Lost Autumn by Mary-Rose MacColl

Author:Mary-Rose MacColl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The next morning, I was in the office starting work when Colonel Grigg came in. Without addressing me, he asked Mr. Waters if I might accompany the prince with him on the appointments for the day; if I had more experience of official functions it might help in drafting replies that took account of the political situation. Mr. Waters rolled his eyes toward me, but to Colonel Grigg he said yes, of course. We had time for me to do that now that I’d joined the team for the duration, he said to me. I may as well go.

I was thrilled to have been asked. On the way down the steps, I told Helen she must tell me what I needed to do. I knew we were to attend a display by schoolchildren at the Sydney Cricket Ground—not so long ago I might have been a participant in such a display—and I wanted to do the right thing as a representative of the Crown.

“Oh, we do nothing, darling. Not one thing but keep H.R.H. a happy chappie. I’m just so glad you’re coming,” she said. “I’d be bored otherwise. Ned is terribly serious about all this, and David likes a laugh. He’d much rather Dickie was with us, but we can still have some fun.”

The prince himself had been the one who’d suggested to Colonel Grigg that I be asked, she said. “He likes your spunky nature, I think,” she said.

There had been a run of fine days for the prince’s visit and again today there was not a cloud in the sky. As we approached the waiting motorcar, Helen stopped me, put her hand on my arm, and said quietly, “Can you be a true darling and sit next to me? I don’t want to sit next to Ned.”

“Is Ned the one who we need to be on tea alert for?” I said.

“No, nothing like that. He’s . . . I think he might think he and I . . . It doesn’t matter. He’s just a tricky trick, all right?”

I nodded.

Colonel Grigg was in his late thirties, I’d have said. I knew from Helen that he was unmarried and I had wondered about his feelings for her on the Canberra trip. He admired her writing, I knew, but perhaps it was more than that. Sir Godfrey had intimated as much the day we’d arrived back from Canberra.

In the car, I sat facing the colonel, with the prince beside him. Helen, beside me, faced the prince. On the way through the city, crowds lined both sides of George Street and there were people leaning out the windows of all the buildings. I had never seen so many people, all looking at our car.

The prince waved to them as we drove by. “What on earth are they here for?” he said. “This isn’t even a parade day.”

“They read the newspaper and guess your route, I suppose, sir,” Colonel Grigg said.

The prince shook his head but kept smiling. “Fools, the lot of them.

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