The Changeling (32 page)

It was a very happy day. Pedrek was not with us but he would be home for the week-end, and it was arranged that I should go over to Pencarron on Saturday. “So it will be a lovely surprise when he comes in,” said his fond grandmother.

I spent a happy week-end at Pencarron and on the Sunday Pedrek came back with me to Cador. There would be many week-ends like that.

Pedrek and I went riding together and we talked of the future as we made our plans. We would not live at Pencarron. We would look for a house and if we could not find what we wanted we would build our own.

We spent happy hours planning it.

“By the sea or on the moor?” asked Pedrek.

“Somewhere between the two perhaps?”

“The best of both worlds.”

“Are you going to enjoy it, Pedrek?”

“Superbly. But isn’t it frustrating to have to wait?”

I agreed that it was.

“They say that anticipation is the best part of life.”

“We will make the realization even better.”

“Oh, we will,” I said fervently.

I was delighted to see that Belinda was enjoying Cornwall. I had wondered how she would feel when the possibility of seeing Oliver Gerson was removed, for indeed she had seemed to have an adoration—an obsession one might say—for the man. Perhaps I had exaggerated it. She seemed so fond of me now, which was gratifying. I was very content to bask in the affection of the two girls and the love of Pedrek and my grandparents. I was thinking that, in spite of the fact that I had lost my mother and could not forget that, I had a great deal to be thankful for.

Leah took the children into the Poldoreys and on the way she called in to see her mother. The girls were intrigued by Mrs. Polhenny. They rolled about in glee when they described her on her “bone-shaker.”

“She looked so funny!” shrieked Belinda.

“We thought she was going to fall off,” said Lucie.

“Did she give you an exhibition then?” I asked.

“We went there … and there was no one in and just as we were going away she came up on that…”

They were hysterical.

“And what did she say to you?”

“We had to go in and sit in the parlor,” said Lucie.

“There were pictures all round the room. Jesus on the cross …”

“And another one carrying a little lamb.”

“And somebody with a lot of arrows sticking out of his body. She asked Leah if our souls were saved.”

“And what did Leah say?”

“She said she looked after us in a right and proper manner,” Lucie told me.

“Mrs. Polhenny was looking at me all the time,” said Belinda.

She and Lucie could say no more because they were laughing so much.

I told my grandmother about it afterwards. “They found it quite hilarious,” I added.

“I am glad they did. I should have thought they would have hated it and wanted to get away.”

“You would think they had been to some entertainment.”

“Well, I’m glad they see it that way. I daresay Leah would like to go and see her mother now and then and if they would go with her willingly, that’s all to the good.”

“It would take Mrs. Polhenny’s attention off Leah perhaps.”

“Yes, that is what I thought.”

The new girl, Madge, was often with the children. They obviously liked her very much. I had seen her in the garden where she had doubtless been sent to bring something in from the kitchen garden, and the children would be with her. I liked to hear their laughter.

My grandmother had noticed, too.

“She is young and full of high spirits,” she said. “I don’t see why she shouldn’t relieve Leah a little.”

“You mean to give Leah time to go off and see her mother?”

My grandmother grimaced. “No. To give her a little time to herself. And it would be good for Madge. She is little more than a child herself and she is far from home.”

I had wanted the girls to enjoy Cornwall and I was delighted that they seemed to be doing so.

I gathered that they often went to St. Branok Pool. They talked about it. They also enjoyed the moors and when we went out together they would lead the way either to the pool or the moors.

There had been a great deal of gossip about people’s seeing white hares and black dogs, not only at Pencarron Mine, but on the disused one on the moors.

I noticed that Belinda seemed to have a particular interest in disaster. She liked to talk about old superstitions. Lucie did, too. Their eyes would grow wide while they discussed the knackers who were reputed to inhabit the mines and could, by some magic they possessed, bring disaster to any miners whom they disliked. It was the same with the fishermen. There were many superstitions about the evil which could befall them if they broke any of the ancient customs.

Down by the pool they made the acquaintance of young Mary Kellaway. She would often come out of Jenny’s old cottage to talk to them.

She was a strange looking child with long straight hair and a sad look in her eyes, which was understandable considering the tragedy in which she had recently become involved.

I discovered that it was she who had told them of the hares and dogs and little old men in the mines.

“It shows what they do,” was Belinda’s verdict. “Mr. Kellaway must have made them angry and then they made the mine fall down on him.”

“That’s nonsense,” I said.

“How do you know?” demanded Belinda. “You weren’t there.”

“Because such things don’t happen. The accident was due to a fault in the mine.”

“Mary says …”

“You shouldn’t talk about it with Mary. She should try to forget.”

“How can she forget it when her house is burned down?”

“She’ll soon have a new house.”

“But you don’t
forget …
”

How right she was! One did not forget.

My grandmother said she thought it was good that they had made friends with Mary. “I’d ask her over to Cador to play with them but you know what the servants are … and you’d have them saying that if she can come why can’t all the other children in the neighborhood do the same?”

“I think they like seeing her at the pool. I wish they had chosen some other meeting place but of course it is so near the cottage.”

They both told me the story of the wicked monks who would not repent and were warned by Heaven but they went on doing what they shouldn’t and the flood was sent.

“It was like Noah’s,” Lucie told me.

“No it wasn’t, silly,” cut in Belinda. “That was a long time ago. This was when they had monks and things they didn’t have in Noah’s day.”

“How do you know?” demanded Lucie.

“I do know. There wasn’t an ark for them and they were all drowned. They’re still down there at the bottom of the pool … because wicked people don’t always die. They have to go on living in misery which it must be down at the bottom of the pool with all that dirty water. And the bells ring when something is going to happen. I wish I could hear the bells.”

“You wouldn’t want something awful to happen, surely?” I said.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“As long as it didn’t happen to you,” I retorted with a laugh.

I often heard them discussing the bells and I often thought that the reason they went to the pool so frequently was in the hope of hearing them rather than to play with Mary.

I had formed the habit of going in to say goodnight to them when they were in bed.

There were two single beds on either side of the room and Leah said they used to talk to each other after she had put out the lights. I thought it was very pleasant for them to have each other and rejoiced once more that I had been able to bring Lucie into the house and give her a good home. It was proving beneficial not only to her but to Belinda as well.

One night I went in and I heard Belinda say: “It must have been exciting when they dragged the pool … to look for Rebecca and found the murderer.”

I was shocked that they had learned that. I did not mention it. Belinda seemed to know that I might have heard her comment and guessed it was a subject I would not encourage for she immediately said that Petal had to go to the blacksmith the next day. Tom Grimes had said they could go in and see her shod.

I left them, wondering where they got their information. I suppose dramatic events were remembered and it was inevitable that they should hear some of them.

It was one of our Saturdays which had become very precious to us. Pedrek came riding over to Cador where I was waiting for him. We were to go off riding together.

“Why can’t we come, too?” demanded Belinda.

“Because they have a good deal to talk about,” my grandmother explained.

“I don’t mind listening,” said Belinda, which made us all laugh.

She was a little sullen when we left and Lucie showed clearly that she did not like it either. But for Pedrek and me the happy day had begun.

We were in such harmony that we did not always have to speak; we often understood the other’s train of thought. This gave me a wonderfully cozy feeling. I was growing closer than ever to Pedrek—as close as I had been to my mother—and that gave me great content.

We would laugh all the time—at nothing often, just out of sheer happiness. Simple things seemed extraordinarily amusing—and there were so many plans to be made.

It was nearly a year since he had gone to college, he reminded me. “Halfway there. Just think of that.”

“It seems such a long time since you asked me to marry you.”

“It seems an age … yet half of it has gone. Sometimes I think I can’t wait and I am on the point of abducting you.”

“That wouldn’t be necessary,” I told him. “I’d come without protest.”

“Then … why don’t we?”

“What about college?”

He was thoughtful. “There’s a good deal to learn.”

“You must learn it then. You would hate to think there were things you didn’t know. The more you learn the more likely you are to stop accidents like …”

“I think so. There is so much known about the soil now. I am finding out all sorts of things which would astonish my grandfather.”

“We shall have to be patient for another year.”

“I don’t see why we couldn’t start on the house. It will take some time to get all that settled. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get it all ready … so that it is there for us. We could do all that while we are waiting.”

“That would be fun. I wonder what your grandfather would say about it.”

“He would probably like the idea and I am sure my grandmother would.”

“It would make us feel that we were almost there.”

“I tell you what we’ll do. We’ll start looking. Next week-end we’ll begin in earnest. How’s that?”

“It’s a marvelous idea.”

“It will have to be in the vicinity of the mine.”

“It looks as if we may have to build.”

“Yes … something in between the families. We want to please both sides.”

“They would appreciate it if we were half way. We’ll start looking now.”

The search added zest to the day.

We stopped at an inn—a charming old place called The King’s Head. There was a picture on the old sign, of Charles II, saturnine in spite of a certain lustful look and a luxuriously curly wig. We went into the parlor with its oak beams, leaded windows and great open fireplace round which sparkling horse brasses were displayed.

We drank cider from pewter pots and ate cheese with hot bread straight from the oven.

We talked of the house we would have. I saw it materialize before my eyes—the hall, the wide staircase, the rooms upstairs, and I realized I was creating a place which was something between Cador and Pencarron Manor.

“You wouldn’t like a Victorian house,” said Pedrek. “Your heart is in the past.”

“I’ll tell you something,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind what period it was as long as we were in it together.”

On the way back we looked for likely sites and inspected them critically.

“It would be very open here. Imagine the southwest gales.”

“And wouldn’t it be lonely?”

“Not with servants. Lucie will be there. Oh, Pedrek, what about Belinda?”

“She can come, too.”

“She’ll have to be with her father. He will insist. He has to preserve the family atmosphere.”

“She can come and stay with us.”

“I don’t know how she and Lucie will feel about being apart.”

“Are they such good friends?”

“Not exactly. I think they have become a habit to each other. They quarrel of course as all children do … but I don’t think they would like to be separated.”

“They’ll get used to it.”

“I wonder what my stepfather will say. He is supposed to be my guardian, you know.”

“I shall be your guardian soon.”

“I am not sure I like this talk of guardians. I like to think I am my own. But there is a point. I should have to get his consent, I suppose.”

“We’ll get married first and tell him afterwards.”

We agreed that that was a good idea; but it did not answer the question of how the girls would feel to be separated.

They would be a year older then. They seemed so knowledgeable sometimes that I forgot how young they were. But I suppose most children are aware of what is going on. They have sharp enquiring minds; all they lack is the experience which comes through living.

Pedrek came back with me to Cador.

The girls dashed out to welcome me home and they both flung themselves at me. Belinda first … Lucie in her turn. It was comforting to receive such a welcome.

“We’ve been riding this afternoon. Then we went for a walk with Leah … to the pool.”

“I suppose you did,” I said. I turned to Pedrek. “It’s one of their favorite places.”

“Well, it does have an air of mystery.”

“All those legends … bells and monks,” I said.

“And other things,” added Belinda.

“What things?” I asked.

“Other things,” she repeated, smiling mysteriously.

My grandmother came into the room. “Oh, you’re back. Good. Had a pleasant day?”

We assured her we had had a wonderful day.

Pedrek stayed to dine which was served a little earlier on Saturdays so that he would not be too late getting back to Pencarron.

We talked to my grandparents about our search for a suitable site on which to build our future home.