Mistress of Mellyn

” There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances,” my Aunt Adelaide had said. ” One is to marry, and the other to find a post in keeping with her gentility.”

As the train carried me through wooded hills and past green meadows, I was taking this second course; partly, I suppose, because I had never had an opportunity of trying the former.

I pictured myself as I must appear to my fellow travellers if they bothered to glance my way, which was not very likely: A young woman of medium height, already past her first youth, being twenty-four years old, in a brown merino dress with cream lace collar and little tufts of lace at the cuffs. (Cream being so much more serviceable than white, as Aunt Adelaide told me. ) My black cape was unbuttoned at the throat because it was hot in the carriage, and my brown velvet bonnet, tied with brown velvet ribbons under my chin, was of the sort which was so becoming to feminine people like my sister Phillida but, I always felt, sat a little incongruously on heads like mine. My hair was thick with a coppery tinge, parted in the centre, brought down at the sides of my too-long face, and made into a cumbersome knot to project behind the bonnet. My eyes were large, in some lights the colour of amber, and were my best feature; but they were too bold—so said Aunt Adelaide; which meant that they had learned none of the feminine graces which were so becoming to a woman. My nose was too short, my mouth too wide.

In fact, I thought, nothing seemed to fit; and I must resign myself to journeys such as this when I travel to and from the various posts which I shall occupy for the rest of my life, since it is necessary for me to earn a living, and I shall never achieve the first of those alternatives: a husband.

We had passed through the green meadows of Somerset and were now deep in the moorland and wooded hills of Devon. I had been told to take good note of that masterpiece of bridges building, Mr. Brunei’s bridge, which spanned the Tamar at Saltash and, after crossing which, I should have left England behind me and have passed into the Duchy of Cornwall.

I was becoming rather ridiculously excited about crossing the bridge.

I was not a fanciful woman at this time perhaps I changed later, but then a stay in a house like Mount Mellyn was enough to make the most practical of people fanciful so I could not understand why I should feel this extraordinary excitement.

It was absurd, I told myself. Mount Mellyn may be a magnificent mansion; Connan TreMellyn may be as romantic as his name sounds; but that will be no concern of yours. You will be confined to below stairs, or perhaps to the attics above stairs, concerned only with the care of little Alvean.

What strange names these people had! I thought, staring out-of the window. There was sun on the moorland but the grey tors in the distance looked oddly menacing. They were like petrified people.

This family to which I was going was Cornish, and the Cornish had a language of their own. Perhaps my own name, Martha Leigh, would sound odd to them. Martha! It always gave me a shock when I heard it. Aunt Adelaide always used it, but at home when my father had been alive he and Phillida never thought of calling me Martha. I was always Marty. I could not help feeling that Marty was a more lovable person than Martha could ever be, and I was sad and a little frightened because I felt that the River Tamar would cut me off completely from Marty for a long time. In my new post I should be Miss Leigh, I supposed; perhaps Miss, or more undignified still Leigh.

One of Aunt Adelaide’s numerous friends had heard of ” Connan TreMellyn’s predicament.” He needed the right person to help him out of his difficulties. She must be patient enough to care for his daughter, sufficiently educated to teach her, and genteel enough for the child not to suffer through the proximity of someone who was not quite of her own class. Obviously what Connan TreMellyn needed was an impoverished gentlewoman. Aunt Adelaide decided that I fitted the bill.

When our father, who had been vicar of a country parsonage, had died.

Aunt Adelaide had swooped on us and taken us to London. There should be a season, she told us, for twenty-year-old Martha and eighteen-year-old Phillida. Phillida had married at the end of that season; but after four years of living with Aunt Adelaide, I had not.

So there came a day when she pointed out the two courses to me.

I glanced out of the window. We were drawing into Plymouth. My fellow passengers had alighted and I sat back in my seat watching the activities on the platform.

As the guard was blowing his whistle and we were about to move on, the door of the carriage opened and a man came in. He looked at me with an apologetic smile as though he were hinting that he hoped I did not mind sharing the compartment with him, but I averted my eyes.

When we had left Plymouth and were approaching the bridge, he said : ” You like our bridge, eh?”

I turned and looked at him.

I saw a man, a little under thirty, well dressed, but in the manner of the country gentleman. His tail coat was dark blue, his trousers grey; and his hat was what in London we called a ” pot hat ” because of its resemblance to that vessel. This hat he laid on the seat beside him. I thought him somewhat dissipated, with brown eyes that twinkled ironically as though he were fully aware of the warnings I must have received about the in advisability of entering into conversation with strange men.

I answered : ” Yes, indeed. I think it is a very fine piece of workmanship.”

He smiled. We had crossed the bridge and entered Cornwall.

His brown eyes surveyed me and I was immediately conscious of my somewhat drab appearance. I thought: He is only interested in me because there is no one else to daim his attention. I remembered then that Phillida had once said that I put people off by presuming, when they showed interest, that I believed it was because no one else was available. ” See yourself as a makeshift,” was Phillida’s maxim, ” and you’ll be one.”

” Travelling far?” he asked.

” I believe I have now only a short distance to go. I leave the train at Liskeard.”

” Ah, Liskeard.” He stretched his legs and turned his gaze from me to the tips of his boots. ” You have come from London?” he went on.

” Yes,” I answered.

” You’ll miss the gaiety of the big city.” , ” I once lived in the country so I know what to expect.” | ” Are you staying in Liskeard?”

I was not sure that I liked this catechism, but I remembered Phillida again: ” You’re far too gruff, Marty, with the opposite sex. You scare them off.”

I decided I could at least be civil, so I answered: ” No, not in Liskeard. I’m going to a little village on the coast called Mellyn.”

” I see.” He was silent for a few moments and once more turned his attention to the tips of his boots.

His next words startled me. ” I suppose a sensible young lady like you would not believe in second sight … and that sort of thing?”

” Why …” I stammered. ” What an extraordinary question!”

” May I look at your palm ?”

I hesitated and regarded him suspiciously. Could I offer my hand to a stranger in this way? Aunt Adelaide would suspect that some nefarious advances were about to be made. I thought in this case she might be right. After all I was a woman, and the only available one.

He smiled. ” I assure you that my only desire is to look into the future.”

” But I don’t believe in such things.”

” Let me look anyway.” He leaned forward and with a swift movement secured my hand.

He held it lightly, scarcely touching it, contemplating it with his head on one side.

” I see,” he said, ” that you have come to a turning point in your life You are moving into a strange new world which is entirely different from anything you have known before. You will have to exercise caution the utmost caution.”

I smiled cynically. ” You see me taking a journey. What would you say if I told you I was visiting relatives and could not possibly be moving into your strange new world?”

” I should say you were not a very truthful young lady.” His smile was puckish. I could not help feeling a little liking for him. I thought he was a somewhat irresponsible person, but he was very lighthearted and, being in his company, to some extent made me share that lightheartedness. ” No,” he went on, ” you are travelling to a new life, a new post. There’s no mistake about that. Before, you lived a secluded life in the country, then you went to the town.”

” I believe I implied that.”

” You did not need to imply it-But it is not the past which concerns us on occasions like this, is it? It is the future.”

” Well, what of the future?”

” You are going to a strange house, a house full of shadowy. You will have to walk warily in that house, Miss er ” He waited, but I did not supply what be was asking for, and he went on: ” You have to earn your living. I see a child there and a man… Perhaps it is the child’s father. They are wrapped in shadows. There is someone else there … but perhaps she is already dead.”

It was the deep sepulchral note in his voice rather than the words he said which momentarily unnerved me.

I snatched my hand away. ” What nonsense!” I said.

He ignored me and half closed his eyes. Then he went on :

” You will need to watch little Alice, and your duties will extend beyond the care of her. You must most certainly beware of Alice.”

I felt a faint tingling which began at the base of my spine and seemed to creep up to my neck. This, I supposed, was what is known as making one’s flesh creep.

Little Alice! But her name was not Alice. It was Alvean. It had unnerved me for the moment because it had sounded similar.

Then I felt irritated and a little angry. Did I look the part then? Was it possible that I already carried the mark of the penurious gentlewoman forced to take the only course open to her? A governess!

Was he laughing at me? He lay back against the upholstery^ of the carriage, his eyes still dosed. I looked out of the|| window as though he and his ridiculous fortune-telling were of; not the slightest interest to me.

He opened his eyes then and took out his watch. He studied it gravely, for all the world as though this extraordinary conversation had not taken place between us.

” In four minutes’ time,” he said briskly, ” we shall pull into Liskeard. Allow me to assist you with your bags.”

He took them down from the rack. ” Miss Martha Leigh,” was clearly written on the labels, “Mount Mellyn, Mellyn, Cornwall.”

He did not appear to glance at these labels and I felt that he i had lost interest in me. ?

When we came into the station, he alighted and set my bags on the platform. Then he took off the hat which he had set apon his head when he picked up the bags, and with a deep bow he left me.

While I was murmuring my thanks I saw an elderly man coming towards me, calling: ” Miss Leigh! Miss Leigh! Be you Miss Leigh then?” And for the moment I forgot about my travelling companion.

I was facing a merry little man with a brown, wrinkled skin and eyes of reddish brown; he wore a corduroy jacket and a sugar-loaf hat which he had pushed to the back of his head and seemed to have forgotten.

Ginger hair sprouted from under this, and his brows and moustaches were of the same gingery colour.

” Well, Miss,” he said, ” so I picked you out then. Be these your bags? Give them to me. You and me and old Cherry Pie ‘ml soon be home.”

He took my bags and I walked behind him, but be soon fell into step beside me.

” Is the house far from here?” I asked.

” Old Cherry Pie’U carry us there all in good time,” he answered, as he loaded my bags into the trap and I climbed in beside him.

He seemed to be a garrulous man and I could not resist the temptation of trying to discover, before I arrived, something about the people among whom I was going to live.

I said: ” This house. Mount Mellyn, sounds as though it’s on a hill.”

“Well, ‘tis built on a cliff top, facing the sea, and the gardens run down to the sea. Mount Mellyn and Mount Widden are like twins. Two houses, standing defiant like, daring the sea to come and take ‘em.

But they’m built on firm rock. “

” So there are two houses,” I said. ” We have near neighbours.”

” In a manner of speaking. Nansellocks, they who are at Mount Widden, have been there these last two hundred years. They be separated from us by more than a mile, and there’s Mellyn Cove in between. The families have always been good neighbours until ” He stopped and I prompted: ” Until ?”

” You’ll bear fast enough,” he answered.

I thought it was beneath my dignity to probe into such matters so I changed the subject. ” Do you keep many servants?” I asked.

” There be me and Mrs. Tapperty and my girls. Daisy and Kitty. We live in the rooms over the stables. In the house there’s Mrs. Polgrey and Tom Polgrey and young Gilly. Not that you’d call her a servant. But they have her there and she passes for such.”

” Gilly!” I said. ” That’s an unusual name.”

” Gillyflower. Reckon Jennifer Polgrey was a bit daft to give her a name like that. No wonder the child’s what she is.”

” Jennifer? Is that Mrs. Polgrey?”

“Nay! Jennifer was Mrs. Polgrey’s girl. Great dark eyes and the littlest waist you ever saw. Kept herself to herself until one day she goes lying in the hay or maybe the gillyflowers with someone. Then, before we know where we are, little Gilly’s arrived; as for Jennifer her just walked into the sea one morning. We reckoned there wasn’t much doubt who Gilly’s father was.”

I said nothing and, disappointed by my lack of interest, he went on :

” She wasn’t the first. We knowed her wouldn’t be the last. Geoffry Nansellock left a trail of bastards wherever he | went.” He laughed and looked sideways at me. ” No need for 9 you to look so prim. Miss.

He can’t hurt you. Ghosts can’t ‘| hurt a young lady, and that’s all Master Geoffry Nansellock is now . nothing more than a ghost. “

” So he’s dead too. He didn’t … walk into the sea after Jennifer?”

That made Tapperty chuckle. ” Not him. He was killed in a train accident. You must have heard of that accident. It was just as the train was running out of Plymouth. It ran off the lines and over a bank. The slaughter was terrible. Mr. Geoff, he were on that train, and up to no good on it either. But that was the end of him.”

” Well, I shall not meet him, but I shall meet Gillyflower, I suppose.

And is that all the servants? “

” There are odd boys and girls some for the gardens, some for the stables, some in the house. But it ain’t what it was. Things have changed since the mistress died.”

” Mr. TreMellyn is a very sad man, I suppose.”

Tapperty lifted his shoulders.

” How long is it since she died?” I asked.

” It would be little more than a year, I reckon.”

” And he has only just decided that he needs a governess for little Miss Alvean?”

” There have been three governesses so far. You be the fourth. They don’t stay, none of them. Miss Bray and Miss Garrett, they said the place was too quiet for them. There was Miss Jansen a real pretty creature. But she was sent away. She took what didn’t belong to her.

“Twas a pity. We all liked her. She seemed to look on it as a privilege to live in Mount Mellyn. Old houses were her hobby, she used to tell us. Well, it seemed she had other hobbies besides, so out she went.”

I turned my attention to the countryside. It was late August and, as we passed through lanes with banks on either side, I caught occasional glimpses of fields of corn among which poppies and pimpernels grew; now and then we passed a cottage of grey Cornish stone which looked grim, I thought, and lonely.

I had my first glimpse of the sea through a fold in the hills, and I felt my spirits lifted. It seemed that the nature of the landscape changed. Flowers seemed to grow more plentifully on the banks; I could smell the scent of pine trees; and fuchsias grew by the roadside, their blossoms bigger than any we had ever been able to cultivate in our vicarage garden.

We turned off the road from a steep hill and went down and down nearer the sea. I saw that we were on a cliff road. Before us stretched a scene of breath-taking beauty. The diff rose steep and straight from the sea on that indented coast; grasses and flowers grew there, and I saw sea pinks and red and white valerian mingling with the heather—rich, deep, purple heather.

At length we came to the house. It was like a castle, I thought, standing there on the diff plateau—built of granite like many houses I had seen in these parts, but grand and noble—a house which had stood for several hundred years, and would stand for several hundred more.

” All this land bdongs to the Master,” said Tapperty with pride. ” And if you look across the cove, you’ll see Mount Widden.”

I did look and saw the house. Like Mount Mellyn it was built of grey stone. It was smaller in every way and of a later period. I did not give it much attention because now we were approaching Mount Mellyn, and that was obviously the house which was more interesting to me.

We had climbed to the plateau and a pair of intricately wrought-iron gates confronted us.

” Open up there!” shouted Tapperty.

There was a small lodge beside the gates and at the door sat a woman knitting.

” Now, Gilly girl,” she said, ” you go and open the gates and save me poor legs.”

Then I saw the child who had been sitting at the old woman’s feet. She rose obediently and came to the gate. She was an extraordinary looking girl with long straight hair almost white in colour and wide blue eyes.

” Thanks, Gilly girl,” said Tapperty as Cherry Pie went happily through the gates. ” This be Miss, who’s come to live here and take care of Miss Alvean.”

I looked into a pair of blank blue eyes which stared at me with an expression impossible to fathom. The old woman came up to the gate and Tapperty said: ” This be Mrs. Soady.”

” Good day to you,” said Mrs. Soady. ” I hope you’ll be happy here along of us.” ” Thank you,” I answered, forcing my gaze away from the child to the woman. ” I hope so.”

” Well, I do hope so,” added Mrs. Soady. Then she shook her head as though she feared her hopes were somewhat futile.

I turned to look at the child but she had disappeared. I wondered where she had gone, and the only place I could imagine was behind the bushes of hydrangeas which were bigger than any hydrangeas I had ever seen, and of deep blue, almost the colour of the sea on this day.

” The child didn’t speak,” I observed as we went on up the drive.

” No. Her don’t talk much. Sing, her do. Wander about on her own. But talk … not much.”

The drive was about half a mile in length and on either side of it the hydrangeas bloomed. Fuchsias mingled with them, and I caught glimpses of the sea between the pine trees. Then I saw the house. Before it was a wide lawn and on this two peacocks strutted before a peahen, their almost incredibly lovely tails fanned out behind them. Another sat perched on a stone wall; and there were two palm trees, tall and straight, one on either side of the porch.

The house was larger than I had thought when I had seen it from the cliff path. It was of three stories, but long and built in an L shape.

The sun caught the glass of the mullioned windows and I immediately had the impression that I was being watched.

Tapperty took the gravel approach to the front porch and, when we reached it, the door opened and I saw a woman standing there. She wore a white cap on her grey hair; she was y tall, with a hooked nose and, as she had an obviously dominating manner, I did not need to be told that she was Mrs. Polgrey.

” I trust you’ve had a good journey. Miss Leigh,” she said.

” Very good, thank you,” I told her.

” And worn out and needing a rest, I’ll be bound. Come along.-in. You shall have a nice cup of tea in my room. Leave your bags. I’ll have them taken up.”

I felt relieved. This woman dispelled the eerie feeling which had begun, I realised, since my encounter with the man in the train. Joe Tapperty had done little to disperse it, with his tales of death and suicide. But Mrs. Polgrey was a woman who would stand no nonsense, I was sure of that. She seemed to emit common sense, and perhaps because I was fatigued by the long journey I was pleased about this.

I thanked her and said I would greatly enjoy the tea, and she led the way into the house.

We were in an enormous hall which in the past must have been used as a banqueting room. The floor was of flagged stone, and the timbered roof was so lofty that I felt it must extend to the top of the house. The beams were beautifully carved and the effect decorative. At one end of the hall was a dais and at the back of this a great open fireplace. On the dais stood a refectory table on which were vessels and plates of pewter.

” It’s magnificent,” I said involuntarily; and Mrs. Polgrey was pleased.

” I superintend all the polishing of the furniture myself,” she told me.

“You have to watch girls nowadays. Those Tapperty wenches are a pair of flibbertigibbets, I can tell ‘ee. You’d need eyes that could see from here to Land’s End to see all they’m up to. Beeswax and turpentine, that’s the mixture, and nothing like it. All made by myself.”

” It certainly does you credit,” I complimented her.

I followed her to the end of the hall where there was a door. She opened this and a short flight of some half a dozen steps confronted us. To the left was a door which she indicated and after a moment’s hesitation, opened.

” The chapel,” she said, and I caught a glimpse of blue slate flagstones, an altar and a few pews. There was a smell of dampness about the place.

She shut the door quickly.

” We don’t use it nowadays,” she said. ” We go to the Mellyn church.

It’s down in the village, the other side of the cove . just beyond Mount Widden. “

We went up the stairs and into a room which I saw was a dining room.

It was vast and the walls were hung with tapestry. The table was highly polished and there were several cabinets in the room within which I saw beautiful glass and china. The floor was covered with blue carpet and through the enormous windows I saw a walled courtyard.

” This is not your part of the house,” Mrs. Polgrey told me, ” but I thought I would take you round the front of the house to my room. It’s as well you know the lay of the land, as they say.”

I thanked her, understanding that this was a tactful way of telling me that as a governess I would not be expected to mingle with the family.

We passed through the dining room to yet another flight of stairs and mounting these we came to what seemed like a more intimate sitting room. The walls were covered with exquisite tapestry and the chair backs and seats were beautifully wrought in the same manner. I could see that the furniture was mostly antique and that it all gleamed with beeswax and turpentine and Mrs. Polgrey’s loving care.

” This is the punch room,” she said. ” It has always been called so because it is here that the family retires to take punch. We follow the old custom still in this house.”

At the end of this room was another flight of stairs; there was no door leading to them, merely a heavy brocade curtain which Mrs. Polgrey drew aside, and when we had mounted these stairs we were in a gallery, the walls of which were lined with portraits. I gave each of them a quick glance, wondering if Connan TreMellyn were among them; but I could see no one depicted in modern dress, so I presumed his portrait had not yet taken its place among those of his ancestors.

There were several doors leading from the gallery, but we went quickly along it, to one of those at the far end. As we passed through it I saw that we were in a different wing of the house, the servants’ quarters I imagined, because the spaciousness was missing.

” This,” said Mrs. Polgrey, ” will be y

” I fear it will take some time to learn my way about the house,” I said.

” You’ll know it in next to no time. But when you go out you won’t go the way I brought you up. You’ll use one of the other doors; when you’ve unpacked and rested awhile, I’ll show you.”

” You’re very kind.”

” Well, I do want to make you happy here with us. Miss Alvean needs discipline, I always say. And what can I do about giving in to her, with all I have to do! A nice mess this place would be in if I let Miss Alvean take up my time. No, what she wants is a sensible governess, and ‘twould seem they’m not all that easy to come by. Why, Miss, if you show us that you can look after the child, you’ll be more than welcome here.”

” I gather I have had several predecessors.” She looked a trifle blank and I went on quickly. ” There have been other governesses.”

” Oh yes. Not much good, any of them. Miss Jansen was the best, but it seemed she had habits. You could have knocked me down with a feather.

She quite took me in! ” Mrs. Polgrey looked as though she thought that anyone who could do that must be smart.

“Well, I suppose appearances are deceptive, as they say. Miss Celestine was real upset when it came out.”

” Miss Celestine?”

” The young lady at Widden. Miss Celestine Nansellock. She’s often here. A quiet young lady and she loves the place. If I as much as move a piece of furniture she knows it. That’s why she and Miss Jansen seemed to get on. Both interested in old houses, you see. It was such a pity and such a shock. You’ll meet her sometime. As I say, scarcely a day passes when she’s not here. There’s some of us that think. Oh, my dear life! ‘twould seem as though I’m letting my tongue run away with me, and you longing for that cup of tea. “

She threw open the door of the room and it was like stepping into another world. Gone was the atmosphere of brooding antiquity. This was a room which could not have fitted into any other time than the present, and I realised that it confirmed my impression of Mrs. Polgrey. There were antimacassars on the chair; there was a ” what-not ” in the corner of the room filled with china ornaments including a glass slipper, a gold pig and a cup with ” A present from Weston” inscribed on it. It seemed almost impossible to move in a room so crammed with furniture. Even on the mantel-piece Dresden shepherdesses seemed to jostle with marble angels for a place. There was an ormolu clock which ticked sedately; there were chairs and little tables everywhere, it seemed. It showed Mrs. Polgrey to me as a woman of strong conventions, a woman who would have a great respect for the right thing which would, of course, be the thing she believed in.

Still, I felt something comfortingly normal about this room as I did about the woman.

She looked at the main table and tutted in exasperation; then she went to the bell rope and pulled it. It was only a few minutes later when a black-haired girl with saucy eyes appeared carrying a tray on which was a silver teapot, a spirit lamp, cups and saucers, milk and sugar.

” And about time too,” said Mrs. Polgrey; ” Put it here, Daisy.”

Daisy gave me a look which almost amounted to a wink. I did not wish to offend Mrs. Polgrey so I pretended not to notice.

Then Mrs. Polgrey said: ” This is Daisy, Miss. You can tell her if you find anything is not to your liking.”

” Thank you Mrs. Polgrey, and thank you. Daisy.”

They both looked somewhat startled and Daisy dropped a little curtsy, of which she seemed half ashamed, and went out.

” Nowadays …” murmured Mrs. Polgrey, and lighted the spirit lamp.

I watched her unlock the cabinet and take out the tea canister which she set on the tray.

” Dinner,” she went on, ” is served at eight. Yours will be brought to your room. But I thought you would be needing a little reviver. So when you’ve had this and seen your room, I’ll introduce you to Miss Alvean.”

” What would she be doing at this time of day?”

Mrs. Polgrey frowned. ” She’ll be off somewhere by herself. She goes off by herself. Master don’t like it. That’s why ‘e be anxious for her to have a governess, you see.”

I began to see. I was sure now that Alvean was going to be a difficult child.

Mrs. Polgrey measured the tea into the pot as though it were gold dust, and poured the hot water on it.

” So much depends on whether she takes a fancy to you or not,” went on Mrs. Polgrey. ” She’s unaccountable. There’s some she’ll take to and some she won’t. Her was very fond of Miss Jansen.” Mrs. Polgrey shook her head sadly. ” A pity she had habits.”

She stirred the tea in the pot, put on the tea cosy and asked me: ” Cream? Sugar?”

” Yes, please,” I said.

” I always do say,” she remarked, as though she thought I needed some consolation, ” there ain’t nothing like a good cup of tea.”

We ate tea biscuits with the tea, and these Mrs. Polgrey took from a tin which she kept in her cabinet. I gathered, as we sat together, that Connan TreMellyn, the Master, was away.

” He has an estate farther west,” Mrs. Polgrey told me. ” Penzance way.” Her dialect was more noticeable when she was relaxed as she was now. ” He do go to it now and then to see to it like. Left him by his wife, it were. Now she was one of the Pendletons. They’m from Penzance way.”

” When does he return?” I asked.

She looked faintly shocked, and I knew that I had offended because she said in a somewhat haughty way: ” He will come back in his own time.”

I saw that if I was going to keep in her good books, I must n be strictly conventional; and presumably it was not good form for a governess to ask questions about the master of the house. It was all very well for Mrs. Polgrey to speak of him; she was a privileged person. I could see that I must hastily adjust myself to my own position.

Very soon after that she took me up to my room. It was large with big windows equipped with window seats from , which there was a good view of the front lawn, the palm trees and the approach. My bed was a fourposter and seemed in keeping with the rest of the furniture; and although it was a big bed it looked dwarfed in a room of this size.

There were rugs on the floor, the boards of which were so highly polished that the rugs looked somewhat dangerous. I could see that I might have little cause to bless Mrs. Polgrey’s love of polishing everything within sight. There was a tallboy and a chest of drawers; and I noticed that there was a door in addition to the one by which I had entered.

Mrs. Polgrey followed my gaze. ” The schoolroom,” she said.

“And beyond that is. Miss Alvean’s room.”

” I see. So the schoolroom separates us.”

Mrs. Polgrey nodded.

Looking round the room I saw that there was a screen in one corner and as I approached this I noticed that it shielded a hip bath.

” If you want hot water at any time,” she said, ” ring the bell and Daisy or Kitty will bring it to you.”

” Thank you.” I looked at the open fireplace and pictured a roaring fire there on winter days. ” I can see I’m going to be very comfortable here.”

” It’s a pleasant room. You’ll be the first governess to have it. The other governesses used to sleep in a room on the other side of Miss Alvean’s room. It was Miss Celestine who thought this would be better.

It’s a more pleasant room, I must say. “

” Then I owe thanks to Miss Celestine.”

” A very pleasant lady. She thinks the world of Miss Alvean.” Mrs. Polgrey shook her head significantly and I wondered whether she was thinking that it was only a year since the master’s wife had died, and that perhaps one day he would marry again. Who more suitable to be his wife than his neighbour who was so fond of Miss Alvean? Perhaps they were only waiting for a reasonable lapse of time.

” Would you like to wash your hands and unpack? Dinner will be in two hours’ time. But perhaps first you would like to take a look at the schoolroom.”

” Thank you, Mrs. Polgrey,” I said, ” but I think I’ll wash and unpack first.”

” Very well. And perhaps you’d like a little rest. Travelling is so fatiguing, I do know. I’ll send Daisy up with hot water. Meals could be taken in the schoolroom. Perhaps you’d prefer that?”

” With Miss Alvean?”

” She takes her meals nowadays with her father, except her milk and biscuits last thing. All the children have taken meals with the family from the time they were eight years old. Miss Alvean’s birthday was in May.”

” There are other children?”

” Oh, my dear life, no! I was talking of the children of the past.

It’s one of the family rules, you see. “

” I see.”

” Well, I’ll be leaving you. If you cared for a stroll in the grounds before dinner, you could take it. Ring for Daisy or Kitty and whoever is free will show you the stairs you will use in future. It will take you down to the kitchen garden, but you can easily get from there to wherever you want to go. Don’tee forget though dinner at eight.”

” In the schoolroom.”

” Or in your own room if you prefer it.”

“But,” I added, “in the governess’s quarters.”

She did not know what to make of this remark, and when Mrs. Polgrey did not understand, she ignored. In a few minutes I was alone.

As soon as she had gone the strangeness of the house seemed to envelop me. I was aware of silence the eerie silence of an ancient house.

I went to the window and looked out. It seemed a long time ago that I had driven up to the house with Tapperty. I heard the august notes of a bird which might have been a linnet.

I looked at the watch pinned to my blouse and saw that it was just past six o’clock. Two hours to dinner. I wondered whether to ring for Daisy or Kitty and ask for hot water; but I found my eyes turning to the other door in my room, the one which led to the schoolroom.

The schoolroom was, after all, my domain, and I had a right to inspect it, so I opened the door. The room was larger than my bedroom but it had the same type of windows and they were all fitted with window seats on which were red plush fitted cushions. There was a table in the centre of the room. I went over to it and saw that there were scratches on it and splashes of ink, so I guessed that this was the table where generations of TreMellyns had learned their lessons. I tried to imagine Connan TreMellyn as a little boy, sitting at this table. I imagined him a studious boy, quite different from his erring daughter, the difficult child who was going to be my problem.

A few books lay on the table. I examined them. They were children’s readers, containing the sort of stories and articles which looked as if they were of an uplifting nature. There was an exercise book on which was scrawled ” Alvean TreMellyn. Arithemetic.” I opened it and saw several sums, to most of which had been given the wrong answers.

Idly turning the pages I came to a sketch of a girl, and immediately I recognised Gilly, the child whom I had seen at the lodge gates.

” Not bad,” I muttered. ” So our Alvean is an artist. That’s something.”

I dosed the book. I had the strange feeling, which I had had as soon as I entered the house, that I was being watched.

“Alvean!” I called on impulse.

“Are you there, Alvean? Alvean, where are you hiding?”

There was no answer and I flushed with embarrassment, feeling rather absurd in the silence.

Abruptly I turned and went back to my room. I rang the bell and when Daisy appeared I asked her for hot water.

By the time I had unpacked my bags and hung up my things it was nearly eight o’clock, and precisely as the stable clock was striking eight Kitty appeared with my tray. On it was a leg of roast chicken with vegetables and, under a pewter cover, an egg custard.

Daisy said: ” Are you having it in here. Miss, or in the schoolroom?”

I decided against sitting in that room where I felt I was overlooked.

” Here, please. Daisy,” I answered. Then, because Daisy looked the sort of person who wanted to talk, I added:

” Where is Miss Alvean? It seems strange that I have not seen her yet.”

” She’s a bad ‘un,” cried Daisy. ” Do ‘ee know what would have happened to Kit and me if we’d got up to such tricks? A good tanning that’s what we’d have had and in a place where ‘tweren’t comfortable to sit down on after. Her heard new Miss was coming, and so off her goes. Master be away and we don’t know where her be until the house boy comes over from Mount Widden to tell we that she be over there calling on Miss Celestine and Master Peter, if you do please.”

” I see. A sort of protest at having a new governess.”

Daisy came near and nudged me. ” Miss Celestine do spoil the child.

Dotes on her so’s you’d think she was her own daughter. Listen! That do sound like the carriage. ” Daisy was at the window beckoning me. I felt I ought not to stand at the window with a servant spying on what was happening below, but the temptation to do so was too strong for me.

So I stood beside Daisy and saw them getting out of the carriage . a young woman, whom I judged to be of my own age or perhaps a year or so older, and a child. I scarcely looked at the woman; my attention was all on the child. This was Alvean on whom my success depended, so naturally enough in those first seconds I had eyes for no one but her.

From what I could see she looked ordinary enough. She was somewhat tall for her eight years; her light brown hair had been plaited, and I presumed it was very long, for it was wound round her head; this gave her an appearance of maturity and I imagined her to be terrifyingly precocious. She was wearing a dress of brown gingham with white stockings and black shoes with ankle straps. She looked like a miniature woman and, for some vague reason, my spirits fell.

Oddly enough she seemed to be conscious that she was being watched, and glanced upwards. Involuntarily I stepped back, but I was sure she had seen the movement. I felt at a disadvantage before we had met.

” Up to tricks,” murmured Daisy at my side.

” Perhaps,” I said as I walked into the centre of the room, ” she is a little alarmed at the prospect of having a new governess.”

Daisy let out a burst of explosive laughter. ” What, her! Sorry, Miss, but that do make me laugh, that do.”

I went to the table and, sitting down, began to eat my dinner. Daisy was about to go when there was a knock on the door and Kitty entered.

She grimaced at her sister and grinned rather familiarly at me. ” Oh, Miss,” she said, ” Mrs. Polgrey says that when you’m finished will you go down to the punch room. Miss Nansellock be there and her would like to see you. Miss Alvean have come home. They’d like ‘ee to come down as soon as you can. Tis time Miss Alvean were in her own room.”

” I will come when I have finished my dinner,” I said.

” Then would you pull the bell when you’m ready. Miss, and me or Daisy’ll show you the way.”

“Thank you.” I sat down and, in a leisurely fashion, finished my meal.

I rose and went to the mirror which stood on my dressing table. I saw that I was unusually flushed and that this suited me; it made my eyes look deddedly the colour of amber. It was fifteen minutes since Daisy and Kitty had left me and I imagined that Mrs. Polgrey, Alvean and Miss Nansellock would be impatiently awaiting my coming. But I had no intention of becoming the poor little drudge that so many governesses were. If Alvean was what I believed her to be, she needed to be shown, right at the start, that I was in charge and must be treated with respect.

I rang the bell and Daisy appeared.

“They’m waiting for you in the punch room,” she said. ” It’s well past Miss Alvean’s supper time.”

” Then it is a pity that she did not return before,” I replied serenely.

When Daisy giggled, her plump breasts, which seemed to be bursting out of her cotton bodice, shook. Daisy enjoyed laughing, I could see. I judged her to be as lighthearted as her sister.

She led the way to the punch room through which I had passed with Mrs. Polgrey on my way to my own quarters. She drew aside the curtains and with a dramatic gesture cried:

” Here be Miss!”

Mrs. Polgrey was seated in one of the tapestry-backed chairs, and Celestine Nansellock was in another. Alvean was standing, her hands clasped behind her back. She looked, I thought, dangerously demure.

” Ah,” said Mrs. Polgrey, rising, ” here is Miss Leigh. Miss Nansellock have been waiting to see you.” There was a faint reproach in her voice. I knew what it meant. I, a mere governess, had kept a lady waiting while I finished my dinner.

” How do you do?” I asked.

They looked surprised. I suppose I should have curtsied or made some gesture to show that I was conscious of my menial position. I was aware of the blue eyes of the child fixed upon me; indeed I was aware of little but Alvean in those first few seconds. Her eyes were startlingly blue. I thought, she will be a beauty when she grows up.

And I wondered whether she was like her father or mother.

Celestine Nansellock was standing by Alvean, and she laid a hand on her shoulder.

” Miss Alvean came over to see us,” she said. ” We’re great friends.

I’m Miss Nansellock of Mount Widden. You may have seen the house. “

” I did so on my journey from the station.”

” I trust you will not be cross with Alvean.”

I answered, looking straight into those defiant blue eyes:

” I could hardly scold for what happened before my arrival, could I?”

” She looks on me … on us … as part of her own family,” went on Celestine Nansellock. ” We’ve always lived so close to each other.”

” I am sure it is a great comfort to her,” I replied; and for the first time I gave my attention solely to Celestine Nansellock.

She was taller than I, but by no standards a beauty. Her hair was of a nondescript brown and her eyes were hazel. There was little colour in her face and an air of intense quietness about her. I decided she had little personality, but perhaps she was overshadowed by the defiance of Alvean and the conventional dignity of Mrs. Polgrey.

” I do hope,” she said, ” that if you need my advice about anything. Miss Leigh, you won’t hesitate to call on me. You see, I am quite a near neighbour, and I think I am looked on here as one of the family. ”

” You are very kind.”

Her mild eyes looked into mine. ” We want you to be happy here. Miss Leigh. We all want that.”

” Thank you. I suppose,” I went on, ” the first thing to do is to get Alvean to bed. It must be past her bedtime.”

Celestine smiled. ” You are right. Indeed it is. She usually has her milk and biscuits in the schoolroom at half past seven. It is now well past eight. But tonight I will look after her. I suggest that you return to your room, Miss Leigh. You must be weary after your journey.”

Before I could speak Alvean cried out: “No, Celestine. I want her to.

She’s my governess. She should, shouldn’t she? “

A hurt look immediately appeared in Celestine’s face, and Alvean could not repress the triumph in hers. I felt I understood. The child wanted to feel her own power; she wanted to prevent Celestine from superintending her retirement simply because Celestine wished so much to do it.

” Oh, very well,” said Celestine. ” Then there’s no further need for me to stay.”

She stood looking at Alvean as though she wanted her to beg her to stay, but Alvean’s curious gaze was all for me.

” Good night,” she said flippantly. And to me: ” Come on. I’m hungry.”

” You’ve forgotten to thank Miss Nansellock for bringing you back,” I told her.

” I didn’t forget,” she retorted. ” I never forget anything.”

” Then your memory is a great deal better than your manners,” I said.

They were astonished—all of them. Perhaps I was a little astonished myself. But I knew that if I were going to assume control of this child I should have to be firm.

Her face flushed and her eyes grew hard. She was about to retort, but, not knowing how to do so, she ran out of the room.

“There!” said Mrs. Polgrey.

“Why, Miss Nansellock, it was good of you” — ” Nonsense, Mrs. Polgrey,” said Celestine. ” Of course I brought her back.”

” She will thank you later,” I assured her.

” Miss Leigh,” said Celestine earnestly, ” it will be necessary for you to go carefully with that child. She has lost her mother … quite recently.” Celestine’s lips trembled. She smiled at me. ” It is such a short time ago and the tragedy seems near. She was a dear friend of mine.”

” I understand,” I replied. ” I shall not be harsh with the child, but I can see she needs discipline.”

” Be careful, Miss Leigh.” Celestine had taken a step closer and laid a hand on my arm. ” Children are delicate creatures.”

” I shall do my best for Alvean,” I answered.

” I wish you good luck.” She smiled and then turned to Mrs. Polgrey. “I’ll be going back now. I want to get back before dark.”

Mrs. Polgrey rang the bell and Daisy appeared.

” Take Miss to her room, Daisy,” she commanded. ” And has Miss Alvean got her milk and biscuits?”

” Yes, M’am,” was the answer.

I said good night to Celestine Nansellock, who inclined her head. Then I left with Daisy.

I went into the schoolroom where Alvean sat at a table drinking milk and eating biscuits. She deliberately ignored me as I went to the table and sat beside her.

” Alvean,” I said, ” if we’re going to get along together, we’d better come to an understanding. Don’t you think that would be advisable?”

” Why should I care?” she replied curtly.

” But of course you’ll care. We shall all be happier if we do.”

Alvean shrugged her shoulders. ” If we don’t,” she told me brusquely, “you’ll have to go. I’ll have another governess. It’s of no account to me.”

She looked at me triumphantly and I knew that she was telling me I was merely a paid servant and that it was for her to call the tune. I felt myself shiver involuntarily. For the first time I understood the feelings of those who depended on the goodwill of others for their bread and butter.

Her eyes were malicious and I wanted to slap her.

“It should be of the greatest account,” I answered, ” because it is far more pleasant to live in harmony than in discord with those about us.”

” What does it matter, if they’re not about us … if we can have them sent away?”

” Kindness matters more than anything in the world.”

She smiled into her milk and finished it.

” Now,” I said, ” to bed.”

I rose with her and she said : ” I go to bed by myself. I am not a baby, you know.”

” Perhaps I thought you were younger than you are because you have so much to learn.”

She considered that. Then she gave that shrug of her shoulders’ which I was to discover was characteristic.

” Good night,” she said, dismissing me.

” I’ll come and say good night when you are in bed.”

” There’s no need.”

” Nevertheless, I’ll come.”

She opened the door which led to her room from the school room. I turned and went into mine.

I felt very depressed because I was realising the size of the problem before me. I had no experience of handling children, and in the past when I thought of them I had visualised docile and affectionate little creatures whom it would be a joy to care for. Here I was with a difficult child on my hands. And what would happen to me if it were decided that I was unfit to undertake her care? What did happen to penurious gentle women who failed to please their employers?

I could go to PhiUida. I could be one of those old aunts who were at the beck and call of all and lived out their miserable lives dependent on others. I was not the sort of person to take dependence lightly. I should have to find other posts.

I accepted the fact that I was a little frightened. Not until I had come face to face with Alvean had I realised that I might not succeed with this job. I tried not to look down the years ahead when I might slip from one post to another, never giving satisfaction. What happened to women like myself, women who, without those attractions which were so important, were forced to battle against the world for a chance to live?

I felt that I could have thrown myself on my bed and wept, wept with anger against the cruelty of life, which had robbed me of two loving parents and sent me out ill-equipped into the world.

I imagined myself appearing at Alvean’s bedside, my face stained with tears. What triumph for her! That was no way to begin the battle which I was sure must rage between us.

I walked up and down my room, trying to control my emotions. I went to the window and looked out across the lawns to the hilly country beyond. I could not see the sea because the house was so built that the back faced the coast and I was at the front. Instead I looked beyond the plateau on which the house stood, to the hills.

Such beauty! Such peace without, I ‘thought. Such conflict within.

When I leaned out of the window I could see Mount Widden across the cove. Two houses standing there over many years; generations of Nansellocks, generations of TreMellyns had lived here and their lives had intermingled so that it could well be that the story of one house was the story of the other.

I turned from the window and went through the schoolroom to Alvean’s room.

” Alvean,” I whispered. There was no answer. But she lay there in the bed, her eyes tightly shut, too tightly.

I bent over her.

“Good night, Alvean. We’re going to be friends, you know,” I murmured.

There was no answer. She was pretending to be asleep.

Exhausted as I was, my rest was broken that night. I would fall into sleep and then awake startled. I repeated this several times until I was fully awake.

I lay in bed and looked about my room in which the furniture showed up in intermittent moonlight like dim figures. I had a feeling that I was not alone; that there were whispering voices about me. I had an impression that there had been tragedy in this house which still hung over it.

I wondered if it was due to the death of Alvean’s mother. She had been dead only a year; I wondered in what circumstances she had died.

I thought of Alvean who showed a somewhat aggressive face to the world. There must be some reason for this. I was sure that no child would be eager to proclaim herself the enemy of strangers without some cause.

I determined to discover the reason for Alvean’s demeanour. I determined to make her a happy, normal child.

It was light before sleep came; the coming of day comforted me because I was afraid of the darkness in this house. It was childish, but it was true.

I had breakfast in the schoolroom with Alvean, who told me, with pride, that when her father was at home she had breakfast with him.

Later we settled to work, and I discovered that she was an intelligent child; she had read more than most children of her age and her eyes would light up with interest in her lessons almost in spite of her determination to preserve a lack of harmony between us. My spirits began to rise and I felt that I would in time make a success of this job.

Luncheon consisted of boiled fish and rice pudding, and afterwards when Alvean volunteered to take me for a walk, I felt I was getting on better with her.

There were woods on the estate, and she said she wished to show them to me. I was delighted that she should do so and gladly I followed her through the trees.

” Look,” she cried, picking a crimson flower and holding it out to me.

” Do you know what this is?”

” It’s betony, I believe.”

She nodded. ” You should pick some and keep it in your room, Miss. It keeps evil away.”

I laughed. ” That’s an old superstition. Why should I want to keep evil away?”

” Bverybody should. They grow this in graveyards. It’s because people are buried there. It’s grown there because people are afraid of the dead.”

” It’s foolish to be afraid. Dead people can hurt no one.”

She was placing the flower in the buttonhole of my coat. I was rather touched. Her face looked gentle as she fixed it and I had a notion that she felt a sudden protective feeling towards me.

” Thank you, Alvean,” I said gently.

She looked at me and all the softness vanished from her face. It was defiant and full of mischief.

” You can’t catch me,” she cried; and oS she ran.

I did not attempt to do so. I called: ” Alvean, come here.” But she disappeared through the trees and I heard her mocking laugher in the distance.

I dedded to return to the house, but the wood was thick, and I was not sure of my direction. I walked back a little way but it seemed to me that it was not the direction from which we had come. A panic seized me, but I told myself this was absurd. It was a sunny afternoon and I could not be half an hour’s walk from the house. Moreover, I did not believe that the wood could be very extensive.

I was not going to give Alvean the satisfaction of having brought me to the wood to lose me. So I walked purposefully through the trees; but as I walked they grew thicker and I knew that we had not come this way. My anger against Alvean was rising when I heard the crackle of leaves as though I were being followed. I was sure the child was somewhere near, mocking me.

Then I heard singing; it was a strange voice, slightly off key, and the fact that the song was one of those which were being sung in drawing rooms all over the country did nothing to reassure me.

“Alice, where art thou? One year back this even And thou wert by my side, Vowing to love me, Alice, what e’er may betide”

” Who is there?” I called.

There was no answer, but in the distance I caught a glimpse of a child with lint-white hair, and I knew that it was only little Gilly who had stared at me from the hydrangea bushes by the lodge gates.

I walked swiftly on and after a while the trees grew less dense and through them I saw the road. I came out into this and realised that I was on the slope which led up to the plateau and the lodge gates.

Mrs. Soady was sitting at the door of the lodge as she had been when I arrived, her knitting in her hands.

” Why, Miss,” she called. ” So you’ve been out walking then?”

” I went for a walk with Miss Alvean. We lost each other in the woods.”

” Ah yes. So her run away, did her.” Mrs. Soady shook her head, as she came to the gate trailing her ball of wool behind her.

” I expect she’ll find her way home,” I said.

” My dear life, yes. There ain’t an inch of them woods Miss Alvean don’t know. Oh, I see you’ve got yourself a piece of betony. Like as not ‘tis as well.”

” Miss Alvean picked it and insisted on putting it in my buttonhole.”

” There now! You be friends already.”

” I heard the little girl, Gilly, singing in the woods,” I said.

” I don’t doubtee. Her’s always singing in the woods.”

” I called to her but she didn’t come.”

” Timid as a doe, she be.”

” Well, I think I’ll be getting along. Goodbye, Mrs. Soady.”

” Good day to ‘ee. Miss.”

I went up the drive, past the hydrangeas and the fuchsias. I realised I was straining my ears for the sound of singing, but there was no sound but that of an occasional small animal in the undergrowth.

I was hot and tired when I reached the house. I went straight up to my room and rang for water and, when I had washed and brushed my hair, went into the schoolroom where tea was waiting for me.

Alvean was at the table; she looked demure and made no reference to our afternoon’s adventure; nor did I. After tea I said to her: ” I don’t know what rules your other governesses made, but I propose we do our lessons in the morning, have a break between luncheon and tea, and then start again from five o’clock until six, when we will read together.”

Alvean did not answer; she was studying me intently.

Then suddenly she said: ” Miss, do you like my name? Have you ever known anyone else called Alvean?”

I said I liked the name and had never heard it before.

” It’s Cornish. Do you know what it means?”

” I have no idea.”

” Then I will tell you. My father can speak and write Cornish.” She looked wistful when she spoke of her father, and I thought: He at least is one person she admires and for whose approval she is eager.

She went on: ” In Cornish, Alvean means Little Alice.”

” Oh!” I said, and my voice shook a little.

She came to me and placed her hands on my knees; she looked up into my face and said solemnly: ” You see. Miss, my mother was Alice. She isn’t here any more. But I was called after her. That’s why I am little Alice.”

I stood up because I could no longer bear the scrutiny of the child. I went to the window.

” Look,” I said, ” two of the peacocks are on the lawn.”

She was standing at my elbow. ” They’ve come to be fed. Greedy things!

Daisy will soon be coming with their peas. They know it. “

I was not seeing the peacocks on the lawn. I was remembering the mocking eyes of the man on the train, the man who had warned me that I should have to beware of Alice.

Three days after my arrival at Mount Mellyn, the Master of j the house returned. | I had slipped into a routine as far as my duties were conI cerned.

Alvean and I did lessons each morning after breakfast, I and apart from an ever present desire to disconcert me by | asking questions which, I knew, she hoped I should not be able | to answer, I found her a good pupil. It was not that she meant :

to please me; it was merely that her desire for knowledge was :

so acute that she could not deny it. I believe that there was :

some plot in her head that if she could learn all I knew she could then confront her father with a question : Since there is no more Miss can teach me, is there any point in her remaining here?

I often thought of tales I had heard of governesses whose declining years were made happy by those whom they had taught as children. No such happy fate would be mine—at least as far as Alvean was concerned.

I had been shocked when I first heard the name of Alice mentioned, and after the daylight had passed I would consequently feel that the house was full of eerie shadows. That was pure fancy of course. It had been a bad beginning, meeting that man in the train and his talk of second sight.

I did wonder, when I was alone in my room and the house was quiet, of what Alice had died. She must have been quite a young woman. It was, I told myself, because she was so recently dead—for after all a year was not a very long time-that her presence seemed to haunt the place.

I would wake in the night to hear what I thought were voices, and they seemed to be moaning: ” Alice. Alice. Where is Alice?”

I went to my window and listened, and the whispering voices seemed to be carried on the air.

Daisy who, like her sister, was by no means a fanciful person,

explained away my fancies the very next morning when she brought my hot water.

” Did ‘ee hear the sea last night, Miss, in old Mellyn Cove? Sis ..

sis . sis . woa . woa . woa . all night long. Just like two old biddies having a good gossip down there. “

” Why, yes, I heard it.”

” Tis like that on certain nights when the sea be high and the wind in a certain direction.”

I laughed at myself. There was an explanation to everything.

I had grown to know the people of the household. Mrs. Tapperty called me in one day for a glass of her parsnip wine. She hoped I was comfortable at the house; then she told me of the trial Tapperty was to her because he couldn’t keep his eyes nor his hands from the maidens and the younger the better. She feared Kitty and Daisy took after their father. It was a pity for their mother was, according to herself, a Godfearing body who would be seen in Mellyn Church every Sunday, night and morning. Now the girls were grown up she had not only to wonder whether Joe Tapperty was after Mrs. Tully from the cottages, but what Daisy was doing in the stables with Billy Trehay or Kitty with that house boy from Mount Widden. It was a hard life for a Godfearing woman who only wanted to do right and see right done.

I went to see Mrs. Soady at the lodge gates and heard about her three sons and their children. ” Never did I see such people for putting their toes through their stockings. It’s one body’s work to keep them in stockings.”

I was very eager to learn about the house in which I lived, and the intricacies of heel-turning did not greatly excite me; therefore I did not often call on Mrs. Soady.

I tried on occasions to catch Gilly and talk to her; but although I saw her now and then, I did not succeed. I called her, but that only made her run away more swiftly. I could never hear her soft crooning voice without being deeply disturbed.

I felt that something should be done for her. I was angry with these country folk who, because she was unlike they were, believed her to be mad. I wanted to talk to Gilly if that were possible. I wanted to find out what went on behind that blank blue stare.

I knew she was interested in me, and I believed that in some way she had sensed my interest in her. But she was afraid of me. Something must have happened to frighten her at some time, because she was so unnaturally timid. If I could only discover what, if I could teach her that in me at least she had nothing to fear, I believed I could help her to become a normal child.

During those days I believe I thought more of Gilly than I did of Alvean. The latter seemed to me to be merely a naughty spoilt child; there were thousands such. I felt that the gentle creature called Gillyflower was unique.

It was impossible to talk to Mrs. Polgrey about her granddaughter, for she was such a conventional woman. In her mind a person was either mad or sane, and the degree of sanity depended on the conformity with Mrs. Polgrey’s own character. As Gilly was as different from her grandmother as anyone could be, Gilly was therefore irremediably crazy.

So although I did broach the subject with Mrs. Polgrey she was grimly uncommunicative and told me by her looks alone to remember that I was here to take charge of Miss Alvean, and that Gilly was no concern of mine.

This was the state of affairs when Connan TreMellyn returned to Mount

As soon as I set eyes on Connan TreMellyn he aroused deep feelings within me. I was aware of his presence, indeed, before I saw him.

It was afternoon when he arrived. Alvean had gone off by herself and I had sent for hot water to wash before I went for a stroll. Kitty brought it and I noticed the difference in her from the moment she entered the room. Her black eyes gleamed and her mouth seemed a little slack.

” Master be home,” she said.

I tried not to show that I was faintly disturbed; and at that moment Daisy put her head round the door. The sisters looked very much alike just then. There was about them both a certain expectancy which sickened me. I thought I understood the expression in the faces of these lusty girls. I suspected that neither of them was virgin. There was suggestion in their very gestures and I had seen them in scuffling intimacy with Billy Trehay in the stables and with the boys who came in from the village to work about the place. They changed subtly when they were in the presence of the opposite sex and I understood what that meant. Their excitement over the return of the Master, of whom I gathered everyone was in awe, led me to one conclusion, and I felt faintly disgusted, not only with them but with myself for entertaining such thoughts.

Is he that sort of man then? I was asking myself.

” He came in half an hour ago,” said Kitty.

They were studying me speculatively and once more I thought I read their thoughts. They were telling themselves that there would be little competition from me.

My disgust increased and I turned away.

I said coolly: ” Well, I’ll wash my hands and you can take the water away. I am going for a walk.”

I put on my hat and, even as I went out quickly by way of the back stairs, I sensed the change. Mr. Polgrey was busy in the gardens, and the two boys who came in from the village were working as though their lives depended on it. Tapperty was cleaning out the stables; he was so intent on his work that he did not notice me.

There was no doubt that the whole household was in awe of the Master.

As I wandered through the woods I told myself that if he did not like me I could leave at any time. I supposed I could stay with Phillida while I looked round. At least I had some relations to whom I could go. I was not entirely alone in the world.

I called on Alvean, but my voice was lost in the thickness of the trees and there was no response. Then I called: ” Gilly! Are you there, Gillyflower? Do come and talk to me if you are. I won’t hurt you.”

There was no answer.

At half past three I went back to the house and, as I was mounting the back stairs to my quarters, Daisy came running after me.

” Master have been asking for you. Miss. He do wish to see you. He be waiting in the punch room.”

I inclined my head and said : “I will take off my things and then go to the punch room.”

” He have seen you come in. Miss, and have said for you to go right away.”

” I will take off my hat first,” I answered. My heart was beating fast and my colour was heightened. I did not know why I felt antagonistic.

I believed that I should soon be packing my bags and going back to Phillida; and I decided that if it had to be done it should be done with the utmost dignity.

In my room I took off my hat and smoothed my hair. My eyes were certainly amber to-day. They were resentful, which seemed ridiculous before I had met the man. I told myself as I went down to the punch room that I had built up a picture of him because of certain looks I had seen in the faces of those two flighty girls. I had already assured myself that poor Alice had died of a broken heart because she had found herself married to a philanderer.

I knocked at the door.

” Come in.” His voice was strong arrogant, I called it even before I set eyes on him.

He was standing with his back to the fireplace and I was immediately conscious of his great height; he was well over six feet tall, and the fact that he was so thin one could almost say gaunt accentuated, this.

His hair was black but his eyes were light. His hands were thrust into the pockets of his riding breeches and he wore a dark blue coat with a white cravat. There was an air of careless elegance about him as though he cared nothing for his clothes but could not help looking well in them.

He gave an impression of both strength and cruelty. There was sensuality in that face, I decided that came through; but there was much else which was hidden. Even in that moment when I first saw him I knew that there were two men in that body two distinct personalities the Connan TreMellyn who faced the world, and the one who remained hidden.

” So, Miss Leigh, at last we meet.”

He did not advance to greet me, and his manner seemed insolent as though he were reminding me that I was only a governess.

“It does not seem a long time,” I answered, ” for I have only been in your house a few days.”

” Well, let us not dwell on the time it has taken us to get together.

Now you are here, let that suffice. “

His light eyes surveyed me mockingly, so that I felt awkward and unattractive, and that I stood before a connoisseur of women when even to the uninitiated I was not a very desirable specimen.

” Miss Polgrey gives me good reports of you.”

” That is kind of her.”

” Why should it be kind of her to tell me the truth? I expect that from my employees.”

” I meant that she has been kind to me and that has helped to make this good report possible.”

“I see that you are a woman who does not use the ordinary cliches of conversation but means what she says.”

” I hope so.”

” Good. I have a feeling that we shall get on well together.”

His eyes were taking in each detail of my appearance, I knew. He probably was aware that I had been given a London season and what Aunt Adelaide would call ” every opportunity,” and had failed to acquire a husband. As a connoisseur of women he would know why.

I thought, at least I shall be safe from the attentions which I feel sure be tries to bestow on all attractive women with whom he comes into contact.

” Tell me,” he said, ” how do you find my daughter? Backward for her age?”

” By no means. She is extremely intelligent, but I. find her in need of discipline.”

” I am sure you will be able to supply that lack.”

” I intend to try.”

” Of course. That is why you are here.”

” Please tell me how far I may carry that discipline.”

” You are thinking of corporal punishment?”

” Nothing was farther from my thoughts. I mean, have I your permission to apply my own code? To restrict her liberty, shall we say, if I feel she needs such punishment.”

” Short of murder, Miss Leigh, you have my permission to do what you will. If your methods do not meet with my approval, you will hear.”

” Very well, I understand.”

” If you wish to make any alterations in the … curriculum, I think is the word … you must do so.”

” Thank you.”

” I believe in experiments. If your methods have not made an improvement in say … six months … well, then we could review the situation, could we not?”

His eyes were insolent. I thought: He intends to get rid of me soon.

He was hoping I was a silly, pretty creature not averse to carrying on an intrigue with him while pretending to look after his daughter. Very well, the best thing I can do is to get out of this house.

” I suppose,” he went on, ” we should make excuses for Alvean’s lack of good manners. She lost her mother a year ago.”

I looked into his face for a trace of sorrow. I could find none.

” I had heard that,” I answered.

” Of course you had heard. I’ll swear there were many ready to tell you. It was doubtless a great shock to the child.”

” It must have been a great shock,” I agreed.

” It was sudden.” He was silent for a few seconds and then he continued: ” Poor child, she has no mother. And her father …?” He lifted his shoulders and did not complete his sentence.

” Even so,” I said, ” there are many more unfortunate than she is. All she needs is a firm hand.”

He leaned forward suddenly and surveyed me ironically.

” I am sure,” he said, ” that you possess that necessary firm hand.”

I was conscious in that brief moment of the magnetism of the man. The clear-cut features, the cool, light eyes, the mockery behind them all these I felt were but a mask hiding something which he was determined to keep hidden.

At that moment there was a knock on the door and Celestine Nansellock came in.

” I heard you were here, Connan,” she said, and I thought she seemed nervous. So he had that effect even on those of his own station.

” How news travels!” he murmured. ” My dear Celestine, it was good of you to come over. I was just making the acquaintance of our new governess. She tells me that Alvean is intelligent and needs discipline.”

” Of course she is intelligent!” Celestine spoke indignantly. ” I hope Miss Leigh is not planning to be too harsh with her. Alvean is a good child.”

Connan TreMellyn threw an amused glance in my direction. ” I don’t think Miss Leigh entirely agrees with that,” he said. ” You see our little goose as a beautiful swan, Celeste my dear.”

” Perhaps I am over fond ” ” Would you like me to leave now?” I suggested, for I had a great desire to get away from them.

” But I am interrupting,” cried Celestine.

” No,” I assured her. ” We had finished our talk, I believe.”

Connan TreMellyn looked in some amusement from her to me. It occurred to me that he probably found us equally unattractive. I was sure that neither of us was the least like the woman he would admire.

” Let us say it is to be continued,” he said lightly. ” I fancy, Miss Leigh, that you and I will have a great deal more to discuss, regarding my daughter.”

I bowed my head and left them together.

In the schoolroom tea was laid, ready for me. I felt too excited to eat, and when Alvean did not appear I guessed she was with her father.

At five o’clock she still had not put in an appearance, so I summoned Daisy and sent her to find the child and to remind her that from five to six we had work to do.

I waited. I was not surprised because I bad expected Alvean to rebel.

Her father had arrived and she preferred to be with him rather than come to me for an hour of our reading.

I wondered what would happen when the child refused to come to the schoolroom. Could I go down to the punch room or the drawing room or wherever they were and demand that she return with me?

Celestine was with them and she would take her stand on Alvean’s side against me.

I heard footsteps on the stairs. The door of Alvean’s room which led into the schoolroom was opened, and there stood Connan TreMellyn holding Alvean by the arm.

Alvean’s expression astonished me. She looked so unhappy that I found myself feeling sorry for her. Her father was smiling and I thought he looked like a satyr, as though the situation which caused pain to Alvean and embarrassment to me amused him and perhaps for these reasons. In the back ground was Celestme.

“Here she is,” announced Connan TreMellyn.

“Duty is duty, my daughter,” he said to Alvean. ” And when your governess summons you to your lessons, you must obey.”

Alvean muttered and I could see that she was hard put to it to restrain her sobs: ” But it is your first day, Papa.”

” But Miss Leigh says there are lessons to be done, and she is in command.”

“Thank you, Mr. TreMellyn,” I said.

“Come and sit down, Alvean.”

Alvean’s expression changed as she looked at me. All the wistfulness was replaced by anger and a fierce hatred.

” Connan,” Celestine said quietly, ” it is your first day back, you know, and Alvean so looked forward to your coming.”

He smiled but I thought how grim his mouth was.

” Discipline,” he murmured. ” That, Celeste, is of the utmost importance. Come, we will leave Alvean with her governess.”

He inclined his head in my direction, while Alvean threw a pleading glance at him which he quite obviously ignored.

The door shut leaving me alone with my pupil.

That incident had taught me a great deal. Alvean adored her father and he was indifferent to her. My anger against him increased as my pity for the child grew. Small wonder that she was a difficult child. What could one expect when she was such an unhappy one? I saw her . ignored by the father , whom she loved, spoiled by Celestine Nansellock. Between them they were doing their best to ruin the girl.

I would have liked Connan TreMellyn better, I told myself, if he had decided to forget discipline on his first day back, and devote a little time to his daughter’s company.

Alvean was rebellious all that evening, but I insisted on her going to bed at her usual time. She told me she hated me, though there was no need for her to have mentioned a fact which was apparent.

I felt so disturbed when she was in her bed that I slipped out of the house and went into the woods, where I sat on a fallen tree trunk, brooding.

It had been a hot day and there was a deep stillness in the woods.

I wondered whether I was going to keep this Job. It was not easy to say at this stage, and I was not sure whether I wanted to go or stay.

There were so many things to keep me. There was, for one thing, my interest in Gillyflower; there was my desire to wipe the rebellion from Alvean’s heart. But I felt less eagerness for these tasks now that I had seen the Master.

I was a little afraid of the man although I could not say why. I was certain that he would leave me alone, but there was something magnetic about him, some quality which made it difficult for me to put him out of my mind. I thought more of dead Alice than I had before, because I could not stop myself wondering what sort of person she could have been.

I amused him in some way. Perhaps because I was so unattractive in his eyes; perhaps because he knew that I belonged to that army of women who are obliged to earn their living and are so dependent on the whim of people like himself. Was there a streak of sadism in his nature? I believed so. Perhaps poor Alice had found it intolerable. Perhaps she, like poor Gillyflower’s mother, had walked into the sea.

As I sat there I heard the sound of footsteps coming through the wood and I hesitated, wondering whether to wait there or go back to the house.

A man was coming towards me, and there was something familiar about him which made my heart beat faster.

He started when he saw me; then he began to smile and I recognised him as the man I had met on the train.

” So we meet,” he said. ” I knew our reunion would not be long delayed. Why, you look as though you have seen a ghost. Has your stay at Mount Mellyn made you look for ghosts? I’ve heard some say that there is a ghostly atmosphere about the place.”

” Who are you?” I asked.

” My name is Peter Nansellock. I have to confess to a little deception.”

” You’re Miss Celestine’s brother?”

He nodded. ” I knew who you were when we met in the train. I deliberately bearded you in your carriage. I saw you sitting there, looking the part, and I guessed. Your name on the labels of your baggage confirmed my guess for I knew that they were expecting Miss Martha Leigh at Mount Mellyn.”

” I am comforted to learn that my looks conform with the part I have been called upon to play in life.”

” You really are a most untruthful young lady. I remember I had reason to reprimand you for the same sort of thing at our first meeting. You are in fact quite discomfited to learn that you were taken for a governess.”

I felt myself grow pink with indignation. ” Because I am a governess that is no reason why I should be forced to accept insults from strangers.”

I rose from the tree trunk, but he laid a hand on my arm and said pleadingly: ” Please let us talk awhile. There is much I have to say to you. There are things you should know.”

My curiosity overcame my dignity and I sat down.

” That’s better. Miss Leigh. You see I remember your name.”

” Most courteous of you! And how extraordinary that you should first notice a mere governess’s name and then keep it in your memory.”

” You are like a hedgehog,” he retorted. ” One only has to mention the word governess’ and up come your spines. You will have to learn resignation. Aren’t we taught that we must be content in that station of life to which we have been called?”

” Since I resemble a hedgehog, at least I am not spineless.”

He laughed and then was immediately sober. ” I do not possess second sight. Miss Leigh,” he said quietly. ” I know nothing of palmistry. I deceived you, Miss Leigh.”

” Do you think I was deceived for a moment?”

” For many moments. Until this one, in fact, you have thought of me with wonder.”

” Indeed, I have not thought of you at all.”

” More untruths! I wonder if a young lady with such little regard for veracity is worthy to teach our little Alvean.”

” Since you are a friend of the family your best policy would be to warn them at once.”

” But if Connan dismissed his daughter’s governess, bow sad that would be! I should wander through these woods without hope of meeting her.”

“I see you are a frivolous person.”

” It’s true.” He looked grave. ” My brother was frivolous. My sister is the only commendable member of the family.”

” I have already met her.”

” Naturally. She is a constant visitor to Mount Mellyn. She dotes on Alvean.”

” Well, she is a very near neighbour.”

” And we. Miss Leigh, shall in future be very near neighbours How does that strike you?”

” Without any great force.”

” Miss Leigh, you are cruel as well as untruthful. I hoped you would be grateful for my interest. I was going to say, if ever things should become intolerable at Mount Mellyn you need only walk over to Mount Widden. There you would find me most willing to help. I feel sure that among my wide circle of acquaintances I could find someone who is in urgent need of a governess.”

” Why should I find life intolerable at Mount Mellyn?”

” It’s a tomb of a place, Connan is overbearing, Alvean is a menace to anyone’s peace, and the atmosphere since Alice’s death is not congenial.”

I turned to him abruptly and said : ” You told me to beware of Alice.

What did you mean by that? “

” So you remember?”

” It seemed a strange thing to say.”

” Alice is dead,” he said, ” but somehow she remains. That’s what I always feel at Mount Mellyn. Nothing was the same after the day she went.”

” How did she die?”

” You have not heard the story yet?”

“No.”

” I should have thought Mrs. Polgrey or one of those girls would have told you. But they haven’t, eh? They’re probably somewhat in awe of the governess.”

” I should like to hear the story.”

” It’s a very simple one. The sort of thing which must hjappen in many a home. A wife finds life with her husband intolerable. She walks out with another man. It’s ordinary enough, you see. Only Alice’s story had a different ending.”

He looked at the tips of his boots as he had when we were travelling in the train to Liskeard together. ” The man in the case was my brother,” he went on.

” Geoffry Nansellock!” I cried.

” So you have heard of him!”

I thought of Gillyflower, whose birth had so distressed her mother that she had walked into the sea.

” Yes,” I said, ” I’ve heard of Geoffry Nansellock. He was evidently a philanderer.”

” It sounds a harsh word to apply to poor old Geoff. He had charm … all the charm of the family, some say.” He smiled at me. ” Others may think he did not get it all. He was not a bad sort. I was fond of old Geoff. His great weakness was women. He loved women; he found them irresistible. And women love men who love them. How can they help it?

I mean, it is such a compliment, is it not? One by one they fell victim to his charm. “

“He did not hesitate to in dude other men’s wives among his victims

” Spoken like a true governess! Alas, my dear Miss Leigh, it appeared he did not … since Alice was among them. It is true that all was not well at Mount Mellyn. Do you think Connan would be an easy man to live with?”

” It is surely not becoming for a governess to discuss her employer in such a manner.”

” What a contrary young lady you are, Miss Leigh. You make the most of your situation. You use the governess when you wish to, and then expect others to ignore her when you do not wish her to be recognised.

I believe that anyone who is obliged to live in a house should know something of its secrets. “

“What secrets?”

He bent a little closer to me. ” Alice was afraid of Connan. Before she married him she had known my brother. She and Geoffry were on the train … running away together.”

” I see.” I drew myself away from him because I felt it was undignified to be talking of past scandals in this way, particularly as these scandals had nothing whatever to do with me.

” They identified Geoffry although he was badly smashed up. There was a woman dose to him. She was so badly burned that it was impossible to recognise her as Alice. But a locket she was wearing was recognised as one she was known to possess. That was how she was identified … and of course there was the fact that Alice had disappeared.”

” How dreadful to die in such a way!”

” The prim governess is shocked because poor Alice died in the act of forming a guilty partnership with my charming but erring brother.”

” Was she so unhappy at Mount Mellyn?”

” You have met Connan. Remember he knew that she had once been in love with Geoffry, and Geoffry was still in the offing. I can imagine life was hell for Alice.”

” Well, it was very tragic,” I said briskly. ” But it is over Why did you say, Beware of Alice,” as though she were still there? “

” Are you fey. Miss Leigh? No, of course you are not. You are a governess with more than your fair share of commonsense. You would not be influenced by fantastic tales.”

“What fantastic tales?”

He grinned at me, coming even closer, and I realised that in a very short time it would be dark. I was anxious to get back to the house, and my expression became a little impatient.

” They recognised her locket, not her. There are some who think that it was not Alice who was killed on the train with Geoffry.”

” Then if it was not, where is she?”

” That is what some people ask themselves. That is why there are long shadows at Mount Mellyn.”

I stood up. ” I must get back. It will soon be dark.”

He was standing beside me a little taller than I and our eyes met.

” I thought you should know these things,” he said almost gently. ” It seems only fair that you should know.”

I began walking back in the direction from which I had come.

” My duties are with the child,” I answered somewhat brusquely. ” I am not here for any other purpose.”

‘ But how can even a governess, overburdened with common sense though she may be, know to what purposes fate will put . her? “

” I think I know what is expected of me.” I was alarmed because he walked beside me; I wanted to escape from him that I might be alone with my thoughts. I felt this man impaired my precious dignity to which I was clinging with that determination only possible to those who are in constant fear of losing what little they possess. He had mocked me in the train. I felt he was waiting for an opportunity to do so again.

” I am sure you do.”

“There is no need for you to escort me back to the house.”

” I am forced to contradict you. There is every reason.”

” Do you think I am incapable of looking after myself?”

” I think none more capable of doing that than yourself. But as it happens I was on my way to call, and this is the most direct way to the house.”

I was silent until we came to Mount Mellyn.

Connan TreMellyn was coming from the stable.

” Hallo there, Con!” cried Peter Nansellock.

Connan TreMellyn looked at us in mild surprise, which I supposed was due to the fact that we were together. I hurried round to the back of the house.

It was not easy to sleep that night. The events of the day crowded into my mind and I saw pictures of myself and Connan TreMellyn, pictures of Alvean, of Celestine, and of myself in the woods with Peter Nansellock.

The wind was in a certain direction that night, and I could hear the waves thundering into Mellyn Cove.

In my present mood it certainly seemed that there were whispering voices down there, and that the words they said to each other were: ” Alice! Alice! Where is Alice? Alice, where are you?”

In the morning the fancies of the previous. night seemed foolish. I asked myself why so many people—including myself—wanted to make a mystery of what had happened in this house. It was an ordinary enough story.

I know what it is, I told myself. When people consider an ancient house like this, they make themselves believe it could tell some fantastic stories if it could only speak. They think of the generations who have lived and suffered within these walls, and they grow fanciful. So that when the mistress of the house is tragically killed they imagine her ghost still walks and that, although she is dead, she is still here. Well, I am a sensible woman, I hope. Alice was killed on a train, and that was the end of Alice.

I laughed at my folly in allowing myself to be caught up in such notions. Had not Daisy or Kitty explained that the whispering voices, which I heard in the night, were merely the sound of waves thundering in the cove below?

From now on I was entertaining no more such fantastic thoughts.

My room was filled with sunshine and I felt differently from the way I had felt on any other morning. I was exhilarated. I knew why. It was due to that man, Connan TreMellyn. Not that I liked him—quite in reverse; but it was as though he had issued a challenge. I was going to make a success of this job. I was going to make of Alvean not only a model pupil but a charming, unaffected, uninhibited little girl.

I felt so pleased that I began to hum softly under my breath.

Come into the Garden, Maud. , . That was a song Father used to like to play while Phillida sang, for in addition to her other qualities.

Phillida possessed a charming voice. Then I passed to Sweet and Low, and I for a moment forgot the house I was in and saw Father at the piano, his glasses slipping down his nose, his slippered feet making the most of the pedals.

I was almost astonished to find that I had unconsciously slipped into the song I had heard Gilly singing in the woods :

Alice, where art thou-Oh no, not that, I said sharply to myself.

I heard the sound of horses’ hoofs and I went to the window to look out. No one was visible. The lawns looked fresh and lovely with the early morning dew on them. What a beautiful sight, I thought; the palm trees gave the scene a tropical look and it was one of those mornings when there was every promise of a beautiful day.

” One of the last we can expect this summer, I daresay,” I said aloud; and I threw open my window and leaned out, my thick coppery plaits, the ends tied with pieces of blue ribbon for bedtime, swinging out with me.

I went back to Sweet and Low and was humming this when Connan TreMellyn emerged from the stables. He saw me before I was able to draw back, and I felt myself grow scarlet with embarrassment to be seen with my hair down and in my nightgown thus.

He called jauntily : ” Good morning, Miss Leigh.”

In that moment I said to myself: So it was his horse I heard. And has he been riding in the early morning, or out all night? I imagined his visiting one of the gay ladies of the neighbour y hood if such existed. That was my opinion of him. I was angry that he should be the one to show no embarrassment whatsoever while I was blushing certainly in every part that was visible.

” Good morning,” I said, and my voice sounded curt.

He was coming swiftly across the lawn, hoping, I was sure, to embarrass me further by a closer look at me in my night attire.

” A beautiful morning,” he cried.

” Extremely so,” I answered.

I withdrew into my room as I heard him shout: ” Hallo, Alvean! So you’re up too.”

I was standing well back from the window now and I heard Alvean cry: ” Hallo, Papa!” and her voice was soft and gentle with that wistful note which I had detected when she spoke of him on the previous day. I knew that she was delighted to have seen him, that she had been awake in her room when she had heard his voice, and had dashed to her window, and that it would make her extremely happy if he stopped awhile and chatted with her.

He did no such thing. He went into the house. Standing before my mirror, I looked at myself. Most unbecoming, I thought. And quite undignified. Myself in a pink flannelette nightdress buttoned high at the throat, with my hair down and my face even now the colour of flannelette!

I put on my dressing gown and on impulse crossed the schoolroom to Alvean’s room. I opened the door and went in. She was sitting astride a chair and talking to herself.

” There’s nothing to be afraid of really. All you have to do is hold tight and not be afraid … and you won’t fall off.”

She was so intent on what she was doing that she had not heard the door open, and I stood for a few seconds watching her, for she had her back to the schoolroom door.

I learnt a great deal in that moment. He was a great horse man, this father of hers; he wanted his daughter to be a good horsewoman, but Alvean, who desperately wanted to win his approval, was afraid of horses.

I started forward, my first impulse to talk to her, to tell her that I would teach her to ride. It was one thing I could do really well because we had always had horses in the country, and at five Phillida and I were competing in local shows.

But I hesitated because I was beginning to understand Alvean. She was an unhappy child. Tragedy had hit her in more ways than one. She had lost her mother, and that was the biggest tragedy which could befall any child; but when her father did not seem anything but indifferent to her, and she adored him, that was a double tragedy.

I quietly shut the door and went back to my room. I looked at the sunshine on the carpet and my elation returned. I was going to make a success of this job. I was going to fight Connan TreMellyn, if he wanted it that way. I was going to make him proud of his daughter; I was going to force him to give her that attention which was her right and which none but a brute would deny her.

Lessons were trying that morning. Alvean was late for them, having breakfasted with her father in accordance with the custom of the family. I pictured them at the big table in the room which I had discovered was used as a dining room when there were no guests. They called it the small dining room, but it was only small by Mount Mellyn standards.

He would be reading the paper, or looking through his letters, I imagined; Alvean would be at the other end of the table hoping for a word, which of course he would be too selfish to bestow.

I had to send for her to come to lessons; and that she deeply resented.

I tried to make lessons as interesting as I could, and I must have succeeded, for in spite of her resentment towards me she could not hide her interest in the history and geography lessons which I set for that morning.

She took luncheon with her father while I ate alone in the schoolroom, and after that I decided to approach Connan TreMellyn.

While I was wondering where I could find him I saw him leave the house and go across to the stables. I immediately followed him and, when I arrived at the stables, I heard him giving orders to Billy Trehay to saddle Royal Russet for him.

He looked surprised to see me; and then he smiled and I was sure that he was remembering the last time he had seen me in dishabille.

” Why,” he said, ” it is Miss Leigh.”

” I had hoped to have a few words with you,” I said primly. ” Perhaps this is an inconvenient time.”

” That depends,” he said, ” on how many words you wish us to exchange.” He took out his watch and looked at it. ” I can give you five minutes, Miss Leigh.”

I was aware of Billy Trehay, and if Connan TreMellyn was going to snub me I was eager that no servant should overhear.

Connan TreMellyn said: ” Let us walk across the lawn. Ready in five minutes, Billy?”

” Very good, Master,” answered Billy.

With that Connan TreMellyn began to walk away from the stables, and I fell into step beside him.

” In my youth,” I said, ” I was constantly in the saddle. I believe Alvean wishes to learn to ride. I am asking your permission to teach her.”

” You have my permission to try, Miss Leigh,” he said.

” You sound as though you doubt my ability to succeed.”

” I fear I do.”

” I don’t understand why you should doubt my ability to teach when you have not tested my skill.”

” Oh, Miss Leigh,” he said almost mockingly, ” you wrong me. It is not your ability to teach that I doubt; it is Alvean’s to learn.”

” You mean others have failed to teach her?”

” I have failed.”

” But surely ” He lifted a hand. ” It is strange,” he said, ” to find such fear in a child. Most children take to it like breathing.”

His tone was clipped, his expression hard; I wanted to shout at him:

What sort of father are you! I pictured the lessons, the lack of understanding, the expectation of miracles. No wonder the child had been scared.

He went on: ” There are some people who can never learn to ride.”

Before I could stop myself I had burst out: ” There are some people who cannot teach.”

He stopped to stare at me in astonishment, and I knew that nobody in this house had ever dared to talk to him in such a way.

I thought: This is it. I shall now be told that my services are no longer required, and at the end of the month I may pack my bags and depart.

There was a violent temper there, and I could see that he was fighting to control it. He still looked at me and I could not read the expression in those light eyes. I believed it was contemptuous. Then he glanced back at the stables.

” You must excuse me, Miss Leigh,” he said; and he left me.

I went straight back to Alvean. I found her in the schoolroom. There was the sullen defiant look in her eyes, and I believed she had seen me talking to her father.

I came straight to the point. ” Your father has said I may give you riding lessons, Alvean. Would you like that?”

I saw the muscles of her face tighten, and my heart sank. Would it be possible to teach a child who was as scared as that?

I went on quickly, before she had time to answer : ” When we were your age my sister and I were keen riders. She was two years younger than I and we used to compete together in the local shows. The exciting days in our lives were those when there was a horse show in our village.”

” They have them here,” she said.

” It’s great fun. And once you’ve really mastered the trick you feel quite at home in the saddle.”

She was silent for a moment, then she said : ” I can’t do it. I don’t like horses.”

” You don’t like horses!” My voice was shocked. ” Why, they’re the gentlest creatures in the world.”

” They’re not. They don’t like me. I rode Grey Mare and she ran fast and wouldn’t stop, and if Tapperty hadn’t caught her rein she would have killed me.”

” Grey Mare wasn’t the mount for you. You should have a pony to start with.”

” Then I had Buttercup. She was as bad in a different way. She wouldn’t go when I tried to make her. She took a mouthful of the bushes on the bank and I tugged and tugged and she wouldn’t move for me. When Billy Trehay said Come on, Buttercup,” she just let go and started walking away as though it were all my fault. “

I laughed and she threw me a look of hatred. I hastened to assure her that was the way horses behaved until they under stood you. When they did understand you they loved you as though you were their very dear friend.

I saw the wistful look in her eyes then and I exulted because I knew that the reason for aggressiveness was to be found in her intense loneliness and desire for affection.

I said: ” Look here, Alvean, come out with me now. Let’s see what we can do together.”

She shook her head and looked at me suspiciously. I knew she felt that I might be trying to punish her for her ungraciousness towards me by making her look foolish. I wanted to put my arm about her, but I knew that was no way to approach Alvean.

” There’s one thing to learn before you can begin to ride,” I said as though I had not noticed her gesture, ” and that is to love your horse. Then you won’t be afraid. As soon as you’re not afraid, your horse will begin to love you. He’ll know you’re his master, and he wants a master; but it must be a tender, loving master.”

She was giving me her attention now.

” When a horse runs away as Grey Mare did, that means that she is frightened. She’s as frightened as you are, and her way of showing it is to run. Now when you’re frightened you should never let her know it. You just whisper to her, it’s all right. Grey Mare … I’m here.” As for Buttercup she’s a mischievous old nag. She’s lazy and she knows that you can’t handle her, so she won’t do as she’s told.

But once you let her know you’re the master she’ll obey. Look how she did with Billy Trehay! “

” I didn’t know Grey Mare was frightened of me,” she said.

” Your father wants you to ride,” I told her.

It was the wrong thing to have said; it reminded her of past fears, past humiliations; I saw the stubborn fear return to her eyes, and felt a new burst of resentment towards that arrogant man who could be so careless of the feelings of a child.

” Wouldn’t it be fun,” I said, ” to surprise him. I mean … suppose you learned and you could jump and gallop, and he didn’t know about it until he saw you do it.”

It hurt me to see the joy in her face and I wondered how any man could be so callous as to deny a child the affection she asked.

” Alvean,” I said. ” Let’s try.”

” Yes,” she said, ” let’s try. I’ll go and change into my things.”

I gave a little cry of disappointment, remembering that I had no riding habit with me. During my years with Aunt Adelaide I had had little opportunity for wearing it. Aunt Adelaide was no horsewoman herself and consequently was never invited to the country to hunt.

Thus I had no opportunity for riding. To ride in Rotten Row would have been far beyond my means. When I had last looked at my riding clothes I had seen that the moth had got at them. I had felt resigned. I believed that I should never need them again.

Alvean was looking at me and I told her: ” I have no riding clothes.”

Her face fell and then lit up. ” Come with me,” she said. She was almost conspiratorial and I enjoyed this new relation ship between us which I felt to be a great advance towards friendship.

We went along the gallery until we were in that part of the house which Mrs. Polgrey had told me was not for me. Alvean paused before a door and I had the impression that she was steeling herself to go in.

She at length threw open the door and stood aside for me to enter, and I could not help feeling that she wanted me to go in first.

It was a small room which I judged to be a dressing room. In it was a long mirror, a tallboy, a chest of drawers and an oak chest. Like most of the rooms in the house this room had j two doors. These rooms in the gallery appeared to lead from one to another, and this other door was slightly opened and, as Alvean went to it and looked round the room beyond, I followed her.

It was a bedroom in there. A large room beautifully furnished, the floor carpeted in blue, the curtains of blue velvet; the bed was a fourposter and, although I knew it to be large, it was dwarfed by the size of the room.

Alvean seemed distressed to see my interest in the bedroom. She went to the communicating door and shut it.

” There are lots of clothes here,” she said. ” In the chests and the tallboy. There’s bound to be riding clothes. There’ll be something you can have.”

She had thrown up the lid of the chest and it was something new for me to see her so excited. I was delighted to have discovered a way to her affections that I allowed myself to be carried along.

In the chest were dresses, petticoats, hats and boots.

Alvean said quickly: ” There are a lot of clothes in the attics. Great trunks of them. They were grand mamma and great grand mamma When there were parties they used to dress up in them and play charades ” I held up a lady’s black beaver hat obviously meant to be worn for riding. I put it on my head and Alvean laughed with a little catch in her voice. That laughter moved me more than anything had done since I had entered this house. It was the laughter of a child who is unaccustomed to laughter and laughs in a manner which is almost guilty. I determined to have her laughing often and without the slightest feeling of guilt.

She suddenly controlled herself as though she remembered where she was.

” You look so funny in it. Miss,” she said.

I got up and stood before the long mirror. I certainly looked unlike myself. My eyes were brilliant, my hair looked quite copper against the black. I decided that I looked slightly less unattractive than usual, and that was what Alvean meant by ” funny.”

” Not in the least like a governess,” she explained. She was pulling out a dress, and I saw that it was a riding habit made of black woollen cloth and trimmed with braid and ball fringe. It had a blue collar and blue cuffs and it was elegantly cut.

I held it up against myself. ” I think,” I said, ” that this would fit.”

” Try it on,” said Alvean. Then . ” No, not here. You take it to your room and put it on.” She suddenly seemed obsessed by the desire to get out of this room. She picked up the hat and ran to the door. I thought that she was eager for us to get started on our lesson, and there was not a great deal of time if we were to be back for tea at four.

I picked up the dress, took the hat from her and went back to my room.

She hurried through to hers, and I immediately put on the riding habit.

It was not a perfect fit, but I had never been used to expensive clothes and was prepared to forget it was a little tight at the waist, and that the sleeves were on the short side, for a new woman looked back at me from my mirror, and when I set the beaver hat on my head I was delighted with myself.

I ran along to Alvean’s room; she was in her habit, and when she saw me her eyes lit up and she seemed to look at me with greater interest than ever before.

We went down to the stables and I told Billy Trehay to saddle Buttercup for Alvean and another horse for myself as we were going to have a riding lesson.

He looked at me with some astonishment, but I told him that we had little time and were impatient to begin.

When we were ready I put Buttercup on a leading rein and took her with Alvean on her back into the paddock.

For nearly an hour we were there and when we left it I knew that Alvean and I had entered into a new relationship. She had not accepted me completely that would have been asking too much but I did believe that from that afternoon she knew that I was not an enemy.

I concentrated on giving her confidence. I made her grow accustomed to sitting her horse, to talking to her horse. I made her lean back full length on Buttercup’s back and look up at the sky; then I made her shut her eyes. I gave her lessons in mounting and dismounting.

Buttercup did no more than walk round that field, but I do believe that at the end of the hour I had done a great deal towards making Alvean lose her fear; and that was what I had determined should be the first lesson. I was astonished to find that it was half past three, and I think Alvean was too.

” We must return to the house at once,” I said, ” if we are to change in time for tea.” As we came out of the field a figure rose from the grass and I saw to my surprise that it was Peter Nansellock. He clapped his hands as we came along. ” Here endeth the first lesson,” he cried, ” and an excellent one. I did not know,” he went on, turning to me, ” that equestrian skill was included in your many accomplishments.”

” Were you watching us, Unde Peter?” demanded Alvean. ” For the last half hour. My admiration for you both is beyond expression.”

Alvean smiled slowly. ” Did you really admire us?”

” Much as I could be tempted to compliment two beautiful ladies,” he said placing his hand on his heart and bowing elegantly, ” I could never tell a lie.”

” Until this moment,” I said tartly. Alvean’s face fell and I added: ” There is nothing very admirable in learning to ride. Thousands are doing it every day.”

” But the art was never so gracefully taught, never so patiently learned.”

” Your unde is a Joker, Alvean,” I put in.

” Yes,” said Alvean almost sadly, ” I know.”

” And,” I added, ” it is time that we returned for tea.”

” I wonder if I might be invited to schoolroom tea?”

” You are calling to see Mr. TreMellyn?” I asked.

” I am calling to take tea with you two ladies.”

Alvean laughed suddenly; I could see that she was not unaffected by what I supposed was the charm of this man. ” Mr. Tremellyn left Mount Mellyn early this afternoon,” I said. ” I have no idea whether or not he has returned. “

” And while the cat’s away …” he murmured, and his eyes swept over my costume in a manner which I could only describe as insolent.

I said coolly: ” Come along, Alvean, we must go at once if we are to be in time for tea.”

I let the horse break into a trot, and holding Buttercup’s leading rein, started towards the house.

Peter Nansellock walked behind us, and when we reached the stables I saw him making for the house.

Alvean and I dismounted, handed our horses to two of the stable boys, and hurried up to our rooms.

I got out of the riding habit and into my dress and, glancing at myself, I thought how drab I looked in my grey cotton. I made a gesture of impatience at my folly and picked up the riding habit to hang in my cupboard, deciding that I would take the first opportunity of asking Mrs. Polgrey if it was in order for me to use it. I was afraid I had acted on impulse by doing so this afternoon, but I had been stung into prompt action, I realised, by the attitude of Connan TreMellyn.

As I lifted the habit I saw the name on the waist band. It gave me a little start, as I suppose everything in that connection would do for some time. ” Alice TreMellyn ” was embossed in neat and tiny letters on the black satin facings.

Then I understood. That room had been her dressing room; the bedroom I had glimpsed, her bedroom. I wondered that Alvean had taken me there and given me her mother’s clothes.

My heart felt as though it were leaping into my throat. This, I said to myself, is absurd. Where else could we have found a modern riding habit? Not in those chests in the attics she had spoken of; the clothes in those were used for charades.

I was being ridiculous. Why should I not wear Alice’s riding habit?

She had no need for it now. And was I not accustomed to wearing cast-off clothes?

Boldly I picked up the riding dress and hung it in my cupboard.

I was impelled to go to my window and looked along the line of windows, trying to place that one which would have been that of her bedroom. I thought I placed it.

In spite of myself I shivered. Then I shook myself. She would be glad I used her habit, I told myself. Of course she would be glad. Am I not trying to help her daughter?

I realised that I was reassuring myself—which was ridiculous.

What had happened to my commonsense? Whatever I told myself I could not hide the fact that I wished the dress had belonged to anyone but Alice.

When I had changed there was a knock on my door and I was relieved to see Mrs. Polgrey standing there.

” Do come in,” I said. ” You are just the lady I wished to see.”

She came into my room, and I was very fond of her in that moment.

There was an air of normality about her such as must inevitably put fancy to flight.

” I have been giving Miss Alvean a riding lesson,” I said quickly, for I was anxious to have this matter of the dress settled before she could tell me why she had come. ” And as I had no riding habit with me she found one for me. I believe it to have been her mother’s.” I went to my wardrobe and produced it.

Mrs. Polgrey nodded.

” I wore it this once. Perhaps it was wrong of me.”

” Did you have the Master’s permission to give her this riding lesson?”

” Oh yes, indeed. I made sure of that.”

” Then there is nothing to worry about. He would have no objection to your wearing the dress. I can see no reason why you should not keep it in your room, providing of course you only wear it when giving Miss Alvean her riding lesson.”

” Thank you,” I said. ” You have set my mind at rest.”

Mrs. Polgrey bowed her head in approval. I could see that she was rather pleased that I had brought my little problem to her.

” Mr. Peter Nansellock is downstairs,” she said.

” Yes, we saw him as we came in.”

” The Master is not at home. And Mr. Peter has asked that you entertain him for tea—you and Miss Alvean.”

” Oh, but should we…. I mean should I?”

” Well, yes. Miss, I think it would be in order. I think that is what the Master would wish, particularly as Mr. Peter suggests it.

Miss Jansen, during the time she was here, often helped to entertain.

Why, there was an occasion I remember, when she was invited to the dinner table. “

” Oh!” I said, hoping I sounded duly impressed.

” You see. Miss, having no mistress in the house, makes it a little difficult at times; and when a gentleman expressly asks for your company—well, I really don’t see what harm there could be in it. I have told Mr. Nansellock that tea will be served in the punch room and that I am sure you will be ready to join him and Miss Alvean. You have no objection?”

” No, no. I have no objection.”

Mrs. Polgrey smiled graciously. ” Then will you come down?”

” Yes, I will.”

She sailed out as majestically as she had arrived; and I found myself smiling not without a little complacence. It was turning out to be a most enjoyable day.

When I reached the punch room, Alvean was not there, but Peter Nansellock was sprawling in one of the tapestry-covered chairs.

He leaped to his feet on my entrance.

” But this is delightful.”

” Mrs. Polgrey has told me that I am to do the honours in the absence of Mr. TreMellyn.”

“How like you, to remind me that you are merely the governess!”

” I felt,” I replied, ” that it was necessary to do so, since you may have forgotten.”

” You are such a charming hostess! And indeed I never saw you look less like a governess than when you were giving Alvean her lesson.”

” It was my riding habit. Borrowed plumes. A pheasant would look like a peacock, if it could acquire the tail.”

” My dear Miss Pheasant, I do not agree. Manners ma kyth the man’—or woman—not fine feathers. But let me ask you this before our little Alvean appears. What do you think of this place? You are going to stay with us?”

” It is really more a question of how this place likes me, and whether the powers that be decide to keep me.”

” Ah the powers that be in this case are a little unaccountable, are they not? What do you think of old Connan?”

” The adjective you use is inaccurate, and it is not my place to give an opinion.”

He laughed aloud showing white and perfect teeth. ” Dear Governess,” he said, ” you’ll be the death of me.”

” I’m sorry to hear it.”

” Though,” he went on, ” I have often thought that to die of laughing must be a very pleasant way to do so.”

This banter was interrupted by the appearance of Alvean.

” Ah, the little lady herself!” cried Peter. ” Dear Alvean, how good it is of you and Miss Leigh to allow me to take tea with you.”

” I wonder why you want to,” replied Alvean. ” You never have before . except when Miss Jansen was here.”

” Hush, hush! You betray me,” he murmured.

Mrs. Polgrey came in with Kitty. The latter set the tray on a table, while Mrs. Polgrey lighted the spirit lamp. I saw that a canister of tea was on the tray. Kitty laid a doth on a small table and brought in cakes and cucumber sandwiches.

” Miss, would you care to make the tea yourself?” asked Mrs. Polgrey.

I said I would do so with pleasure, and Mrs. Polgrey signed to Kitty, who was staring at Peter Nansellock with an expression close to idolatry.

Kitty seemed reluctant to leave the room and I felt it was unkind to have dismissed her. I believed that Mrs. Polgrey was also to some extent under the spell of the man. It must be, I told myself, because he is such a contrast to the master. Peter managed to flatter with a look, and I had noticed that he was ready to lavish this flattery on all females; Kitty, Mrs. Polgrey and Alvean, no less than on myself.

So much for its worth! I told myself and I felt a little piqued, for the man had that comforting quality of making any woman in his company feel that she was an attractive one.

I made tea and Alvean handed him bread and butter.

” What luxury!” he cried. ” I feel like a sultan with two beautiful ladies to wait on me.”

” You’re telling lies again,” cried Alvean. ” We’re neither of us ladies, because I’m not grown up and Miss is a governess.”

” What sacrilege!” he murmured, and his warm eyes were or me, almost cares singly I felt uncomfortably embarrassed under his scrutiny.

I changed the conversation briskly. ” I think Alvean will make a good horsewoman in time,” I said. ” What was your opinion?”

I saw how eagerly the girl waited on his words.

“She’ll be the champion of Cornwall; you see!”

She could not hide her pleasure.

“And,” he lifted a finger and wagged it at her “don’t forget whom you have to thank for it.”

The glance Alvean threw at me was almost shy, and I felt suddenly happy, and glad that I was here. My resentment against life had never been so far away; I had ceased to envy my charming sister. At that moment there was only one person I wanted to be : That person was Martha Leigh, sitting in the punch room taking tea with Peter Nansellock and Alvean TreMellyn.

Alvean said : ” It’s to be a secret for a while.”

” Yes, we’re going to surprise her father.”

” I’ll be as silent as the grave.”

” Why do people say silent as the grave’?” asked Alvean.

” Because,” put in Peter, ” dead men don’t talk.”

” Sometimes they have ghosts perhaps,” said Alvean looking over her shoulder.

” What Mr. Nansellock meant,” I said quickly, ” was that he will keep our little secret. Alvean, I believe Mr. Nansellock would like some more cucumber sandwiches.”

She leapt up to offer them to him; it was very pleasant to have her so docile and friendly.

” You have not paid a visit to Mount Widden yet. Miss Leigh,” he said.

” It had not occurred to me to do so.”

” That is a little un neighbourly Oh, I know what you’re going to say.

You did not come here to pay calls; you came to be a governess. “

“It is true,” I retorted.

” The house is not as ancient nor as large as this one. It has no history, but it’s a pleasant place and I’m sure my sister would be delighted if you and Alvean paid us a visit one day. Why not come over and take tea with us?”

” I am” not sure . ” I began.

” That it lies within your duties? I’ll tell you how we’ll arrange it.

You shall bring Miss Alvean to take tea at Mount Widden. Bringing her to us and taking her home again, I am sure, would come well within the duties of the most meticulous governess. “

” When shall we come?” asked Alvean.

“This is an open invitation.”

I smiled. I knew what that meant. He was again talking for the sake of talking; he had no intention of asking me to tea. I pictured him, coming over to the house, attempting a flirtation with Miss Jansen who, by all accounts, was an attractive young woman. I knew his sort, I told myself.

The door opened suddenly and, to my embarrassment which I hoped I managed to hide Connan TreMellyn came in.

I felt as though I had been caught playing the part of mistress of the house in his absence.

I rose to my feet, and he gave me a quick smile. ” Miss Leigh,” he said, ” is there a cup of tea for me?”

” Alvean,” I said, ” ring for another cup, please.”

She got up to do so immediately but she had changed. Now she was alert, eager to do the right thing and please her father. It made her somewhat clumsy, and as she rose from her chair she knocked over her cup of tea. She flushed scarlet with mortification.

I said : ” Never mind. Ring the bell. Kitty will dear it up when she comes.”

I knew that Connan TreMellyn was watching with some amusement. If I had known he would return I should have been very reluctant to entertain Peter Nansellock to tea in the punch room, which I was sure my employer felt was definitely not my part of the house.

Peter said: “It was most kind of Miss Leigh to act as hostess. I begged her to do so, and she graciously consented.”

” It was certainly kind,” said Connan TreMellyn lightly.

Kitty came and I indicated the mess of tea and broken china on the carpet. ” And please bring another cup for Mr. TreMellyn,” I added.

Kitty was smirking a little as she went out. The situation evidently amused her. As for myself, I felt it ill became me. I was not the type to make charming play with the teacups and, now that the Master of the house had appeared, I felt awkward, even as I knew Alvean had. I must be careful to avoid disaster.

” Had a busy day, Connan?” asked Peter.

Connan TreMellyn then began to talk of complicated estate business, which I felt might have been to remind me that my duties consisted of dispensing tea and nothing else. I was not to imagine that I was in truth a hostess. I was there as an upper servant, nothing more.

I felt angry with him for coming in and spoiling my little triumph. I wondered how he would react when I presented him with the good little horsewoman I was determined Alvean was to become. He would probably make some slighting remark and show us such indifference that we should feel our trouble was wasted.

You poor child, I thought, you are trying to win the affections of a man who doesn’t know the meaning of affection. Poor Alvean! Poor Alice!

Then it seemed to me that Alice had intruded into the punch room. In that moment I pictured her more clearly than I had ever done before.

She was a woman of about my height, a little more slender at the waist but then I had never gone in wholeheartedly for tight lacing a trifle shorter. I could fit this figure into a black riding habit with blue collar and cuffs and black beaver hat. All that was vague and shadowy was the face.

The cup and saucer was brought to me and I poured out his tea. He was watching me, expecting me to rise and take it to him.

” Alvean,” I said, ” please pass this to your father.”

And she was very eager to do so.

He said a brief ” thanks,” and Peter took advantage of the pause to draw me into the conversation.

” Miss Leigh and I met on the train on the day she arrived.”

” Really?”

“Indeed, yes. Although of course she was not aware of my identity. How could she be? She had never heard then of the famous Nansellocks. She did not even know of the existence of Mount Widden. I knew her of course. By some strange irony of chance I shared her compartment.”

” That,” said Connan, ” is very interesting.” And he looked as though nothing could be less so.

” So,” went on Peter, ” it was a great surprise to her when she found that we were near neighbours.”

“I trust,” said Connan, ” that it was not an unpleasant one.”

” By no means,” I said.

” Thank you, Miss Leigh, for those kind words,” said Peter.

I looked at my watch, and said : ” I am going to ask you to excuse Alvean and me. It is nearly five o’clock and we have our studies between five and six.”

” And we must,” said Connan, “on no account interfere with those.”

” But surely,” cried Peter, ” on such an occasion there could be a little relaxation of the rules.”

Alvean was looking eager. She was unhappy in her father’s presence but she could not bear to leave it.

” I think it would be most unwise,” I said, rising. ” Come along, Alvean.”

She threw me a look of dislike and I believed that I had forfeited the advance I had made that afternoon.

” Please, Papa …” she began.

He looked at her sternly. ” My dear child, you heard what your governess said.”

Alvean blushed and looked uncomfortable, but I was already saying ” Good afternoon ” to Peter Nansellock and making my way to the door.

In the schoolroom Alvean glared at me.

” Why do you have to spoil everything?” she demanded.

” Spoil?” I repeated. ” Everything?”

“We could have done our reading any time … any time” — ” But we do our reading between five and six, not any time,” I retorted, and my voice sounded the colder because I was afraid of the emotion which was rising in me. I wanted to explain to her: You love your father. You long for his approval. But, my dear child, you do not know the way to make it yours. Let me help you. But of course I said no such thing. I had never been demonstrative and could not begin to be so now.

” Come,” I went on, ” we have only an hour, so let us not waste a minute of that time.”

She sat at the table sullenly glaring at the book which we were reading. It was Mr. Dickens’s Pickwick Papers which I had thought would bring light relief into my pupil’s rather serious existence.

She had lost her habitual enthusiasm; she was not even attending, for she looked up suddenly and said: “I believe you hate him. I believe you cannot bear to be in his company.”

I replied: ” I do not know to whom you refer, Alvean.”

” You do,” she accused. ” You know I mean my father.”

“What nonsense,” I murmured; but I was afraid my colour would deepen.

” Come,” I said, ” we are wasting time.”

And so I concentrated on the book and told myself that we could not read together the nightly adventure concerning the elderly lady in curl papers That would be most unsuitable for a child of Alvean’s age.

That night when Alvean had retired to her room I went for a stroll in the woods. I was beginning to look upon these woods as a place of refuge, a place in which to be quiet and think about my life while I wondered what shape it would take.

The day had been eventful, a pleasant day until Connan TreMellyn had come into it and disturbed the peace. I wondered if his business ever took him away for long periods-really long periods, not merely a matter of a few days. If this were so, I thought, ,1 might have a chance of making Alvean into a happier little girl.

Forget the man, I admonished myself. Avoid him when possible. You can do no more than that.

It was all very well but, even when be was not present, he intruded into my thoughts.

I stayed in the woods until it was almost dusk. Then I made for the house, and I had not been in my room more than a few minutes when Kitty knocked.

” I thought I ‘card ‘ee come in. Miss,” she said. ” Master be asking for ‘ee. He be in his library.”

” Then you had better take me there,” I said, ” for it is a room I have never visited.”

I should have liked to comb my hair and tidy myself a little, but I had a notion that Kitty was constantly looking for one aspect of the relationship between any man or woman and I was not going to have her thinking that I was preening myself before appearing before the master.

She led me to a wing of the house which I had as yet not visited, and the vastness of Mount Mellyn was brought home to me afresh. These, I gathered, were the apartments which were set aside for his especial use, for they seemed more luxurious than any other part of the house which I had so far seen.

Kitty opened a door, and with that vacuous smile on her face announced : ” Miss be here, Master.”

” Thank you, Kitty,” he said. And then, ” Oh, come along in. Miss Leigh.”

He was sitting at a table on which were leather-bound books and papers. The only light came from a rose quartz lamp on the table.

He said : ” Do sit down, Miss Leigh.”

I thought. He has discovered that I wore Alice’s riding habit. He is shocked. He is going to tell me that my services are no longer required.

I held my head high, even haughtily, waiting.

” I was interested to learn this afternoon,” he began, ” that you had already made the acquaintance of Mr. Nansellock.”

” Really?” The surprise in my voice was not assumed.

” Of course,” he went on, ” it was inevitable that you would meet him sooner or later. He and his sister are constant visitors at the house, but” — ” But you feel that it is unnecessary that he should make the acquaintance of your daughter governess,” I said quickly.

” That necessity. Miss Leigh,” he replied reprovingly, ” is surely for you or him to decide.”

I felt embarrassed and I stumbled on: “I imagine that you feel that, as a governess, it is unbecoming of me to be … on terms of apparently equal footing with a friend of your family.”

” I beg you. Miss Leigh, do not put words into my mouth which I had no intention of uttering. What friends you make, I do assure you, must be entirely your own concern. But your. aunt, in a manner of speaking, put you under my care when she put you under my roof, and I have asked you to come here that I may offer you a word of advice on a subject which, I fear, you may think a little indelicate.”

I was flushing scarlet and my embarrassment was not helped by the fact that this, I was sure, secretly amused him.

” Mr. Nansellock has a reputation for being … how shall I put it susceptible to young ladies.”

” Oh!” I cried, unable to suppress the exclamation, so great was my discomfort.

” Miss Leigh.” He smiled, and for a moment his face looked almost tender. ” This is in the nature of a warning.”

” Mr. TreMellyn,” I cried, recovering myself with an effort, ” I do not think I am in need of such a warning.”

” He is very handsome,” he went on, and the mocking note had come back to his voice. ” He has a reputation for being a charming fellow. There was a young lady here before you, a Miss Jansen. He often called to see her. Miss Leigh, I do beg of you not to misunderstand me. And there is another thing I would also ask: Please do not take all that Mr. Nansellock says too seriously.”

I heard myself say in a high-pitched voice unlike my habitual tone: ” It is extremely kind of you, Mr. TreMellyn, to concern yourself with my welfare.”

” But of course I concern myself with your welfare. You are here to look after my daughter. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to me.”

He rose and I did the same. I saw that this was dismissal.

He came swiftly to my side and placed his hand on my shoulder.

” Forgive me,” he said. ” I am a blunt man, lacking in those graces which are so evident in Mr. Nansellock. I merely wish to offer you a friendly warning.”

For a few seconds I looked into those cool light eyes and I thought I had a fleeting glimpse of the man behind the mask. I was sobered suddenly and, in a moment of bewildering emotion, I was deeply conscious of my loneliness, of the tragedy of those who are alone in the world with no one who really cares for them. Perhaps it was self-pity. I do not know. My feelings in that moment were so mixed that I cannot even at this day define them.

” Thank you,” I said; and I escaped from the library back to my room.

Each day Alvean and I went to the field and had an hour’s riding. As I watched the little girl on Buttercup I knew that her father must have been extremely impatient with her, for the child, though not a born rider perhaps, would soon be giving a good account of herself.

I had discovered that every November a horse show was held in Mellyn village, and I had told Alvean that she should certainly enter for one of the events.

It was enjoyable planning this, because Connan TreMellyn would be one of the judges and we both imagined his astonishment when a certain rider, who came romping home with first prize, was his daughter who he had sworn would never learn to ride.

The triumph in that dream was something Alvean and I could both share.

Hers was of course the more admirable emotion. She wanted to succeed for the sake of the love she bore her father; for myself I wanted to imply: See, you arrogant man, I have succeeded where you failed!

So every afternoon, I would put on Alice’s riding habit (I had ceased to care to whom it had previously belonged, for it had become mine now) and we would go to the field and there I would put Alvean through her paces.

On the day we tried her first gallop we were elated.

Afterwards she returned to the stables with me and I watched her run on ahead after we had left the horses there. Every now and then she would jump into the air a gesture, I thought, of complete joyousness.

I knew she was seeing herself at the show anticipating that glorious moment when her father stared at her in astonishment and cried: ” You . Alvean! My dear child, I am proud of you.”

I was smiling to myself as I crossed the lawn in her wake. When I entered the house she was nowhere to be seen, and I pictured her taking the stairs several at a time.

This was more like the normal, happy child I intended her to become.

I mounted the first flight of stairs and came to a dark landing, when there was a step on the next flight, and I heard a quick gasp and voice which said: ” Alice!”

For a second my whole body seemed to freeze. Then I saw that Celestine Nansellock was standing on the stairs; she was gripping the banisters and was so white that I thought she was going to faint.

I understood. It was she who had spoken. She had seen me in Alice’s riding habit and she believed in that second that I was Alice . or her ghost.

” Miss Nansellock,” I said quickly to reassure her, ” Alvean and I have been having a riding lesson.”

She swayed a little; her face had turned a greyish colour.

” I’m sorry I startled you,” I went on.

She murmured: ” For the moment I thought ” ” I think you should sit down, Miss Nansellock. You’ve had a shock.” I bounded up the stairs and took her arm. ” Would you care to come into my bedroom and sit down awhile?”

She nodded, and I noted that she was trembling.

” I am so sorry to have upset you,” I said as I threw open the door of my room. We went in, and I put her gently into a chair.

” Shall I ring for brandy?” I asked.

She shook her head. ” I’m all right now. You did startle me, Miss Leigh. I see now it is the clothes.”

” It is a little dark on that landing,” I said.

She repeated: ” For the moment, I thought….” Then she looked at me again, fearfully, perhaps hopefully. I believed she was thinking that I was an apparition which had assumed the face of Martha Leigh, the governess, and would change at any moment.

I hastened to reassure her. ” It’s only these clothes,” I said.

” Mrs. TreMellyn had a habit exactly like that. I remember the collar and cuff’s so well. We went riding together … only a day or so before … You see, we were great friends, always together, and then..” She turned away and wiped her eyes.

” You thought I was Mrs. TreMellyn returned from the dead.” I said. ” I understand.”

” It was so foolish of me. It seems so odd that you should have a riding habit … so exactly like hers.”

” This was hers,” I said.

She was startled. She put out a hand and touched the skirt. She held it between thumb and forefinger and her eyes had a hazy look as though she were staring into the past.

I went on quickly: “I have to give Alvean riding lessons, and I lacked the suitable clothes. The child took me to what I now know to have been her mother’s apartments, and found this for me. I asked Mrs. Polgrey if it were in order for me to wear it and she assured me that it was. “

” I see,” said Celestine. ” That explains everything. Please don’t mention my folly, Miss Leigh. I’m glad no one else saw it.”

” But anyone might have been startled, particularly as” — ” As what?”

” As there seems to be this feeling about Alice … about Mrs. TreMellyn. “

” What feeling?”

” Perhaps there isn’t a feeling. Perhaps it is my imagination only, but I did imagine that there was a belief in the house that she was not at rest.”

” What an extraordinary thing to say! Why should she not be at rest?

Who told you this? “

” I … I’m not sure,” I floundered. ” Perhaps it is merely my imagination. Perhaps no one suggested anything, and the idea just came to me. I’m sorry that I upset you.”

” You must not be sorry. Miss Leigh. You have been kind to me. I feel better now. She stood up. ” Don’t tell anyone I was so silly. So you are giving Alvean riding lessons. I am glad. Tell me, are you getting along with her better now? I fancied, when you arrived, that there was a little antagonism . on her part. “

” She is the kind of child who would automatically be antagonistic to authority. Yes, I think we are becoming friends. These riding lessons have helped considerably. By the way, they are secret from her father.”

Celestine Nansellock looked a little shocked, and I hurried on: ” Oh, it is only her good progress which is a secret. He knows about the lessons. Naturally I asked his permission first. But he does not realise how well she is coming along. It is to be a surprise.”

” I see,” said Celestine. ” Miss Leigh, I do hope she is not over-strained by these lessons.”

” Strained? But why? She is a normal healthy child.”

“She is highly strung. I wonder whether she has the temperament to make a rider.”

” She is so young that we have a chance of forming her character, which’ will have it’s effect on her temperament. She is enjoying her lessons and is very eager to surprise her father.”

” So she is becoming your friend. Miss Leigh. I am glad of that. Now I must go. Thank you again for your kindness. And do remember … not a word to anyone.”

” Certainly not, if it is your wish.”

She smiled and went out.

I went to the mirror and looked at myself I’m afraid this was becoming a habit since I had come here and murmured:

” That might be Alice … apart from the face.” Then I half closed my eyes and let the face become blurred while I imagined a different face there.

Oh yes, it must have been a shock for Celestine.

And I was not to say anything. I was very willing to agree to this. I wondered what Connan TreMellyn would say if he knew that I was going about in his wife’s clothes and frightened practical people like Celestine Nansellock when they saw me in dim places.

I felt he would not wish me to continue to look so like Alice. So, since I needed Alice’s clothes for my riding lessons with Alvean, and since I was determined they should continue, that I might have the pleasure of saying, I told you so! to Alvean’s father, I was as anxious as Celestine Nansellock that nothing should be said about our encounter on the landing.

A week passed and I felt I was slipping into a routine. Lessons in the schoolroom and the riding field progressed favourably. Peter Nansellock came over to the house on two occasions, but I managed to elude him. I was deeply conscious of Connan TreMellyn’s warning and I knew it to be reasonable. I faced the fact that I was stimulated by Peter Nansellock and that I could very easily find myself in a state of mind when I was looking forward to his visits. I had no-intention of placing myself in that position for I did not need Connan TreMellyn to tell me that Peter Nansellock was a philanderer.

I thought now and then of his brother Geoffry, and I concluded that Peter must be very like him; and when I thought of Geoffry I thought also of Mrs. Polgrey’s daughter of whom she had never spoken; Jennifer with the ” littlest waist you ever saw,” and a way of keeping herself to herself until she had lain in the hay or the gillyflowers with the fascinating Geoffry—the outcome of which had been that one day she walked into the sea.

I shivered to contemplate the terrible pitfalls which lay in wait for unwary women. There were unattractive ones like myself who depended on the whims of others for a living; but there were those even more unfortunate creatures, those who attracted the roving eyes of philanderers and found one day that the only bearable prospect life had to offer was its end.

My interest in Alvean’s riding lessons and her father’s personality had made me forget little Gillyflower temporarily. The child was so quiet that she was easily forgotten. Occasionally I heard her thin reedy voice, in that peculiar off-key singing out of doors or in the house. The Polgreys’ room was immediately below my own, and Gillyflower’s was next to theirs, so that when she sang in her own room her voice would float up to me.

I used to say to myself when I heard it: If she can learn songs she can learn other things.

I must have been given to day-dreams, for side by side with that picture of Connan TreMellyn, handing his daughter the first prize for horse-jumping at the November horse show and giving me an apologetic and immensely admiring and appreciative glance at the same time, there was another picture. This was of Gilly sitting at the schoolroom table side by side with Alvean, while I listened to whispering in the background:

” This could never have happened but for Miss Martha Leigh. You see she is a wonder with the children. Look what she has done for Alvean . and now for Gilly.”

But at this time Alvean was still a stubborn child and Gilly flower elusive and, as the Tapperty girls said: ” With a tile loose in the upper story.”

Then into those more or less peaceful days came two events to disturb me.

The first was of small moment, but it haunted me and I could not get it out of my mind.

I was going through one of Alvean’s exercise books, marking her sums, while she was sitting at the table writing an essay; and as I turned the pages of the exercise book a piece of paper fell out.

It was covered with drawings. I had already discovered that Alvean had a distinct talent for drawing, and one day, when the opportunity offered itself, I intended to approach Connan TreMellyn about this, for I felt she should be encouraged. I myself could teach her only the rudiments of the art, but I believed she was worthy of a qualified drawing teacher.

The drawings were of faces. I recognised one of myself. It was not bad. Did I really look as prim as that? Not always, I hoped. But perhaps that was how he saw me. There was her father . several of him. He was quite recognisable too. I turned the page and this was covered with girls’ faces. I was not sure who they were meant to be.

Herself? No . that was Gilly, surely. And yet it had a look of herself.

I stared at the page. I was so intent that I did not realise she had leaned across the table until she snatched it away.

” That’s mine,” she said.

” And that,” I retaliated, ” is extremely bad manners.”

” You have no right to pry.”

” My dear child, that paper was in your arthmetic book.”

” Then it had no right to be there.”

” You must take your revenge on the paper,” I said lightly. And then more seriously: ” I do beg of you not to snatch things in that ill-mannered way.”

” I’m sorry,” she murmured still defiantly.

I turned back to the sums, to most of which she had given inaccurate answers. Arithmetic was not one of her best subjects. Perhaps that was why she spent so much of her time drawing faces instead of getting on with her work. Why had she been so annoyed? Why had she drawn those faces which were part Gilly’s, part her own? “

I said: ” Alvean, you will have to work harder at your sums.”

She grunted sullenly.

” You don’t seem to have mastered the rules of practice nor even simple multiplication. Now if your arithmetic were half as good as your drawing I should be very pleased.”

Still she did not answer.

” Why did you not wish me to see the faces you had drawn? I thought some of them quite good.”

Still no answer.

” Particularly,” I went on, ” that one of your father.”

Even at such a time the mention of his name could bring that tender, wistful curve to her lips.

” And those girl’s faces. Do tell me who they were supposed to be you or Gilly?”

The smile froze on her lips. Then she said almost breathlessly : ” Who did you take them for. Miss?”

” Whom,” I corrected gently.

” Whom did you take them for then?”

” Well, let me look at them again.”

She hesitated, then she brought out the paper, and handed it to me; her eyes were eager.

I studied the faces. I said: ” This one could be either you or Gilly.”

” You think we’re alike then?”

” N … no. I hadn’t thought so until this moment.

” And now you do,” she said.

“You are of an age, and there often seems to be a resemblance between young people.”

” I’m not like her!” she cried passionately. ” I’m not like that … idiot.”

” Alvean, you must not use such a word. Don’t you realise that it is extremely unkind?”

” It’s true. But I’m not like her. I won’t have you say it. If you say it again I’ll ask my father to send you away. He will … if I ask him. I only have to ask and you’ll go.”

She was shouting, trying to convince herself of two things, I realised. One that there was not the slightest resemblance between herself and Gilly, and the other that she only had to ask her father for something, and her wishes would be granted.

Why? I asked myself. What was the reason for this vehemence?

There was a shut-in expression on her face.

I said, calmly looking at the watch pinned to my grey cotton bodice: ” You have exactly ten minutes in which to finish your essay.”

I drew the arithmetic book towards me and pretended to give it my attention.

The second incident was even more upsetting.

It had been a moderately peaceful day, which meant that lessons had gone well. I had taken my late evening stroll in the woods and when I returned I saw two carriages drawn up in front of the house. One I recognised as from Mount Widden so I guessed that either Peter or Celestine was visiting. The other carriage I did not know, but I noticed a crest on it, and it was a very fine carriage. I wondered to whom it belonged before I told myself that it was no concern of mine.

I went swiftly up the back stairs to my apartment.

It was a warm night and as I sat at my window I heard music coming from another of the open windows. I realised that Connan TreMellyn was entertaining guests.

I pictured them in one of the rooms which I had not even seen. Why should you, I asked myself. You are only a governess. Connan TreMeIlyn, his gaunt body clothed elegantly, would be presiding at the card table or perhaps sitting with his guests listening to music.

I recognised the music as from Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and I felt a sudden longing to be down there among them; but I was astonished that this desire should be greater than any I had ever had to be present at Aunt Adelaide’s soirees or the dinner parties Phillida gave. I was overcome with curiosity and could not resist the temptation to ring the bell and summon Kitty or Daisy who always knew what was going on and were only too happy to impart that knowledge to anyone who was interested to hear it.

It was Daisy who came. She looked excited.

I said: ” I want some hot water. Daisy. Could you please bring it for me?”

” Why yes. Miss,” she said.

” There are guests here tonight, I understand.”

” Oh yes. Miss. Though it’s nothing to the parties we used to have. I reckon now the year’s up, the Master will be entertaining more. That’s what Mrs. Polgrey says.”

” It must have been very quiet during the last year.”

“But only right and proper … after a death in the family.”

” Of course. Who are the guests tonight?”

” Oh, there’s Miss Celestine and Mr. Peter of course.”

” I saw their carriage.” My voice sounded eager and I was ashamed. I was no better than any gossiping servant.

” Yes, and I’ll tell you who else is here.”

” Who?”

” Sir Thomas and Lady Treslyn.”

She looked conspiratorial as though there was something very important about these two.

” Oh?” I said encouragingly.

“Though,” went on Daisy, “Mrs. Polgrey says that Sir Thomas bain’t fit to go gallivanting at parties, and should be abed.”

” Why, is he ill?”

” Well, he’ll never see seventy again and he’s got one of those bad hearts. Mrs. Polgrey says you can go off sudden with g neither. Not

She stopped and twinkled at me. I longed to ask her to continue, but I felt it was beneath my dignity to do so. Disappointingly she seemed to pull herself up sharply.

” She’s another kettle of fish.”

“Who?”

” Why, Lady Treslyn of course. You ought to see her. She’s got a gown cut right down to here and the loveliest flowers on her shoulder.

She’s a real beauty, and you can see she’s only waiting”— ” I gather she is not of the same age as her husband. “

Daisy giggled. ” They say there’s nearly forty years’ difference in their ages, and she’d like to pretend it was fifty.”

” You don’t seem to like her.”

” Me? Well, if I don’t, some do!” That sent Daisy into hysterical laughter again, and as I looked at her ungainly form in her tight clothes and listened to her whee2y laughter, I was ashamed of myself for sharing the gossip of a servant, so I said : ” I would like that hot water, Daisy.”

Daisy subsided and went off to get it, leaving me with a dearer picture of what was happening in that drawing room.

I was still thinking of them when I had washed my hands and unpinned my hair preparatory to retiring for the night.

The musicians had been playing a Chopin waltz and it had seemed to spirit me away from my governess’s bedroom and tantalise me with pleasures outside my reach—a dainty beauty, a place of salons such as that somewhere in this house, wit, charm, the power to make the chosen man love me.

I was startled by such thoughts. What had they to do with a governess such as myself.

I went to the window. The weather had been fine and warm for so long that I did not believe it could continue. The autumn mists would soon be with us and I heard that they and the gales which blew from the southwest were, as Tapperty would say, ” something special in these parts.”

I could smell the sea and hear the gentle rhythm of the waves. The ” voices ” were starting up in Mellyn Cove.

And then suddenly I saw a light in a dark part of the house and I felt the goose-pimples rise on my flesh. I knew that window belonged to the room to which Alvean had taken me to choose my riding habit. It was Alice’s dressing room.

The blind had been down. I had not noticed that before. Indeed I was sure it had not been like that earlier in the evening because, since I had known that that was Alice’s room, I had made a habit which I regretted and of which I had tried to cure myself of glancing at the window whenever I looked out of my own.

The blind was of thin material, for behind it I distinctly saw the light. It was a faint light but there was no mistaking it. It moved before my astonished eyes.

I stood at my window staring out and, as I did so, I saw a shadow on the blind. It was that of a woman.

I heard a voice close to me saying: ” It is Alice!” and I realised that I had spoken aloud.

I’m dreaming, I told myself. I’m imagining this.

Then again I saw the figure silhouetted against the blind.

My hands which gripped the window sill were trembling as I watched that nickering light. I had an impulse to summon Daisy or Kitty, or go to Mrs. Polgrey.

I restrained myself, imagining how foolish it should look. So I remained staring at the window.

And after a while all was darkness.

I stood at my window for a long time watching, but I saw nothing more.

They were playing another Chopin waltz in the drawing room, and I stood until I was cold even on that warm September night.

Then I went to bed but I could not sleep for a long time.

And at last, when I did sleep, I dreamed that a woman came into my room; she was wearing a riding habit with blue collar and cuffs, trimmed with braid and ball fringe. She said to me:

” I was not on that train, Miss Leigh. You wonder where I was. It is for you to find me.”

Through my dreams I heard the whispering of the waves in the caves below; and the first thing I did on rising next morning—which I did as soon as dawn appeared in the sky-was to go to my window and look across at the room which-little more than a year ago—had belonged to Alice.

The blinds were drawn up. I could dearly see the rich blue velvet curtains.

It was about a week later when I first saw Linda Treslyn.

It was a few minutes past six o’clock. Alvean and I had put away our books and had gone down to the stables to look at Buttercup who we thought had strained a tendon that afternoon.

The farrier had seen her and given her a poultice. Alvean was really upset, and this pleased me because I was always delighted to discover her softer feelings.

” Don’tee fret, Miss Alvean,” Joe Tapperty told her. ” Buttercup ‘ll be right as two dogs on a bright and frosty morning afore the week’s out; you see! Jim Bond, he be the best horse-doctor between here and Land’s End, 1 do tell ‘ee.”

She was cheered and I told her that she should take Black Prince in Buttercup’s place tomorrow.

She was exdted about this for she knew Black Prince would test her mettle, and I was glad to see that her pleasure was only faintly tinged with apprehension.

As we came out of the stables I looked at my watch.

” Would you care for half an hour’s stroll through the gardens?” I asked. ” We have half an hour to spare.”

To my surprise she said she would, and we set off.

The plateau on which Mount Mellyn stood was a piece of land a mile or so wide. The slope to the sea was steep but there were several zigzag paths which made the going easier. The gardeners spent a great deal of time on this garden which was indeed beautiful with the flowering shrubs which grew so profusely in this part. At various points arbours had been set up, constructed of trellis work around which roses climbed.

They were beautiful even as late as this and their perfume hung on the air.

One could sit in these arbours and gaze out to sea; and from these gardens the south side of the house was a vision of grandeur, rising nobly, a pile of grey granite there on the top of the cliff like a mighty fortress. It was inevitable that the house should have a defiant air, as though it represented a challenge, not only to the sea but to the world.

We made our way down those sweet-smelling paths and were level with the arbour before we noticed that two people were there.

Alvean gave a little gasp and, following her gaze, I saw them. They were sitting side by side and dose. She was very dark and one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen; her features were strongly marked and she wore a gauzy scarf over her hair, and in this gauze sequins glistened. I thought that she looked like someone out of A Midsummer Night’s Dream-Titania perhaps, although I had always imagined her fair. She had that quality of beauty which attracts the eyes as a needle is attracted by a magnet. You have to look whether you want to or not; you have to admire. Her dress was pale mauve of some clinging material such as chiffon and it was caught at the throat with a big diamond brooch.

Connan spoke first. ” Why,” he said, ” it is my daughter with her governess. So, Miss Leigh, you and Alvean are taking the air.”

” It is such a pleasant evening,” I said, and I made to take Alvean’s hand, but she eluded me in her most ungracious manner.

” May I sit with you and Lady Treslyn, Papa?” she asked.

” You are taking a walk with Miss Leigh,” he said. ” Do you not think that you should continue to do so?”

” Yes,” I answered for her. ” Come along, Alvean.”

Connan had turned to his companion. ” We are very fortunate to have found Miss Leigh. She is … admirable!”

” The perfect governess this time, I hope for your sake, Connan,” said Lady Treslyn.

I felt awkward, as though I were in the position of a horse standing there while they discussed my points. I was sure he was aware of my discomfiture and rather amused by it. There were times when I believed he was a very unpleasant person.

I said, and my voice sounded very chilly : “I think it is time we turned back. We were merely taking an airing before Alvean retires for the night. Come, Alvean,” I added. And I seized her arm so firmly that I drew her away.

” But,” protested Alvean, ” I want to stay. I want to talk to you, Papa.”

” But you can see I am engaged. Some other time, my child.”

” No,” she said. ” It is important … now.”

“It cannot be all that important. Let us discuss it to morrow.”

” No … no … Now!” Alvean’s voice had a hysterical note in it; I had never before known her defy him so utterly.

Lady Treslyn murmured: ” I see Alvean is a very deter mined person.”

Connan TreMellyn said coolly: ” Miss Leigh will deal with this matter.”

” Of course. The perfect governess….” There was a note of mockery in Lady Treslyn’s voice, and it goaded me to such an extent that I seized Alvean’s arm roughly and almost dragged her back the way we had come.

She was half sobbing, but she did not speak until we were in the house.

Then she said: ” I hate her. You know, don’t you. Miss Leigh, that she wants to be my new mamma.”

I said nothing then. I thought it dangerous to do so because I always felt that it was so easy to be overheard. It was only when we reached her room and I had followed her in and shut the door that I said: ” That was an extraordinary remark to make. How could she wish to be your mamma when she has a husband of her own?”

” He will soon die.”

” How can you know that?”

” Everybody says they are only waiting.”

I was shocked that she should have heard such gossip and I thought: I will speak to Mrs. Polgrey about this. They must be careful what they say in front of Alvean. Is it those girls.

Daisy and Kitty . or perhaps Joe Tapperty or his wife?

” She’s always here,” went on Alvean. ” I won’t let her take my mother’s place. I won’t let anybody.”

” You are becoming quite hysterical about improbabilities, and I must insist that you never allow me to hear you say such things again. It is degrading to your papa.”

That made her thoughtful. How she loves him! I thought. Poor little Alvean, poor lonely child!

A little while before, I had been sorry for myself as I stood in that beautiful garden and was forced to be quizzed by the beautiful woman in the arbour. I had said to myself: ” It is not fair. Why should one person have so much, and others nothing? Should I be beautiful in chiffon and diamonds? Perhaps not as Lady Treslyn was, but I am sure they would be more becoming than cotton and merino and a turquoise brooch which had belonged to my grandmother.”

Now I forgot to be sorry for myself, and my pity was all for Alvean.

I had seen Alvean to bed and had returned to my room, conscious of a certain depression. I kept thinking of Connan TreMellyn out there in the arbour with Lady Treslyn, asking myself if he were still there and what they talked about. Each other! I supposed. Of course Alvean and I had interrupted a flirtation. I felt shocked that he should indulge in such an undignified intrigue, for it seemed wholly undignified to me, since the lady had a husband to whom she owed her allegiance.

I went to the window and I was glad that it did not give me a view of the south gardens and the sea. I leaned my elbows on the sill and looked out at the scented evening. It was not quite dark yet but the sun had disappeared and the twilight was on us. My eyes turned to the window where I had seen the shadow on the blind.

The blinds were drawn up and I could see the blue curtains clearly. I stared at them, fixedly. I don’t know what I expected. Was it to see a face appear at the window, a beckoning hand? There were times when I could laugh at myself for my fancies, but the twilight hour was not one of them.

Then I saw the curtains move, and I knew that someone was in that room.

I was in an extraordinary mood that evening. It had some thing to do with meeting Connan TreMellyn and Lady Treslyn together in the arbour, but I had not sufficiently analysed my feelings at this date to understand it. I felt our recent encounter to have been humiliating but I was ready to risk another which might be more so. Alice’s room was not in my part of the house but I was completely at liberty to walk in the gardens if I wished to. If I were caught I should look rather foolish. But I was reckless. I did not care. Thoughts of Alice obsessed me. There were times when I felt such a burning desire to discover what mystery lay behind her death that I was prepared to go to any lengths.

So I slipped out of my room. I left my wing of the house and went along the gallery to Alice’s dressing room. I knocked lightly on the door and, with my heart beating like a sledge hammer, I swiftly opened it.

For a second I saw no one. Then I detected a movement by the curtains.

Someone was hiding behind them.

” Who is it?” I asked, and my voice successfully hid the trepidation I was feeling.

There was no answer, but whoever was behind those curtains was very eager not to be discovered.

I strode across the room, drew aside the curtains and saw Gilly cowering there.

The lids of her blank blue eyes fluttered in a terrified way. I put out a hand to seize her and she shrank from me towards the window.

” It’s all right, Gilly,” I said gently. ” I won’t hurt you.”

She continued to stare at me, and I went on: “Tell me, what are you doing here?”

Still she said nothing. She had begun to stare about the room as though she were asking someone for help and for a moment I had the uncanny feeling that she saw something or someone I could not see.

” Gilly,” I said, ” you know you should not be in this room, do you not?” She drew away from me, and I repeated what I had said.

Then she nodded and immediately afterwards shook her head.

” I am going to take you back to my room, Gilly. Then we’ll have a little talk.”

I put my arm about her; she was trembling. I drew her to the door but she came very reluctantly, and at the threshold of the room she looked back over her shoulder; then she cried out suddenly: “Madam … come back, Madam. Come … now I led her firmly from the room and shut the door behind us, then almost had to drag her along to my bedroom.

Once there I firmly shut my door and stood with my back against it.

Her lips were trembling.

” Gilly,” I said, ” I do want you to understand that I won’t hurt you.

I want to be your friend. ” The blank look persisted and taking a shot in the dark I went on: ” I want to be your friend as Mrs. TreMellyn was. “

That startled her and the blank look disappeared for a moment. I had stumbled on another discovery. Alice had been kind to this poor child.

” You went there to look for Mrs. TreMellyn, did you not?”

She nodded.

She looked so pathetic that I was moved to a demonstration of feeling unusual with me. I knelt down and put my arms about her; now our faces were level.

” You can’t find her, Gilly. She is dead. It is no use looking for her in this house.”

Gilly nodded and I was not sure what she implied whether she agreed with me that it was no use, or whether she believed that she could find Mrs. TreMellyn in the house.

” So,” I went on, ” we must try to forget her, mustn’t we Gilly?”

The pale lids fell over the eyes to hide them from me.

” We’ll be friends,” I said. ” I want us to be. If we were friends, you wouldn’t be lonely, would you?”

She shook her head, and I fancied that the eyes which surveyed me had lost something of their blankness; she was not trembling now, and I was sure that she was no longer afraid of me.

Then suddenly she slipped out of my grasp and ran to the door. I did not pursue her and, as she opened the door and turned to look back at me, there was a faint smile on her lips. Then she was gone.

I believed that I had established a little friendliness between us. I believed that she bad lost her fear of me.

Then I thought of Alice, who had been kind to this child. I was beginning to build up the picture of Alice more dearly in my mind.

I went to the window and looked across the L-shaped building to the window of the room, and I thought of that night when I had seen the shadow on the blind.

My discovery of Gilly did not explain that. It was no child I bad seen silhouetted there. It had been a woman.

Gilly might hide herself in Alice’s room, but the shadow I had seen on the blind that night did not belong to her.

It was the next day when I went to Mrs. Polgrey’s room for a cup of tea. She was delighted to invite me. ” Mrs. Polgrey,” I had said, ” I have a matter which I feel to be of some importance, and I should very much like to discuss this with you.

She was bridled with pride. I could see that the governess who sought her advice must be, in her eyes, the ideal governess.

” I shall be delighted to give you an hour of my company and a cup of my best Earl Grey,” she told me.

Over the teacups she surveyed me with an expression bordering on the affectionate.

” Now, Miss Leigh, pray tell me what it is you would ask of me.”

” I am a little disturbed,” I told her, stirring my tea thoughtfully.

” It is due to a remark of Alvean’s. I am sure that she listens to gossip, and I think it most undesirable in a child of her age.”

” Or in any of us as I am sure a young lady of your good sense would feel,” replied Mrs. Polgrey with what I could not help feeling was a certain amount of hypocrisy.

I told her how we had walked in the cliff gardens and met the master with Lady Treslyn. ” And then,” I went on, ” Alvean made this offensive remark. She said that Lady Treslyn hoped to become her mamma.”

Mrs. Polgrey shook her head. She said: ” What about a spoonful of whisky in your tea, Miss? There’s nothing like it for keeping up the spirits.”

I had no desire for the whisky but I could see that Mrs. Polgrey had, and she would have been disappointed if I had refused to join her in her tea tippling, so I said: ” A small teaspoonful, please, Mrs. Polgrey. “

She unlocked the cupboard, took out the bottle and measured out the whisky even more meticulously than she measured her tea. I found myself wondering what other stores she kept in that cupboard of hers.

Now we were like a pair of conspirators and Mrs. Polgrey was clearly enjoying herself.

” I fear you will find it somewhat shocking. Miss,” she began.

” I am prepared,” I assured her.

” Well, Sir Thomas Treslyn is a very old man and only a few years ago he married this young lady, a play-actress, some say, from London. Sir Thomas went there on a visit and returned with her. He set the neighbourhood agog, I can tell you, Miss.”

” I can well believe that.”

” There’s some that say she’s one of the handsomest women in the country.”

” I can believe that too.”

” Handsome is as handsome does.”

” But it remains handsome outwardly,” I added.

” And men can be foolish. The Master has his weakness,” admitted Mrs. Polgrey.

” If there is gossip I am most anxious that it shall not reach Alvean’s ears.”

” Of course you are, Miss. But gossip there is, and that child’s got ears like a hare’s.”

” Do you think Daisy and Kitty chatter?”

Mrs. Polgrey came closer and I smelt the whisky on her breath. I was startled, wondering whether she could smell it on mine. ” Everybody chatters. Miss.”

” I see.”

” There’s some as say that they’m not the sort to wait for blessing of clergy.”

” Well, perhaps they are not.”

I felt wretched. I hate this, I told myself. It’s so sordid. So horrible for a sensitive girl like Alvean.

” The Master is impulsive by nature and in his way he is fond of the women.”

“So you think” -She nodded gravely. ” When Sir Thomas dies there’ll be a new mistress in this house. All they have to wait for now is for him to go. Mrs. TreMellyn, her . her’s already gone. “

I did not want to ask the question which came to my lips but it seemed as though there were some force within me which would not let me avoid it. ” And was it so … when Mrs. TreMellyn was alive?”

Mrs. Polgrey nodded slowly. ” He visited her often. It started almost as soon as she came. Sometimes he rides out at night and we don’t see him till morning. Well, he’m Master and ‘tis for him to make his own rules.

“Tis for us to cook and dust and house keep or teach the child . whatsoever we’m here for. And there’s an end of it.”

” So you think that Alvean is only repeating what everyone knows? When Sir Thomas dies Lady Treslyn will be her new mamma.”

” There’s some on us that thinks it’s more than likely, and some that wouldn’t be sorry to see it. Her ladyship’s not the kind to interfere much with our side of the house; and ‘tis better to have these things regularised, so I do say.” She went on piously: ” I’d sonner see the Master of the house I serve living in wedlock than in sin, I do assure you. And so would we all.”

” Could we warn the girls not to chatter, before Alvean, of these matters?”

” As well try to keep a cuckoo from singing in the spring. I y could wollop them two till I dropped with exhaustion and still they’d gossip. They can’t help it. It be in their blood. And there’s nothing much to choose between one girl and the other. Nowadays” I nodded sympathetically. I was thinking of Alice, who had watched the relationship between her husband and Lady Treslyn. No wonder she had been prepared to run away with Geoffry Nansellock.

Poor Alice! I thought. What you must have suffered, married to such a man.

Mrs. Polgrey was in such an expansive mood that I felt I might extend the conversation to other matters in which I happened to be interested.

I said: “Have you ever thought of teaching Gilly her letters?”

” Gilly! Why that would be a senseless thing to do. You must know, Miss, that Gilly is not quite as she should be.” Mrs. Polgrey tapped her forehead.

” She sings a great deal. She must have learned the songs. If she could learn songs, could she not learn other things?”

” She’s a queer little thing. Reckon it was the way she come. I don’t often talk about such things, but I’ll swear you’ve been hearing about my Jennifer.” Mrs. Polgrey’s voice changed a little, became touched with sentiment. I wondered if it had anything to do with the whisky and how many spoonfuls she had taken that day. ” Sometimes I think that Gillyflower is a cursed child. Us didn’t want her; why, she was only a little thing in a cradle … two months old … when Jennifer went. The tide brought her body in two days after.

“Twas found there in Mellyn Cove.”

” I’m sorry,” I said gently.

Mrs. Polgrey shook herself free of sentiment. ” Her’d gone, but there was still Gilly. And right from the first her didn’t seem quite like other children.”

” Perhaps she sensed the tragedy,” I ventured.

Mrs. Polgrey looked at me with hauteur. ” We did all we could for her me and Mr. Polgrey. He thought the world of her.”

” When did you notice that she was not like other children?”

” Come to think of it it would be when she was about four years old.”

” That would be how many years ago?”

” About four.”

” She must be the same age as Alvean. She looks so much younger.”

” Born a few months after Miss Alvean. They’d play together now and then … being in the house, you do see, and being of an age. There was an accident when she was, let me see … she’d be approaching her fourth birthday.”

” What sort of accident?”

” She was playing in the drive there, not far from the lodge gates.

The Mistress were riding along the drive to the house. She was a great horsewoman, the Mistress. Gilly, her darted out from the bushes and caught a blow from the horse. She fell on her head. It was a mercy she weren’t killed. “

” Poor Gilly,” I said.

” The Mistress were distressed. Blamed herself although ‘twas no blame to her. Gilly should have known better. She’d been told to watch the roads often enough. Darted out after a butterfly, like as not. Gilly has always been taken with birds and flowers and insects and such like. The Mistress made much of her after that. Gilly used to follow her about and fret when she was away.”

” I see,” I said.

Mrs. Polgrey poured herself another cup of tea and asked me if I would have another. I declined. I saw her tilt the teaspoonful of whisky into the cup. ” Gilly,” she went on, ” were born in sin. Her had no right to come into the world. It looks like God be taking vengeance on her, for it do say that the sins of the fathers be visited on the children.”

I felt a sudden wave of anger sweep over me. I was in revolt against such distortions. I felt I wanted to slap the face of the woman who could sit there calmly drinking her whisky and accepting the plight of her little granddaughter as God’s will.

I marvelled too at the ignorance of these people, who did not connect Gilly’s strangeness with the accident she had had but believed it was due punishment for her parents’ sins meted out to her by a vengeful God.

But I said nothing, because I believed that I was battling against strange forces in this house and, if I were going to succeed, I needed all the allies I could command.

I wanted to understand Gilly. I wanted to soothe Alvean. I was discovering a fondness for children in myself which I had not known I possessed before I came into this house. Indeed since I had come here I had begun to discover quite a lot about myself.

There was one other reason why I wanted to concentrate on the affairs of these two children; doing so prevented my thinking of Connan TreMellyn and Lady Treslyn. Thoughts of them made me feel quite angry; at this time I called my anger ” disgust.”

So I sat in Mrs. Polgrey’s room, listening to her talk, and I did not tell her what was in my mind.

There was excitement throughout the house because there was to be a ball—the first since Alice’s death—and for a week there was little talk of anything else. I found it difficult to keep Alvean’s attention on her lessons; Kitty and Daisy were almost hysterical with delight, and I was constantly coming upon them clasped in each other’s arms in attempts to waltz.

The gardeners were busy. They were going to bring in flowers from the greenhouses to decorate the ballroom and were eager that the blooms should do them credit; and invitations were being sent out all over the countryside.

” I fail to see,” I said to Alvean, ” why you should feel this excitement. Neither you nor I will take part in the ball.”

Alvean said dreamily: ” When my mother was alive there were lots of balls. She loved them. She danced beautifully. She used to come in and show me how she looked. She was beautiful. Then she would take me into the solarium and I would sit in a recess behind the curtains and look down on the hall through the peep.”

” The peep?” I asked.

” Ah, you don’t know.” She regarded me triumphantly. I suppose it was rather pleasing to her to discover that her governess, who was constantly shocked by her ignorance, should herself be discovered in that state.

” There is a great deal about this house that I do not know,” I said sharply. ” I have not seen a third of it.”

” You haven’t seen the solarium,” she agreed. ” There are several peeps in this house. Oh, Miss, you don’t know what peeps are, but a lot of big houses have them. There’s even one in Mount Widden. My mother told me that it is where the ladies used to sit when the men were feasting and it was considered no place for them among the men.

They could look down and watch, but they must not be there. There’s one in the chapel. a sort of one. We call it the lepers’ squint there. They couldn’t come in because they were lepers, so they could only look through the squint. But I shall go to the solarium and look down on the hall through the peep up there. Why Miss, you ought to come with me. Please do. “

” We’ll see,” I said.

On the day of the ball Alvean and I took our riding lesson as usual, only instead of riding Buttercup Alvean was mounted on Black Prince.

When I had first seen the child on that horse I had felt a faint twinge of uneasiness, but I stifled this, for I told myself but if she were going to become a rider she must get beyond the Buttercup stage.

Once she had ridden Prince she would gain more confidence, and very likely never wish to go back to Buttercup.

We had done rather well for the first few lessons. Prince behaved admirably and Alvean’s confidence was growing. We had no doubt, either of us, that she would be able to enter for at least one of the events at the November horse show.

But this day we were not so fortunate. I suspect that Alvean’s thoughts were on the ball rather than on her riding. She was still diffident with me, except perhaps during our riding lessons, when oddly enough we were the best of friends; but as soon as we had divested ourselves of our riding kit we seemed automatically to slip back to the old relationship.

“I had tried to change this, without success.

We were about half-way through the lesson when Prince broke into a gallop. I had not allowed her to gallop unless she was on the leading rein; and in any case there was little room for that sort of thing in the field; and I wanted to be absolutely sure of Alvean’s confidence before I allowed her more licence.

All would have been well if Alvean had kept her head and remembered what I had taught her, but as Prince started to gallop she gave a little cry of fear and her terror seemed immediately to communicate itself to the frightened animal.

Prince was off; the thud of his hoofs on the turf struck terror into me. I saw Alvean, forgetting what I had taught her, swaying to one side.

It was all over in a flash because as soon as it happened I was on the spot. I was after her immediately. I had to grasp Prince’s bridle before he reached the hedge for I believed that he might attempt to jump and that would mean a nasty fall for my pupil. Fear gave me new strength and I had his rein in my hands and had pulled him up just as he was coming up to the hedge. I brought him to a standstill while a white-faced trembling Alvean slid unharmed to the ground.

” It’s all right,” I said. ” Your mind was wandering. You haven’t reached that stage when you can afford to forget for a moment what you’re doing.”

I knew that was the only way to deal with her. Shaken as she was, I made her remount Prince; I knew that she had become terrified of horses through some such incident as this. I had overcome that fear and I was not going to allow it to return.

She obeyed me, although reluctantly. But by the time our lesson was finished she was well over her fright, and I knew that she would want to ride next day. So I was more satisfied that day that I would eventually make a rider of Alvean than I had been before.

It was when we were leaving the field that she suddenly burst out laughing.

” What is it?” I asked, turning my head, for I was riding ahead of her.

” Oh, Miss,” she cried. ” You’ve split!”

” What do you mean?”

“Your dress has split under the armhole. Oh… it’s getting worse and worse.”

I put my hand behind my back and realised what had happened. The riding habit had always been a little too tight for me and during my efforts to save Alvean from a nasty fall the sleeve seam had been unable to stand the extra strain.

I must have shown my dismay, for Alvean said : ” Never mind, Miss.

I’ll find you another. There are more, I know. “

Alvean was secretly amused as we went back to the house. Odd that I had never seen her in such good spirits. It was however somewhat disconcerting to discover that the sight of my discomfiture could give her so much pleasure that she could forget the danger through which she had so recently passed.

The guests had begun to arrive. I had been unable to resist taking peeps at them from my window. The approach was filled with carriages, and the dresses I had glimpsed made me gasp with envy.

The ball was being held in the great hall which I had seen earlier that day. Before that I had not been in it since my arrival, for I always used the back staircase. It was Kitty who had urged me to take a peep. “It looks so lovely, Miss: Mr. Polgrey’s going round like a dog with two tails. He’ll murder one of us if anything happens to his plants.”

I thought I had rarely seen a setting so beautiful. The beams had been decorated with leaves. ” An old Cornish custom,” Kitty told me, ” specially at Maytime. But what’s it matter, Miss, if this be September. Reckon there’ll be other balls now the period of mourning be up. Well, so it should be. Can’t go on mourning for ever, can ‘ee.

You might say this is a sort of Maytime, don’ tee see?

“Tis the end of one old year and the beginning of another like.”

I said, as I looked at the pots of hothouse blooms which had been brought in from the greenhouses and the great wax candles in their sconces, that the hall did Mr. Polgrey and his gardeners great credit.

I pictured how it would look when those candles were lighted and the guests danced in their colourful gowns, their pearls and their diamonds.

I wanted to be one of the guests. How I wanted it! Kitty had begun to dance in the hall, smiling and bowing to an imaginary partner. I smiled. She looked so abandoned, so full of joy.

Then I thought that I ought not to be here like this. It was quite unbecoming. I was as bad as Kitty.

I turned away and there was a foolish lump in my throat.

Alvean and I had supper together that evening. She obviously could not dine with her father in the small dining room, as he would be busy with his guests.

” Miss,” she said, ” I’ve put a new riding habit for you in your cupboard.”

“Thank you,” I said; “that was thoughtful of you.”

“Well, you couldn’t go riding in that!” cried Alvean, pointing derisively at my lavender gown.

So it was only that I might not miss a riding lesson for want of the clothes, that she had taken such trouble on my behalf! I should have known that.

I asked myself in that moment whether I was not being rather foolish.

Did I expect more than people were prepared to give? I was nothing to Alvean except when I could help her to attain what she wanted. It was as well to remember that.

I looked down distastefully at my lavender cotton gown. It was the favourite of the two which had been specially made for me by Aunt Adelaide’s dressmaker when I had obtained this post. One was of grey a most unbecoming colour to me but I fanded I looked a little less prim, a little less of a governess in the lavender. But how becoming it seemed, with its bodice buttoned high at the neck and the cream lace collar and the cream lace cuffs to match. I realised I was comparing it with the dresses of Connan TreMellyn’s guests.

Alvean said : ” Hurry and finish. Miss. Don’t forget we’re going to the solarium.”

“I suppose you have your father’s permission …” I began.

” Miss, I always peep from the solarium. Everybody knows I do. My mother used to look up and wave to me.” Her face puckered a little. ” Tonight,” she went on, as though she were speaking to herself, “I’m going to imagine that she’s down there after all … dancing there. Miss, do you think people come back after they’re dead? “

” What an extraordinary question! Of course not.”

” You don’t believe in ghosts then. Some people do. They n say they’ve seen them. Do you think they lie when they say they see ghosts. Miss?”

” I think that people who say such things are the victims of their own imaginations.”

” Still,” she went on dreamily, ” I shall imagine she is there … dancing there. Perhaps if I imagine hard enough I shall see her.

Perhaps I shall be the victim of my imagination. “

I said nothing because I felt uneasy.

” If she were coming back,” she mused, ” she would come to the ball, because dancing was one of the things she liked doing best.” She seemed to remember me suddenly. ” Miss,” she went on, ” if you’d rather not come to the solarium with me, I don’t mind going alone.”

” I’ll come,” I said.

” Let’s go now.”

” We will first finish our meal,” I told her.

The vastness of the house continued to astonish me, as I followed Alvean along the gallery, up stone staircases through several bedrooms, to what she told me was the solarium. The roof was of glass and I understood why it had received its name. I thought it must be unbearably warm in the heat of the summer.

The walls were covered with exquisite tapestries depicting the story of the Great Rebellion and the Restoration. There was the execution of the first Charles, and the second shown in the oak tree, his dark face peering down at the Roundhead soldiers; there were pictures of his arrival in England, of his coronation and a visit to his shipyards.

” Never mind those now,” said Alvean. ” My mother used to love being here. She said you could see what was going on. There are two peeps up here. Oh, Miss, don’t you want to see them?”

I was looking at the escritoire, at the sofa and the gilt-backed chairs; and I saw her sitting here, talking to her daughter here-dead Alice who seemed to become more and more alive as the days passed.

There were windows at each end of this long room, high windows curtained with heavy brocade. The same brocade curtains hung before what I presumed to be doors of which there appeared to be four in this room the one by which we had entered, another at the extreme end of the room and one other on either side. But I was wrong about the last two.

Alvean had disappeared behind one of these curtains and called’ to be in a muffled voice, and when I went to her I found we were in an alcove. In the wall was a star-shaped opening, quite large but decorated so that one would not have noticed it unless one had been looking for it.