Midsummer's Eve (3 page)

“You really don’t think Mother Ginny ill-wished you?”

“That I do and all, my lady. And not only me. I heard she had a bit of a back-and-forther with Jim Tregorran.”

“Oh no,” said my mother.

“’Tis so, me lady. I know she have cured some warts and such like but when there’s trouble around ’ee don’t have to look too far to see where it do come from.”

My mother was very disturbed.

As we walked home she said: “I hope they are not going to work up a case against Mother Ginny just because Tregorran’s mare ran amok and Mrs. Cherry stood in her path.”

My father was coming out of the house and with him was Mr. Hanson, our lawyer, and his son Rolf. I was delighted as I always was when Rolf came. I loved Rolf. He was so clever and he had a special way with me. I believe he liked me as much as I liked him. He never let me know that he considered me too young to be noticed. He was eight years older than I but was never superior about it as Jacco was, and Jacco was only two years older than I.

Rolf was very tall and towered over his father, who was rather portly. Rolf was not often in Poldorey because he was completing his education and was away for long periods. I thought he was very handsome, but I heard my mother say that although he was not good-looking he had an air of distinction. He was certainly good-looking in my eyes, but then everything about Rolf was perfect as far as I was concerned. His father was always telling us how clever he was and so, even on those occasions when he did not accompany his father, he was often discussed.

Rolf had travelled a good deal. He had done what they used to call the Grand Tour and he could talk fascinatingly about places like Rome, Paris, Venice and Florence. He loved art treasures and the costumes of long ago. He was always collecting something and he was passionately interested in the past.

I used to listen to him enraptured but I was not sure whether it was what he was telling me or just that I simply loved to be with Rolf.

When I was very young I told my mother that when I was grown up I should marry either Rolf or my father.

She had said very seriously: “I should settle for Rolf if I were you. There is a law against marrying fathers and in any case he already has a wife. But I’m sure he’ll be flattered by the suggestion. I’ll tell him.”

And after that I would think that I would without question marry Rolf.

As soon as he saw me he came to me and took both my hands. He always did that. Then he would stretch back, still holding them and looking at me to see how much I had grown since our last meeting. His smile was so warm and loving.

I cried: “Oh Rolf, it’s lovely to see you.” I added hastily: “And you too, Mr. Hanson.”

Mr. Hanson smiled benignly. Any appreciation for Rolf delighted him.

“How long are you here for?” I asked.

“Only a week or so,” Rolf told me.

I pouted. “You should come more often.”

“I’d like to. But I have to work, you know. But I’ll be back in June for a few weeks … round about Midsummer.”

“Would you believe it,” said Mr. Hanson admiringly, “he’s interested in land now. He’ll be trying to pick your brains, Sir Jake.”

“He’s welcome,” said my father. “How’s the Manor coming along?”

“Not bad … not bad at all.”

“Well, are you coming in?” said my mother. “You’ll stay to luncheon. Now, no excuses. We expect you to.” My mother smiled at me. “Don’t we, Annora?”

My attachment to Rolf always amused them.

“You must stay,” I said, looking at Rolf.

“That,” said Rolf, “is a royal command, and one which I personally am delighted to obey.”

My mother was still bursting with indignation about Mrs. Cherry’s remarks and mentioned what she had said.

“I hear,” said Mr. Hanson, “that Tregorran is talking freely about the woman’s ill-wishing his horse.”

“Superstitious nonsense,” said my father. “It will pass.”

“Let’s hope so,” added Rolf. “When things like this happen people work themselves up into a superstitious fever of excitement. Civilization drops from them. They blame the forces of evil for their misfortunes.”

“If Tregorran had looked after his mare properly she would not have been able to get out,” said my father. “And Mrs. Cherry should know by now that it is unwise to stand in the path of a bolting horse.”

“Exactly,” agreed Rolf. “They know they are in the wrong but knowing makes them all the more determined to blame someone else. And in this case it is the supernatural in the form of Mother Ginny.”

“I know,” said my mother, “but it does make me uneasy.”

“It’ll pass,” put in my father. “Witch hunting went out of fashion years ago. What about luncheon?”

Over the meal the subject of Mother Ginny came up again. Rolf was very knowledgeable on the subject.

“There was a period during the seventeenth century,” he told us, “when the fear of witchcraft was rife throughout the country. The diabolical witch finders sprang up everywhere … men whose task it was to go hunting for witches.”

“Horrible!” cried my mother. “Thank Heaven that is done with.”

“People haven’t changed much,” Rolf reminded her. “There is a trait in some human beings which leads to an obsession with persecution. Culture … civilized behaviour is with some just a veneer. It cracks very easily.”

“I am glad people are a little more enlightened now,” said my mother.

“A belief in witchcraft is hard to eradicate,” said Rolf. “It can be revived with an old crone like Mother Ginny living in that place in the woods.” He looked at his father. “I remember one of the Midsummer’s Eve bonfires a few years ago when they were leaping over the flame because they thought that gave them a protection against witches.”

“Yes, that’s so,” added my father. “I stopped it after someone nearly got burned to death.”

“It makes gruesome reading—what went on in the past,” said Rolf.

“He’s been interested in these old customs for a long time,” his father told us. “But I think more so since last year. Tell them about last year, Rolf?”

“I was at Stonehenge,” Rolf explained. “A fellow from my college lives nearby. I went with him. There was quite a ceremony. It was impressive and really eerie. I learned quite a lot about what they surmised was the secret of the stones. But of course it is all wrapped up in mystery. That is what makes it all the more fascinating.”

“He even had some sort of robe to wear,” said his father.

“Yes,” agreed Rolf. “A long greyish habit. I look a little like one of the Inquisitors in it. It is rather like a monk’s robe but the hood almost completely hides the face.”

I was listening enraptured as I always did to Rolf.

“I should love to see it,” I said.

“Well, come over tomorrow.”

“What about you, Jacco?” asked my mother. “You’ll want to see it too.”

Jacco said yes he would but he was going out with John Gort tomorrow. They were going for pilchards. John Gort said there was a glut and they’d fill the nets in a few hours.

“Well some other time for you, Jacco,” said Rolf.

“But I’ll come tomorrow,” I cried. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“I’ll look for you in the afternoon,” Rolf told me.

“You ought to come over, Sir Jake,” said Mr. Hanson. “I want you to see the new copse we’re planting.”

“So you are acquiring more and more land,” said my father. “I can see you will soon be rivalling Cador.”

“We have a long way to go before we do that,” said Rolf regretfully. “In any case we could never rival Cador. Cador is unique. Ours is just an Elizabethan Manor House.”

“It’s delightful,” my mother assured him. “It’s cosier than Cador.”

“They are not to be compared,” said Rolf with a smile. “Still we are very satisfied with our little place.”

“Oh it’s not so little,” said his father.

“How are you getting on with your pheasants?” asked mine.

“Very well. Luke Tregern is proving a good man.”

“You’re lucky to have found him.”

“Yes,” agreed the lawyer. “That was a stroke of luck. He has come from the Lizard way … looking for work. Rolf’s got an eye for people and he felt he was the right sort. Good-looking, well-spoken and above all keen to make good. He comes up with ideas for the land. You must remember, Sir Jake, we are novices at the game.”

“You’re doing very well all the same,” said my father.

Rolf was smiling at me.

“Tomorrow then?” he said.

The Hansons’ place was called Dorey Manor and was on the edge of the wood which bordered the river. They had bought it some ten years before when it had been in a state of dilapidation. The lawyer and his wife—Mrs. Hanson had been alive then—had set about restoring it in a leisurely way; it was when Rolf began to take an interest that developments proceeded at a rapid pace. Now they were constantly acquiring more land.

My father used to say jokingly: “Rolf Hanson wants to outdo Cador. He’s an ambitious young man and he’s attempting the impossible.”

“He is making the Manor and its lands into a sizable property,” added my mother.

There was not doubt that Rolf was proud of Dorey Manor. He was so interested in everything, and being with him made one interested too. I always felt more alive with Rolf than with anyone else.

He was waiting for me in the stables. He lifted me down from my horse, holding me for a few moments and looking up at me, smiling.

“You’re growing,” he said. “Every time I see you you are bigger than you were last time.”

“Do you think I am going to be a giantess?”

“Just a fine upstanding girl. Come on. I’m going to show you the copse first.”

“I long to see the robe.”

“I know. But waiting will make it more interesting. So … the copse first.”

Luke Tregern was working there.

“This is Luke Tregern,” Rolf said to me. “Luke, this is our neighbour, Miss Annora Cadorson.”

Luke Tregern bowed his head in greeting. He was tall, olive-skinned, dark-haired and handsome.

“Good day, Miss Cadorson,” he said.

“Good day,” I replied.

His dark eyes were fixed intently on me.

“There’s a healthy look about these trees, sir,” he said. “They’re taking well.”

“So I thought,” replied Rolf. “We’re just going to wander round and take a look.”

Rolf seemed to know a great deal about trees as he did about everything else.

He said: “I’m teasing you with all this talk of trees. You are longing to see the robe. What a patient girl you are.”

“No I’m not. I just like to be here with you. I really am enjoying the copse.”

He took my arm and we went towards the house. “I’ll tell you something,” he said. “You are the nicest little girl I ever knew.”

I was in a daze of happiness.

The house was small compared with Cador. It was built in the Tudor style—black-beamed with white plaster panels in between and each storey projecting beyond the one below. It was picturesque and charming with an old-fashioned garden where honeysuckle decorated the arches and the display of Tudor roses was magnificent especially when they were all in bloom, which they were almost till December.

“Come on in,” said Rolf.

We went into his library—a long room with linen-fold panelling and a moulded ceiling. The room was lined with books. I glanced at the subjects: law, archaeology; ancient religions, customs, witchcraft.

“Oh Rolf,” I cried, “how clever you are!”

He laughed and suddenly took my chin in his hands and looked into my face.

“Don’t have too high an opinion of me, Annora,” he said. “That could be very unwise.”

“Why should it be?”

“I might not be able to live up to it.”

“But of course you would,” I declared vehemently. “Tell me about that strange ceremony.”

“I’ve only just skimmed the surface of all these mysteries. I’m just interested in a dilettante way.”

I refused to believe he did not know a great deal. “Do let me see the robe,” I cried.

“Here it is.” He opened a drawer and took it out.

“Put it on,” I commanded.

He did. A shiver ran through me as he stood there. I could only describe his appearance as sinister. It was like a monk’s robe—greyish white. The hood was big. It came right over his head and he peered out through the narrow opening in the front. It was only when the hood fell back that his face could be seen.

“There is something frightening about it,” I said.

He pulled back the hood so that it fell right back, and I laughed with relief.

“That’s better. You look like yourself now. In that … with your face hidden you are like a different person.”

“Imagine the effect with several of us dressed like this. Midnight … and those historic stones all around us. Then you get the real atmosphere.”

I said: “It reminds me of the Inquisitors who tortured those they called heretics. Miss Caster and I have been ‘doing’ the Spanish Inquisition. It’s really frightening.”

“I think that is the object. These are not quite so bad as those with pointed tops with slits for eyes. They are really quite spine-chilling. I shall show you some pictures of them.”

“May I try it on?”

“It’s far too big for you. It is made for a tall man.”

“Nevertheless I want to.”

I put it on. It trailed to the floor. Rolf laughed at me.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” he said. “You’ve robbed it of its sinister quality. Annora, you’ll have to grow up.” He looked at me with a tender exasperation. “You’re taking such a long time to do it.”

“I’m taking just the same time as everyone else.”

He put his hands on my shoulders. “It seems a long time,” he said.

He took the robe from me and put it back in the drawer.

“Tell me about Stonehenge,” I said.

I sat at the table with him and he brought books from the shelves to show me. He talked glowingly about the gigantic stones in the midst of the barrows of the Bronze Age. I found it fascinating and it was wonderful to sit beside Rolf at the table while he talked.

That was a very happy afternoon.

There was a great deal of talk about the tragedies. The servants discussed them constantly. When I met Digory in the woods he seemed extremely proud.