permitted." "Of course, a leaving tax is levied." "The problem is, is that no-one else will have them." "Britain issues only 75 visas a day." "And there is deep resistance to any change of rule." "This is Chaos." "Chaos with a capital C." "No-one in this building is to blame, it has happened too fast." "Meanwhile these people are pursued by a bureaucracy of such precision, and intent, that they are quite without hope unless we strive to match it." "I told Mr Silverman of your skills at creating order." "We hoped you might volunteer to implement a system." "And what would be the point of that, if we won't let them in?" "Pritchard, I cherished Mrs Thackeray!" "I was proud to present my guests, and my family, with the food that she had cooked." "But we can't keep hoping that she'll have a change of heart!" "What are we having for dinner tonight?" "Mock Turtle Soup." "Tinned?" "And a pheasant pie from Fortnums." "Followed by blancmange." "Home-made." "But, Pritchard, when Miss Buck was taken ill, you promised me that we could manage without a housekeeper." "I need you to act as a housekeeper would, and place an advertisement in tomorrow's Chronicle." "If Mrs Thackeray would like to reapply, she may." "Reapply?" "Writing in, with references?" "I can't see Mrs Thackeray doing that." "Especially as her references would have to come from you." "Are you going to put a glace cherry on that?" "We've run out of glace cherries!" "What's that?" "Plaice and three penn'orth, with crispy bits." "I haven't had a hot meal since Mrs Thack upped sticks!" "All the effort's gone into feeding upstairs." "I can smell them from here." "Get yourself a piece of bread, I'll make you a chip butty." "Can I tempt you, Beryl?" "Go on, you know you want to!" "Do I?" "I was only being jocular." "Hmm." "Jocular spelt F-R-E-S-H." "You want to rein him in, Mr P." "This servants' hall is going to lose its class." "Oi!" "How do you intend to amend the visa policy?" "It is the principle obstacle in our way." "It's perceived in the Commons as an immigration issue." "Difficult, given the levels of unemployment." "How do YOU perceive it, Hallam?" "And it's no good pulling that po-face," "I can see right through it, I always could." "I'm trying to keep some professional distance!" "No, you're high-tailing it away from your emotions!" "You did it as a boy, when I visited you in that wretched school." "You were the only one who ever came!" "And I didn't see you particularly often." "Well, you were a very uninspiring child." "I did try my best." "I brought you tuck, I took you out for treats." "You brought me protein biscuits, and took me to a nudist camp." "Only the once!" "It's probably your mother that you're really angry with." "If you wish to pursue that, I can recommend a mesmerist." "I do not wish to pursue it." "The hard truth is the Jews are seen as immigrants not refugees." "Hallam, they won't be refugees if we don't let them in, they will be statistics." "Sir, you must persuade the Home Secretary of the benefits to foreign policy!" "Advise him that group visas will save time." "And then advise him to get the children out." "It will avoid the unemployment issue and capture public sympathy." "The Home Secretary is receiving a delegation of Anglo-German Jewry tonight." "He has to listen to what they have to say." "And you must listen to what I have to say." "We could take in tens of thousands, yet we haven't relaxed a single immigration law." "Britain should take the lead, and take the children." "Hello, Enid, dear!" "Venison pie tonight," "Mr Hynes had a delivery from one of the Scottish estates." "Will it be very rich?" "Oh no, venison's a lean meat." "My flaky's never turned out so well," "I think it's because this room's quite chilly in the day." "Cyril." "Go out on your scooter." "I don't want to." "Scooter!" "Before I smack your legs." "I can't be doing with all this mess." "Oh, this isn't mess!" "This is work in progress." "I've done my work for the day!" "Standing up in a shop for nine hours in high heels!" "And when Tom comes home, he's done his work too." "We'd sooner have a tidy kitchen, and some tinned corned beef!" "Corned beef?" "I like corned beef!" "I know where I am with corned beef!" "I'm lying awake every night and I don't know whether it's all these bloody banquets or if it's the fear of the bill from the butcher's!" "Oh, we'll cry over that when it arrives, shall we?" "You can cry on your own over that one." "The trouble with you is you're ruined." "You've no idea how normal people live." "Can I come in?" "Of course, dear." "I'm going to settle that wretched butcher's bill the minute it arrives." "I'll do it out of my savings, you and Enid don't deserve a moment's worry." "There's something I need to tell you, Auntie Clarice." "We've been having things rougher than I've cracked on." "I'm not selling as much insurance as I'd like." "My bike needs a new chain and two new tyres." "It's going to cost me an arm and a leg." "Do you need me to help you out?" "No." "I've done a deal with the repairman." "He's taking Cyril's scooter in exchange." "Well." "Winter's on its way." "He'd be putting it in mothballs in a week or two." "'Penfold speaking, Third Secretary." "Berlin.'" "Hallam Holland, London." "I need to speak with you concerning the transportation of a vulnerable person." "The name is Towyn, Persephone Anne." "'Miss or Mrs, sir?" "'" "Lady." "She's the daughter of an Earl." "Mr Pritchard." "Radcliffe and Hynes sent this invoice by mistake." "It would seem Mrs Thackeray has been feeding her relations on account." "I might have known she'd be a stranger to the Co-op." "We must forward it, to her new address." "Sometimes it seems to me that no-one in the world is in their proper place." "There is no task so great that it cannot be solved by categorisation." "Small groups must join forces, larger masses broken down into component parts." "Now the next phase commences, finding foster parents for children who have visas." "And I'm horribly afraid that I don't know where to start." "We start with List Number One." "Sponsor Number One." "Miss Sylvia Fuller, Harbury House School, Oxfordshire." "I thought you might join me for tea in the drawing room, and then I realised you must be busy." "Thank you, dear." "You're doing such splendid work." "I've always loved a puzzle." "But the finances for this Kindertransport just don't seem to work." "In what way?" "The government insists on a £50 bond for every child." "In advance, to ensure they don't become a charge upon the state." "Hallam and I would be happy to donate." "Hallam already has." "You have more to offer than money, Agnes." "Have I?" "I'm not sure." "You have intelligence, tact, and charm." "I have the former in abundance, but when I turn to the latter two the bucket comes up dry." "No." "Yes." "I know my weaknesses." "But you don't know your strengths." "Macaroons don't wait." "I'm making them for Werner's of Brook Street." "It might turn into a regular order, if they sell." "Any more news?" "Miss Pamela sent flowers from her asylum to put on the monkey's grave." "Oh, bless her." "And Johnny corked a bottle of port, which he thought was claret." "He's damn short of a bob." "Well, no-one makes a cup of tea like you do, Mrs Thack." "But Sir Hallam needs picking up from Whitehall." "I have to run." "Oh, yes, of course, dear." "Oh, Mr Pritchard asked me to give you this." "There's no message." "Only to say it came from him." "Why aren't the children coming in for free?" "Why aren't the public prepared to foot the bill?" "For the majority of people, £50 is an enormous sum." "Forgive me, Mr Landry, you could save 100 children at a stroke." "Are you going to remind me that my parents fled a pogrom?" "I'm not going to insult you by saying anything unnecessary." "I've simply come to tell you about a poisonous thing, in the hope that you'll provide an antidote." "I thought I might tease you, that I could beg a rumba, and you would grant me the pleasure of a dance." "But you're good... as well as beautiful." "Have you had a lie in, dear?" "I saw your bike still in the hall." "I'm giving it a miss today." "Oh, you can help me carry these violet macaroons." "It's two buses to Brook Street." "I've got paperwork to do." "Calculations and whatnot." "Oh, yes?" "I'm packing in insurance." "Reckon if I bought a taxi," "I could be quids in." "It's not a profession though, is it?" "Well." "You've got to get a licence." "Thing is, I need investors." "Or an investor." "Once there's a deposit down, I can pay the rest on HP and be straight out earning." "I'd split the profits with you." "You're just dreaming, Tommy." "Doesn't everyone?" "'Please wait while we try and connect you.'" "Yes?" "The first group of children are scheduled to arrive," "Liverpool Street station." "December 2nd." "It is likely to be in the small hours of the morning." "From our embassy in Berlin, sir." "'I'm getting Persie out on a diplomatic flight." "'She doesn't deserve it.'" "Well." "I'll make sure she's suitably grateful." "Spargo is outside, checking the oil-gauge on the hire car." "Eunice is downstairs filling the hot-water bottles for the children." "If there are any problems whatsoever, you are to use my card." "Are you sure I can't persuade you to wear one of my furs?" "Agnes, dear, I'd sooner swathe myself in giblets." "Besides, Mr Amanjit and I have work to do," "I can't have dead pelts flapping round my wrists." "Take it for Persie." "It will be freezing at the aerodrome." "Agnes has changed her perfume, since I saw her last." "Has she?" "You can smell it on her fur." "Here." "Will you take me home now?" "Yes." "Good evening, Lady Persephone." "Hello, Spargo." "It's just like old times." "Barbara Teifenblum." "Dafna Enbinder." "Eva Glasskopf." "Come with us now, you are quite safe." "Hello, sleepy head." "Welcome to England." "Oven's warming up." "We might venture a few rock cakes." "The Golden Blaze is to be published." "You always said that was the one story you'd never show to anyone!" "Hallam, I need your help." "You will agree that I can inform Agnes." "No." "For girls like Eunice, it's sometimes service or the streets." "I hate you, Beryl Ballard!" "If I had my way, you would be dismissed!" "Lady Agnes was treating us like domestic appliances!" "But this is the key to 165." "I shouldn't have it any more." "You ought to have a tete-a-tete with your Aunt Blanche." "A friend of hers has written a novel!" "Not a friend." "A lover."