Garth of Tregillis (21 page)

Besides, I rather suspected that any revenge Melinda might execute would be rather on her own behalf than mine. The thing Melinda most dreaded was anyone coming between her and her beloved Uncle Garth.

‘Promise,’ I urged.

‘I’ll do my best—for your sake,’ she allowed grudgingly, ‘but I may be driven past endurance, you know.’

As I heard this I knew with a dreadful sinking feeling that Melinda was bent on mischief and that nothing I could do or say would stop her. I felt that she had determined on exacting some horrible revenge on Armanell and the idea that she would in some way involve me in this filled me with apprehension.

ONE afternoon a few days later I took the children to the Cove. We had planned a relaxing afternoon. Mrs. Kinnefer had been most gracious when the expedition had been mooted and had given orders that a picnic basket was to be prepared for us.

We set off in high good humour. There were deep pools amidst the rocks in which the children could paddle and search for crabs in safety and I found a place in the shade and, seated on a rug, became immersed in the book I had taken from the library. The sun danced on the waters and the sky was a vivid blue and the time passed all too quickly.

When the children became hungry we unpacked the hamper, Melinda showing an amusing gravity as she laid out a checked cloth on a flat rock and arranged the edibles with the care of a housewife.

The children were delighted with Mrs. Kinnefer’s selection: there were doughnuts and tiny jellies in little plastic dishes with snap lids; bottles of lightly coloured fizzy lemonade; gingerbread, Chocolate biscuits in the shape of matchstick men with tiny blobs of white icing for eyes and mouth; apples, oranges and bananas.

When the children had spooned up the last of the jellies, we packed the containers carefully into our picnic basket and the children resumed their operations. So far they hadn’t been very successful. A selection of rather diminutive crabs had been their booty. However, they began to search the pools on the opposite side of the cove and after warning them to be careful I settled down once again with my back to the rock and opened my book. The sun was warm on my face and soon the book dropped from my fingers as my thoughts drifted pleasantly towards the coming ball.

There was no use in denying how glad I was that Garth had invited me. I would buy a simply wonderful dress for the event, I told myself. Not of course that I could hope to outshine Armanell!

But it would be pleasant to emerge from the anonymity of being the governess, the colourless inhabitant of the schoolroom, high under the eaves. I lay back, my hands behind my head, staring at the blue sky, visualizing myself dancing in that glorious ballroom.

I was aroused from my state of euphoria by a piercing scream from Emile. He came stumbling towards me across the pebbles : he was crying out something unintelligible and pointing towards the rocks that jutted into the sea at the edge of the cove. But already I was on my feet and running as best I could on the treacherous slippery surface to where the cove curved out into the sea. Here the rocks were interspersed with tiny seaweed-filled pools and Melinda, jumping from point to point, must have slipped on the slimy rocks. I could see her head bobbing in the water as she struggled to gain a foothold. But it was a hopeless effort and as I sprang into the water I saw her hair, so much like blanched seaweed now, sink beneath the surface.

I swam as quickly as I could towards the spot where I had last seen her, but she was being drawn out with appalling swiftness into the bay. I swam desperately, summoning up all my skill, until at last I managed to catch hold of her dress. She fought wildly for a moment and then went limp and I realized that she was unconscious. In a way it was about the best thing that could have happened, for it enabled me to pull her back towards the shore without a wild and exhausting struggle.

It seemed ages before I was able to battle my way back with Melinda, but eventually I was able to reach up and catch at a jutting rock. I heaved her clear of the water with a strength born of fear, for I was nearly exhausted by the effort and I knew that if once I lost my grip I would be unable to battle against the currents that would draw me out.

I paused to draw breath before hauling myself up the side, and that one moment of relaxation was my undoing. A sudden wave crashed me forward, bruised and dazed, against the great boulder and then I felt myself being dragged helplessly by a strong current out into the bay. I felt panic as I saw the cove recede farther and farther. This was the bay Giles had drowned in. Garth had been right: all my skill was now nothing against these fierce overwhelming waters. I had a dreadful longing to let go, just to allow myself to sink into the merciless sea and to struggle no longer.

Then I heard a shout: it seemed to me to be Garth’s voice, but I decided that I must be imagining it. But it heartened me to make one last effort. Then suddenly he was beside me, holding me up and supporting me.

I don’t remember the return to the beach: it must have taken a long time, because I was too exhausted to do much for myself. I think I must have drifted into unconsciousness. But it was such a pleasant sensation that I longed for it to continue for ever. It seemed to me in my half dreaming state that Garth was bending over me, his hands gently smoothing back my sodden hair and in a voice low and tender, such as I had never heard him use before—not even to Armanell—he was calling me his little Judith, murmuring soft endearments so that it seemed I was high on a rapturous cloud of bliss.

‘But I’m not little, you know: in fact, I’m quite tall,’ I heard myself saying with an air of extreme reasonableness.

Then I opened my eyes and found myself staring up into Garth’s face. With a sob of disappointment I realized that my dream had come to an end. My rapturous cloud was bumping unpleasantly on the terra firma of reality, for Garth’s face was no longer close to mine: he had straightened as he saw my return to consciousness and the glance he was giving me was anything but lover-like. I felt extremely foolish as I remembered my remark about not being little, but he made no reference to it and I hoped against hope that he hadn’t heard me.

‘Why did you let Melinda go so near the water when you know what a little crackpot she is?’ he demanded gruffly.

‘Melinda!’ I shot upright as memory returned. ‘Where is she? Is she all right?’

He pushed me back, none too gently. ‘Take it easy. Paul has taken her and Emile up to the house. There’s nothing wrong with her, except that she’s extremely wet and frightened which, for her, is not exactly a bad thing. And now we’ll have to get you back to the house.’

In spite of my objections he picked me up and carried me towards the house and as he climbed the short path leading upwards from the cove I knew that I was far too exhausted to do anything for myself and was amazed to see how fresh Garth seemed.

There was a diversion as we were about to enter the house: Armanell came down the steps and moved towards Garth’s big black saloon, parked near the doorway. She was dressed in her favourite white and with her skilful make-up carefully applied looked like a figure out of a fairy-tale.

Her jaw dropped as She saw Garth, his clothes dripping salt water, carrying me in his arms towards the house. ‘What on earth is going on?’ she demanded in no very sympathetic tone of voice.

Garth ignored her, carried me in and laid me on a settle in the hall. Then he turned to Mrs. Kinnefer, who had materialized—as she always did when there was any contretemps, just as if she knew by some spiritual sympathy every crisis that went on in the big house.

Everyone in the house seemed to be gathered around me at that moment; Paul and Mrs. Kinnefer, Melinda and Emile, with Hilda and Bessie and some of the other maids and Wilson hovering in the background: even Eunice was there, come down from her eyrie in the roof. And now Armanell followed us into the house.

For a moment I felt astonishment as I saw that Melinda was sobbing. ‘You’re all right, aren’t you? Oh, I couldn’t bear it if you died!’

I must have fainted then, because I remember nothing more until I came to in my own bed. Mrs. Kinnefer was fussing around with hot water bottles. Garth was leaning over my bed anxiously and to my surprise I glimpsed Armanell hovering in the doorway.

She came a few steps into the room. ‘Does this mean that our outing is off?’ she asked a trifle plaintively.

Garth turned an exasperated face towards her. ‘We’re certainly not going off until we know if Judith is all right,’ he said shortly.

‘Do you think I’m in any mood to enjoy a party immediately after Judith was nearly drowned rescuing that child Melinda? If it hadn’t been for the accident of Eunice seeing the whole thing from her study, we should certainly not have known what was happening until it was too late.’

‘I’m sorry, Garth. I’m afraid that was selfish of me,’ Armanell said submissively. ‘You go and change now and I’ll take care of her. I’ll see that everything is done to make her comfortable.’

She came towards my bed, took a chair near me and, after a moment’s hesitation, Garth went out, saying, ‘I’ll call in later and see how you’re getting on, Judith.’

As long as Mrs. Kinnefer and Hilda were fussing about, Armanell was all solicitude, but when eventually we were left alone her expression changed abruptly. ‘So you’ve managed to make yourself the centre of attention once more,’ she said acidly. ‘Do you realize that we were just driving off to a party when you created all that stir and now I’m cooped up in the house for the rest of the evening. For a governess you certainly manage to make plenty of impact.’

‘You don’t think I jumped into the sea just to spoil your evening?’ I gasped. Her accusation had brushed away the last of the shock I had suffered over the events in the cove. I was wide awake now and very angry. ‘Do you realize that Melinda was drowning?’

‘This is not the first occasion you have spoiled for me,’ she continued, ignoring this. ‘There was the day I arrived and you put that horrible child Melinda up to ruining my frock and making a nuisance of herself. Afterwards Garth told me that he had given you specific instructions to keep her in the schoolroom and not on any account to let her come down to meet me.’

‘You don’t think I put myself out to be obnoxious?’ I protested.

‘I don’t go so far as to say you do these things to plan—let’s just say that they’re an extraordinary coincidence. You seem to be very adept at creating scenes of chaos. You also manage to be very successful in keeping yourself in the forefront when Garth is around.’

‘But it wasn’t my fault,’ I insisted. ‘How could I help it if Melinda slipped into the water? Surely I’m not to blame.’

‘It is most certainly your fault,’ she retorted. ‘Why don’t you keep a closer eye on the children? If you had really been attending to your duties Melinda would not have fallen into the sea. I suppose you were daydreaming and paying no attention to what the children were doing. Sheltering behind Melinda’s naughtiness is a very convenient cover-up for your own hatred of me.’

‘How can you say such things?’ I protested.

‘You hate me because you’re in love with Garth and you’re doing everything in your power to attract his notice away from me to yourself; making yourself a little heroine by rescuing the child!’

I gazed at her in silence. So my love for Garth was so noticeable that she was able to accuse me of it! I must be more careful in future, I told myself. But then the shock of the near drowning had caught me off guard. Then there had been those tender words of Garth’s in the cove as he bent over me—or had I just imagined them? I had been too confused and exhausted at the time to think clearly. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking on my part.

It was then that Eunice came in and Armanell, making no pretence of her relief at getting away, took the opportunity to leave me ‘in Eunice’s hands’ as she expressed it.

‘Well, you’re certainly lucky to be alive,’ Eunice said abruptly as the door closed behind Armanell. ‘That was the cove Giles was drowned in. Not many people who are swept out in those currents live to tell the story. You owe your life to my snooping. If I hadn’t been watching through my binoculars you wouldn’t have stood a chance. I ran downstairs and caught Garth just in time. A little later and he would have driven off with Armanell and there would have been no swimmer here strong enough to get you back. Poor Paul would have been no more than a matchstick in those waters.’

I was by then sufficiently recovered to realize clearly the danger I had been in and to be grateful for my escape.

‘However, that’s not what I came in to talk about,’ Eunice went on. ‘I’ve come to speak about something very different.’ She paused as though considering, then said abruptly, ‘I want to warn you against Garth, Judith. At first I didn’t think it would be necessary, but now I see that it’s imperative.’

‘What?’ I sat up straighter against the pillows heaped behind my back. ‘What do you mean, warn me against Garth?’

She stood up abruptly, moved to my dressing-table and began to crash about amongst my make-up bottles. She sprayed skin-freshener on her weathered face, and the knowledge that her mind was miles away and that she was giving herself time to pick her words filled me with apprehension. My room was full of the scent of French almond as she once more approached my bed, plumped herself down on a chair, and said abruptly, ‘You’re in love with Garth: I could see it so plainly by the way you looked up at him as he carried you into the house: That’s why I must put you on your guard.’