they were sitting, it was a perfect example of Edwardian masculinity. There were sturdy objects in ivory, brass and wood, pigskin coverings, gold stampings and crests on every surface, yet it wasn’t quite a typical bachelor flat. Its hearty manliness was relieved by a painting of flowers and another - rather surprising, this - of boy bathers, as well as toile de Jouy, petit point, and a small collection of Sèvres porcelain. Diana supposed that these items must be contributions from his wife, a lady of almost mythical status who was thought to reside in the country. Forbes-James never spoke of her, displayed no photographs, and no-one Diana knew had ever seen her.
She was jerked out of her reverie when F-J asked, ‘What do you know about Lord Redesdale?’ He took a cigarette out of his case and tapped it, waiting for her answer.
Diana collected her thoughts, thankful that she had done her homework thoroughly before meeting Mrs Montague. ‘Lord Redesdale’s acquainted with Montague. He’s a member of the Anglo-German fellowship with Domvile, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Londonderry. His daughter, Unity Mitford, was friends with Hitler, and Redesdale and his wife met him on several occasions. Unity tried to commit suicide when war broke out and the family brought her home.’
‘Good, good,’ said Forbes-James distractedly, shuffling things on his desk.
‘It’s here, sir.’ Diana pulled the silver table lighter from beneath a sheaf of papers and handed it over.
‘Thank you. Don’t know why she has to keep moving it about.’ He lit the cigarette and glared in the direction of the wall behind which Margot Mentmore, the telephonist, was sitting in her cubbyhole. ‘And?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t have thought he was dangerous, just misguided, like a lot of those people, but surely Montague is dangerous, and I don’t understand why he’s not in prison, Sir.’
‘The usual reasons.’
‘But Mosley—’
‘I know. We wanted the lot of them, but there you are. The people’s elected representatives . . .’ He sighed. ‘Can’t keep packing them off to Brixton. Looks bad.’
‘But surely it doesn’t matter what it looks like! I mean, now that they’ve changed the law, surely—’
Forbes-James held up a hand to stop her. ‘Defence Regulation 18B (1A),’ he quoted, wearily, ‘states that members of hostile organisations may now be arrested if they are likely to endanger public safety, the prosecution of the war and the defence of the realm, yes. However, as I believe I told you, there was a great deal of fuss when they tried bringing it in at the beginning of the war, which is why it was modified so that we were only able to detain those of hostile origin or associations and those involved in acts prejudicial to public safety, etcetera. It’s taken a lot of time and effort on our part to convince the Cabinet that wider powers are necessary. Rounding up Mosley and a bunch of pro-fascist East Enders is one thing, but we can’t keep frog-marching people off to gaol if we don’t like the look of them.’
‘Especially people in high places.’
‘Exactly. Makes a bad impression. Alarm, despondency and all the rest of it. People have to be able to trust, especially now . . . Anyway, what about this afternoon? How did it go?’
‘I think I’m making some progress. I saw Mrs Montague again - Lally thinks she’s taken a shine to me, she insisted on paying for our tea - and we’ve made an arrangement to meet on Friday evening at her flat. She’s going to introduce me to some of her friends.’
‘Good. What did you talk about?’
‘Well, she wanted to know where I grew up, and that sort of thing, so that was easy enough, and she told me about her house in Fakenham and we talked about the country for a while, walks and things, and I said I was missing it, and how dreary it was to work in an office when one was used to being outdoors. And then I thought I might go a bit further,
She was jerked out of her reverie when F-J asked, ‘What do you know about Lord Redesdale?’ He took a cigarette out of his case and tapped it, waiting for her answer.
Diana collected her thoughts, thankful that she had done her homework thoroughly before meeting Mrs Montague. ‘Lord Redesdale’s acquainted with Montague. He’s a member of the Anglo-German fellowship with Domvile, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Londonderry. His daughter, Unity Mitford, was friends with Hitler, and Redesdale and his wife met him on several occasions. Unity tried to commit suicide when war broke out and the family brought her home.’
‘Good, good,’ said Forbes-James distractedly, shuffling things on his desk.
‘It’s here, sir.’ Diana pulled the silver table lighter from beneath a sheaf of papers and handed it over.
‘Thank you. Don’t know why she has to keep moving it about.’ He lit the cigarette and glared in the direction of the wall behind which Margot Mentmore, the telephonist, was sitting in her cubbyhole. ‘And?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t have thought he was dangerous, just misguided, like a lot of those people, but surely Montague is dangerous, and I don’t understand why he’s not in prison, Sir.’
‘The usual reasons.’
‘But Mosley—’
‘I know. We wanted the lot of them, but there you are. The people’s elected representatives . . .’ He sighed. ‘Can’t keep packing them off to Brixton. Looks bad.’
‘But surely it doesn’t matter what it looks like! I mean, now that they’ve changed the law, surely—’
Forbes-James held up a hand to stop her. ‘Defence Regulation 18B (1A),’ he quoted, wearily, ‘states that members of hostile organisations may now be arrested if they are likely to endanger public safety, the prosecution of the war and the defence of the realm, yes. However, as I believe I told you, there was a great deal of fuss when they tried bringing it in at the beginning of the war, which is why it was modified so that we were only able to detain those of hostile origin or associations and those involved in acts prejudicial to public safety, etcetera. It’s taken a lot of time and effort on our part to convince the Cabinet that wider powers are necessary. Rounding up Mosley and a bunch of pro-fascist East Enders is one thing, but we can’t keep frog-marching people off to gaol if we don’t like the look of them.’
‘Especially people in high places.’
‘Exactly. Makes a bad impression. Alarm, despondency and all the rest of it. People have to be able to trust, especially now . . . Anyway, what about this afternoon? How did it go?’
‘I think I’m making some progress. I saw Mrs Montague again - Lally thinks she’s taken a shine to me, she insisted on paying for our tea - and we’ve made an arrangement to meet on Friday evening at her flat. She’s going to introduce me to some of her friends.’
‘Good. What did you talk about?’
‘Well, she wanted to know where I grew up, and that sort of thing, so that was easy enough, and she told me about her house in Fakenham and we talked about the country for a while, walks and things, and I said I was missing it, and how dreary it was to work in an office when one was used to being outdoors. And then I thought I might go a bit further,
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