Lord of the Far Island (6 page)

ook at this, Miss Ellen,she said. t for you. My word, admirers, is it!

And there it was nestling into its protective box, a most beautiful and delicate orchid with a pinkish mauve merging tinge. It was just the decoration I needed to liven up my black dress.

I thought, It from Esmeralda! and hurried to thank her.

She looked blank. wish I thought of it, Ellen. It is just right for your dress. I thought there be flowers for anyone who wanted them.

ut not for poor relations,I responded; I was not bitter with Esmeralda, who was always most kind, just happy because I had my orchid.

I enjoyed trying to think who had sent it to me. I thought it must be Cousin William Loring because I had fancied he was a little uneasy at my going away to work for Mrs. Oman Lemming and Rose told me that she had heard him say to the mistress that there was no need for me to go.

e rather suggested that when Esmeralda married she might like to take you with her as a sort of companion and secretary perhaps because once Philip gets into his stride he is going to have a very busy life and his wife will have to do a great deal of entertaining. I don think he liked the idea of your going but She was firm about it.

So it seemed very likely that the orchid had come from kind Cousin William.

It was beautiful and there was no doubt that it transformed my dress. I no longer felt dowdy. Esmeralda gave me a pin with a small solitary diamond with which to hold it in place. I dressed with special care, piling my hair high on my head. I thought I looked quite elegant.

Esmeralda looked pretty in her magnificent gown but she was nervous, very conscious that she was the reason for the ball being given and she was apprehensive at the notion of receiving a proposal.

wish we didn have to grow up, Ellen,she said. It was clear that the prospect of a grand marriage appalled her. hey all think I going to marry Philip, but I never thought he liked me very much. After all, he did push me into the Serpentine.

hat was when we were children. Men often fall in love with girls theye not noticed when they were children.

ut he did notice meenough to push me into the water.

ell, if you don want to marry him you can always say no.

ut you see, Mama wants it and

I nodded. What she wanted she usually got.

I comforted her. Her father would be on her side, so there was no reason why she should marry anyone if she didn want to.

I had received instructions a few days before from Cousin Agatha. ou will make yourself useful, Ellen. In the supper room make sure that people are well served. Keep your eyes especially on Lady Emily, and see that she is well looked after. I shall find one or two gentlemen to whom I shall introduce you, and perhaps they may ask you to dance.

I could visualize the evening. Ellen the Poor Relationn somber black to distinguish her from the real guests. llen, do tell Wilton we need more salmon.Or llen, poor old Mr. Something is sitting alone. Come and let me introduce you. He may ask you to dance.And there would be Ellen stumbling round with rheumaticky old Mr. Something when her feet longed to be gliding over the floor with a kindred spirit.

How different it was. Not at all what I had dreaded. Right from the first Philip was beside me.

o you received my orchid,he said.

ours!

o one else would send you flowers, I hope.

I laughed, for he and I had always been special friends.

We danced together. I wondered if Cousin Agatha noticed and hoped so. How well our steps fitted! I knew they did because we used to dance together in the countryigs we made up as we went along.

id you know I was here tonight as the Poor Relation?I asked.

hat does that mean?

hat I have to keep my eyes open for neglected guests.

hat all right. You keep your eyes on me, for if you don I shall feel very neglected.

nd youone of the Carringtons!I mocked.

ut only a younger son.

s Great Rollo here tonight?

reat Rollo is far away. He hardly ever here.

hat makes you the catch of the season, I suppose.

isten,he said. et talk. Ie a good deal to say to you. Where can we get away to be quiet?

here are one or two smaller rooms on this floor. They have been set aside for private conversations.

et go then.

ught you, or more important still, ought I? Cousin Agatha eagle eyes will be searching for me soon if she has some aging gentleman who might care to amble round the floor with me.

ll the more reason why you should escape.

s this a game? We are not fourteen any more, remember.

hank heaven for that, and it deadly serious.

s something wrong?

t could be quite the reverse, but I must talk to you, Ellen.

We sat in one of the small rooms in which were pots of plants, a settee and a few chairs. I sat on the settee and Philip was beside me.

llen,he said, e been hearing things. Your servants talk to ours and ours to yours. These people know as much of our affairs as we do ourselves. More perhaps. The whispers indicate that you are indeed going away to be a governess to those odious Oman Lemming children.

e told you it true.

didn really believe it. You a governess!

he only occupation for a young lady of some gentility, education and no money.

ut whyafter all these years?

ousin Agatha was doing her duty to the defenseless child. Now the child has become a woman and must fend for herself, so she is being given a gentle but very firm push into the cruel world.

el put a stop to that. Wee not having you governessing to that woman. She poisonous.

I turned to him abruptly and my fear of the future suddenly enveloped me in earnest.

He took me by the shoulders and, laughing, held me against him. llen, you idiot, do you think I ever let you go?

hat authority would you have to stop me?

he best of all authority. Of course youe not going to be governess to that woman children! I happen to know theye terrors. I always meant it would be us two, Ellen. You and I are going to get married. That the answer. I always meant we should.

ou marry me! But youe going to marry Esmeralda. It all arranged. That what this dance is for.

hat nonsense!

hat where youe wrong. This dance is for Esmeralda, and I have it on good authority that during it or after it, they are hoping to announce your engagement to her.

hey say hope springs eternal in the human breast. But hey,by whom I presume you mean the Lorings, are going to find they have made a mistake. Engagement yes, but to Ellen not Esmeralda.

ou mean you announce your engagement to me tonight?

f course. I always had a sense of the dramatic. You know that.

hat will your parents say?

heyl be delighted.

o accept me! Youe joking.

am notHe looked very serious. y father likes you. He said you were amusing and he likes to be amused.

nd Lady Emily?

hel like you too. She wants me to be happy above all else.

Perhaps, but they can possibly want me as your wife.

hat where youe wrong. Ie hinted to them and theye full of approval. They think I ought to get married soon.

I just did not believe it. I was quite bewildered. Philip had always liked to joke. Of course Philip and I had always been the best of friends, to the exclusion of Esmeralda; he had always expressed disappointment when I did not appear at the social gatherings Cousin Agatha arranged. I should have known; I wasn in love with him. I couldn be, because I had imagined his marriage to Esmeralda without any great sorrow. The fact was that Cousin Agatha had so impressed on me my inferior status and the glory of the Carringtons that I could never imagine myself marrying into that familyven to Philip. Now it excited me, not, alas, so much because of Philiphom I liked very much of courseut because marriage with him would mean that I did not have to take up the post of governess with the odious Mrs. Oman Lemming and her brood, who, I was sure, were as unpleasant as she was. Chiefly perhaps I was savoring the triumph of being the chosen one. The sight of Cousin Agatha face if our engagement were announced would compensate me for years of humiliation, and I would have been inhuman not to relish the thought. As for Esmeralda, for whom I had an affection, she would not be in the least displeased. She had never wanted a Carrington marriage and she had insisted that Philip despised her ever since he had pushed her into the Serpentine.

ell,said Philip. ou seem at a loss for words. It the first time Ie ever known you so.

t the first time I have ever had a proposal of marriage.

el have fun together, Ellen.

I looked at him and believed we would.

hadn thought of you as a husband,I said.

hy ever not? I thought it was obvious.

ou never mentioned it.

ell, I mentioning it now.He took my hands in his and kissed me. ell,he said. hat now?

ive me time,I said. have to get used to the idea.

oue not getting coy, are you? That not like you.

ook at it from my point of view. I came here expecting an announcement of Esmeralda engagement.

o me!

f course to you. Cousin Agatha had set her heart on a Carrington son-in-law. And what she sets her heart on she usually gets.

hel have to put up with one as cousin-in-law.

econd several times removed.

ell, who cares about her anyway?

liking you more every minute.

He put his arm about me. t going to be fun, Ellen. There going to be no more of this poor-relation stuff. When I heard about that governessing project I knew I had to take action. The family want me to marry. Theye been on about it for some time. I think what they want is grandchildren and it doesn seem as if Rollo is going to have any sons or even daughters.

hy not?

h it a bit complicated. His wife a bit strange. Il tell you sometime. But it means the family is very anxious for me to marry.

oul be a young husband.

oul be an even younger wife.

I was getting used to the idea and liking it more. I had to start thinking of my old friend Philip as a husband. It was not difficult. I was beginning to enjoy myself.

Philip was telling me how he had always loved me although when we were children he hadn thought of it as love. He had merely enjoyed being with me. When he came to the country the first thing he thought of was whether I would be there. hey were good times we had together, Ellen,he said.

He went on to talk of what our life would be. We would travel a great deal. It would be necessary for his business. Rollo did most of it, but he was going to help him. It would be great fun, he told me. We would go out to India and Hong Kong and stay there for a while. He was learning about his father business and I could help him in this because when we were in London we should have to entertain a good deal.

He was opening out a glittering vista to me. We would have an establishment of our own in London not far from the parental home. He would see that I was introduced to the most exclusive dressmaker. oul be stunning in the right clothes, Ellen,he told me. oue a beauty, you know, only it never shown to advantage.

ousin Agatha insists on hiding my light under a bushel,I said. the sort to let it shine forth.

o it should do. My God, Ellen, it going to be wonderful.

es,I said. do believe it is.

Then he held me against him and we laughed together.

ho have thought it?I murmured. fter the way you used to bully me!

t was latent love,he told me.

as it really?

ou know it was. I must have decided years ago that I was going to marry you.

ne of those secret decisionssecret even to yourself,I said. ou were terribly critical of me.

hat was a symbol of my feelings.

hat would your praise be?

ait and see.

I was happy. It was the old bantering relationship and the prospects he was offering me were brilliant.

ou know I shall bring no dowry.

l take you without.

ou get a good one, you know, with Esmeralda.

not tempted. It has to be Ellen or no one.

I put my arms about his neck and kissed him heartily; it had to be at that moment that Cousin Agatha appeared.

llen!Her voice was shrill with mingled disbelief and righteous anger.

I broke away from Philip and stood up uneasily.

hat are you doing here? This is disgraceful. I shall talk to you later. In the meantime guests are being neglected.

ot all of them,said Philip cheekily. He had always liked to disconcert Cousin Agatha and he invariably did, because she wanted to be indignant with him but how could she be so with a Carrington?

I said: l go and see what I can do.

I wanted to get away because I still could not believe that Philip was really serious. He tried to take my hand, but I was away too quickly. I wondered what he said to Cousin Agatha. Later he told me that she made a remark about the weather, which of course she would consider the very height of good taste and subtle diplomacy in changing the subject.

I was in a whirl. I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the mirrors. My cheeks were flushed, my eyes brilliant. I decided that the black gown was not so unbecoming after all.

Then Mr. Carrington asked me to dance with him and I did. I found him courteous and charming. We talked about the play we had seen together and I sat out with him afterwards. It was not long before Philip joined us.

he said yes, Father,he told Mr. Carrington.

Mr. Carrington nodded, smiling. He took my hand and pressed it. am very happy,he said. ou seem to me a remarkable young woman.

el announce it at supper,said Philip. ou can do it, Father. Better not let Mother. Shel forget who to be the bride and before I know where I am Il be partnered off with someone most unsuitable.

Philip and I danced together. It was the waltz and our steps fitted perfectly. Had we not gone to dancing classes together?

our Cousin Agatha is glaring like a gorgon,he informed me.

et her,I answered. hat particular gorgon has now no power to turn me to stone nor even into a governess.