The Lost Years (12 page)

‘It’s great fun. I’ve learned where the brakes are and haven’t fallen off since yesterday!’

‘Then I have no doubt you will make an excellent pilot.’ Rupert sounded amused. ‘As you know, Perys, the machine was bought for me by my father. I spoke to him last night. He is so delighted that my name has been put forward for a DSO that he has said I can have his motor-car. It’s a Rolls-Royce and absolutely superb. And in view of the very important part you played in identifying the Dortmund, without any official recognition, I said I would like you to have the motor-cycle. He thinks it a splendid idea.’

‘You mean ... I can keep it as my own?’

‘Yes - if you want it, of course.’

‘If I want it! Rupert, how can I thank you? You’ve been so very generous.’

Perys was choked with emotion and dared say no more. He had experienced very little kindness in his life. It was all too much for him.

‘Well, if you feel so disposed, perhaps you will put in a good word for me with Morwenna while you are in London. I’ve not seen her since leaving Heligan. I was hoping to get to London to see her this weekend, but I have orders to rejoin my squadron in France. I set off in the morning. Before I go I will put what I have said to you in writing and send it to Maude, just in case you forget where you have to go and when.’

Perys knew he was not likely to forget a single word. Rupert’s instructions were so important to him that they were already burned indelibly in his brain. After stammering out his thanks he wished Rupert ‘Good Luck in France,’ then hurried outside the house to find his motorcycle. He wanted to share his incredible good fortune with Annie.

Chapter 18

Although Perys had tried to keep himself busy at Heligan in recent days, he had thought a great deal about Annie and of what had occurred between them when they had fallen off the motor-cycle together. Although it had not been planned, he was aware it had not been mere spur-of-the-moment opportunism on his part either. There had been a feeling of inevitability about it that he recognised. Had they not fallen off the motor-cycle, they would have kissed at some other time and place.

Perys had spent very little time with girls during his school days, but he had met enough of them to realise his feelings for Annie went deeper than friendship. He hoped she might feel the same about him, but did not know how he should go about finding out. He could not contemplate simply asking her directly.

Today, he cut the engine of the motor-cycle before reaching the Bray farm, in order not to frighten the livestock as he had on his previous visit. Propping the motor-cycle against the bank alongside the track, he walked the remainder of the way to the farmhouse.

His arrival took Annie by surprise. She was cleaning out the pig-sties and was dismayed that he should see her in such a dishevelled and grubby state. However, this was not the reason why she made no attempt to greet him and did not reply when he called out to her.

Puzzled and not a little hurt, Perys made his way to the sty where she was working. Ignoring him, she continued her work. Perys began to feel ill-at-ease. Eventually, he asked, ‘Are you having second thoughts about what happened when you had a ride on the motor-bike, Annie, or is it just that I’ve come visiting at a busy time for you?’

‘I have work to do, if that’s what you mean,’ she replied, ignoring the first part of his question.

‘Can I help?’

‘There’s not room for pigs and two people in a sty.’

‘Well, perhaps I can clean out one of the other sties,’ Perys said, patiently. ‘If the work is finished early, perhaps we can go for another ride?’

‘Do you go about the countryside offering rides on your motor-bike to every girl you meet? Or is it just me and Eliza Dunn? Did you manage to fall off with her as well?’

As she was speaking, Annie jabbed so hard with the large five-pronged farm fork she was using that it struck sparks from the stone floor.

Perys had suspected that Annie’s off-hand attitude might have had something to do with the fact that Martin had seen him talking to Eliza. Now he was left in no doubt.

‘Eliza has never had a ride on the motor-bike - not on mine, anyway.’

‘You’re not denying you were with her after you left me that day?’

‘It would be foolish of me to deny it when Martin saw me talking to her - but talking is all I did, and it wasn’t of my making.’

Perys was uncomfortably aware that he had Edward’s address in his pocket ready to give to Eliza when he left Annie today, but he could not tell her about their conversation.

‘As a matter of fact I was very angry with her. She stepped in front of me and might easily have caused me to have an accident.’

‘I’ve no doubt she was eager to show you how sorry she was,’ Annie said, acidly.

‘On the contrary, she was indignant that I should have complained about her stupidity.’

Only slightly mollified, Annie asked, ‘What was she doing up at Heligan anyway?’

Perys did not like lying to Annie, but he felt that telling her the truth could be very embarrassing for the unfortunate Mevagissey

‘I think she’d gone up there to meet someone, probably one of the Heligan servants.’

‘Eliza would only walk that far from home to meet a man, and her sights are set higher than house-servants,’ Annie said, meaningfully, but Perys felt her anger with him had dissipated somewhat. He repeated his offer to help her clean out the pig-sties.

‘Even if they are cleaned out quickly there’s no chance of my coming for a ride with you,’ said Annie. ‘Ma wouldn’t allow it. She has lots of jobs waiting for me in the house.’

‘Never mind.’ Perys managed to hide his disappointment. ‘At least if I’m working with you we can talk - and I have a lot to tell you.’

In spite of what Annie had said earlier, there was room for two in a pig-sty, and as they worked Perys told her of Rupert’s telephone call.

‘This award that’s being given to Rupert . . . it’s for bravery, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you must have been in danger too.’

‘The Germans were firing at us, yes, but they weren’t very good shots.’

‘You didn’t say anything about that at the time.’

Perys shrugged. ‘There was really no reason why I should. They missed us.’

‘And this is the sort of thing that will be happening to you every day once you become a pilot and join the Royal Flying Corps?’

‘I don’t suppose I’ll meet up with many German ships in France.’

‘You know very well what I mean, Perys. When you’re up in your aeroplane there will be people shooting at you.’

‘I suppose so - after all, there’s a war going on. But I would rather be in the air, where my survival depends to a great extent on my own skill, than fighting on the ground.’

‘I wish you didn’t need to go and fight at all,’ Annie said, unhappily. ‘I wish no one needed to go. Martin has been talking again about leaving Heligan and joining the army.’

‘A lot of the men at Heligan are doing the same,’ Perys pointed out. ‘Two of the gardeners and one of the grooms left this week.’

‘When are you leaving?’

‘On Saturday. That’s why I wanted to see you today. I’m taking the motor-bike up to London on the train. I’ll be starting my flying lessons on Monday.’

‘So soon!’

Annie’s dismay was not feigned and her concern gave Perys a warm feeling. ‘Yes, but once the course is over and I’ve had my interview at the War Office I’ll probably come back to Heligan until I’m sent for. That’s if they want me, of course.’

‘They’ll want you,’ Annie said, confidently.

Unhappy at the thought of Perys going off to war, she was relieved he would not be going away for ever when he left for London on Saturday. Her mother had told her more than once that she should not allow herself to become too fond of Perys. She had reminded Annie that he was a Tremayne - despite the unfortunate circumstances of his birth - and pointed out, yet again, that members of the gentry did not marry the daughters of struggling tenant farmers.

The conversation between Perys and Annie was brought to an end by Harriet Bray. Coming from the house, she was horrified to see Perys helping to clean out the pigs, declaring that it was not work for ‘a gentleman’. Telling Annie she wanted her to help in the house, Harriet invited Perys inside for something to eat and drink.

Mindful that he had promised to meet with Eliza and give her Edward’s address, Perys declined her offer after receiving an assurance that he might return the following evening, ostensibly to discuss with Martin the subject of enlisting in the army.

Chapter 19

The spot where the path from Heligan Mill joined the road was opposite the Mevagissey cemetery, a burial ground sited on an impossibly steep hillside. Eliza was nowhere in sight and Perys thought she might still be working. But he would need to give the address to her today if she was to have it before he left Heligan.

Propping his motor-cycle against a high, grassy bank, he took a stroll along the path that led to the mill. There was a deserted farmhouse along here. He thought he would pass a few minutes looking it over.

There was a small barn between the road and the old farmhouse. Set into the hillside alongside the path, it contained a quantity of the new season’s hay. As he passed by he thought he heard a sound inside.

It made him curious. There were unlikely to be animals inside because the hay was piled above the level of the small, barred windows set high in the walls.

He listened for a few minutes and heard voices inside the barn the low voices of a man and a woman. Then he heard other sounds and realised he was listening to a couple making love.

Vaguely amused, he walked on and looked at the deserted farmhouse, but the door was secured and he decided to return to his motor-cycle. He was halfway between the barn and his machine when he heard a sound. Looking around he saw a man he recognised as a Heligan gamekeeper emerge from the barn. A married man, his wife was a large, loud and aggressive woman who was employed at Heligan House as a washerwoman.

When the gamekeeper saw Perys he turned and hurried away in the opposite direction.

A short while later a woman came out of the barn. It was Eliza Dunn. By this time the gamekeeper had disappeared from view and Perys was standing by his motor-cycle.

Assuming he had observed nothing, when Eliza reached him she said, ‘Sorry if I’ve kept you waiting. I was taken short and couldn’t wait. It must be this cold easterly wind. Do you have Edward’s address?’

‘Yes, I have it.’

Perys was not certain he should give it to her in view of what he had just seen, but he decided that despite her faults, he liked Eliza more than he did Edward.

‘Well, give it to me then. I’ll be late enough getting home as it is.’

‘Think yourself lucky I’m here at all,’ Perys retorted, stung by her attitude. ‘I am doing you a favour. - and it’s not one that would be appreciated by the family.’

‘I don’t care about your family, any more than they care about me. I don’t suppose Edward is going to be very pleased with what I have to tell him, either, but he will look after me.’

Perys doubted very much whether Edward had ever cared for anyone other than himself, but he did not put his thoughts into words.

‘Here, take the address. I have better things to do than stay here listening to you.’

When Eliza took the piece of paper from him Perys began manhandling the motor-cycle in readiness to return the way he had come.

‘Wait! You don’t really need to hurry away, do you? I’m sorry if I sound ungrateful, but it is particularly cold today. Couldn’t we go somewhere out of this wind and talk ... or something?’

Raising an eyebrow, Perys said, ‘Don’t you think you’re in enough trouble, Eliza?’

‘If I’m already in trouble it can’t get much worse for me, can it? Anyway, why should you worry? I’ve heard you’re going off to war soon. It’ll give you something to think about when you’re with all the other soldiers, fighting in France.’

Perys did not correct her assumption that he would be joining the army. Instead, he said, ‘I’ll be on my way now, Eliza, I’ve got things to do.’

‘And Annie Bray to see, no doubt. If she’s not careful she’ll end up like me, and it would serve her right. She wouldn’t look down her nose whenever she saw me then, that’s for certain.’

‘That’s not likely to happen. Her name’s not Eliza, and I’m certainly not Edward,’ Perys said, aware that Eliza had just confirmed what he had suspected about her condition.

‘Names have got nothing to do with it. She’s a woman - for all her holier-than-thou ways - and you’re a man. That’s all it takes.’

Despite her boldness, loose morals and worldly way of talking, Perys believed Eliza was a very unhappy young woman. Not for the first time, he felt sorry for her.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Eliza stepped forward and, before he guessed her intention, she kissed him warmly on the mouth. Stepping back, she said, ‘Thank you for the address ... if you ever do want to see me, I walk home this way every day.’

Starting up the motor-cycle, Perys said, ‘Goodbye, Eliza. I hope Edward lives up to your expectations.’

He rode off, heading back towards Heligan, wondering what Edward’s reaction would be when he received a letter from Eliza with the news Perys felt sure she had to impart. One thing, at least, was certain. He would not be pleased.

Perys would have been less happy himself had he been aware that Annie’s father was at that moment checking some of his sheep in one of the steep-sided fields farther along the path towards Heligan Mill. He saw Eliza and Perys together and, fully aware of Eliza’s reputation, he was shocked when she kissed him.

Walter was a quiet man who made a habit of keeping things very much to himself. He would say nothing immediately to Annie or his wife of what he had just witnessed, but he decided there should not be such a warm welcome for Perys at Tregassick Farm in future. He did not want his daughter to be talked about in the same way as Eliza Dunn.

* * *

Perys walked to Tregassick Farm that evening in the company of Polly, the Heligan housemaid. He smiled to himself at the thought that Maude would have been horrified had she known that he was accompanying a servant girl to the home of a coachman to spend a social evening.