“Williams, stop!” Eve said suddenly. “I need to buy flowers for the warrior’s grave.” He pulled to the curb and Eve darted from the car, returning with a colorful bouquet from one of the vendors. A few minutes later, they got out by a small park across from Westminster Abbey. Eve stared up at the two enormous spires as if frozen in place. “It’s beautiful!” she murmured. “Like it’s made of lace!”
The inside was even more magnificent. A forest of pillars supported the soaring ceiling while light from above flooded the space. A towering stained-glass window sprinkled jewels at their feet. “I feel so small,” Audrey whispered.
“I know. This must be what heaven is like.”
Miss Blake led the way as they wandered through chapels and alcoves with ornately carved tombs and past the sepulchers of kings and queens who’d died centuries earlier. Eve grew somber as they walked through the vast, silent space, pausing to view the chancel and high altar, then turning to walk down the broad central aisle to the Unknown Warrior’s resting place. In the center of the aisle, a dark rectangle of stone lay flush with the abbey floor, marking the simple grave. Tears flowed down Eve’s face as she knelt to place the flowers on it. Audrey was only able to read some of the words engraved on the plaque before Eve’s flowers blocked the view:
BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY
OF A BRITISH WARRIOR
UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK . . .
THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY
MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914–1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT
MAN CAN GIVE, LIFE ITSELF . . .
THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE
HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD
HIS HOUSE.
In the hush of the vast space, she heard Eve talking softly and leaned closer to listen. “I never got to meet you, Daddy, but your friends told me all about you. Mum loves you very much and I love you, too.” She rested her palm on the black stone. “Mum works very hard. And she still loves you, Daddy. Williams asked her to the cinema but Mum says she’ll never love anyone else.”
Audrey recalled another line of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry: “。 . . and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” She felt empty inside, knowing her own parents had never loved each other the way Eve’s had. They didn’t even seem to like each other much.
“I hope you’re happy up in heaven, Daddy . . .” Eve’s voice broke. “Give Granny Maud a big hug for me . . .” She lowered her head and covered her face as she wept.
Audrey started forward to comfort her, but Miss Blake stopped her. An unfamiliar emotion stirred inside Audrey, and she was surprised to discover that it was jealousy. How she envied Eve Dawson! In spite of her hard life as a servant, Eve probably never felt the aching loneliness that filled most of Audrey’s days. And Eve’s parents loved her and loved each other. Tears of grief filled Audrey’s eyes, not for Eve but for herself. She would gladly trade everything she owned to be her.
At last Eve stood and wiped her tears. She looked sad and broken and drained of strength. Audrey remembered the strawberries and wished she had a pocketful to cheer Eve. “Thank you for bringing me here,” Eve said. “I’ve wanted to come all my life.”
“You’re welcome. Are you ready to leave?”
Eve nodded. But she turned to look over her shoulder at the grave one last time before they walked outside into the sunlight.
“Let’s go see Buckingham Palace next,” Audrey said. She had to squint in the bright sunlight as they crossed several bustling streets and entered St. James’s Park. The path took them alongside a lagoon where children waded near the edge and ducks floated on the tranquil surface. Trees muted some of the city noises, but Audrey missed the peaceful grounds of Wellingford Hall. Nobody spoke as they walked the length of the park and emerged into the broad square in front of Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial.
“The king’s palace is enormous, isn’t it?” Audrey asked. “Dozens of people could live inside and never run into each other.”
“The king must need hundreds of servants,” Eve said.
They peered past the golden crests on the iron gates and saw the king’s guards in their red coats and bearskin hats. Eve still seemed subdued. Audrey longed to cheer her but didn’t know how. “Are you ready for tea at Fortnum & Mason?” she asked.
Eve shook her head. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to the town house.”