Carlton’s Rise by Robert Webber

Author:Robert Webber [Webber, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

XX

The train that carried Alex to Hampshire was packed and he was glad that Simon had reserved a seat for him. Many more senior officers glowered at him through the glazed panel in the door, expecting him to surrender his seat to them, but Alex remembered Charles’s assertiveness on their recent trip to Manchester and was not to be bullied. When the train arrived at Woking, most passengers detrained, those in naval uniform to catch a connexion to Portsmouth and those in army, to await the train to Aldershot. Now that the train was less cramped, a steward informed the remaining first-class passengers that the restaurant car was open for luncheon. Two of his fellow travellers in the compartment took up the offer, but Alex was not at all hungry. The train eventually arrived at Brockenhurst and Alex gathered his belongings and disembarked. Knowing that the branch line from Brockenhurst to Lymington had been commandeered for military goods use only, taking military freight to the pierhead at Lymington, Alex went in search of the car that he had been promised would await his arrival. The train was nearly an hour late and he wondered whether the driver would have got fed up waiting. But he need not have worried; sitting nonchalantly in the buffet, immaculately dressed and nonchalantly smoking a cigarette whilst idly leafing through a newspaper, he found Charles Phipps, .

‘Charles!’ Alex greeted him.

‘Hello, old boy, this really is a fine kettle of fish! I did not expect to see you again so soon and I hear from my sister that congratulations are in order. Well done, old chap. Conversely, I also hear that you have taken your eye off the ball. Tut, tut! Come on, car’s waiting,’ he gently chided.

The khaki Austin motorcar was waiting directly outside the station entrance, on the taxi-rank much to the annoyance of the local cabbies, ‘Oi! You need to get a proper job to park there!’ one shouted as they approached the car. Charles smiled at them and waved his swagger stick.

‘Making friends again, eh, McKenzie?’ he spoke to the driver, who smiled before pulling out of the station and turning right towards Lymington. Charles chatted to Alex on the short drive to the Grange and asked him all about Teddy. ‘Beattie says she’s adorable; hats-off, dear boy, hats-off… but if you want to see her again, forget about her until the job is done.’

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