Green Ink by Stephen May

Author:Stephen May
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hilary Mantel;Sell Us the Rope;Lloyd George;Victor Grayson;Virginia Woolf;WWI;MI5;MI6;secret services;Frances Stevenson
Publisher: Swift Press
Published: 2025-02-05T12:44:59+00:00

Once Victor is over the road and one hundred, fifty, twenty yards away, he can see this girl is too young anyway. She can’t be more than eighteen. She actually looks less like Ruth than the girl from last night (and this morning) did. The child whose hand she holds, though, well, that is definitely Elaine. Which is something of a turn-up. A bit of a kicker.

‘Daddy!’

It’s distressing how pleased she is to see him. ‘Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!’ She runs to him, dancing around the feet of tutting shoppers like a puppy. She clings to him, arms gripping like barbed wire around his waist.

‘Mr Grayson?’

‘Daddy, I’m hungry.’

‘Stuff and nonsense, duck,’ says the girl with her. ‘You had a teacake not a half hour back.’

A short sentence but it’s enough to hear the thick Bolton of her voice. The millstone grit in it. Not like Ruth’s at all. His wife’s vowels were honeyed – Southerned – by money, by elocution lessons, by the need to catch the ear of West End theatre producers. Because obviously – obviously – women with unfiltered Northern voices could only expect comic parts at best.

‘And who are you?’ says Victor, mildly.

‘Virginia Harris.’ She says it with downcast eyes, as though she was giving her name to a policeman.

‘We call her Ginny,’ says Elaine. ‘Granny said Virginia was too grand a name for a maid. And Ginny is much more easier to say. You know, I really am hungry.’

Her voice has become so tragically forlorn that Victor laughs.

‘Come on,’ Victor says. ‘We can get a bun somewhere.’ He selects a smile for the maid. Tries to make it a properly reassuring one. ‘She’s a growing lass. Growing so fast too. And so strong. Yes you are, chuck, you’re squeezing the life out of me. In fact, I think I might faint in a minute. Yes, yes. I’m going. I’m dizzy, blacking out. Quick! Call an ambulance!’ He adds movements too. A hand to his heart, a slight stagger. A wobble. A simple little piece of panto, but it works. Elaine is delighted. Giggles. Even this Ginny flashes a wan smile.

‘Oh, Daddy.’

‘Come on, let’s find a caff and you can both tell me exactly what you’re doing hanging about the doors of the Criterion.’

His daughter gazes up at him. Adoring, lit from within by love. It’s like a punch to the face.

‘I don’t know, Mr Nightingale told us to stay here.’

‘And where is old John now?’

‘Grandad said he had Business.’ Elaine makes it sound like it’s the most important thing in the world.

‘Aye, the old devil always has business. What kind of business, that’s the question. Look, if we go and sit in that café over there, we can see the spot where you were standing. We’ll see grumpy Grampy John whenever he appears.’

Elaine titters – grumpy Grampy! – and her nanny is reassured and minutes later they are in a small Italian place, the Café Roma, with lemonade for the girls and strong tea for him. What

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