Kirkland Revels (7 page)

” I am sure I shall enjoy old customs very much ” ” I hope so. When there are traditions …” 42 1 fancied her voice was a little sardonic and I wondered whether she was suggesting that I could not possibly under stand the traditions which belonged to a family such as theirs.

Ruth’s cool welcome was increasing my apprehension and I wondered afresh what Gabriel’s reason had been for withholding the news of our marriage.

A manservant appeared, to ask about our luggage, and Gabriel said: “

Take it up to my room, William.”

” Aye, master,” was the answer.

He mounted the stairs with my trunk on his shoulder and Gabriel took my arm and we followed him. Ruth came after us and I could feel her eyes on my back, taking in every detail. I was never more pleased with Uncle Dick than at the moment. My smart travelling costume of dark blue gaberdine gave me confidence.

At the top of the flight of stairs was a door and Gabriel said: “

That’s the door to the minstrels’ gallery.” I hoped he would throw it open and that I should see whether someone were there, because I was certain that I had seen a movement in the gallery, and I wondered what member of the household had preferred to hide there to take a glimpse of me instead of coming down to welcome me.

It was a wide staircase of great beauty, but in the light of oil-lamps it seemed full of shadows. I had an uncanny feeling as I went up that all the members of this family who had lived in the house over the last three hundred years were watching me with disapproval the girl whom Gabriel had brought into the house without consulting his family.

” My rooms,” Gabriel told me, ” are at the top of the house. It’s a long climb.”

” Will you keep those rooms now that you have a wife?” asked Ruth from behind me.

” I certainly shall. Unless of course Catherine does not like them.”

” I feel sure I shall.”

” There are others to choose from if you are not satisfied,” Ruth told me.

We had climbed to the second floor when a young man appeared. He was tall and slim and very like Ruth. He had cried: ” Are they here yet.

Mother? What’s she . ” before he saw us. He paused, not in the least embarrassed, laughing at himself, while his eyes went to me.

” This is Luke … my nephew,” said Gabriel.

” My son,” murmured Ruth. 43 “I am delighted to meet you,” I said, and held out my hand.

He took it and bowed over it so that a lock of his long fair hair fell forward over his face.

” The delight then is mutual,” he said with a faint drawl. ” It’s amusing to have a wedding in the family.”

He was very like his mother, and that meant that he was like Gabriel too. The same rather prominent, aristocratic features, the delicate fairness, the almost languid air.

” What do you’ think of the house?” he asked eagerly.

” She has been in it less than ten minutes and has not seen a tenth of it and what she has seen has not been in day light,” his mother reminded him.

” To-morrow I will take you on a tour of inspection,” he promised me, and I thanked him.

He bowed once more and stood aside for us to pass; but when we went on he joined the procession and accompanied us to the rooms on the third floor which I gathered had always been Gabriel’s.

We came to a circular gallery, and the feeling that I was being watched was stronger than ever; for here were the family portraits, life-sized; three or four roze-quartz lamps were burning and in this dim light the figures had the appearance of reality.

” Here we are,” said Gabriel, and I felt the pressure on my arm; I heard Friday in his basket then; he whimpered faintly as though reminding me of his presence. I believed that Friday sensed my moods and knew that I felt as though I were being enclosed in an alien prison, and that I was resented here. Of course, I reminded myself, it was due to the fact that we had arrived in the twilight. It would have been quite different if we had come on a bright and sunny morning.

There was too much atmosphere in these ancient houses ; and at nightfall the shadows came to plague those whose imaginations were too vivid. I was in an extraordinary position. I was eventually to be the mistress of this house, and three days ago no one in it had been aware of my existence. No wonder I was resented.

I shook off the uncanny feeling, turned my back on the portraits and followed Gabriel through a door on the right and into a corridor. We went along this until we came to a door which Gabriel threw open. I gave a gasp of pleasure for I was standing on the threshold of a charming room. The 44 heavy red damask curtains had been drawn across the windows; a fire was burning m the big open fireplace and, on the mantelpiece which was of beautifully carved white marble, candles in gleaming silver candlesticks were burning and throwing a soft light about the room. I saw the four-poster bed with the curtains to match those at the windows, the tall boy, the chairs with tapestry backs worked in gold and red; there were red rugs which seemed to be flecked with gold, and the general effect was of warmth. On a table was a bowl of red roses.

Gabriel looked at them and flushed. Then he said: ” Thank you, Ruth.”

” There was too little time to do much.”

” This is a beautiful room,” I said.

She nodded.

“It’s a pity you, can’t see the view from the window.”

” She will in an hour or so,” put in Gabriel. ” The moon will be up then.”

I felt my fears evaporating.

” I’m going to leave you now,” said Ruth. “‘ll1 have hot water sent up; and could you be ready to dine in three- quarters of an hour?”

I said we could; and she and Luke left us. As the door shut on them Gabriel and I looked at each other in silence.

Then Gabriel said: “What’s wrong, Catherine? You don’t like it, do you?”

” It’s so magnificent,” I began. ” I didn’t imagine …” Then I could not restrain my resentment. ” Why on earth didn’t you tell them you were getting married?”

He flushed and looked distressed, but I was determined to know the truth.

” Well, I didn’t want any fuss….”

“Fuss!” I interrupted.

“But I thought you went back to tell them.”

” So I did.”

” And you found you couldn’t … when it came to the point?”

“There might have been opposition. I didn’t want that.”

” You mean they wouldn’t have thought me worthy to marry into their family?” I knew that my eyes were flashing;

[ was both angry and miserable; this was such a disappointing beginning to my life in this house. I was hurt with Gabriel, and very depressed because I was realising that the fact that 45 my marriage had to be kept a secret until it was a fait accompli meant I was not going to live on very easy terms with my new family.

” Good heavens, no!” cried Gabriel emphatically. He caught me by the shoulders, but somewhat impatiently I freed myself. ” They’ll be delighted … once they know you. They don’t like change, though.

You know what families are. “

” No,” I retorted, ” I don’t. And they are distressed, which is natural. The idea of having me suddenly produced as a new member of the family 1 I can understand how they feel.”

” But you don’t understand, Catherine,” Gabriel said pleadingly.

“Then tell me,” I flashed at him.

“Explain. Why does there have to be this mystery?”

He looked very unhappy. ” But there is no mystery. It’s simply that I didn’t tell them. I didn’t want fuss and bother. [ wanted to marry you as quickly as possible so that we could be together and make the most of all the time that’s left.”

When he spoke like that all my anger disappeared. Thai softness, that desire to make him happy because he was afraid of something in life (perhaps it was of death) enveloped me. It was because of this desire that I had married him. I vaguely understood then that he was afraid of something in this house, and that he wanted an ally. I was to be that ally. I knew because, although I had been in Kirkland Revels less tuan half an hour, I was catching that fear.

” Friday’s still in his basket,” I said.

” I’ll take him outside.” He opened the basket and Friday jumped out, barking his pleasure to be free. There was a knock and I turned sharply for the sound did not come from the door by which we had entered. I noticed then that there were two doors in this room.

A voice in a broad Yorkshire accent said: “Hot water, master.”

The door was shut before I had a chance to see the owner of the voice.

“That’s the old powder-closet,” said Gabriel, indicating the door. ” I use it for my ablutions. You’ll find it useful. Lock both doors before you disrobe. One of the servants might come in.”

He fastened the leash on Friday. ” You don’t want to lose yourself on your first evening, Friday,” he said. And when he had gone I went into the powder-closet and there I saw the big hip-bath, the cans of hot water, the soap and towels. A big 46 iniiror in an ornate gilded frame was fixed to the wall, and attached to this frame were two gilded candlesticks in which candles burned.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes appeared to be more green than usual, and I found that they quickly strayed from my reflection and were looking over my shoulder, probing the shadowy corners of the powder-room.

Old houses in twilight. Was it possible that in such places the presence of those long dead lingered?

What ridiculous thoughts for a sensible young Yorkshire woman to entertain.

I took off my costume and began to wash the stain of travel from my person. To-morrow, in daylight, I should laugh at nay fancies.

We dined that night in a pleasant room on the first floor.

Gabriel had explained that on ceremonial occasions dinner was served in the hall. That was because the hall had been used for that purpose when the house had been built. ” The refectory table down there is as old as the house itself. But we have a small and more comfortable dining-room for the family,” he added.

It was a large room by Glen House standards; the curtains were drawn when I entered and there were candles on the table. I could see that living here was going to be a somewhat formal affair.

There were six of us at dinner. This was the family. Ruth and Luke I had already met. I now encountered Gabriel’s father. Sir Matthew Rockwell, and his aunt. Miss Sarah Rockwell; they both seemed very old, being in their eighties As soon as I met Sir Matthew I began to feel happier because he was quite obviously pleased to see me. He had been very tall but stooped a little; his hair was plentiful and quite white; his face was ruddy but too much of the port wine shade to be healthy; and his blue eyes, embedded so deeply in folds of flesh that they had almost disappeared, were bright—one might say jaunty.

” Gabriel’s lucky to have such a beautiful wife,” he said. Surely this was flattery for I was not beautiful and could not seem so even to old men of eighty. He kept my hand in his and then kissed it lingeringly.

I guessed that he was not too old for gallantry; he gave the impression that he had enjoyed his life and hoped the young members of his family would follow his example.

” You must sit beside me,” he said. ” I want to look at you and hear you tell me what you think of your new family.”

So I sat beside him at the dinner table and every now and then he would lean towards me and pat my hand.

Aunt Sara was quite different although I recognised the Rockwell features and fairness. Her blue eyes were vacant and she had an air of strain as though she were desperately trying to understand what was going on about her and could not quite catch up with it all.

I imagined her to be even older than her brother.

” Sarah,” shouted Sir Matthew, ” this is my new daughter.”

Sarah nodded and gave him a smile that was sweet in its innocence. I wished I had met these older people first. Then I should have felt I was being warmly welcomed. ” What is your name?” she asked.

” Catherine,” I told her.

She nodded; and whenever I looked up, I found her eyes upon me.

Sir Matthew wanted to hear about our meeting and the suddenness of our decision to marry. I told him about Friday.

” Gipsies,” he said. ” They can be brutal to their animals. I won’t have them on my land. I must say it was a lucky day for Gabriel when he rode that way.”

Luke said: ” He was always going away … riding off … and we never knew when he was coming back.”

” Why not?” said Gabriel. ” It’s the way to take a holiday. I hate making plans. You anticipate the pleasures of getting away and it invariably disappoints. No. Go as the spirit moves you … that’s my motto.”

“And look how well it turned outi” pointed out Sir Matthew, smiling at me.

” I must show Claire my tapestry. She’d like to see it,” said Sara.

There was a brief silence. Then Ruth said quietly: ” This is Catherine, Aunt. Not Claire.”

” Of course … of course …” murmured Sara. ” Are you interested in tapestry, dear?”

” I admire it, but I don’t excel at it. I’m not very handy with my needle.”

” I should think not,” retorted Sir Matthew. ” You don’t want to strain those fine eyes of yours.” He leaned towards me, his hand caressing mine. ” My sister is a bit forgetful. She wanders at times into the past.” He grimaced. ” No longer young … like myself alas!” 48 They talked of the house, of the country surrounding it, of the stables which I was glad to hear were well stocked of their neighbours, friends, county hunts and life generally in Kirkland Moorside; and I felt then that they were doing their best to make me welcome, and that perhaps it was the strangeness of Gabriel which had made me doubt this in the beginning.

Ruth said that before the end of the week there would be a dinner party to celebrate our marriage, and that she would have arranged it for this evening had there been time.

” There are certain people you must meet,” she said. ” They will be most eager to meet you.”

“Whom do you propose to ask?” Gabriel put in quickly.

“Well … Simon, I suppose. After all, he’s part of the family. We shall have to ask Hagar too, but I doubt whether she’ll come. And I thought perhaps the vicar and his wife, and of course the Smiths.”