Angels in the Gloom_ A Novel - Anne Perry [36]
“Sounds about right,” Archie agreed.
“I’m going to join up,” Tom announced. “Navy, of course. Sorry, Uncle Joseph, I don’t mean to be insulting. Of course the army’s good, too, but we’re naval, aren’t we Dad?”
Archie’s face tightened, but he knew better than to argue, especially in front of anyone else. “Yes. But we’re officers, not ratings, so you’ll study properly first.”
“But, Dad . . .” Tom started.
Archie gave him a quick smile. “And you’ll obey the captain! You’ll not discuss it over tea!”
Luke turned to see if Tom would obey.
“Yes, sir,” Tom said reluctantly.
It was a strange, unnatural evening. Everyone was overwrought emotionally, uncertain what to say. One moment they were silent, the next everyone speaking together.
“Dad, what’s the worst battle you’ve ever seen?” Tom asked, his face tense, eyes unwavering.
“Was it terrible?” Luke added immediately.
Hannah drew in her breath, then changed her mind and said nothing. Her eyes also were on Archie, waiting.
Even before he spoke, Joseph knew Archie was going to evade anything like the truth, just as he would have done himself. So far he had used his injuries to deflect any such discussion.
Jenny sat next to her father, squashed up in the armchair. He had his arm around her with a gentleness that was intensely concentrated, as if in the softness of her hair and the angular grace of her young body, he touched the infinite value of life itself.
“We’re patrolling most of the time,” he answered lightly. “We meet the odd U-boat, but the main German fleet has stayed in port so far, you know.” He smiled. “I think they’re scared of us.”
Luke believed him. “Are they?” he said with pleasure. “Good, eh?”
Tom was more doubtful. “But they sink a lot of our ships, Dad. We’d be winning if they didn’t. There are a couple of boys at school whose fathers went down.”
Hannah looked quickly at Joseph, then at Archie. She needed truth, but she was afraid of it, afraid of the nightmares. She would be the one left at home to find the answers, the comfort, to make going on possible.
“Not a lot of ships,” Archie replied, considering as he spoke. “It just seems like a lot because we hear about it, and it hurts. But most of the Grand Fleet is still here. We can’t persuade the Germans to come out of harbor and face us.”
“But the U-boats do,” Tom persisted.
“Oh, yes. They’re pretty nasty, but we’ve got a few tricks of our own, and getting more all the time. And don’t ask me what they are, because it’s secret stuff, and I don’t know all of it myself. Now tell me about school. I’m much more interested in that.”
Tom gave up and dutifully answered the questions, but the enthusiasm was gone from his eyes. Half an hour later Luke and Jenny went to bed and Joseph walked alone down toward the orchard.
He did not hear Tom’s footsteps on the grass and was startled when he spoke.
“Sorry, Uncle Joseph,” Tom apologized, his voice laden with misery.
Joseph turned and saw him. His young, smooth face was solemn, his eyes shadowed in the dappled light through the trees.
“Why doesn’t Dad talk to me about anything real?” he asked quietly. “Is it because we are going to lose the war?”
Joseph had been half waiting for the question, but now that it had come it was more difficult than he had expected.
“I don’t know,” he said simply. “I don’t think so, but of course it’s possible. We won’t give up, ever, but we might be beaten.”
Tom looked startled. Joseph realized he should not have been so candid. Tom was only fourteen. Now he would have nightmares Hannah would not be able to comfort, and it was Joseph’s fault. How could he undo it?
“I don’t think we’ll be beaten,” Tom said clearly. “We won’t let it happen. But Dad was just trying to protect us, wasn’t he? A lot of people are being killed. I heard in school today that Billy Arnold’s elder brother was killed. They heard yesterday. He was twenty. That’s only six years older than I am. Did you know him, Uncle Joseph? Perhaps I shouldn