Lord of the Far Island (19 page)

There was a shuffling of chairs and everyone did the same. Hot soup was served to us at the table and afterwards the huge bowl was carried to the long table and those there were helped from it.

hat do you think of it?Jago whispered to me.

t incredible. I never imagined anything like it.

He patted my hand.

t for you,he said. o show you how we can do things herend to let you know how glad we are to have you.

hank you,I answered. ou are so kind to me. I have never had such a welcome in the whole of my life.

hen our purpose is served.

The soup was excellent and followed by venison and as I listened to the musicians softly playing I thought that this hall could not have looked very different three hundred years ago.

Jenifry sat on Jago left hand and Gwennol was beside me. I noticed several people from the long table taking surreptitious glances at me, and I wondered what they were thinking about all this ceremony. But it occurred to me that they were probably used to it. This was confirmed by Jago.

hristmas is the time when we can really go back to the old ways,he said. hen the hall is decorated with holly and ivy, and the carol singers and mummers perform here. It been a custom of the family for centuries.

can see you enjoy carrying on old customs,I said.

e all do, don we?he replied; and Jenifry and Gwennol agreed with him.

e are trying to discover the exact age of the castle,Jenifry went on. f course the place has been added to over the years. It was originally merely a fortress to protect the Island, and very uncomfortable it must have been in those days, until it was made more like a residence. Gwennol very interested, aren you, Gwennol?

iving here, it grows on you,Gwennol explained to me. ou discover some new aspect of the place and then you start trying to find out during what period it had been put there.

oul be the same,Jago said to me, nce you start getting the feel of the place. I want to show you the Island myself. Tomorrow wel explore. You ride, I know.

h yes. We used to ride in the Row when we were in London. In the country, of course, I rode a good deal.

hat good. It saves us the trouble of having to teach you. We must choose the right horse for you.

shall enjoy it.

hat what we want, isn it?said Jago, appealing to the women. e want you to enjoy being here so much that you won want to leave us.

t early days to say that,I reminded him. ou know what is said about guests.

o. You tell me.

hat it wonderful to have them for a few days, but if they overstay their welcome you can wait to see them gone.

oue not a guest, Ellen. Youe family. Isn that so?

f course it is,replied Jenifry.

ell me more about the Island,I said. eager to explore it.

ou won feel cut off,said Jago. t big enough to prevent that.

here are times though,put in Gwennol, hen it impossible to get to the mainland.

nd that,added Jenifry, an last for days perhaps weeks.

Jago cut her short. llen knows that. Wasn she held up at Polcrag Inn waiting for a boat? People here don feel theye missing anything by not being able to reach the mainland. We can live without that. We have the local inn. People come and stay there to get away from the mainland.

hey only have four bedrooms for guests and theye rarely occupied,Gwennol said. t really a sort of public house where people go to drink and sing and find company.

o much the better,said Jago. e don want the place spoilt with too many people.

I was learning how obsessed he was with the Island. He loved it; to him it was perfect. I could understand that. The Island was his and he was proud of it.

o you ever have any criminals here?I asked.

ardly ever,he assured me. think I know how to keep the people lawful.

o you don have a prison?

here are dungeons in the castle which serve on the rare occasions they are necessary.

nd the law allows this?

a Justice of the Peace. Of course in the case of a major crimemurder, for instance the criminal would have to go to the mainland. But we can deal adequately with petty matters here.

s there anyone in the dungeons now?

Jago laughed. hy, youe not afraid that some desperate man will break out, steal to your room and demand your money or your life, are you? No, Ellen, my dear, there is no one in the dungeons now. There very rarely is. Theye horrible, aren they?

Gwennol said: ank, dark and said to be haunted because in the past Kellaways put their enemies there and left them to die. The ghosts of those who didn obey Kellaway law are said to stalk the dungeons. Naturally people think twice before doing something they shouldn when it might result in a night or two in the dungeons.

like to see them,I said.

o you shall,Jago promised me. he whole place is at your disposal. Explore when you like.

s a matter of fact I did explore a little before dinner.

id you then?Jago looked pleased. ell, what did you find?

saw some pigeons, brown ones. Ie never seen brown pigeons before.

ee always kept a few brown pigeons at Kellaway,said Jago. ou tell her the story Jenifry.

t simply that one of our ancestors was saved by a pigeon brown one,his sister said. think they originated in Italy. He was imprisoned after being captured in some battle and a little brown pigeon came and perched on his windowsill. They became friendly; the pigeon brought his mate and they shared the prisoner food. He tamed them and used to attach messages to their legs, hoping that some of his friends would see them. It seemed a forlorn hope and when after a long, long time the message actually did reach his friends it was regarded as something of a miracle and the pigeon an instrument of fate. He was rescued and he brought back the brown pigeon and his mate with him. It was said after that that as long as there were brown pigeons at the castle there would always be Kellaways on the Island.

pretty story, don you agree, Ellen?asked Jago.

harming,I replied.

When the meal was over Jago rose and Jenifry, Gwennol and I followed him to a door at the end of the hall. The rest remained at table and I imagined how relaxed the company would be after we had gone, for they would surely be relieved that the ceremonial occasion was over and they would be able to talk naturally together.

We went to his parlor, where coffee was served.

The atmosphere there was decidedly more intimate. I sat beside Gwennol, who wanted to hear about my life in London, so I talked about the house near Hyde Park and how we took walks in Kensington Gardens, feeding the ducks on the Round Pond, strolling round the pleached alley which surrounded the Pond Garden.

e have a pleached alley in our gardens,Jago told me. nd a pond garden too.It was as though he wanted the Island to compare favorably with everything I had ever known. Perhaps this was due to his pride in the Island, but I fancied too that he was anxious that I should be happy here and want to stay.

Gwennol was eager to hear more so I went on to tell her of the receptions at Cousin Agatha and the Carringtons of tea at Gunter on winter afternoons, of the red carpet and awnings being put in place before the houses to receive the guests.

They all listened intently; then they talked more of the Island; and the life which I had known with Cousin Agatha seemed as remote as anything could be.

It was half past ten when Jago remarked that I must be tired.

enifry will take you to your room,he said; and Jenifry took a candle from a table and asked me if I was ready.

I thanked Jago for a pleasant evening and said good night.

n the morning wel ride round the Island,Jago promised me.

Then Jenifry and I left them.

We made our way back to the hall. At intervals candles burned in the sconces fixed to the walls, making the hall look more medieval than ever.

Jenifry said: his way to your room.And crossing the hall we mounted the stone staircase. ou will soon get to know your way around,she added, ut for the first few days you may get lost now and then.

t a vast place, this castle.

here is a great deal of room and we are not now a large family. A place like this is meant to be populated by a large family.

We had come to the top of the staircase and we passed through a gallery. When we emerged from it and were mounting another staircase I recognized where we were.

She opened the door. The room looked different from when I had left it. Now there seemed too many dark shadows; it had become an alien room. The curtains had been drawn across the semicircular window, shutting out the stone alcove with its window seat. The four-poster bed from which the curtains had been looped back seemed to dominate the room.

ust a moment,said Jenifry, and she lit the candles from the flame in the one she carried. There were already two on the dressing table and two more on the mantelpiece. There is something mysterious about candlelight, and feeling overexcited by the dayevents, I thought: I shall not sleep well tonight. A fatal mood when one is about to retire for the night.

Jenifry was smiling at me.

hope youl be comfortable. You have been told, haven you, to ring if you want anything.She indicated the red-and-gold bell rope. hat will ring directly to the servantsroom and one of them will come immediately.

sure I have everything I want,I said. I was getting used to the candlelight. ou are all so kind.

She smiled at me, her expression benign as though I were a child and she a friend who was determined to look after me.

I glanced in the mirror and saw myselfather elegant in the trousseau gown and my eyes unnaturally bright, my cheeks flushed. I looked like a stranger.

Then I caught a glimpse of Jenifry through the looking glass. Her expression had changed. Her face had changed; a different woman was standing there. Her eyes had narrowed; her mouth had hardened; it was as though a mask had slipped and revealed what was underneath. It was not pleasant to look at. I turned sharply. But her face had changed again and she was smiling at me.

ell, if you are sure you have everything Il say good night.

ood night,I said.

She turned at the door to smile at me.

leep well.

The door shut. I stared at it blankly for a moment. My heart was beating unnaturally fast. Then I looked back at the mirror and saw that it was a very old one little mottled perhapshough the frame was heavy gilt and beautifully wrought. It had probably stood there for two hundred years. It was a distorting mirror, but how it had changed her face! Had she really looked like that at me? Speculatively, wondering, evil almost, as though she hated me?

I sat down and took the pins out of my hair. I shook it about my shoulders; it was dark and heavy and came to my waist.

The trouble is, I told myself, I am so used to being unwanted that I can really believe in all this friendship and that was why I had imagined she looked at me as she did. But for the moment it had been quite terrifying. I brushed my hair thoughtfully and plaited it, trying to relax and get ready for sleep. I drew back the curtains and, mounting the steps, sat down on the window seat. The houses of the Island seemed as though they were sleeping, though here and there a light showed in the darkness; the sea was calm and beautiful, the moon pathway of light shining clearly on the water. A peaceful scene. How different from my thoughts! Of course I must expect to feel wide awake. So much had happened today. I had met Jago Kellaway and had learned that he was not a complete stranger to me; I had expected to come to a humble house on an island and had found myself in a castle of which this Jago was the proud custodian; I had found my long-lost relations and was going to learn about my family. I wished it was daylight, so impatient was I to go on discovering.

The flickering candlelight was eerie; it threw long shadows about the room. I went to the dressing table and looked in the mirror and as I did so I seemed to see Jenifry face suddenly distorted into an evil smile. It was all fancy, of course. I was overwrought. Tomorrow I would be laughing at myself, but this was tonight and there were several hours of darkness to be lived through before dawn.

As I looked in the mirror I heard a sudden sound behind me. I was so startled I knocked one of the candles over. Hastily I picked it up, splashing hot grease on my hands as I did so, and swung round, holding the candle high as I looked round the room.

No one was there.

I turned to the door. It was shut. Then I heard the sound again and saw that it was coming from the cupboard. I went to it and laughed aloud in derision at myself for the sound had come from the door, which was not securely fastened.

I opened it. My clothes were hanging up and as I stood there the blue dress which I had worn that evening slid slowly from its hanger and fell in a heap on the floor. I picked it up and in doing so I saw some writing on the wall of the cupboard. It had probably been scraped on the distemper by something with a sharp point.

I pushed aside the clothes and held the candle closer.

I read: am a prisoner here. S.K.

I wondered who S.K. was and what was meant by being a prisoner. I guessed it was a child because there was something childish about the lettering and it was the sort of thing a child would scratch on a wall if it had been sent to its room as a punishment.

I set the candle down again on the dressing table. The incident had not made me feel any more sleepy, but I got into the bed, which seemed very large, and I began to think of all the people who had slept in this bed over the last hundred years. S.K. had probably been one of them.

I did not blow out the candles immediately. I wanted to retain a little longer the comforting light they gave me, so I lay looking up at the ceiling with its ornate patterns, which were difficult to make out in the gloom.

Suddenly I was wide awake. I fancied I heard footsteps near my door. I sat up in bed, straining my ears.

You are fanciful tonight, I thought. It nothing at all. Why don you lie down and go to sleep?

Esmeralda would say I was orking myself up.In those days I used to make up stories about other people and only if a role was a pleasant one did I imagine myself in it. Now I was finding my imagination could work against me as well as for me.