Lord of the Far Island (23 page)

ago is like that too, isn he, Gwennol?I said, for I was anxious that she should join in the conversation. I realized by this time that she had been expecting Michael at the inn and that he was the friend whom she was proposing to visit. She had not therefore been very pleased that I had already met him and was joining them. I fancied too that her feelings towards him were warmer than those of ordinary friendship; there was something about the manner in which she looked at him which betrayed it and the softness of her eyes and mouth was rare with her, I was sure.

ago would like to go back to feudal days,said Gwennol sharply. e like to be not only the lord of the manor but lord of us all.

e very proud of the Island,I said, defending him, nd justly so. Ie been talking to some of the people on my walks and it easy to see how they respect him. He done a great deal for the place.

y dear Ellen, theye afraid to say a word against him. If he not entirely their lord and master he at least their landlord. He could turn them out of their homes tomorrow if they offended him.

am sure he would do no such thing,I said warmly.

She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Michael. llen has a great deal to learn,she said.

In his easy manner he diverted the subject from Jago and said: ome and look at the chapel.

Our footsteps rang out as we crossed the stone flags of the hall and he led us up a stone spiral staircase to a heavy oak iron-studded door.

any a drama has taken place here. There a priest hole in this chapel Il show you. There also a leperssquint. One can imagine the terror when the priest had to be hidden away at a moment notice. One of my ancestors married a Spanish lady and she was the one who was reckless enough to have a priest in the house. Someday I intend to compile a history of the family. There are lots of documents in the vaults under the chapel.

hat sounds exciting.

t the sort of occupation which is fun if you share it with someone. Gwennol has promised to help me.

here nothing I should like more,she said, becoming animated. articularly with a family such as yours, Michael. Ours is rather different.She grimaced. ee more the brigand type. You are the aristocrats.

here are skeletons in the cupboards of most families,commented Michael. ho knows what we shall unearth in these documents.

hat an exciting thought!cried Gwennol, and she looked as though she would like to suggest they get down to the task immediately and leave me to wander round on my own.

The floor of the chapel was paved with small square stones set in a mosaic pattern. There were about twelve pews with linenfold ends. On the altar was a very fine cloth worked, he told me, by his grandmother, so comparatively recent. here are two squints,he went on, ne is the leperssquint from a small room beyond where lepers might come and look through into the chapel without contaminating or distressing those who were there. The other He pointed upwards. hat comes from a little alcove from above where the ladies used to congregate when they did not wish to come down to the chapel, perhaps through sickness or some incapacity. Now Il take you to the solarium and show you the other squint.

ou see how wonderful it is,said Gwennol, o belong to such a family.

t rather like a chain coming down through time,said Michael. rom each link springs another and so on. Luckily we have always had boys in the family, so the name has been preserved. I want my sons to have sons and so the name will be carried on.

ave you sons?I asked.

He laughed. haven married so far.

ut you will,I said. ou will regard it as a duty to do so.

should like it to be something more than that.

Gwennol was looking at him intently and I thought: Yes, she is in love with him. I in the way. I shouldn be with them. I ought to have seen that and said I wanted to go off on my own. She shows it clearly and just because he too polite to show he doesn really want me, I imagined he was eager for me to come.

he solarium is a bright roomaturally,he was saying. he room built to catch the sunshine. It does too. I believe it was used as a ballroom at one time. There is a screen across it to make it into two rooms but it is rarely used now. I like it to be as it was originally intended.He led the way. It was necessary to pass through the punch room, where I had been on my last visit, and we mounted some stone stairs, passed along a passage and were in the solarium. The sun streamed through the wide windows onto the deep blue of the tapestry which adorned one side of the wall and which depicted the Civil War. There were the battlefieldsaseby and Marston Moornd on the opposite side of the room Prince Charles in the oak tree and being welcomed in London on the Restoration.

I examined them closely and was enchanted by the fine workmanship and the subtle colors. He watched me, obviously pleased with my absorption.

ere you see the squint,he said. ome into this alcove. This is where the ladies sat and as you see they look right down into the chapel. Let us sit here for a while. I want to tell Miss Kellaway about our ghost, Gwennol.

Gwennol nodded. oul like this one, Ellen. It the nicest ghost that ever was.

here were three sisters at the house,said Michael. hey each wished to marry and their father would not give his consent. One ran away and left the family forever; the two others remained; they grew more bitter every day; their lives were a misery to them and all around them. They never forgave their father and the story is that when he was dying he begged their forgiveness and they refused to give it. And he is our ghost. He is said to be a benign one. He roams the house trying to earn forgiveness for his selfishness by making everything go smoothly for lovers.

hat certainly is the most pleasant ghost story I ever heard.

t was in this room he died,he said. his room is supposed to be good for lovers. In those days there was a bed in the far end which was divided off by the screen. That was his bedroom. It is said that all Hydrock marriages are happy ones now because of his influence.

ell, he has certainly earned forgiveness for his sins.

ndeed he has. But it a pleasant thought don you agree? Brides come to this house with the feeling that their marriages must be happy because old Simon Hydrock will not allow them to be otherwise.

t must be a very comfortable thought for a Hydrock bride.

He was smiling at me. assure you it is. My mother used to tell me the story often. She was a happy bride. hen you have a bride,she used to say, ell her that she will have special care.

nd she herself did?

t was her way of looking at life. Isn that what happiness is? You could put two people in the same set of circumstances and one would think him- or herself happy while another would be full of complaints. When I was ten years old she knew she was suffering from an incurable disease. She lived exactly ten months in that state. She told me about it because she wanted me to know the truth and not listen to garbled stories. fortunate,she said. e had such a happy life and now that I ill I shall die before I in pain.And she did. She did not suffer at all, though had she lived longer she inevitably would.

I was deeply moved by the story, so was Gwennol. Her eyes never left Michael as he talked.

ow,he said, el go to luncheon. I sure you are ready for it after your sea trip.

ow kind of you,I said. didn expect to be invited to luncheon. Perhaps I

They were both looking at me and I went on: think Gwennol was expected but I

ee delighted to have you,said Michael warmly. es, Gwennol was expected. I had the message,he told her. t never fails.He turned back to me. t an excellent method of communication. With all that water between us we can never be sure when messages will reach us. Slack sends them over by carrier pigeon. He trains the birds, you know. He has a magical touch. We have pigeons here, too. After luncheon wel show Miss Kellaway the gardens, won we, Gwennol?

I enjoyed sitting at the table in the dining room with its window looking out over smooth lawns, I loved that aura of brooding peace and I thought it emanated from the spirit of the old man who had ruined his daughterslives and had tried to atone ever since. I sat in my chair, which was covered in dark red velvet, and looked across the table at Michael Hydrock and it seemed to me that he was a man who was completely contented with his lot, which is a rare thing. I could not help comparing him with Jagohat restless spirit, those changing moods, the unpredictability which I could not help finding half attractive, half repelling, but always intriguing.

After luncheon we strolled through the Manor grounds. They were beautifully kept and conventional. There was the fashionable Italian garden, the English rose garden, the shrubbery, paddocks and well-kept lawns. There were several gardeners at work who touched their forelocks as we passed. Michael Hydrock was, I was sure, a highly respected and benign master.

When it was time for us to return to the inn, Michael accompanied us and there was Slack waiting to row us across.

ome again soon,said Michael, and there was no doubt that I was included in that invitation.

Gwennol was silent as we rowed back. She scarcely looked at me. I sensed that there was a change in our relationship, for whereas before she had been inclined to want to make me feel at home, now she was suspicious of me.

When we reached the Island we left Slack to tie up the boat and made our way to the castle.

Gwennol said: ow strange that you should have met Michael and did not mention it.

suppose there were so many other things to talk about.

nd you hurt your ankle in the woods.

es, just as he appeared, I tripped and fell. Then he took me to the Manor House and brought me back to the inn.

She gave a little laugh. ou apparently didn hurt your ankle very badly.

t was just a temporary twist. It was all right the next morning.

ust a convenient little twist,she said, and before I could give expression to my indignation she had turned and run into the castle.

I went up to my room. The pleasant day had been spoilt. I should have to be careful now and stay away from Hydrock Manor.

Jago looked at me reproachfully. We were at dinner that night and he had asked how I had been spending the day. I told him I had been to the mainland.

hat, Ellen, deserting us already?

t was only for a few hours.

here so much on the Island you haven seen yet.

shall appreciate it all the more for having been away for a day.

ou have what we call here a silvery tongue. You say the right thing, doesn she, Gwennol?

sure she doeson every occasion,said Gwennol shortly.

ell, where did you go?asked Jago.

o Hydrock Manor.

oth of you?

met Michael Hydrock before.

Jago put down his knife and fork and gazed at me. I was aware of Jenifry eyes on me too. Gwennol kept hers on her plate.

I repeated once more the account of my meeting with Michael in the woods and how I had hurt my ankle.

ou were hurt!cried Jago. hy didn you tell us?

t was nothing. In fact, the next day I had forgotten about it.

t was one of those temporary twists,said Gwennol, and I detected a note of sarcasm in her voice.

nd what happened then?asked Jenifry.

e took me to the Manor and a Mrs. Hockinghe housekeeper, I thinkooked at it and said I shouldn walk on it for a while and then Sir Michael drove me back to the inn.

very perfect gentleman,commented Jago.

thought so,I retorted.

I realized that this information had disturbed both Jago and Jenifry.

Jago said: omorrow I will show you more of the Island. There a good deal you have to discover yet, you know.

hank you,I replied.

was telling Ellen,said Gwennol, hat she should practice rowing.

ave you ever rowed?asked Jago.

es, but not at sea, on a river, which I suppose was different.

t the same really,said Gwennol, nly you have to be more careful at seaostly because of the weather. When it calm it perfectly safe.

ust practice going from bay to bay,said Jago, nd at first always have someone with you. Il take you out tomorrow. Slack will always take you where you want to go. But just don go alone at first.

I said I would like to try.

irst lesson tomorrow,said Jago.

I was very tired when I went to my room. It had seemed a long day. I had very much enjoyed visiting the Hydrock Manor even though the day had been spoilt by Gwennol jealousy. It meant I should have to be very careful in future, which was a pity because it had been rather comforting to have such a pleasant friend on the mainland.

I lighted the candles on my dressing table and was sitting there plaiting my hair when there was a knock on the door.

I started up in dismay. I wasn sure why, but always when the candles were lighted in this room I felt uneasy.

For a few seconds I merely looked at the door. Then there was a further knock and the door was quietly opened. Jenifry stood there holding a candle.

thought you might be asleep when you didn answer,she said.

was just about to say ome inwhen you did,I replied.

wanted to have a word with you.

She set down the candle and drew up a chair, so that we were both sitting at the dressing table.

t about Gwennol and Michael Hydrock,she said.

h?

I caught her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were downcast and it was as though she did not want to look at me.

e one of the most eligible bachelors in the neighborhood,she went on. e and Gwennol have always been good friends, in fact.

ore than friends?I suggested.

She nodded. he general opinion is that they will in due course make a match of itproviding there are no obstacles.

bstacles?I repeated.

I watched her reflection. Her mouth twisted and for a moment she looked quite ugly. It the distortion of the mirror, I told myself hastily.

great family like that she said bitterly. here are some who wouldn think Gwennolquite suitable. Theye so proud of their ancestry.Her lips curled in contempt. hat Mrs. Hocking she doesn think anyone but the daughter of a duke or an earl is good enough for him.