Rule Britannia Read Online Free PDF Page B

a theater gallery.
    “Sorry, ma’am, I can only inform you that there is a state of emergency throughout the country. Keep tuned in to your local radio or television station. They should be on the air within the hour. Thank you, ma’am.”
    He clicked his heels, then turned and walked down the path, shutting the gate behind him, and walked smartly up the drive towards the main road. His companions-at-arms had all disappeared in the same direction.
    “What does he mean, a state of emergency?” asked Emma.
    “Just that,” said Mad dryly. “Go and make me a cup of coffee, and tell Dottie to carry on with breakfast. It’s exactly 9:35. If that man knew what he was talking about, there may be some announcement at ten o’clock. Switch the radio on in the kitchen, just before the hour. I’ll do the same with the television. If there’s anything doing I’ll give you and the boys a shout. This is something we’ve all got to share, children and adults alike.”
    Emma was without appetite, even for cereal. She could not forget the sight of the frightened dog turning at bay, then becoming instantly—nothing. The line upon line of men advancing up the hill. Sam’s state of shock…
    Breakfast was proceeding in the kitchen, but the atmosphere was tense. Terry, sullen because of Mad’s brush-off, wore his moody expression, his handsome face dark with resentment. Andy, banished without explanation from the room he shared with Sam, was plainly upset. Dottie, seated at the head of the table, wore her set look. Emma leaned over to the kitchen radio and switched it on. They were playing “Land of Hope and Glory.”
    “Mad thinks there will be some announcement at ten o’clock,” she said. “The soldier who brought Sam back told her to keep tuned in. He said there was a state of emergency throughout the country, and everyone has got to stay indoors.”
    Now I am being calm, she thought, now I’m the one in charge. It’s like being deputy for Mad, but not in the ordinary way of every day. This is crisis.
    “State of emergency?” questioned Dottie, her mouth agape. “Does it mean we’re at war?”
    “I don’t know. The soldier didn’t say. He was American, by the way.”
    “A Yank?” Terry, roused from his sullen mood, sprang to his feet. “Do you mean they were all Yanks there on the main road by the barricade? Well, what the hell were they doing? I mean, if the Russians land what’s the bloody use of a roadblock? It wouldn’t stop me, let alone a lot of Russkies.”
    “It would stop you if the Yank on the other side of the barricade had a gun.”
    Andy’s interruption was to the point, and for a moment Terry looked discomfited.
    “Well, but why should a bloody Yank raise a gun at me?” he queried. “I wouldn’t be doing anything.”
    “You might be running away,” said Andy, “like Spry.”
    There was sudden silence. Everyone, in his or her separate way, was reminded of the morning’s unhappy incident. Even Colin looked thoughtful. When Joe had whispered to him, on his way upstairs with Sam, that there had been an accident, and the farm dog had been hurt, he hadn’t connected it with the roar of planes and Terry’s excited chatter about soldiers.
    “Emmie,” he said slowly, “do you mean that some American soldier carrying a gun has been and shot at Spry?”
    Andy answered for her. “Yes,” he said, “and what’s more, shot him dead.”
    “It was an accident,” said Emma hastily, “the soldier came to apologize.”
    “The question is, if we’re none of us supposed to go out and the telephone’s not working, how about letting Mr. Trembath know?” asked Terry. “He’ll be terribly upset, so will they all, especially Myrtle.” Myrtle was fifteen, and Terry’s girl of the moment. “Tell you what, I can slip down across the field, it won’t take five minutes.”
    “No,” said Emma, “no…” Terry stared at her defiantly, then stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and kicked at the