Maynard's War Chapter 5
Something to celebrate at last
Thanks for reading Maynard’s War. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. Chapter 6 will be available next Sunday, 19th January at 11am. Please do share with anyone you think might be interested. It’s the best way to grow my readership and it takes no time at all to hit like and restack. Thanks, Mark.
January 2015
To a passing stranger Keynes might have appeared to own the whole of Regent Street as he stood outside the Café Royal.
He had arrived rather earlier than was sensible given the freezing weather but he barely noticed the chill wind. Tonight he would host the perfect celebratory dinner before returning to Gordon Square for a party at least equal to his achievement in succeeding, finally, in securing a permanent position at the Treasury. His appointment had only been confirmed the previous afternoon, so he was delighted so many of his friends had been able to make dinner, and that the Café Royal had been able to accommodate them at such short notice.
Everything was in place. He had consulted the maître d'hôtel and was pleased to discover the war hadn’t yet had any discernible effect on the menu. Having visited the cavernous wine cellar on a number of occasions, he reckoned hostilities would have to last twenty years, with supply routes to Bordeaux completely cut off, before the exceptional wine list would be diminished. Some people dared suggest that other establishments had built collections to surpass it, but in Keynes’ opinion the Café Royal still had the greatest wine cellar in the world, and tonight he was determined to disinter some of its finest examples.
He saw the Bells walking up from Piccadilly Circus. They looked happy, her arm in his. These days they were mostly happy, and this pleased him. It had been a difficult couple of years for everyone while they had sorted out the precise nature of their marriage after Clive’s affair with Virginia.
Keynes was happy to use the word ‘affair’ because no other existed to accurately describe the peculiar goings-on between Clive and his sister-in-law which had very nearly ended his marriage to Vanessa. In Keynes’ opinion, only Vanessa came out of the whole thing well. He had made the mistake of saying as much one evening when Clive’s behaviour was particularly tiresome. Not that Vanessa needed defending; she was several times the person Clive would ever be. He was pleased to count her among his most dependable friends. “Maynard, darling,” she said as they greeted each other, “what wonderful news, congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he replied, bending over to kiss her.
“Yes, well done old chap,” Clive said, shaking Keynes by the hand. “No more than you deserve.”
“Thank you Clive. Now, shall we go in?”
They made their way to the lounge to wait for the others. Clive commented on the champagne and Keynes was delighted when he failed to pick the vintage.
The other guests soon arrived, including Duncan Grant with his new friend, a man called Garnett who went by the name of ‘Bunny’. On their way down to the dining room, Vanessa asked if she could be seated next to Bunny. Keynes readily agreed, although Vanessa was less than pleased when, because of the order in which the other guests had seated themselves, he was only able to achieve this by seating her one side of Bunny, while Duncan sat on the other. Keynes found himself a place across the table, directly opposite Vanessa.
It was three years since his relationship with Duncan had come to an end; an unsatisfactory one from his point of view, not just because he was deeply in love with him, but because there was never a definitive end to it. He had been aware of Duncan’s waning affection, but it was only when Lytton Strachey had told him of Duncan’s affair with his brother, James, and he had subsequently heard from Vanessa of her suspicions about her brother, Adrian, that the sky had fallen in. He was grateful to Lytton for saving him further embarrassment, though the irony of the situation was lost on neither of them, as it was Lytton who had been abandoned by Duncan when he and Keynes had first got together.
For a while it seemed his friendship with Lytton might not survive it all, but relations were soon repaired, and now, as Lytton was quick to point out, they had something else in common: they had both been thrown over by Duncan, they were both still hopelessly in love with him, and there was no chance of their feelings ever being reciprocated.
They assumed that Duncan, who was apparently able to make any man fall in love with him, would work his way through all the men in their extended circle regardless of their professed sexual orientation. Keynes had been surprised, therefore, to have learned that Duncan had unintentionally acquired a determined female suitor: none other than Vanessa. He felt very protective towards Vanessa and was concerned at what she might be letting herself in for.
He looked at them across the table. Vanessa was trying to draw out Bunny, who looked rather uncomfortable. Keynes suspected he was unused to such company. Duncan, by contrast, appeared thoroughly relaxed as he chatted away to Morgan Forster. It occurred to Keynes that the uncertainties of wartime would likely propel these people, whose judgment about relationships was unsound at the best of times, into involvements that could prove disastrous.
Dinner passed off without incident and even Bunny, who proved to have a healthy appetite for champagne, eventually warmed up. After dinner, Keynes gave a short address thanking his friends for their support when things hadn’t seemed to be going his way. He reminded them they were all were invited to Vanessa’s party which would convene at around 11pm. On the way out he asked Vanessa if she’d return the earlier favour.
With Vanessa having frogmarched Bunny into her cab for the journey back to Gordon Square, Keynes had no problem arranging that he and Duncan would travel back together.
“You managed to get me to yourself then?” Duncan observed as he took his seat in the back of the cab.
“Well, I paid for dinner. I therefore lay claim to you for the next fifteen minutes.”
“Don’t get me wrong, Maynard, it is very good to see you. We never seem to get enough time.”
“I suppose I haven’t been around much.”
“But you will be now. Bloody good champagne by the way.”
“Young Garnett seemed to enjoy it.”
“I wondered how long it would take you to move the conversation in that direction.”
“I didn’t realise you were no longer seeing Adrian. I thought you and he had become more or less permanent.”
“I seem to have become a bit unconventional for Adrian’s tastes.”
“It’s taken him long enough to come to that conclusion. I can’t believe he’s engaged to Karin Costello.”
“Of course, you know her, don’t you?”
“Yes, well I’ve met her a few times. What on earth can have possessed Adrian?”
“He wanted to settle down with a woman, has for some time apparently.”
“I can certainly see Karin as the settling down sort. Still, it’s an interesting choice.”
“It’s not what I would have chosen, but then Adrian doesn’t compare to either of his sisters.”
“So, you find yourself unattached?”
“I suppose I do, yes.”
“And Garnett?”
“Just friends. He’s much younger than us.”
“He looks it.”
“Maynard, if this is another of your attempts to rekindle our relationship, I’m sorry, but I have moved on. I value our friendship greatly, but that’s all it is now. I’ve been perfectly honest with you.”
“You have been honest Duncan, but I don’t seem able to move on the way you have. And, well, you’ve never given me a reason.”
“That’s because I don’t have a reason. When we were together I wanted to be with you.”
“Not towards the end you didn’t.”
“What can I say? People change. I changed. I’m not the person you fell in love with. You’re not the person I fell in love with. It would be so much easier if you could just move on.”
“It certainly looks like you’re moving on pretty quickly.”
“I told you, Bunny and I are just friends. Now for crying out loud,” he said, pulling down the window, “can’t we talk about something else? I’m suffocating in here.”
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