End of Spies, Alex Gerlis [important of reading books txt] 📗

on the early-morning train from Lincoln to King’s Cross and Prince was trying to explain to his wife of less than a week why Tom Gilbey’s suggestion that the two of them come down to see him was a ‘summons’.

‘So it’s an order?’

‘Not as such, no.’

‘An invitation, then?’

‘Somewhere between an invitation and an order, but closer to an order.’

‘I don’t understand. Until I came to live here, I thought my English was very good, but…’

‘It is good, Hanne.’

‘But there’s so much I don’t seem to grasp. You call it nuance, don’t you?’

‘We do, though actually I think nuance is a French word originally. But I know what you mean. English is full of subtle meanings. We’re very good at understatement – for instance, if someone asks “How are you?” a response of “I’m not too bad, thank you” could either mean that you’re fine or that things aren’t good.’

Hanne shook her head and stared at the English countryside flying past. ‘So how do you know what they mean?’

‘You get used to it. An accompanying facial expression can make all the difference, and it also depends very much on who says it. You asked me the other day about the British class system, didn’t you?’

‘I asked you which class I’m now a member of.’

‘And I said middle class: my parents owned their own home, I – we – own ours, I have a senior job and I went to a grammar school. Tom Gilbey, on the other hand, belongs to what we’d call the upper class, and—’

‘Is that the highest class?’

‘Not as such; he’s not aristocracy, which is a whole different matter.’

‘So the king and queen – they’re upper class?’

‘This is where it gets very complicated, Hanne. They’re probably regarded as being in a class of their own.’

‘I don’t think I understand.’

‘Probably best not to try to: you’ll get used to it. But the point I’m trying to make is the fact that Tom Gilbey belongs to the upper class goes a long way to explaining how he treats people like us. Are you all right, Hanne? You look uncomfortable?’

‘I’m all right. These seats are hard to sit on, though.’

‘I know. But you’re not feeling too tired today?’

‘I’m feeling so much better, Richard. On days like today it feels as if I never had typhus. Carry on, you were telling me about Mr Gilbey’s class.’

‘The upper class tend to be from well-established families: they live in houses – especially in the country – that have been owned by their family for generations, and they would expect to pass them on to their children. They go to the same schools as each other and they benefit enormously from a network of acquaintances and friends from their school days. There’s something called the old boy network that tends to help them in their careers – as do family connections.’

‘It sounds corrupt.’

‘I suppose that’s just how it is. When Gilbey told me he’d been at school with the bishop, it didn’t surprise me in the least. The upper class marry people from similar families, and their lives are intertwined. They go to very select clubs that are in many ways an extension of their schools, right down to the food they eat in them. And more importantly, they live their lives through a sense of obligation: an obligation to maintain the status quo and to ensure good order in society, not least because they benefit so much from it. It’s as if society has been designed with them in mind, therefore they have a stake in defending and promoting it.’

‘But this is wrong, isn’t it, Richard? Surely people’s position in society should be based on their ability – that’s what happens in Denmark. You seem to just accept the situation.’

‘Perhaps one just gets used to it, darling. In any case, now that we have a Labour government, things may change, who knows?’

‘The new prime minister…’

‘Clement Attlee.’

‘…what class is he?’

‘I imagine he’s middle class. We’re not too far from London now, Hanne; you’ll see the city building up around us.’

‘What is that building?’

‘That’s Alexandra Palace. As I was saying, this sense of obligation extends to other people, the people the upper class would regard as being of an inferior class, although they’d never express it in those terms. They would consider it wrong, for instance, to be rude to people: they regard themselves as having obligations towards us and us as having obligations towards them. Have you heard the French phrase noblesse oblige?’

She shook her head.

‘Essentially it means that the nobility, the gentry and the upper class have an obligation to behave decently and properly. It recognises that their position in society comes with certain responsibilities.’

‘Just two words mean all that?’

Prince nodded. The noisy brakes indicated that the train was slowing down.

‘It wasn’t a phrase the French prisoners used at Ravensbrück.’

‘I wouldn’t imagine they had much cause to – I don’t think noblesse oblige applies to Germans, in any case. But it does go some way to explaining how Gilbey, for example, treats me: perfectly properly, probably somewhat patronisingly, but he has an expectation of how I should behave. He sees it as my – our – obligation or duty to serve this country, just as he does. He doesn’t need to order me to come and see him, but it is bred into him to ask in such a way that there’s an expectation I will.’

‘And what do you think he has in mind, Richard?’

‘I have no idea. The war’s over, after all.’

‘So we can always say no.’

Richard Prince looked at his wife as if she was being naïve. ‘I suppose we can,’ he said in a resigned manner, ‘in theory.’

Tom Gilbey couldn’t have been more charming. His manner was effortless and he came across as utterly sincere as he greeted Prince and Hanne like they were his own children returning after a lengthy absence.

In turn, they thanked him profusely for the Royal Doulton dinner service he’d given them as a wedding gift,