Bride of Pendorric (26 page)

“Yes, it’s good fun. All very exciting too—your turning out to be Lord Polhorgan’s granddaughter.” ** Most people seem to think so. “

” Your grandfather has a striking-looking nurse, Mrs. Pendorric.”

” Yes, she’s certainly very beautiful.”

” Who is she? I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

” Her name is Althea Grey.”

He shook his head. ” Can’t recall the name. The face is familiar, though. Seem to connect her with some law case or other … I thought I had a good memory for such things, but it seems I’m not so good as I thought.”

” I should think if you’d met her you’d remember her.”

” Yes. That’s why I was so sure. Well, it’ll come back I expect.”

” Why don’t you ask her?”

” As a matter of fact I did. She absolutely froze me. She was certain she had never met me before.”

There was a tap on his shoulder, and there was Roe waiting to claim me.

I was very happy dancing with my husband. His eyes were amused and I could see that he was enjoying himself.

” It’s fun,” he said, ” but I don’t see half enough of the hostess. I expect she has her duties, though.”

” The same thing applies to you.”

” Well, haven’t you seen me performing? I’ve had my eyes on every wallflower.”

” I’ve seen you on several occasions dancing with Althea Grey. Was she wilting for lack of attention?”

“At things of this sort, people like Althea and Rachel could be at a disadvantage. The nurse and the governess! There’s a certain amount of snobbery still in existence, you know.”

” So that’s why you’ve been looking after Althea. What about poor Rachel?”

” I’d better keep an eye on her too.”

” Then,” I said lightly, ” as you’re going to be so busily engaged elsewhere I’d better make the most of the time that belongs to me.”

He squeezed my hand. ” Have you forgotten,” he asked, his lips touching my ear, ” that the rest of our lives belong together?”

Supper was very gay. We had arranged that it should be served in three of the larger rooms which adjoined the hall; they all faced south and the great trench windows opened on to terraces which looked over the gardens to the sea. There was plenty of moonlight, and the view was enchanting.

Trehay’s flower scheme was as beautiful in the supper rooms as it was in the ballroom; and no effort had been spared to achieve the utmost luxury. On the overladen table were fish, pies, meats and delicacies of all description. Dawson and his under-servants in their smart livery took charge of the bar while Mrs. Dawson looked after the food.

I shared a table with my grandfather, John Poldree and his brother, Deborah and the twins.

Lowella was as silent as Hyson on this occasion; she seemed to be quite overawed, and when I whispered to her that she was unusually subdued. Hyson answered that they had made a vow not to call attention to themselves, in case someone should remember that they weren’t really old enough to go to balls and tell Rachel to take them home.

They had escaped Rachel, they told me, and their parents; and so would I please not call attention to them in case Granny Deborah noticed?

I promised.

While we were talking together, some of the guests strolled out on to the terraces and I saw Roe and Althea Grey walk by the window. They stood for a while looking out over the sea and seemed to be talking earnestly, and the sight of them threw a small shadow over my enjoyment.

It was midnight when several of the guests started to leave, and finally only the Pendorric party remained.

Althea Grey hovered while we said good-bye and congratulated each other on the success of the evening. Then she wheeled my grandfather’s chair to the lift which he had had installed some years before when he had first been aware of his illness, and he went up to his bedroom while we went to our cars.

It was half-past one by the time we reached Pendorric, and as we drove under the old archway to the north portico, Mrs. Penhalligan opened the front door.

” Oh, Mrs. Penhalligan,” I said, ” you shouldn’t have stayed up.”

“Well, madam,” she said, “I thought you’d like a little refreshment before settling down for the night. I’ve got some soup for you.”

” Soup! On a hot summer’s night!” cried Roe.

“Soup! Soup! Glorious Soup!” sang Lowella.

” One of the old customs,” Morwenna whispered to me. ” We can’t escape them if we want to.”

We went into the north hall and Mrs. Penhalligan led the way into the small winter parlour where soup plates had been set out; and at the sight of them Lowella danced round the room chanting: “’ There was a sound of revelry by night’.”

” Oh Lowella, please,” sighed Morwenna. ” Aren’t you tired? It’s after one.”

” I’m not in the least tired,” insisted Lowella indignantly.

“Oh, isn’t this a wonderful ball!”

” The ball’s over,” Roe reminded her.

” It’s not-not till we’re all in our beds. There’s soup to be had before that’s over.”

” You’d better let them sleep late tomorrow, Rachel,” said their mother.

Mrs. Penhalligan came in with a tureen of soup and began ladling it out into me plates.

” It was always like this in the old days,” said Roe. ” We used to hide in the gallery and watch them come in; do you remember, Morwenna?”

Morwenna nodded.

“Who? ” asked Hyson.

“Our parents, of course. We couldn’t have been more than …”

” Five,” said Hyson. ” You’d have to be, wouldn’t you, Uncle Roe? You couldn’t have been more, could you?”

” What memories these children have!” murmured Roe lightly. ” Have you been coaching them. Aunt Deborah? ” “What soup’s this?” asked Lowella.

” Taste it and see,” Roe told her.

She obeyed and rolled her eyes ecstatically. We all agreed that it was not such a bad custom after all, and that although we should not have thought of hot soup on a summer’s night there was something reviving about it and it was pleasant to sit back and talk about the evening.

When we had finished the soup no one seemed in a hurry
i go to bed, so

we talked about Polhorgan and the people we had met there, while the twins sat back in their seats, desperately trying to keep awake, looking like daffodils which had been left too long out of water.

” It’s time they were in bed,” said Charles.

“Oh Daddy,” wailed Lowella, “don’t be so old fashioned I”

” If you’re not tired,” Roe pointed out, ” others might be. Aunt Deborah looks half asleep and so do you, Morwenna.”

” I know,” said Morwenna, ” but it’s so comfortable sitting here and it’s been such a pleasant evening I don’t want it to end. So go on talking, all of you.”

“Yes do, quick,” cried Lowella; and everyone laughed and seemed suddenly wide awake. ” Go on. Uncle Roe.”

” This reminds me of Christmas,” said Roe obligingly, and Lowella smiled at him with loving gratitude and affection.

” When,” went on Roe, ” we sit around the fire, longing for our beds and too lazy to go to them.”

“Telling ghost stories,” said Charles.

“Tell some now,” pleaded Lowella. Do, please. Daddy. Uncle Roe. “

Hyson sat forward, suddenly alert.

” Most unseasonable,” commented Roe. ” You’ll have to wait a few months yet, Lo.”

” I can’t. I can’t. I want a ghost story—now!”

“It certainly is time you were in bed,” commented MorLowella regarded me with solemn eyes.

“It’ll be the Bride’s first Christmas with us,” she announced. ” Shell love Christmas at Pendorric, won’t she? I remember last Christmas we sang songs as well as telling ghost stories. Real Christmas songs. I’ll tell you the one I like best.”

“’ The Mistletoe Bough’,” said Hyson.

“You’d like that. Bride, because it’s all about another bride.”

“I

expect your Aunt Favel knows it,” said Morwenna. ” Everyone does. “

” No,” I told them, ” I’ve never heard it. You see, Christmas on the island wasn’t quite like an English Christmas.”

“Fancy! She’s never heard of ” The Mistletoe Bough’. ” Lowella looked shocked.

” Think, what she’s missed,” mocked Roe.

“I’m going to be the one to tell her,” declared Lowella. ” Listen, Bride! This other bride played hide and seek: in a place …”

” Minster Lovel,” supplied Hyson.

“Well, the place doesn’t matter two hoots, silly.”

” Lowella,” Morwenna admonished; but Lowella was rushing on. ” They were playing hide and seek and this bride got into the old oak chest, and the lock clicked and fastened her down for ever.”

” And they didn’t open the chest until twenty years later,” put in Hyson. ” Then they found her—nothing but a skeleton.”

“Her wedding dress and orange blossom were all right, though,” added Lowella cheerfully.

” I’m sure,” said Roe ironically, ” that must have been a comfort.”

” You shouldn’t laugh. Uncle Roe. It’s sad, really. ” ‘ A spring lock lay in ambush there ‘,” she sang. ” ‘ And fastened her down for ever’. “

” And the moral of that,” Roe put in, grinning at me, ” is, don’t go hiding in oak chests if you’re a bride.”

” Ugh!” shivered Morwenna. ” I’m not keen on that story. It’s morbid.”

” That’s why it appeals to your daughters, Wenna,” Roe told her.

Charles said: “Look. I’m going up. The twins ought to have been in bed hours ago.”

Deborah yawned.

“I must say I find it hard to keep awake.”

” I’ve an idea,” cried Lowella. ” Let’s all sing Christmas songs for a bit.

Everyone has to sing a different one. “

“I’ve a better idea,” said her father.

“Bed.” Rachel stood up. ” Come along,” she said to the twins. ” It must be nearly two.”

Lowella looked disgusted with us because we all rose; but no one took any notice of her, and we said good night and went upstairs.

The next day I went over to Polhorgan to see how my grandfather was after all the excitement.

Mrs. Dawson met me in the hall and I congratulated her on all that she and her husband had done to make the ball a success. ” Well, madam,” she said, bridling, ” it’s a pleasure to be appreciated, I must say.

Not that Dawson and I want thanks. It was our duty and we did it. “

” You did it admirably,” I told her.

Dawson came into the hall at that moment, and when Mrs. Dawson told him what I had said, he was as pleased as his wife. I asked how my grandfather was that morning.

” Very contented, madam, but sleeping. A little tired after all the excitement, I think.”

” I won’t disturb him for a while,” I said. ” I’ll go into the garden.”

” I’m sending up his coffee in half an hour, madam,” Mrs. Dawson told me.

” Very well then. I’ll wait till then.”

Dawson followed me into the garden; there was something conspiratorial about his manner, I thought; and when I paused by one of the greenhouses he was still beside me.

” Everyone in the house is glad, madam, that you’ve come home,” he told me. ” With one exception, that is.”

I turned to look at him in astonishment, and he did not meet my eyes.

I had the impression that he was determined to be the good and faithful servant, dealing with a delicate situation because this was something I ought to know.

“Thank you, Dawson,” I said. ” Who is the exception?”

” The nurse.”

” Oh?”

He stuck out his lower lip and shook his head.

“She had other notions.”

“Dawson, you don’t like Nurse Grey, do you?”

” There’s nobody in this house that likes her, madam … except the young men. She being that sort. There’s some that don’t look beyond a pretty face.”

I thought it was the usual story of a nurse in the house who was determined to establish the fact that she was superior to the servants. Probably Nurse Grey gave orders in the kitchen, which they did not like. It was not an unusual situation. And now that they knew I was Lord Polhorgan’s grand daughter, they regarded me as the mistress of me house. This was the Dawsons’ way of telling me I was accepted as such. “Mrs. Dawson and I have always felt ourselves to be in a privileged position, madam.

We have been with his lordship for a very long time. “

” But of course, you are,” I assured him.

” We were here, begging your pardon, when Miss Lilith was at home.”

” So you knew my mother?”

“A lovely young lady, and, if you’ll forgive the liberty, madam, you’re very like her.”

” Thank you.”

” That’s why … Mrs. Dawson and I … made up our minds that we could talk to you, madam.”

” Please say everything that’s in your mind, Dawson.”

” Well, we’re uneasy, madam. There was a time when we thought she would try to marry him. There was no doubt that was what she was after. Mrs.

Dawson and I had made up our minds that the minute that was decided on we should be looking for another position. “

” Miss Grey … marry my grandfather?”

” Such things have happened, madam. Rich old gentlemen do marry young nurses now and then. They get a feeling they can’t do without them and the nurses have their eyes on the money, you see.”

” I’m sure my grandfather would never be married for his money. He’s far too shrewd.”

“That was what we said. She could never achieve that, and she didn’t.

But Mrs. Dawson and I reckon it wasn’t for want of trying. ” He came closer to me and whispered: ” The truth is, madam, we reckon she’s what you might call. an adventuress. “

” I see.”

” There’s something more. Our married daughter came to see us not so long ago…. It was just before you came home, madam. Well, she happened to see Nurse Grey and she said she was sure she’d seen her picture in the paper somewhere. Only she didn’t think the name was Grey.”

” Why was her picture in the paper?”

” It was some case or other. Maureen couldn’t remember what. But she thought it was something bad.”

“People get mixed up about these things. Perhaps she’d won a beauty competition or something like that.”

” Oh no, it wasn’t that or Maureen would have remembered. It was something to do with the courts. And it was Nurse something. But Maureen didn’t think it was Grey. It was just the face. She has got the sort of face, madam, that once seen is never forgotten.”