Abdication: A Novel by Juliet Nicolson

Author:Juliet Nicolson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Literary, Fiction, Historical, General
ISBN: 9781451664799
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Published: 2013-01-29T05:00:00+00:00

Rachel was still up when May let herself in to Oak Street and with her usual unswerving directness took one look at May and said, “Don’t tell me you’re not cracky on someone.”

Interrupting her scrutinising with a bone-fracturing sneeze, Rachel blew her nose long and hard into a large handkerchief before returning it to the pocket of her floral apron. “I can see it in your eyes, my girl,” she continued, looking hard at May, before giving her a wink.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Rachel,” she replied. May did not feel up to an interrogation. She missed her mother. On most days the awareness of Edith’s death felt like a muted hum. Sometimes the hum was so low that it was almost inaudible, but then someone would say something about mothers, or she would come across a page in her book, or perhaps a line of poetry, or a familiar tune on the wireless and then the volume of the hum would be amplified. Sometimes she would wake from a particularly deep and satisfying sleep and for not much more than a second or two, halfway between semiconsciousness and wakefulness, she would experience the treacherous relief of thinking she had dreamt the whole thing. Her mother had not drowned at all. Edith was still there in her little book-lined room at the plantation, stretching out her hands and waiting for her children to take them. May would be overwhelmed with an urgency to go to her mother. In fact, she must go right now, today, this morning. But she had only to lie there in her bed, sometimes in London, but more often in the quiet of Cuckmere, to realise that she was still dreaming. May dreaded these occasions of happy delusion. The cruelty of this sort of waking meant that early mornings could be worse than any other part of her day.

However, during the demanding schedule of the working week, May’s mood remained buoyant. She was enjoying getting to know Sir Philip, whose extracurricular legal work had also increased twofold since the beginning of the year. He had been appointed to help advise the new king’s legal team and May felt the privilege of trust when handling the related documents. She looked forward to the evenings when she joined the other chauffeurs who waited for their bosses to emerge from the House of Commons. Many of the drivers had been initially dismissive of a woman in their line of work but May’s extensive knowledge of the machinery that formed the nuts and bolts of their profession soon silenced the sceptics among them. Even taxi drivers knew about Miss Thomas and occasionally wound down their window at a traffic light and invited her into one of the green-painted cabman’s shelters for a cup of tea. The elder drivers saw to it that no impropriety was ever ventured, although the level of flirtation was not insignificant. Between themselves all the drivers agreed that Miss Thomas was a bit of all right.

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