Free Hollow Crown by David Roberts

impression. It would be the wrong impression,
wouldn’t it, Edward? I find I’ve been regretting all those missed opportunities in Africa. It was bliss, wasn’t it, darling?’
    Edward did not like the ‘darling’. He had not come to Haling to have an affair with Molly Harkness.
    ‘It was fun but we were all a bit younger then.’
    He couldn’t think why he had said that. It wasn’t what he had meant to say and it sounded rude. ‘I mean, you’re still deliriously young, but I’m . . . ’
    ‘Oh, do shut up, Edward. You know you only feel old when you want to.’ She drew him into the room, got into bed and insisted he sat on the edge of it, not in the chair he made for at
first. ‘I want you near me. We can’t talk about . . . intimate things if you’re the other side of the room.’
    He was now highly embarrassed. What if he was to start accusing her of theft and blackmail and she made a scene and screamed rape? He oughtn’t to be here. He got up, but she pulled him
down.
    ‘Darling Edward. You’re so good-looking and you think I’m just an old witch.’
    ‘No, no, of course not,’ he said desperately.
    ‘Well, if you haven’t come to make love to me what have you come for?’
    There was a hint of steel in her voice which gave him pause.
    ‘I . . . I was dining with Joe Weaver the other night and he . . . ’
    ‘Joe! He’s such a sweetie. Did he say anything about . . . ?’
    ‘He said you had run off with some letters belonging to Wallis Simpson. Is that true?’
    Molly wrapped her dressing gown round her with exaggerated care. ‘I hope you haven’t come to scold me, Edward. That would be so unlike you. You’re my friend – my closest
friend.’
    ‘I am your friend and that’s why I am trying to prevent you making the most awful fool of yourself. You did take the letters, then?’
    ‘What! You’re not some sort of policeman too, are you?’
    ‘No. Joe thought that, as a friend, I might be the best person to sort all this out before anyone had to resort to policemen.’
    Molly said nothing for a moment and Edward wondered what she had meant by asking if he was ‘some sort of policeman, too ’. He supposed there was never going to be a good time
to accuse her of theft but eleven thirty in her bedroom might very well be the worst. He wondered if she would deny having taken the letters or accuse him of betraying her.
    In the event she said, ‘I did take the letters.’ She spoke in a small, tight voice, close to a scream. He must try and calm her, he thought. It was like dealing with a wild animal,
small, unpredictable and with sharp claws.
    ‘But why? Why take them? Was it to embarrass Mrs Simpson?’
    ‘That woman!’ Molly spoke in a vehement hiss. ‘She’s evil. David loved me. He really loved me and she came and took him from me and now she’s going to ruin
him.’
    ‘From what I’ve heard,’ he said sourly, ‘I begin to wonder if he can love. He seems infatuated with Wallis but I’m not sure it’s love.’
    ‘He did love me. He’s a dear man. He wrote to me – lots and lots and I’ve got those letters. He’s never even asked for them back.’ She sounded puzzled,
insulted. ‘It was awful, Edward. I used to speak to him on the telephone several times a day and then one day they said he wasn’t at home, only I knew he was. And I never spoke to him
again.’
    ‘You mean, he never tried to explain or anything?’
    ‘No, he just wasn’t there. I couldn’t get near him. His secretary . . . his friends like Fruity Metcalfe just wouldn’t let me see him. It was her. I know it was her. She
told him to forget me and he did.’
    ‘Oh Molly,’ he said, getting up from the bed, ‘I’m so sorry. You must be very hurt but there’s nothing you can do. You’ve just got to accept that royals do
things differently.’
    It was lame. He knew it was lame but what could he say? She had been turned off without a word like a pregnant lady’s maid. Her lover’s conduct