Fall of Giants

“I expect you’re right,” said Maud with breathtaking insincerity.

They all left the library and crossed the hall. Walter opened the door to the drawing room. Lady Hermia went in first. As Maud followed, she met his eye. He raised his right hand, put the tip of his finger into his mouth, and sucked it.

{II}

This could not go on, Walter thought as he made his way back to the embassy. It was like being a schoolboy. Maud was twenty-three years old and he was twenty-eight, yet they had to resort to absurd subterfuges in order to spend five minutes alone together. It was time they got married.

He would have to ask Fitz’s permission. Maud’s father was dead, so her brother was the head of the family. Fitz would undoubtedly have preferred her to marry an Englishman. However, he would probably come around: he must be worrying that he might never get his feisty sister married off.

No, the major problem was Otto. He wanted Walter to marry a well-behaved Prussian maiden who would be happy to spend the rest of her life breeding heirs. And when Otto wanted something he did all he could to get it, crushing opposition remorselessly-which was what had made him a good army officer. It would never occur to him that his son had a right to choose his own bride, without interference or pressure. Walter would have preferred to have his father’s encouragement and support: he certainly did not look forward to the inevitable stand-up confrontation. However, his love was a force more powerful by far than filial deference.

It was Sunday evening, but London was not quiet. Although Parliament was not sitting, and the mandarins of Whitehall had gone to their suburban homes, politics continued in the palaces of Mayfair, the gentlemen’s clubs of St. James’s, and the embassies. On the streets Walter recognized several members of Parliament, a couple of junior ministers from Britain’s Foreign Office, and some European diplomats. He wondered whether Britain’s bird-watching foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, had stayed in town this weekend instead of going to his beloved country cottage in Hampshire.

Walter found his father at his desk, reading decoded telegrams. “This may not be the best time to tell you my news,” Walter began.

Otto grunted and carried on reading.

Walter plunged on. “I’m in love with Lady Maud.”

Otto looked up. “Fitzherbert’s sister? I suspected as much. You have my profound sympathy.”

“Be serious, please, Father.”

“No, you be serious.” Otto threw down the papers he was reading. “Maud Fitzherbert is a feminist, a suffragette, and a social maverick. She’s not a fit wife for anyone, let alone a German diplomat from a good family. So let’s hear no more of it.”

Hot words came to Walter’s lips, but he clenched his teeth and kept his temper. “She’s a wonderful woman, and I love her, so you’d better speak politely of her, whatever your opinions.”

“I’ll say what I think,” Otto said carelessly. “She’s dreadful.” He looked down at his telegrams.

Walter’s eye fell on the creamware fruit bowl his father had bought. “No,” he said. He picked up the bowl. “You will not say what you think.”

“Be careful with that.”

Walter had his father’s full attention now. “I feel protective of Lady Maud, the way you feel protective of this trinket.”

“Trinket? Let me tell you, it’s worth-”

“Except, of course, that love is stronger than the collector’s greed.” Walter tossed the delicate object into the air and caught it one-handed. His father let out an anguished cry of inarticulate protest. Walter went on heedlessly: “So when you speak insultingly of her, I feel as you do when you think I’m going to drop this-only more so.”

“Insolent pup-”

Walter raised his voice over his father’s. “And if you continue to trample all over my sensibilities, I will crush this stupid piece of pottery beneath my heel.”

“All right, you’ve made your point, put it down, for God’s sake.”

Walter took that for acquiescence, and replaced the ornament on a side table.

Otto said maliciously: “But there is something else you need to take into account… if I may mention it without treading on your sensibilities.”

“All right.”

“She is English.”

“For God’s sake!” Walter cried. “Well-born Germans have been marrying English aristocrats for years. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Queen Victoria-his grandson is now king of England. And the queen of England was born a Württemberg princess!”

Ottoraised his voice. “Things have changed! The English are determined to keep us a second-rate power. They befriend our adversaries, Russia and France. You would be marrying an enemy of your fatherland.”

Walter knew this was how the old guard thought, but it was irrational. “We should not be enemies,” he said in exasperation. “There’s no reason for it.”

“They will never allow us to compete on equal terms.”

“That’s just not true!” Walter heard himself shouting, and tried to be calmer. “The English believe in free trade-they allow us to sell our manufactures throughout the British Empire.”