Mistress of Mellyn

No matter what . I’m frightened. “

” It’s mischief,” he said. ” Ignore it. Forget it.”

” Read it,” she cried. ” Read it.”

There was a short silence. Then Connan spoke. ” I see. There’s only one thing to be done….”

The horses had begun to move. In a few seconds they might come past the spot where I was. I hurried away through the trees.

I was very uneasy.

That day Connan left Mount Mellyn.

” Called away to Penzance,” Mrs. Polgrey told me. ” He said he was unsure how long he would be away.”

I wondered if his sudden departure had anything to do with the disquieting news which Lady Treslyn had brought to him that morning in the woods.

Several days passed. Alvean and I resumed our lessons and Gilly too came to the schoolroom.

I would give Gilly some small task while I worked with Alvean, such as trying to make letters in a tray of sand, or on a slate, or counting beads on an abacus. She was contented to do this and I believed that she was happy in my company, that from me she drew a certain comfort which had its roots in security. She had trusted Alice and she was transferring that trust to me.

Alvean had rebelled at first but I had pointed out the need to be kind to those less fortunate than ourselves, and at length I had worked on her sympathy so that she accepted Gilly’s presence, although a little sullenly. But I had noticed that now and then she would throw a glance at the child, and I was sure that at least she was very interested in her.

Connan had been away a week and it was a cold February morning when Mrs. Polgrey came into the schoolroom. I was very surprised to see her, for she rarely interrupted lessons; she was holding two letters in her hand and I could see that she was excited.

She made no excuses for her intrusion and said: “I have heard from the Master. He wants you to take Miss Alvean down to Penzance at once. Here is a letter for you. No doubt he explains more fully in that.”

She handed me the letter and I was afraid that she would see that my hand shook a little as I opened it.

My dear Miss Leigh, I read, I will be here for a few weeks, I think, and I am sure you will agree that it would be very desirable for Alvean to join me here. I do not think she should miss her lessons, so I am asking you to bring her and be prepared to stay for a week or so.

Perhaps you could be ready to leave tomorrow. Get Billy Trehay to drive you to the station for the 2. 30 train. Connan TreMellyn I knew that the colour had rushed to my face. I hoped I had not betrayed the extreme joy which took possession of me.

I said: ” Alvean, we are to join your father tomorrow.”

Alvean leapt up and threw herself into my arms, a most unusual display, but it moved me deeply to realise how much she cared for him.

This helped me to regain my own composure. I said:

” That is for tomorrow. To-day we will continue with our lessons.”

” But, Miss, there’s our packing to do.”

” We have this afternoon for that,” I said primly. ” Now, let us return to our work.”

I turned to Mrs. Polgrey.

“Yes,” I said, “Mr. TreMellyn wishes me to take Alvean to him.”

She nodded. I could see that she thought it very strange, and this was because he had never before shown such interest in the child.

” And you’re leaving tomorrow.”

” Yes. Billy Trehay is to be given instructions to drive us to the station in time for the 2.30 train.”

She nodded.

When she had gone I sat down in a daze. I could not concentrate more than Alvean could. It was some time before I remembered GiUy. She was looking at me with that blank expression in her eyes which I had dreamed of banishing.

Gilly understood more than one realised.

She knew that we were going away and that she would be left behind.

I could scarcely wait to begin my packing. Alvean and I had luncheon together in the schoolroom but neither of us was interested in’ food, and immediately after the meal we went to our rooms to do the packing.

I had very little to pack. My grey and mauve dresses were dean, for which I was thankful, and I would wear my grey merino. It was not very becoming but it would be too difficult to pack.

I took out the green silk dress which I had worn at the Christmas ball. Should I take it? Why not? I had rarely possessed anything so becoming, and who knew, there might be an occasion when I could wear it.

I took out my comb and shawl, stuck the comb in my hair and let the shawl fall negligently about my shoulders.

I thought of the Christmas ball—that moment when Peter had taken my hand and had drawn me into the Furry Dance. I heard the tune in my

head and began to dance, for the n moment really feeling I was in the ballroom and that it was Christmas night again.

I had not heard Gilly come in, and I was startled to see her standing watching me. Really, the child did move too silently about the house.

I stopped dancing, flushing with embarrassment to have been caught in such silly behaviour. Gilly was regarding me solemnly.

She looked at the bag on my bed and the folded clothes beside it, and immediately my pleasure left me for I understood that Gilly was going to be very unhappy if we went away.

I stooped down and put my arms about her. ” It’ll only be for a little while, Gilly.”

She screwed her eyes up tightly and would not look at me.

” Gilly,” I said, ” listen. We’ll soon be back, you know.”

She shook her head and I saw tears squeeze themselves out of her eyes.

” Then,” I went on, ” we’ll have our lessons. You shall draw me more letters in the sand, and soon you will be writing your name.”

But I could see that she refused to be comforted.

She tore herself from me and ran to the bed and began pulling the things out of my trunk.

” No, Gilly, no,” I said. I lifted her up in my arms and went to a chair. I sat for a while rocking her. I went on: ” I’m coming back, you know, Gilly. In less than no time I’ll be here. It will seem as though I’ve never been away.”

She spoke then: “You won’t come back. She … She …”

” Yes, Gilly, yes?”

“She … went.”

For the moment I forgot even the fact that I was going to Connan, because I was certain now that Gilly knew something, and what she knew might throw some light on the mystery of Alice.

” Gilly,” I said, ” did she say goodbye to you before she went?”

Gilly shook her head vehemently, and I thought she was going to burst into tears.

” Gilly,” I pleaded, ” try to talk to me, try to tell me…. Did you see her go?”

Gilly threw herself at me and buried her face against my bodice. I held her tenderly for a moment, then withdrew myself and looked into her face; but her eyes were tightly shut.

She ran back to the bed and again started to pull the things out of my trunk.

” No….” she cried. ” No … no….”

Swiftly I went to her. ” Look, Gilly,” I said, ” I’m coming back. I’ll only be away a short time.”

” She stayed away!”

We were back at that point where we started. I did not believe I could discover anything more from her at this stage.

She lifted her little face to mine and all the blankness had gone from the eyes; they were tragic.

I saw in that moment how much my care of her had meant to her, and that it was impossible to make her understand that if I went away it was not for ever. Alice had been kind to her and Alice had gone. Her experiences had taught her that that was the way of life.

A few days . a week in the life of Gilly . would be like a year to most of us. I knew then that I could not leave Gilly behind.

Then I asked myself what Connan would say if I arrived with both children.

I believed that I could adequately explain my reasons. However, I was not going to leave Gilly behind. I could let Mrs. Polgrey know that the master expected the two children; she would be pleased; she trusted Gilly with me, and she had been the first to admit that the child had improved since I had tried to help her.

” Gilly,” I said. ” I’m going away for a few days. Alvean and you are coming with me.” I kissed her upturned face. And I repeated because she looked so bewildered: ” You are coming with me. You’ll like that, won’t you.”

It was still some seconds before she understood, and then she shut her eyes tightly and lowered her head; I saw she smiled. That moved me more than any words could have done.

I felt I was ready to brave Connan’s displeasure to bring such happiness to this poor child.

The next morning we set out early, and the whole household turned out to see us go. I sat in the carriage with a child on either side of me, and Billy Trehay in TreMellyn’s livery sat jauntily in the driver’s seat talking to the horses.

Mrs. Polgrey stood, her arms folded across her bosom, and her eyes were on GiUy. It was dear that she was delighted to see her little granddaughter riding with myself and Alvean.

Tapperty stood with his daughters on either side of him; and their twinkling eyes, all so much alike, were full of speculation.

I did not care. I felt so lightheaded as we drove off that it was all I could do to prevent myself breaking into song.

It was a bright sunny morning and there was a slight frost in the air which sparkled on the grass, and the thin layer of ice on the ponds and streams.

We rattled along at a good speed over the rough roads. The children were in high spirits; Alvean chattered a good deal, and GiUy sat contentedly beside me. I noticed that she clutched my skirt with one hand, and the gesture filled me with tenderness for her. I was deeply aware of my responsibility towards this child.

Billy was talkative, and when we passed a grave at a crossroads, he uttered a prayer for the poor lost soul who was buried there.

” Not that the soul will rest, me dears. A person who meets death that way never rests.

“Tis the same if they meet death any way violent like. They can’t stay buried underground. They walks.”

” What nonsense!” I said sharply.

” Them that knows no better call wisdom nonsense,” retorted Billy, piqued.

” It seems to me that many people have too lively imaginations.”

The children’s eyes I noticed were fixed on my face.

” Why,” I said quickly as we passed a cob cottage with !

What’s that over them? “

” Tis black crepe,” said Billy. ” It means death in the family. Bees would take it terrible hard if they weren’t told of the death and helped to share in the mourning.”

I was glad when we arrived in the station.

We were met at Penzance by a carriage and then began the journey to Penlandstow. It was growing dark when we turned into a drive and I saw a house loom up before us. There was a man in the porch with a lantern who called out: ” They be here. Run and tell master. He did say to let him know the minute they did come.”

We were a little stiff and both children were half-asleep. I helped them down and as I turned, I saw Connan standing beside me. I could not see him very dearly in the dim light but I did know that he was very pleased to see me. He took my hand and pressed it warmly.

Then he said an astonishing thing. ” I’ve been anxious. I visualised all sorts of mishaps. I wished I’d come and brought you here myself.”

I thought: He means Alvean, of course. He is not really talking to me.

But he was facing me, and smiling; and I felt I had never been quite so happy in the whole of my life.

I began: ” The children …”

He smiled down at Alvean.

” Hallo, Papa,” she said. ” It’s lovely to be here with you.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him almost pleadingly, as though she were asking him to kiss her. That, it seemed, was asking too much.

He merely said: ” I’m glad you’ve come, Alvean. You’ll have some fun here.”

Then I brought Gilly forward.

” What …” he began.

” We couldn’t leave Gilly behind,” I said. ” You know you gave me your permission to teach her.”

He hesitated for a moment. Then he looked at me and laughed. I knew in that moment that he was so pleased to see me—me, not the others—that he would not have cared whom I brought with me as long as I came myself.

It was no wonder that as I walked into Alice’s old home I felt as though I were entering an enchanted place.

During the next two weeks it seemed that I had left behind me the cold hard world of reality and stepped into one of my own making, and that everything I desired was to be mine.

From the moment I arrived at Penlandstow Manor I was treated, not as a governess, but as a guest. In a few days I had lost my sensitivity on this point and, when I had cast that off, I was like the high-spirited girl who had enjoyed life in the country vicarage with her father and Phillida.

I was given a pleasant room next to Alvean’s and when I asked that Gilly should be put near me this was done.

Penlandstow was a house of great charm which had been built in the Elizabethan era. It was almost as large as Mount Mellyn and as easy to lose oneself in.

My room was large and there were padded window seats upholstered in red velvet, and dark red curtains. My bed was a fourposter hung with silk embroidered curtains. The carpet was of the same deep red, and this would have given warmth to the room even if there had not been a log fire burning in the open grate.

My bag was brought up to this room and one of the maids Sroceeded to unpack while I stood by the fire watching the blue ames dart among the logs.

The maid curtsied when she had laid my things on the bed, and asked if she might put them away. This was not the manner in which to treat a governess, I thought. Kind and friendly as Daisy and Kitty had been, they had not been ready to wait on me like this.

I said I would put my things away myself but would like hot water to wash.

” There be a little bathroom at the end of the landing, Miss,” I was told. ” Shall I show it to ‘ee and bring ‘ee hot water up there?”

I was taken along to the room in which there was a big bath; there was also a hip bath.

” Miss Alice had the room done afore her married and went away,” I was told; and with a little shock I remembered that I was in Alice’s old home.

When I had washed and changed my dress I put on the lavender cotton I went along to see Alvean. She had fallen asleep on her bed so I left her. Gilly was also asleep in her room. And when I returned to my own the maid who had shown me the bathroom came in and said that Mr. TreMellyn had asked that, when I was ready, I would join him in the library.

I said I was ready then and she took me to him.

” It is indeed pleasant to see you here. Miss Leigh,” he said.

” It will be very agreeable for you to have your own daughter here. ” I began.

And he interrupted me with a smile. ” I said it was pleasant to see you here, Miss Leigh. I meant exactly that.”

I flushed. ” That is kind of you. I have brought certain of the children’s lesson books along….”

” Let us give them a little holiday, shall we? Lessons I suppose there must be, if you say so, but need they sit at their desks all the time?”

” I think their lessons might be curtailed on an occasion like this.”

He came and stood close to me. ” Miss Leigh,” he said, ” you are delightful.”

I drew back startled, and he went on: ” I’m glad you came so promptly.”

” Those were your orders.”

” I did not mean to order. Miss Leigh. Merely to request.”

“But …” I began; and I was apprehensive because he seemed different from the man I had known. He was almost like a stranger a stranger who fascinated me no less than that other Connan TreMellyn, a stranger who frightened me a little, for I was unsure of myself, unsure of my own emotions.

” I was so glad to escape,” he said. ” I thought you would be too.”

” Escape … from what?”

” From the gloom of death. I hate death. It depresses me.”

” You mean Sir Thomas. But …”

” Oh, I know. A neighbour merely. But still it did depress me. I wanted to get right away. I am so glad you have joined me … with Alvean and the other child.”

I said on impulse: ” I hope you did not think it was presumptuous of me to bring Gillyflower. She would have been heartbroken if I had not brought her.”

Then he said a thing which set my senses swimming: ” I can understand her being heartbroken if she had to part from you.”

I said quickly: ” I suppose the children should have a meal of some sort. They are exhausted and sleeping now. But I do feel they need some refreshment before they go to bed. It has been a tiring day for them.”

He waved a hand. ” Order what you wish for them, Miss Leigh. And when you have seen to them, you and I will dine together.”

I said : ” Alvean dines with you … does she not?”

” She will be too tired tonight. We will have it alone.”

So I ordered what I wanted for the children, and I dined with Connan in the winter parlour. It was a strange and exhilarating experience to dine with that man in candlelight. I kept telling myself that it could not be real. If ever anything was the stuff that dreams were made of, this was.

He talked a great deal; there was no sign of the taciturn Connan that evening.

He told me about the house, how it had been built in the shape of an E as a compliment to the queen who had been reigning when it was built.

He drew the shape to show me. ” Two three-sided courtyards,” he said, “and a projecting centre block, if you see what I mean. We are in the central block now. The main feature of it is the hall, the staircase and the gallery, and these smaller rooms such as the winter parlour which, I think you will agree, is ideally suited for a small company.”

I said I thought it was a delightful house, and how fortunate he was to possess two such magnificent places.

” Stone walls do not bring satisfaction. Miss Leigh. It is the life one lives within those walls which is of the greatest importance.”

” Yet,” I retaliated, ” it is some comfort to have charming surroundings in which to live one’s life.”

” I agree. And I cannot tell you how glad I am that you find my homes so charming.”

When we had eaten he took me to the library and asked me if I would play a game of chess with him. I said I would be delighted.

And we sat there in that beautiful room with its carved ceiling and thick piled carpet, lighted by lamps the bowls of which were made of artistically painted china of oriental origin. I was happier than I had ever dreamed I could be.

He had set out the ivory pieces on the board, and we played in silence.

It was a deep, contented silence, or so it seemed to me. I knew I should never forget the flickering firelight, the ticking of the gilded clock which looked as though it might have belonged to Louis XIV, as I watched Connan’s strong lean fingers on the ivory pieces.

Once, as I frowned in concentration, I was conscious of his eyes fixed on me and, lifting them suddenly, I met his gaze. It was of amusement, and yet of speculation. In that moment I thought: He has asked me here for a purpose. What is it?

I felt a shiver of alarm, but I was too happy to entertain such feelings.

I moved my piece and he said : ” Ah!” And then : ” Miss Leigh, oh my dear Miss Leigh, you have, I think, walked straight into the trap I have set for you.”

” Oh … no!” I cried.

He moved a knight which immediately menaced my king. I had forgotten that knight.

” I believe it is …” he said. ” Oh no, not entirely. Check, Miss Leigh. But not checkmate.”

I saw that I had allowed my attention to wander from the game. I sought hurriedly to save myself, but I could not. With every move the inevitable end was more obvious.

I heard his voice, gentle, full of laughter. ” Checkmate, Miss Leigh.”

I sat for a few seconds staring at the board. He said: ” I took an unfair advantage. You were tired after the journey.”

” Oh no,” I said quickly. ” I suspect you are a better player than I am.”

” I suspect,” he replied, ” that we are very well matched.”

I retired to my room soon after that game.

I went to bed and tried to sleep, but couldn’t. I was too happy. I kept going over in my mind his reception of me, our meal together, his words: ” We are very well matched.”

I even forgot that the house in which I now lay had been Alice’s home—a fact which at one time would have seemed of utmost interest to me—I forgot everything but that Connan had sent for me and, now that I was here, seemed so delighted to have me.

The next day was as pleasant and unpredictable as the first. I did a few lessons with the children in the morning and in the afternoon Connan took us for a drive. How different it was, riding in his carriage than jogging along behind Tapperty or Billy Trehay.

He drove us to the coast and we saw St. Michael’s Mount rising out of the water.

” One day,” he said, ” when the spring comes, I’ll take you out there and you can see St. Michael’s chair.”

Can we sit in it. Papa? ” asked Alvean.

” You can if you are prepared to risk a fall. You’ll find your feet dangling over a drop of seventy feet or so. Nevertheless, many of your sex think it worth while.”

” But why. Papa, why?” demanded Alvean, who was always delighted when she had his undivided attention.

” Because,” he went on, ” there is an old saying that if a woman can sit in St. Michael’s chair before her husband, she will be the master of the house.

Alvean laughed with pleasure and Gilly, who I had insisted on bringing with us, stood there smiling.

Connan looked at me.

“And you. Miss Leigh,” he said, ” would you think it worth while to try?”

I hesitated for a second, and then met his gaze boldly. ” No, Mr. TreMellyn, I don’t think I should. “

” Then you would not desire to be the master in the house?”

” I do not think that either a husband or his wife should be master in that sense. I think they should work together and, if one has an opinion which he or she feels to be the only right one, he or she should adhere to it.”

I flushed a little; I imagined how Phillida would smile if she heard that.

” Miss Leigh,” said Connan, ” your wisdom puts our foolish folklore to shame.”

We drove back in winter sunshine and I was happy.

I did not dine with him that evening because I had asked that I might have my meals in the schoolroom with Gilly. Alvean dined with her father. And afterwards I sat in my room reading. He did not ask me to join turn that evening.

I went to bed early and lay for a long time thinking of the strange turn life had taken, and I knew that when I awoke next morning I should do so with a feeling of expectation, because I believed that something wonderful was about to happen to me.

I awoke with a start. Someone was in my room. There was a movement by my bed. I started up. It was early morning. I knew this because I could see that the sky was streaked with pale pink light.

” Who is there?” I cried.

Then I saw Gilly.

She was wearing one of Alvean’s old dressing gowns which I had altered to fit her, and her feet were in a pair of slippers which I had bought for her.

I said: ” What are you doing here, Gilly?”

She opened her mouth as though to speak. I waited, but she smiled at me and nodded.

I said: ” What has happened, Gilly? It is something, I know. You must tell me.”

She pointed to the door and stared at it.

I felt a shiver run down by spine because Gilly often made me think that she could see things which I could not.

” There’s nothing there,” I said.

She nodded again and then she spoke: ” She’s here. She’s here.”

I felt my heart beat fast. I thought: She means that Alice is here.

This was Alice’s home. She has found Alice here.

” Mrs. TreMellyn …” I whispered.

She smiled rapturously and continued to nod.

” You … you’ve seen her?”

Gilly nodded again.

” In this house?”

Again the nod.

” I’ll take you to her.” The words tumbled out. ” She wants me to.”

I got out of bed and with trembling fingers wrapped my dressing gown about me and put my feet into my slippers.

Gilly took my hand.

We went through a gallery and down a short staircase. Gilly rapped with her fingers on the door and appeared to listen.

She looked up at me and nodded as though she had heard someone tell her to enter. I bad heard nothing. It was very uncanny.

Then she opened the door. We were in a room which was shadowy, for the day was young yet.

Gilly pointed, and for a few seconds I thought I saw a woman standing there. She was dressed in a ball dress and her fair hair fell about her shoulders in long silken curls.

I stared, and then I saw that I was looking at a life-size oil painting.

I knew I was face to face with Alice.

I went close to the painting and looked up at it. The blue eyes looked straight out of the picture at me and it seemed as though words were forming themselves on those red lips.

I forced myself to say: ” What a good artist must have painted that picture!”

But perhaps because it was not yet quite light, because this grey house was sleeping, because Gilly had brought me here in her own strange way, I felt that this was more than a picture.

” Alice,” I whispered. And I stared at that painted face, and, practical woman that I was, I half expected her to step out of the frame and talk to me.

I wondered when that had been painted . before or after the disastrous marriage, before she had known she was to have Geoffry’s child or after.

” Alice,” I said to myself, ” where are you now, Alice? You are haunting me, Alice. Since I have known you I have known what haunting means.”

Gilly was holding my hand.

I said: ” It’s only a picture, Gilly.”

She reached out a small finger and touched the white ball-dress.

Gilly had loved her. I looked into that soft young face and thought I understood why.

Poor Alice, who had been caught up in too many emotions, what had become of her?

I suddenly realised that it was a winter’s morning and I was lightly clad.

“We’ll catch our deaths,” I said practically; and taking Gilly’s hand in mine I firmly shut the door on Alice.

I had been at Penlandstow a week, and I was wondering how much longer this idyllic interlude could last, when Connan spoke to me of what was in his mind.

The children were in bed and Connan asked me if I would join him in a game of chess in the library.

There I found him, the pieces set out on the board, sitting looking at them.

The curtains had been drawn and the fire burned cheerfully in the great fireplace. He rose as I entered and I quickly slipped into my place opposite him.

He smiled at me and I thought his eyes took in every detail of my appearance, in a manner which I might have found offensive in anyone else.

I was about to move king’s pawn when he said: ” Miss Leigh, I did not ask you down here to play. There is something I have to say to you.”

” Yes, Mr. TreMeUyn?”

” I feel I have known you a very long time. You have made such a difference to us both Alvean and myself. If you went away, we should miss you very much. I am certain that we should both want to ensure that you do not leave us.”

I tried to look at him and failed because I was afraid he would read the hopes and fears in my eyes.

” Miss Leigh,” he went on, ” Will you stay with us … always?”

” I … I don’t understand. I … can’t believe …”

” I am asking you to marry me.”

” But … but that is impossible.”

” Why so. Miss Leigh?”

” Because ‘… because it is so incongruous.”

” Do you find me incongruous … repulsive? Do please be frank.”

” I… No indeed not! But I am the governess here….”

” Precisely. That is what alarms me. Governesses sometimes leave their employment. It would be intolerable for me if you went away.”

I felt I was choking with my emotions. I could not believe this was really happening to me. I remained silent. I dared not try to speak.

” I see that you hesitate, Miss Leigh.”

” I am so surprised.”

” Should I have prepared you for the shock?” His lips twitched slightly at the corner. ” I am sorry, Miss Leigh. I thought I had managed to convey to you something of my feelings in this matter.”

I tried to picture it all in those few seconds myself going back to Mount Mellyn as the wife of the Master, slipping from the role of governess to that of Mistress of the house. Of course I would do it and in a few months they would forget that I had once been the governess. Whatever else I lacked I had my dignity perhaps a little too much of it, according to Phillida. But I should have thought that a proposal would have been made in a different way. He did not take my hand; he did not touch me; he merely sat at the table watching me in an almost cool and calculating manner.

He went on : ” Think of how much good this could bring to us all, my dear Miss Leigh. I have been so impressed by the manner in which you have helped Alvean. The child needs a mother. You would supply that need … admirably.”

” Should two people marry for the sake of a child, do you think?”

” I am a most selfish man. I never would.” He leaned forward across the table and his eyes were alight with some thing I did not understand. ” I would marry for my own satisfaction.”

” Then …” I began.

” I confess I was not considering Alvean alone. We are three people, my dear Miss Leigh, who could profit from this marriage. Alvean needs you. And I… I need you. Do you need us? Perhaps you are more self-sufficient than we are, but what will you do if you do not marry?

You will go from post to post, and that is not a very pleasant life.

When one is young, handsome and full of spirit it is tolerable . but sprightly governesses become ageing governesses. “

I said acidly: ” Do you suggest that I should enter into this marriage as an insurance against old age?”

” I suggest only that you do what your desires dictate, my dear Miss Leigh.”

There was a short silence during which I felt an absurd desire to burst into tears. This was something I had longed for, but a proposal of marriage should have been an impassioned declaration, and I could not rid myself of the suspicion that there was something other than Connan’s love for me which had inspired it. It seemed to me as though he were offering me a list of reasons why we should marry, for fear I should discover the real one.

” You put it on such a practical basis,” I stammered. ” I had not thought of marriage in that way.”

His eyebrows lifted and he laughed, looking suddenly very gay. ” How glad I am. I thought of you always as such a practical person, so I was trying to put it to you in the manner in which I felt it would appeal to you most.”

” Are you seriously asking me to marry you?”

” I doubt if I have ever been so serious in my life as I am at this moment. What is your answer? Please do not keep me in suspense any longer.”

I said I must have time to consider this. ” That is fair enough. You will tell me tomorrow?”

” Yes,” I said. ” I will tell you tomorrow.” I rose and went to the door. He was there before me. He laid his fingers on the door handle and I waited for him to open it, but he did no such thing. He stood with his back to the door and caught me up in his arms.

He kissed me as I had never been kissed, never dreamed of being kissed; so that I knew that there was a life of the emotions of which I was totally ignorant. He kissed my eyelids, my nose, my cheeks, my mouth and my throat until he was breathless, and I was too. Then he laughed.

” Wait until the morning!” he mocked. ” Do I look the sort of man who would wait until the morning? Do you think I am the sort of man who would marry for the sake of his daughter? No, Miss Leigh .. he mocked again, ” my dear, dear Miss Leigh . I want to marry you because I want to keep you a prisoner in my house. I don’t want you to run away from me, because, since you came, I have thought of little else but you, and I know I am going on thinking of you all my life. “

” Is this true?” I whispered. ” Can this be true?”

“Martha!” he said.

“What a stern name for such an adorable creature! And yet, how it fits!”

I said: ” My sister calls me Marry. My father did too.”

” Marty,” he said. ” That sounds helpless, clinging … feminine…. You can be a Marty sometimes. For me you will be all three. Marty, Martha and Miss Leigh, my very dear Miss Leigh. You see you are all three, and my dearest Marty would always betray Miss Leigh. I knew from her that you were interested in me. Far more interested than Miss Leigh would think proper. How enchanting! I shall marry not one woman but three!”

” Have I been so blatant?”

” Tremendously so … adorably so.”

I knew that it was foolish to pretend. I gave myself up to his embrace, and it was wonderful beyond my imaginings.

At length I said: “I have a terrible feeling that I shall wake up in bed at Mount Mellyn and find I have dreamed all this.”

” Do you know,” he said seriously, ” I feel exactly the same.”

” But it is so different for you. You can do as you will … go where you will … dependent on no one.”

” I am dependent no longer. I depend on Marty, Martha, my dear Miss Leigh.”

He spoke so seriously that I could have wept with tenderness. The changing emotions were almost too much for me to bear.

This is love! I thought. The emotion which carries one to the very heights of human experience and, because it can carry one so high, one is in continual danger of falling; and one must never forget, the higher the delight, the more tragic the fall.

But this was not the moment to think of tragedy. I loved, and miraculously I was loved. I had no doubt in that library of Penlandstow that I was loved.

For love such as this, one would be prepared to risk everything.

He put his hands on my shoulders and looked long into my face.

He said : ” We’ll be happy, my darling. We’ll be happier than either you or I ever dreamed possible.”

I knew that we should be. All that had gone before would give us a finer appreciation of this joy we could bring each other.

” We should be practical,” he said. ” We should make our plans. When shall we marry? I do not like delay. I am the most impatient man alive, where my own pleasures are concerned. We will go home tomorrow, and there we will announce our engagement. No, not tomorrow … the day after. I have one or two little commitments here tomorrow. And as soon as we are home we will give a ball to announce our engagement. I think that in a month after that we should be setting out on our honeymoon. I suggest Italy, unless you have any other ideas?”

I sat with my hands clasped. I must have looked like an ecstatic schoolgirl.

” I wonder what they will think at Mount Mellyn.”

” Who, the servants? You may be sure they have a pretty shrewd idea of the way things are; servants have, you know. Servants are like detectives in the house. They pick up every little clue. You shiver.

Are you cold? “

” No, only excited. I still believe I’m going to wake up in a moment.”

” And you like the idea of Italy?”

” I would like the idea of the North Pole in some company.”

” By which, my darling, I hope you mean mine.”

” That was my intention.”

” My dear Miss Leigh,” he said, ” how I love your astringent moods.

They are going to make conversation throughout our lives so invigorating. ” I had an idea then that he was making comparisons between Alice and myself, and I shivered again as I had when he had made that remark about the detectives.

” You are a little worried about the reception of the news,” he went on. ” The servants … the countryside…. Who cares? Do you? Of course you do not. Miss Leigh has too much good sense for that. I am longing to tell Peter Nansellock that you are to be my wife. To tell the truth I have been somewhat jealous of that young man.”

” There was no need to be.”

” Still I was anxious. I had visions of his persuading you to go to Australia with him. That was something I should have gone to great lengths to prevent.”

” Even so far as asking me to marry you?”

” Farther than that if the need had arisen. I should have abducted you and locked you up in a dungeon until he was far away.”

” There was no need for the slightest apprehension.”

” Are you quite sure? He is very handsome, I believe.”

” Perhaps he is. I did not notice.”

” I could have killed him when he had the effrontery to offer you Jacinth.”

” I think he merely enjoys being outrageous. He probably knew I should not accept it.”

” And I need not fear him?”

“You need never fear anyone,” I told him.

Then once more I was in that embrace, and I was oblivious of all’ but the fact that I had discovered love, and believed, as doubtless hosts of lovers have before, that there was never love such as that between us two.

At length he said : ” We’ll go back the day after tomorrow. We’ll start making arrangements immediately. In a month from now we’ll be married. We’ll put up the banns as soon as we return. We will have a ball to announce our engagement and invite all our neighbours to the wedding.”

” I suppose it must be done in this way?”

” Tradition, my darling. It is one of the things we have to bow down to. You’ll be magnificent, I know. You’re not nervous?”

” Of your country neighbours, no.”

” You and I will open the ball this time together, dearest Miss Leigh.”

“Yes,” I said; and I pictured myself in the green dress wearing the amber comb in my hair with the diamond horseshoe glittering on the green background.

I had no qualms about taking my place in his circle.

Then he began to talk of Alice. ” I have never told you,” he said, ” of my first marriage.”

” No,” I answered.

” It was not a happy one.”

” I’m sorry.”

” A marriage which was arranged. This time I shall marry my own choice. Only one who has suffered the first can realise the joy of the second. Dearest, I have not lived the life of a monk, I fear.”

” I guessed it.”

” I am a most sinful man, as you will discover.”

” I am prepared for the worst.”

” Alice … my wife … and I were most unsuited, I suppose.”

” Tell me about her.”

” There is little to tell. She was a gentle creature, quiet, anxious to please. She seemed to have little spirit. I understood why. She was in love with someone else when she married me.”

” The man she ran away with?” I asked.

He nodded. ” Poor Alice! She was unfortunate. She chose not only the wrong husband but the wrong lover. There is little to choose between us … myself and Geoffry Nansellock. We were of a kind. In the old days there was a tradition of the droit de seigneurs in these parts.

Geoffry and I did our best to maintain that. “

” You are telling me that you have enjoyed many love affairs.”

” I am a dissolute, degenerate philanderer. I am going to say was.

Because from this moment I am going to be faithful to one woman for the rest of my life. You do not look scornful or sceptical. Bless you for that. I mean it, dearest Marty. I swear I mean it. It is because of those experiences of the past that I know the difference between them and this. This is love. “

” Yes,” I said slowly, ” you and I will be faithful together because that is the only way we can prove to each other the depth and breadth of our love.”

He took my hands and kissed them, and I had never known him so serious. “I love you,” he said. ” Remember that … always remember it.”

” I intend to.”

” You may hear gossip.”

” One does hear gossip,” I admitted.

” You have heard of Alice and that Alvean is not my daughter? Oh, darling, someone told you and you do not want to betray the teller.

Never mind. You know. It is true. I could never love the child. In fact I avoided the sight of her. She was an unpleasant reminder of much that I wished to forget. But when you came I felt differently.

You made me see her as a lonely child, suffering from the sins of grownup people. You see, you changed me, Marty dear. Your coming changed the whole household. That is what confirms me in my belief that with us it is going to be different from anything that has ever happened to me before. “

” Connan, I want to make that child happy. I want to make her forget that there is a doubt as to her parentage. Let her be able to accept you as her father. It is what she needs.”

” You will be a mother to her. Then I must be her father.” _ ” We are going to be so happy, Connan.”

” Can you see into the future?”

” I can see into ours, for our future is what we make it, and I intend that it shall be one of complete happiness.”

” And what Miss Leigh decides shall be, will be. And you will promise me not to be hurt if you hear gossip about me?”

” You are thinking of Lady Treslyn, I know. She has been your mistress.”

He nodded. “

Then I said : ” She will never be again. That is all over.”

He kissed my hand. ” Have you not sworn eternal fidelity?”

” But, Connan,” I said, ” she is so beautiful and she will still be there.”

” But I am in love,” he answered, ” for the first time in my life.”

” And you were not in love with her?”

” Lust, passion,” he answered, ” they sometimes wear the guise of love; but when one meets true love one recognises them for what they are. Dearest, let us bury all that is past. Let us start afresh from this day forth … you and I … for better for worse….”

I was in his arms again. ” Connan,” I said, ” I am not dreaming, am I? Please say I am not dreaming. “

It was late when I left him. I went to my room in a haze of happiness.

I was afraid to sleep for fear I should wake up and find it had all been a dream.

In the morning I went to Alvean’s room and told her the news.

For a few seconds a satisfied smile appeared at the corners of her mouth; then she assumed indifference, but it was too late. I knew that she was pleased.

” You’ll stay with us all the time now, Miss,” she said.

” Yes,” I assured her.

” I wonder if I shall ever ride as well as you.”

” Probably better.

You’ll be able to have more practice than I ever could. “

Again that smile touched her lips. Then she was serious. ” Miss,” she said, ” what shall I call you? You’ll be my stepmother, won’t you?”

” Yes, but you can call me what you like.”

“Not Miss!”

” Well, hardly. I shan’t expect Miss any more.”

” I expect I shall have to call you Mamma.” Her mouth hardened a little.

” If you do not like that you could call me Martha in private. Or Marty. That’s what my father and sister always called me.”

” Marty,” she repeated.

“I like that. It sounds like a horse.”

” What could be better praise,” I cried, and she regarded my amusement with continued seriousness. I went to Gilly’s room.

” Gilly,” I said, ” I’m going to be Mrs. TreMellyn.” The blankness left the blue eyes and her smile was dazzling. Then she ran to me and buried her head in my bodice. I could feel her body shaking with laughter.

I could never be quite sure what was going on among all the shadowy vagueness of Gilly’s mind, but I knew she was contented. She had bracketed me with Alice in her mind and I felt that she was less surprised than I or Alvean, or anyone else, would be.

To Gilly it was the most natural thing in the world that I should take Alice’s place. I believe that, from that moment, for Gilly I became Alice.

It was a merry journey home. We sang Cornish songs all the way to the station. I had never seen Connan so happy. I thought, this is how it will be all the rest of our lives.

Alvean joined in the singing, so did Gilly; and it was astonishing to hear that child, who scarcely ever spoke, singing quietly as though to herself.

We sang the ” Twelve Days of Christmas.” Connan had a rich baritone

voice which was very pleasant to hear and I felt y I had reached the very peak of happiness as he sang the first lines.

” The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me A partridge in a pear tree.”

We went through the song and I had difficulty in remembering all the gifts after the five golden rings; and we laughed together hilariously while we argued as to how many maids there were a-milking, and how many geese a-laying were sent.

” But they were not very sensible things,” said Alvean, ” except of course the five gold rings. I think he was pretending he loved her more than he really did.”

” But he was her true love,” I protested.

” How could she be sure?” asked Alvean.

” Because he told her so,” answered Connan.

” Then he ought to have given her something better than a partridge in a pear tree. I expect the partridge flew away and the pears were those hard ones which are used for stewing.”

” You must not be hard on lovers,” Connan cried. ” All the world loves them, and you have to keep in step.”

And so we laughed and bantered until we boarded the train.

Billy Trehay met us with the carriage and I was astonished when we reached the house, for I then realised that Connan must have sent a message to arrive before we did. He wanted me to be received with honours. Even so I was unprepared for the reception which was waiting for us in the hall.

The servants were all there—the Polgrey and Tapperty families and others from the gardens and stables, and even the village boys and girls who came to help and whom I scarcely knew.

They were lined up ceremoniously, and Connan took my arm as we entered the hall.

” As you know,” he said, ” Miss Leigh has promised to marry me. In a few weeks’ time she will be your Mistress.”

The men bowed and the women curtsied, but I was conscious, as I smiled at them and walked along the line with Connan, that there was a certain wariness in their eyes.

As I had guessed, they were not ready to accept me as mistress of the house . yet.

There was a big fire in my room and everything looked cosy and welcoming. Daisy brought my hot water. She was a little remote, I thought. She did not stop and chat with me as she had hitherto.

I thought: I will regain their confidence, but of course I had to remember that, as the future Mistress of the house, I must not gossip as I once had.

I dined with Connan and Alvean and afterwards I went up with Alvean; and when I had said good night to her I joined Connan in the library.

There were so many plans to make, and I gave myself up to the complete joy of contemplating the future.

He asked me if I had written to my family, and I told him that I had not yet done so. I still could not quite believe this was really happening to me.

” Perhaps this token will help you to remember,” he said. Then he took a jewel case from a drawer in the bureau and showed me a beautiful square-cut emerald set in diamonds.

“It’s … quite beautiful, far too beautiful for me.”

” Nothing is too beautiful for Martha TreMellyn,” he said, and he took my left hand and put the ring on the third finger.

I held it out and stared at it.

” I never thought to possess anything so lovely.”

” It’s the beginning of all the beautiful things I shall bring to you.

It’s the partridge in the pear tree, my darling. “

Then he kissed my hand and I told myself that, whenever I doubted the truth of all that was happening to me, I could look at my emerald and know I was not dreaming.

Next morning when I went down Connan had gone out on business, and after I had given Alvean and Gilly their lessons-for I was eager that everything should go on as before—I went to my room, and I had not been there for more than a few minutes when there was a discreet knock. “Come in,” I said; and Mrs. Polgrey entered.

She looked a little furtive, and I knew that something significant had happened.

” Miss Leigh,” she said, ” there will be things which we have to discuss. I was wondering if you would come to ray room. I have the kettle on. Could you drink a cup of tea?”

I said I would like that. I was very anxious that there should be no difference in our relationship which, from my point of view, had always been a very pleasant and dignified one.

In her room we drank tea. There was no suggestion of whisky this time, and this secretly amused me although I made no reference to it. I should be the mistress of the house, and it was very different for her to know of the tea-tippling than the mere governess.

She again congratulated me on my engagement and told me how delighted she was. ” In fact,” she said, ” the whole household is delighted.”

She asked me then if I intended to make changes, and I answered that, while the household was so efficiently run by herself, I should make none at all.

This was a relief to her, I could see, and she settled down to come to the point.

” While you’ve been away. Miss Leigh, there’s been a bit of excitement in these parts.”

” Oh?” I said, feeling that we were now coming to the reason for my visit.

” It’s all along of the sudden death of Sir Thomas Treslyn.”

My heart had begun to leap in a disconcerting manner.

” But,” I said, ” he is buried now. We went to his funeral.”

” Yes, yes. But that need not be the end. Miss Leigh.”

” I don’t understand, Mrs. Polgrey.”

” Well, there’s been rumours … nasty rumours, and letters have been sent.”

” To … to whom?”

” To her, Miss Leigh… to the widow. And, it seems, to others... and as a result they’re going to dig him up. There’s going to be an examination. “

” You mean … they suspect someone poisoned him?”

” Well, there’s been these letters, you see. And him dying so sudden.

What I don’t like is that he was here last. It’s As I had guessed, they were not ready to accept me as mistress of the house . yet.

There was a big fire in my room and everything looked cosy and welcoming. Daisy brought my hot water. She was a little remote, I thought. She did not stop and chat with me as she had hitherto.

I thought: I will regain their confidence, but of course I had to remember that, as the future Mistress of the house, I must not gossip as I once had.

I dined with Connan and Alvean and afterwards I went up with Alvean; and when I had said good night to her I joined Connan in the library.

There were so many plans to make, and I gave myself up to the complete Joy of contemplating the future.

He asked me if I had written to my family, and I told him that I had not yet done so. I still could not quite believe this was really happening to me.

” Perhaps this token will help you to remember,” he said. Then he took a jewel case from a drawer in the bureau and showed me a beautiful square-cut emerald set in diamonds.

“It’s … quite beautiful, far too beautiful for me.”

” Nothing is too beautiful for Martha TreMellyn,” he said, and he took my left hand and put the ring on the third finger.

I held it out and stared at it.

” I never thought to possess anything so lovely.”

” It’s the beginning of all the beautiful things I shall bring to you.

It’s the partridge in the pear tree, my darling. “

Then he kissed my hand and I told myself that, whenever I doubted the truth of all that was happening to me, I could look at my emerald and know I was not dreaming.

Next morning when I went down Connan had gone out on business, and after I had given Alvean and Gilly their lessons-for I was eager that everything should go on as before—I went to my room, and I had not been there for more than a few minutes when there was a discreet knock. “Come in,” I said; and Mrs. Polgrey entered.

She looked a little furtive, and I knew that something significant had happened.

” Miss Leigh,” she said, ” there will be things which we have to discuss. I was wondering if you would come to my room. I have the kettle on. Could you drink a cup of tea?”

I said I would like that. I was very anxious that there should be no difference in our relationship which, from my point of view, had always been a very pleasant and dignified one.

In her room we drank tea. There was no suggestion of whisky this time, and this secretly amused me although I made no reference to it. I should be the mistress of the house, and it was very different for her to know of the tea-tippling than the mere governess.

She again congratulated me on my engagement and told me how delighted she was. ” In fact,” she said, ” the whole household is delighted.”

She asked me then if I intended to make changes, and I answered that, while the household was so efficiently run by herself, I should make none at all.

This was a relief to her, I could see, and she settled down to come to the point.

” While you’ve been away. Miss Leigh, there’s been a bit of excitement in these parts.”

” Oh?” I said, feeling that we were now coming to the reason for my visit.

” It’s all along of the sudden death of Sir Thomas Treslyn.”

My heart had begun to leap in a disconcerting manner.

” But,” I said, ” he is buried now. We went to his funeral.”

” Yes, yes. But that need not be the end. Miss Leigh.”

” I don’t understand, Mrs. Polgrey.”

” Well, there’s been rumours … nasty rumours, and letters have been sent.”

” To … to whom?”

” To her. Miss Leigh… to the widow. And, it seems, to others ..

and as a result they’re going to dig him up. There’s going to be an examination. “

” You mean … they suspect someone poisoned him?”

” Well, there’s been these letters, you see. And him dying so sudden.

What I don’t like is that he was here last. It’s not the sort of thing one likes to have connected with the house. “

She was looking at me oddly. I thought I saw speculation in her eyes.

I wanted to shut from my mind all the unpleasant thoughts which kept coming to me.

I saw again Connan and Lady Treslyn in the punch room together, their backs towards me . laughing together. Had Connan loved me then? One would not have thought so. I thought of the words they had spoken in my hearing when the party was over. ” It will not be long … now.”

She had said that . and to him. And then there was the conversation I had partly overheard in the woods.

What did this mean?

There was a question that hammered in my brain. But I would not let my mind dwell on it.

I dared not. I could not bear to see all my hopes of happiness shattered. I had to go on believing, so I would not ask myself questions.

I looked expressionlessly into Mrs. Polgrey’s face.

” I thought you’d want to know,” she said.

I was afraid, more afraid than I had ever been since I came to this house.

The body of Sir Thomas Treslyn, who had died after supping at Mount Mellyn, was to be exhumed. People were suspicious of the manner in which he died and, as a result, there had been anonymous letters. Why should they be suspicious? Because his wife wanted him out of the way; and it was known that Connan and Linda Treslyn had been lovers. There had been two obstacles to their union—Alice and Sir Thomas. Both had died suddenly.

But Connan had no wish to marry Lady Treslyn. He was in love with me.

A terrible thought bad struck me. Did Connan know that there was to be this exhumation? Had I been living in a fool’s paradise? Was my wonderful dream-come-true nothing but a living nightmare?

Was I being used by a cynic? Why did I not use the harsher word? Was I being used by a murderer7 I would not believe it. I loved Connan. I had sworn to be faithful to him all my life. How could I make such a vow when I believed the worst of him at the first crisis?

I tried to reason with myself. You’re crazy, Martha Leigh. Do you really think that a man such as Connan TreMellyn could suddenly fall in love with you’.

Yes, I do. I do, I retorted hotly.

But I was a frightened woman.

I could see that the household was divided between two topics of conversation: the exhumation of Sir Thomas and the proposed marriage of the master and the governess.

I was afraid to meet the stern eyes of Mrs. Polgrey, the lewd ones of Tapperty and the excited ones of his daughters. Did they, as I had begun to do, connect these two events? I asked Connan what he thought of the Treslyn affair. ” Mischief-makers,” he said. ” They’ll have an autopsy and find he died a natural death. Why, his doctor had been attending him for years and has always told him that he must expect to go off like that.”

” It must be very worrying for Lady Treslyn.”

” She will not worry unduly. Indeed, since she has been pestered by letter-writers she may well be relieved to have the matter brought to a head.”

I pictured the medical experts. They would no doubt be men who knew the Treslyns and Connan. As Connan was going to marry me—and he was very eager to spread the news—was it possible that they would approach the matter in a different spirit from that in which they would if they believed Lady Treslyn was eager to marry again? Who could say?

I must drive away these terrible thoughts. I would believe in Connan, I had to; if I did not I must face the fact that I had fallen in love with a murderer.

The invitations for the ball had gone out hastily too hastily, I thought. Lady Treslyn, being in mourning and with the autopsy pending, was of course not invited. It was to take place only four days after our return from Penlandstow.

Celestine and Peter Nansellock rode over the day before the ball.

Celestine put her arms about me and kissed me.

” My dear,” she said, ” how happy I am. I have watched you with Alvean and I know what this is going to mean to her.” There were tears in her eyes. ” Alice would be so happy.”

I thanked her and said: ” You have always been such a good friend to me.”

” I was so grateful that at last the child had found a governess who really understood her.”

I said: “I thought Miss Jansen did that.”

” Miss Jansen, yes. We all thought so. It was a pity she was not honest. Perhaps though it was the temptation of a moment. I did all I could to help her.”

” I’m so glad somebody did.”

Peter had come up. He took my hand and kissed it lightly. Connan’s look of displeasure made my heart beat fast with happiness, and I was ashamed of my suspicions.

” Fortunate Connan,” cried Peter exuberantly. ” No need to tell you how much I envy you, is there! I think I’ve made it dear. I’ve brought over Jacinth. I told you I’d make you a present of her, didn’t I? Well, she’s my wedding present. You can’t object to that, can you?”

I looked at Connan. ” A present for us both,” I said.

” Oh no,” said Peter. ” She’s for you. I’ll think of some thing else for Con.”

” Thank you, Peter,” I said. ” It’s most generous of you.”

He shook his head. ” Couldn’t bear the thought of her going to anyone else. I feel sentimental about that mare. I want a good home for her.

You know I’m going at the end of next week. “

” So soon?”

” Everything has been speeded up. There’s no point in delaying further.” He looked at me significantly; ” Now,” he added.

1 saw that Kitty, who was serving us with wine, was listening with all attention.

Celestine was talking earnestly to Connan, and Peter went on : ” So it’s you and Con after all. Well, you’ll keep him in order, Miss Leigh. I’m sure of that.”

” I’m not going to be his governess, you know.”

“I’m not sure. Once a governess, always a governess. I thought Alvean seemed not displeased by the new arrangement.”

” I think she’s going to accept me.”

” I think you’re an even greater favourite than Miss Jansen was.”

” Poor Miss Jansen! I wonder what became of her.”

” Celeste did something for her. She was rather worried about the poor girl, I think.”

” Oh, I’m so glad.”

” Helped her to find another place … with some friends of ours actually. The Merrivales who have a place on the edge of Dartmoor. I wonder how our gay Miss Jansen likes Hoodfield Manor. Finds it a bit dull, I should imagine, with Tavistock, the nearest town, quite six miles away.”

” It was very kind of Celestine to help her.”

” Well, that’s Celestine all over.” He lifted his glass. ” To your happiness, Miss Leigh. And whenever you ride Jacinth, think of me.”

” I shall … and of Jacinth’s namesake. Miss Jansen.”

He laughed. ” And if,” he went on, ” you should change your mind….”

I raised my eyebrows.

” About marrying Connan, I mean. There’ll be a little homestead for you on the other side of the world. You’ll find me ever faithful. Miss Leigh.”

I laughed and sipped my wine.

The next day Alvean and I went riding together, and I was mounted on Jacinth. She was a wonderful creature and I enjoyed every moment of the ride. I felt that this was another of the glorious things which were happening to me. I even had my own mount now.

The ball was a great success and I was surprised how ready the neighbourhood was to accept me. The fact that I had been Alvean’s governess was forgotten. I felt that Connan’s neighbours were reminding each other that I was an educated young woman and that my family background was passibly good. Perhaps those who were fond of him were relieved because he was engaged to be married, for they would not wish him to be involved in the Treslyn scandal.

The day after the ball Connan had to go away again on business.

” I neglected a great deal during our stay in Penlandstow,” he said. ” There were things I simply forgot to do. It is understandable. My mind was on other matters. I shall be away a week, I think, and when I come back it’ll be but a fortnight before our wedding. You’ll be getting on with your preparations, and darling, if there’s anything you want to do in the house … if there’s anything you want to change, do say so.

It mightn’t be a bad idea to ask Celestine’s advice; she’s an expert on old houses. “

I said I would, because it would please her, and I wanted to please her.

” She was kind to me right from the first,” I said. ” I shall always have a soft feeling for her.”

He said goodbye and drove off while I stood at my window, waving. I did not care to do so from the porch because I was still a little shy of the servants.

When I went out of my room I found Gilly standing outside the door.

Since I had told her that I was to be Mrs. TreMellyn she had taken to following me around. I was beginning to understand the way her mind worked. She was fond of me in exactly the same way that she had been fond of Alice and, with the passing of each day, the two of us became in her mind merged into one. Alice had disappeared from her life; she was going to make sure that I did not.

” Hallo, Gilly,” I said.

She dropped her head in that characteristic way of hers and laughed to herself.

Then she put her hand in mine and I led her back to my room.

” Well, Gilly,” I said, ” in three weeks’ time I am going to be married, and I am the happiest woman in the world.”

I was really trying to reassure myself, for sometimes talking to Gilly was like talking to oneself.

I thought of what Connan had said about altering anything I wished to in the house, and I remembered that there were some parts of it which I had not even seen yet.

I suddenly thought of Miss Jansen and what I had been told about her having a different room from the one I occupied. I had never seen Miss Jansen’s room and I decided that I would now go along and inspect it.

I need have no qualms now about going to any part of the house I wished, for in a very short time I should be mistress of it.

” Come along, Gilly,” I said. ” We’ll go and see Miss Jansen’s room.”

She trotted along contentedly by my side, and I thought how much more intelligent she was than people realised, for it was she who led me to Miss Jansen’s room.

There was nothing very unusual about it. It was smaller than mine. But there was a rather striking mural. I was looking at this when Gilly tugged my arm and drew me close to it. She pulled up a chair and stood on it. Then I understood. There, in this wall, was a peep like that in the solarium. I looked through it and saw the chapel. It was of course a different view from that to be seen in the solarium, as it was from the opposite side.

Gilly looked at me, delighted to have shown me the peep. We went back to my room, and dearly she did not want to leave me.

I could see that she was apprehensive. I understood of course. Her somewhat confused mind had so clearly associated me with Alice that she expected me to disappear as Alice had done.

She was determined to keep an eye on me so that this should not happen.

All through the night a southwest gale was blowing in from the sea.

The rain which came with it was driven horizontally against our windows, and even the solid foundations of Mount Mellyn seemed to shake. It was one of the wettest nights I had known since my arrival in Cornwall.

The next day the rain continued; everything in my room mirrors, the furniture was misty and damp. It was what happened often enough, Mrs. Polgrey told me, when the southwest wind came bringing rain with it, which it invariably did.

Alvean and I could not go out riding that day.

By the following morning the skies had cleared a little, and the heavy rain gave way to a light drizzle. Lady Treslyn called, but I did not see her. She did not ask for me; it was Mrs. Polgrey who told me she had called and that she had wished to see Connan.

” She seemed very distressed,” said Mrs. Polgrey.

“She’ll not rest until this terrible business is over.”

I felt sure that Lady Treslyn had come over to talk to Connan about his engagement to me and that she was probably distressed because he was not at home.

Celestine Nansellock also called. We had a chat about the house. She said she was so pleased because I was becoming very interested in Mount Mellyn.

” Not only as a home,” she said, ” but as a house.” She went on: “I have some old documents about Mount Mellyn and Mount Widden. I’ll show them to you one day.”

” You must help me,” I told her. ” It’ll be fun discussing things together.”

” You’ll make some changes?” she asked.

” If I do,” I assured her, ” I shall ask your advice.”

She left before luncheon, and in the afternoon Alvean and I went down to the stables for the horses.

We stood by while Billy Trehay saddled them for us.

“Jacinth be frisky, to-day, M^s,” he told me.

” It’s because she had no exercise yesterday.” I stroked her muzzle and she rubbed against my hand to show she shared my affection. I We took our usual ride down the slope, past the cove and Mount Widden; then we went along the cliff path. The view here was particularly beautiful with the jagged coast stretched y out before us and Rame Head lying in the water, hiding Plymouth and its Sound from view.

Some of the paths were narrow, cut into the cliffs at spots where it had been convenient to do so. Up and down we went; sometimes we were almost down to the sea; at others we climbed high.

It was not very easy going, for the rain had whipped up the mud and I began to feel a little anxious about Alvean. She sat firmly in her saddle—no novice now—but 1 was conscious of Jacinth’s mood and I expected Black Prince’s was not much different, although, of course, he hadn’t Jacinth’s fiery temperament. At times I had to rein her in firmly; a gallop would have been more to her taste than this necessarily slow careful walk along paths which were a good deal more dangerous than when we had come this way on our last ride.

There was one spot on this cliff path which was particularly narrow; above the path loomed the cliff face, dotted with bushes of gorse and brambles; below it, the cliff fell almost sheer to the sea. The path was safe enough ordinarily; but I felt a little nervous about Alvean’s using it on a day like this.

I noticed that some of the cliff had fallen in places. This was continually happening. Tapperty had often said that the sea was gradually claiming the land, and that in his grandfather’s day there had been a road which had now completely disappeared.

I thought of turning back, but if we did I would have to explain my fears to Alvean; I did not want to do this while she was mounted.

No, I thought, we’ll continue on this path until we can climb to the top road. Then we’ll go home a roundabout way, but on firm land.

We had come to that danger spot and I noticed that the ground was even more slippery here, and that there had been a bigger fall of cliff than I had seen on other portions of the path.

I held Jacinth in and walked her slowly in front of Alvean and Black Prince, for we naturally had to go in single file.

I pulled up and looked over my shoulder, saying: ” We’re going very slowly here. You just follow.”

Then I heard it. I turned quickly as the boulder came tumbling down bringing in its wake shale, turf and vegetation. It passed within a few inches of Jacinth. I stared, in fascinated horror, as it went hurtling down to the sea.

Jadnth reared. She was terrified and ready to plunge anywhere . over the cliff . down to the sea . to escape what had startled her.

It was fortunate for me that I was an experienced rider, and that Jacinth and I knew each other so well. Thus it was all over in a matter of seconds. I had her under control. She grew calm as I began to talk to her in a voice which was meant to be soothing but which shook a little.

” Miss! What happened?” It was Alvean.

” It’s all over,” I answered, trying to speak lightly. ” You managed perfectly.”

” Why, Miss, I thought Black Prince was going to start a gallop.”

He would, I thought, if Jacinth had.

I was terribly shaken and afraid to show it, either to Alvean or Jadnth.

I suddenly felt the need to get off that dangerous path immediately. I glanced nervously up and said : ” It’s not safe to be on these paths . after the weather we’ve been having.”

I don’t know what I expected to see up there, but I was staring at the thickest of the bushes. Did I see a movement there, or did I imagine it? It would be easy for someone to hide up there. What if a boulder had become dislodged by the recent rains. What an excellent opportunity if someone wanted to be rid of me. It merely had to be rolled down at that moment when I was on the path a perfect target.

Alvean and I had made a habit of coming along this path at a certain time.

I shivered and said: ” Let’s go on. We’ll get on to the top road and won’t go back along the cliff path.”

Alvean was silent; and when in a few minutes we were on the road she looked at me oddly. I saw that she was not unaware of the danger through which we had passed.

It was not until we were back in the house that I realised how alarmed I was. I was telling myself that a terrifying pattern was being formed. Alice had died; Sir Thomas Treslyn had died; and now I, who was to be Connan’s wife, might easily have met my death on the cliff path this day.

I longed to tell Connan of my fears.

But I was a sensible, practical woman. Was I going to refuse to look facts in the face because I was afraid of what I might see there if I did so?

Suppose Connan had not really gone away. Suppose he had wanted an accident to happen to me while he was believed to be away from home. I thought of Lady Treslyn at the Christmas ball. I thought of her beauty, her sensuous, voluptuous beauty. Connan had admitted that she had been his mistress. Had been? Was it possible that anyone, knowing her, could want me?

The proposal had been so sudden. It had come at a time when his mistress’s husband was about to be exhumed.

It was small wonder that the practical governess had become a frightened woman.

To whom could I go for help?

There was Peter or Celestine . only those two, I thought. No, I could not betray these terrible suspicions of Connan to them. It was bad enough that I entertained them myself.

” Don’t panic,” I cautioned myself. ” Be calm. Think of something you can do.”

I thought of the house, vast and full of secrets, a house in which it was possible to peep from certain rooms into others. There might be peeps as yet undiscovered. Who could say? Perhaps someone was watching me now.

I thought of the peep in Miss Jansen’s room and that set me thinking of her sudden dismissal. Then I was saying to myself : ” Hoodfield Manor near Tavistock.”

I wondered if Miss Jansen was still there. There was a good chance that she might be for she must have gone there about the same time as I came to Mount Mellyn.

Why should I not try to meet her? She might have some light to throw on the secrets of this house.

I was desperately afraid, and at such times it is always comforting to take action.

Dear Miss Jansen.

I am the governess at Mount Mellyn and I have heard of you. I should like to meet you. I wonder if that would be possible. If so, I should like our meeting to be as soon as you can manage it.

Yours sincerely, Martha Leigh.

I went out quickly to post the letter before I could change my mind.

Then I tried to forget it.

I longed for a message from Connan. There was none. Each day I looked for his return. I thought: When he comes home I am going to tell him of my fears, because I must do so. I am going to tell him of what happened on the cliff path. I am going to ask him to tell me the truth. I am going to say to him: Connan, why did you ask me to marry you? Was it because you love me and want me to be your wife, or was it because you wished to divert suspicion from yourself and Lady Treslyn?

The devilish scheme whicht I had invented seemed to gain credibility with every passing moment.

I said to myself: Perhaps Alice died by accident, and that gave them the idea of ridding themselves of Sir Thomas, who was the only obstacle to their marriage. Did they slip something into his whisky?

Why not? It could not have been merely by chance that the boulder came hurtling down at the precise moment. Now there was to be an exhumation of Sir Thomas and the countryside knew of the relationship between Connan and Lady Treslyn. So Connan became engaged to the governess in order to divert suspicion. The governess is now an obstacle even as Alice was, even as Sir Thomas was. So the governess could have an accident on her newly acquired mare to which it might be said that she had not yet grown accustomed.

The road is clear for the guilty lovers and all they need do is wait until scandal has blown over.

How could I imagine such things of the man I loved? Could one love a man and think such thoughts of him?

I do love him, I told myself passionately. So much that I would rather meet death at his hands than leave him and be forced to endure an empty life without him.

Three days later there was a letter from Miss Jansen, who said she was eager to meet me. She would be in Plymouth the following day and if I would meet her at the White Hart, which was not far from the Hoe, we might have luncheon together.

I told Mrs. Polgrey that I was going into Plymouth to shop. That seemed plausible enough since my wedding was due to take place in three weeks’ time.

I made straight for the White Hart.

Miss Jansen was already there—an extremely pretty fairhaired girl.

She greeted me with pleasure and told me that Mrs. Plint, the innkeeper’s wife, had said that we might have luncheon together in a small room of our own.

We were conducted to this private room and there took stock of each other.

The innkeeper’s wife talked with enthusiasm of duck and green peas and roast beef, but we were, neither of us, very interested in food.

We ordered roast beef, I think it was, and as soon as we were alone, Miss Jansen said to me: ” What do you think of Mount Mellyn?”

” It’s a wonderful old place.”

” One of the most interesting houses I ever saw,” she replied.

” I did hear, from Mrs. Polgrey I think, that old houses specially interested you.”

” They do. I was brought up in one. However, the family fortunes declined. That’s what happens to so many of us who become governesses.

I was sorry to leave Mount Mellyn. You have heard why I went? “

” Y … yes,” I said hesitantly.

” It was a very distressing afiFair. I was furiously angry to be unjustly accused.”

She was so frank and sincere that I believed her, and I made that clear n She looked pleased; and then the food was brought in.

As we sat eating it in a somewhat desultory way she told me of the affair.

” The Treslyns and the Nansellocks had been having tea at the house.

You know the Treslyn’s and the Nansellocks of course? “

“Oh yes.”

” I mean, I expect you know quite a lot about them. They are such friends of the family, are they not?”

” Indeed yes.”

” I had been treated rather specially.” She flushed slightly, and I thought. Yes, you are so pretty. Connan would have thought so. I was aware of a flash not so much of jealousy as uneasiness as I wondered whether in the years to come I was going to be continually jealous of Connan’s appreciation of the attractive members of my sex.

She went on: ” They had called me in to tea, because Miss Nansellock wanted to ask some questions about Alvean. She did dote on that child.

Does she still? “

” Indeed yes.”

” She is such a kind person. I don’t know what I should have done without her.”

” I am so glad somebody was kind to you.”

” I think that she looks upon Alvean as her child. There was a rumour that Miss Nansellock’s brother was the father of Alvean, which would make her Miss Nansellock’s niece. Perhaps that is why …”

” She certainly does feel strongly about Alvean.”

” So I was called down to talk to her, and I was given tea and chatted with them as though I were a guest as they were. I think that Treslyn woman resented it … she resented my presence there altogether.

Perhaps they were a little too attentive to me I mean Mr. Peter Nansellock and Mr. TreMellyn. Lady Treslyn has a hot temper, I am sure. In any case I believe she arranged the whole thing. “

” She couldn’t be so vile!”

” Oh, but I am sure she could, and she was. You see, she was wearing a diamond bracelet and the safety chain had broken. It bad caught in the upholstery of the chair, I think.

She said, I won’t wear it. I’ll take it down to old Pastern to get it repaired as soon as we leave. ” She took it off and put it on the table. I left them at tea and went to the schoolroom to do some work with Alvean. It was while we were there that the door was thrown open and they all stood there looking at me accusingly.

” Lady Treslyn said something about having a search made because her diamond bracelet was missing. She was truculent. One would have thought she was already the mistress of the house. Mr. TreMellyn said very kindly that Lady Treslyn was asking that my room be searched, and he hoped I would not object. I was very angry and I said: Come on, search my room. Nothing will satisfy me, but that you should.”

” So we all went into my room, and there in a drawer, hidden under some of my things was the diamond bracelet.

” Lady Treslyn said I was caught red-handed, and she was going to have me sent to prison. The others all pleaded with her not to make a scandal. Finally they agreed that if I went at once the matter would be forgotten. I was furious. I wanted an inquiry. But what could I do?

They had found the thing there, and whatever I had to say after that they wouldn’t believe me. “

” It must have been terrible for you,” I began to shiver.

She leaned across the table and smiled in a kindly way at me. ” You are afraid that they may do something similar to you. Lady Treslyn is determined to marry Connan TreMellyn.”

” Do you think so?”

” I do. I am sure there was something between them. He was, after all, a widower and ‘not the sort of man, I think, to live without women.

One knows his sort. “

I said: “I suppose he made advances to you?”

She shrugged her shoulders. ” At least Lady Treslyn imagined that I might be a menace, and I am sure she chose that way to get rid of me.”

“What a foul creature she is! But Miss Nansellock was kind.”

” Very kind. She was with them, of course, when they found the bracelet; and when I was packing she came to my room. She said: I’m very distressed. Miss Jansen, that this should have happened. I know they found the bracelet in your drawer, but you didn’t put it there, did you?” I said: Miss Nansellock, I swear I didn’t. ” I can tell you, I was hysterical. It had all happened so suddenly. I didn’t know what was to become of me. I had very little money and I would have to go to some hostel to look for work, and I knew I could not expect a testimonial. I shall never forget her kindness to me. She asked me where I was going and I gave her this address in Plymouth. She said: ” I know the Merrivales are going to want a governess for a month or so. I am going to see that you get that job. ” She lent me some money, which I have now paid back, although she did not want me to do so; and that’s how I lived until I went to the Merrivales. I have written, thanking Miss Nansellock, but how can one thank people adequately who do so much for one when one is in such dire need?”

” Thank goodness there was someone to help.”

” Heaven knows what would have become of me if she had not been there. Ours is a precarious profession, Miss Leigh. We are at the mercy of our employers. No wonder so many of us become meek and down-trodden. "

She brightened. ” I try to forget all that. I’m going to be married.

He is a doctor who looks after the family. In six months’ time my governessing days will be over. “

” Congratulations! As a matter of fact I, too, am engaged to be married.”

” How wonderful!”

” To Connan TreMellyn,” I added.

She stared at me in astonishment. ” Why …” she stammered, ” I wish you the best of luck.”

I could see that she was a little embarrassed and trying to remember what she had said about Connan. I felt too that she thought I should need that good luck.

I could not explain to her that I would rather have one stormy year with Connan than a lifetime of peace with anyone else.

” I wonder,” she said after a pause, ” why you wanted to see me.”

” It is because I had heard of you. They talk of you often. Alvean was fond of you and there are things I want to know.”

” But you, who are soon to be a member of the family, will know so much more than I can tell you.”

” What do you think of Gilly Gillyflower?”

” Oh, poor little Gilly. A strange, mad Ophelia-like creature. I always felt that one day we should find her floating on the stream with rosemary in her hands.”

” The child had a shock.”

” Yes, the first Mrs. TreMellyn’s horse nearly trampled her to death.”

” You must have gone there soon after the death of Mrs. TreMellyn.”

” There were two others before me. I heard they left because the house was too spooky. A house couldn’t be too spooky for me.”

” Oh yes, you’re an expert on old houses?”

” Expert! Indeed I’m not. I just love them. I’ve seen a great many and I’ve read a great deal about them.”

” There was a peep in your room. Gilly showed it to me the other day.”

” Do you know, I lived in that room three weeks without knowing it was there.”

” I’m not surprised. The peeps are so cleverly concealed in the murals.”

” That’s an excellent way of doing it. Do you know those in the solarium?”

” Oh yes.”

” One overlooking the hall, the other, the chapel. I think there’s a reason for that. You see, the hall and the chapel would be the most important parts of the house at the time that was built.”

” You know a great deal about period and so on. At what period was Mount Mellyn built?”

” Late Elizabethan. At the time when people had to keep the presence of priests in their houses secret. I think that’s why they had all these peeps and things.”

” How interesting.”

” Miss Nansellock is an expert on houses. That was some thing we had in common. Does she know we’re meeting?”

” No one knows.”

” You mean, you came here without telling even your future husband?”

Confidences trembled on my lips. I wondered if I dared share them with this stranger. I wished it were Phillida sitting opposite me. Then I could have poured out my heart to her; I could have listened to her advice, which I was sure would be good.

But, although I had heard Miss Jansen’s name mentioned so much since I had come to Mount Mellyn, she was still a stranger to me. How could I say to a stranger: I suspect the man I am engaged to marry of being involved in a plot to murder me.

No! It was impossible.

But, I reasoned, she had suffered accusation and dismissal. There was a kind of bond between us.

How far, I asked myself, are hot-blooded people prepared to go for the satisfaction of their lust?

I could not tell her.

” He is away on business,” I said. ” We are to be married in three weeks’ time.”

” I wish you the best of luck. It must have happened very suddenly.”

” It was August when I went to the house.”

” And you had never met before?”

” Living in the same house one quickly gets to know people.”

” Yes, I suppose that is so.”

” And you yourself must have become engaged in almost as short a time.”

” Oh yes, but …”

I knew what she was thinking. Her pleasant country doctor was a very different person from the Master of Mount Mellyn.

I went on quickly: ” I wanted to meet you because I believed you had been falsely accused. I am sure that many people at the house think that.”

” I’m glad.”

” When Mr. TreMellyn returns I shall tell him that I have seen you, and I shall ask if something can be done.”

” It is of little consequence now. Dr. Luscombe knows what happened. He is very indignant. But I have made him see that no good purpose could be served by bringing up the matter again. If Lady Treslyn ever tried to make more mischief, then something could be done. But she won’t; her only desire was to get rid of me, and that she did … quite effectively.”

” What a wicked woman she is! She did not consider the effect on you.

But for the kindness of Miss Nansellock. “

” I know. But don’t let’s talk of it. You will tell Miss Nansellock that you have seen me?”

” Yes, I will.”

” Then tell her that I am engaged now to Dr. Luscombe. She will be so pleased. And there’s something else I would like her to know. Perhaps you’ll be interested too. It’s about the house. The house will soon be your home, won’t it? I envy you the house. It’s one of the most interesting places I’ve ever seen.”

” What were you going to tell me to pass on to Miss Nansellock?”

” I’ve been doing a little research on architecture, and so on, of the Elizabethan period, and my fiance arranged for me to see Cotehele, the Mount Edgcumbes’ place. They were delighted to let me see it because they are understandably proud of it. It’s more like Mount Mellyn than any house I’ve ever seen. The chapel is almost identical, even to the lepers’ squint. But the squint at Mount Mellyn is much bigger, and the construction of the walls is slightly different. As a matter of fact I’ve never seen a squint quite like that at Mount Mellyn before. Do tell Miss Nansellock. She would be most interested, I’m sure.”

” I’ll tell her. I expect she’ll be more interested to hear that you are so happy and that you are going to marry.”

” Don’t forget to tell her too that I remember I owe it all to her.

Give her my kindest regards and my best thanks. “

” I will,” I said.

We parted, and on my journey home I felt I had obtained from Miss Jansen some fresh light on my problem.

There was no doubt that Lady Treslyn arranged for Miss Jansen’s dismissal. Miss Jansen was very pretty indeed. Connan admired her and Alvean was fond of her. Connan would consider marriage because he would want sons; and Lady g to allow him to marry anyone but herself.

I believed now that Lady Treslyn was planning to remove me as she had removed Miss Jansen; but because I was already engaged to Connan she would have to use more drastic methods in my case.

But Connan did not know of this attempt on my life.

I refused to believe that of him and, refusing, I felt a great deal happier.

Moreover, I had made up my mind. When Connan came back I was going to tell him everything—all I had discovered, all I had feared.

The decision brought me great comfort.

Two days passed, and still Connan had not returned.

Peter Nansellock came over to say goodbye. He was leaving late that night for London on his way to join the ship which would carry him to Australia.

Celestine was with him when he came to say goodbye. They thought Connan would have returned by now. As a matter of fact while they were there a letter arrived from-Connan. He was coming back if possible late that night; if not, as early as possible next day.

I felt tremendously happy.

I gave them tea and, as we talked, I mentioned Miss Jansen.

I saw no reason why I should not do so in front of Peter, because it was he who had told me that Celestine had found her a job with the Merrivales.

” I met Miss Jansen the other day,” I began.

They were both startled. ” But how?” asked Peter. ” I wrote and asked her to meet me.”

” What made you do that?” asked Celestine.

“Well, she had lived here, and there was a mystery about her, and I thought it would be rather interesting, so, as I was going to Plymouth. “

” A charming creature,” mused Peter. ” Yes. You’ll be pleased to hear that she’s engaged to be married.

” How interesting,” cried Celestine, her face growing pink. ” I’m delighted. “

” To the local doctor,” I added.

” She’ll make an excellent doctor’s wife,” said Celestine.

” Her husband’s male patients will all be in love with her,” put in Peter.

” That could be disconcerting,” I replied.

” But good for business,” murmured Peter. ” Did she send us greetings?”

” Particularly to your sister,” I smiled at Celestine. ” She is so grateful to you; you were wonderful to her. She says she’ll never forget.”

” It was nothing. I could not let that woman do what she did and stand by doing nothing.”

” You think Lady Treslyn deliberately planted that theft on her? I know Miss Jansen does.”

” There is no doubt of it,” said Celestine firmly.

” What an unscrupulous woman she must be!”

” I believe that to be so.”

” Well, Miss Jansen is happy now, so good came out of evil. By the way, I have a special message for you. It’s about the house.”

” What house?” asked Celestine with great interest.

” This one. Miss Jansen has been to Cotehele and has been comparing their squint, in the chapel, with ours. She says ours is quite unique.”

” Oh really! That’s very interesting.”

” It’s bigger, she says I mean ours is. And there’s some thing about the construction of the walls.”

” Celestine is aching to go down and have a look at it,” said Peter.

She smiled at me.

“We’ll look at it together sometime. You’re going to be the Mistress of the house, so you ought to take an interest in it.”

” I’m becoming more and more interested. I’m going to ask you to teach me lots about it.”

She smiled at me warmly. ” I’ll be glad.”

I asked Peter what train he was catching, and he answered that it would be the ten o’clock from St. Germans.

” I’ll ride to the station,” he said, ” and stable the horse there.

The baggage has gone on ahead of me. I shall go alone. I don’t want any fond farewells at the station. After all, I shall no doubt be home this time next year . with a fortune. Au revoir, Miss Leigh,” he went on. ” I’ll come back one day. And if you do feel like coming with me . it’s not too late even now. “

He spoke flippantly, and his eyes were full of mischief, I wondered what he would say if T suddenly agreed to his proposal, if I suddenly told him that I was filled with terrible doubts about the man I had promised to marry.

I went down to the porch to say my last farewells. The servants were there for he was a great favourite. I guessed that he had bestowed many a sly kiss on Daisy and Kitty, and they were sad to see him go.

He looked very handsome in the saddle and beside him Celestine seemed insignificant. We stood waving to them. His last words were: ” Don’t forget. Miss Leigh … if you should change your mind!”

Everybody laughed and T joined in with them. I think we all felt a little sad that he was going.

As we were going back into the house, Mrs. Polgrey said to me: ” Miss Leigh, could I have a word with you?”

” But certainly. Shall I come to your room?”

She led the way there.

” I’ve just had word,” she said. ” The result of the autopsy.

Death through natural causes. “

I felt floods of relief sweeping over me.

” Oh, I’m so pleased about that.”

” So are we all. I can tell you, I didn’t like the things that were being said … and him dying after he’d had supper here.”

” It seems as though it was all a storm in a teacup,” I said.

” Something like that, Miss Leigh. But there you are-people talk and something has to be done.”

” Well, it must be a. great relief to Lady Treslyn.”

She looked a little embarrassed and I guessed she was wondering what she had said to me in the past about Connan and Lady Treslyn. It must have been disconcerting to discover that I was going to be Connan’s wife. I decided to sweep aside her embarrassment for ever, and said:

“I hoped you were going to offer me a cup of your special Earl Grey.”

She was pleased and rang for Kitty.

We talked of household affairs while the kettle boiled, and when tea was made she tentatively brought out the whisky and when I nodded a teaspoonful was put into each cup. I felt then that we had indeed resumed the old friendly relationship.

I was glad, because I could see this made her happy, and I wanted everyone about me to be as happy as I was.

I kept on telling myself : If Lady Treslyn really did attempt to kill me by sending that boulder crashing down in front of me when I was mounted on Jacinth, Connan knew nothing about it. Sir Thomas died a natural death, so there was nothing to hide; he had no reason to ask me to marry him except the one which he gave me; he loves me.

It was nine o’clock and the children were in bed. It had been a warm and sunny day and there were signs of spring every where.

Connan was coming home either tonight or tomorrow and I was happy.

I wondered what time he would arrive. Perhaps at midnight. I went to the porch to look for him because I had imagined I heard horses’ hoofs in the distance.

I waited. The night was still. The house always seemed very quiet at times like this for all the servants would be in their own quarters.

I guessed that Peter would be on his way to the station by now. It was strange to think that I might never see him again. I thought of our first meeting in the train; he had begun by playing his mischievous tricks on me even then.

Then I saw someone coming towards me. It was Celestine, and she had come by way of the woods, not along the drive as usual.

She was rather breathless.

” Why, hallo,” she said. ” I came to see you. I felt so lonely.

Peter’s gone. It’s rather sad to think that I shan’t see him for a long time. “

” It does make one sad.”

” He played the fool a great deal, of course, but I am very fond of him. Now I’ve lost both my brothers.”

” Come in,” I said.

” Connan’s not back, I suppose?”

” No, I don’t think he can possibly be here before midnight. He wrote that he had business to attend to this morning. I expect he’ll arrive tomorrow. Won’t you come in?”

” Do you know, I rather hoped you’d be alone.”

” Did you?”

” I wanted to have a look at the chapel… that squint, you know. Ever since you gave me Miss Jansen’s message I’ve been eager to see it. I didn’t say so in front of Peter. He’s apt to laugh at my enthusiasm. ”

” Do you want to have a look at it now?”

” Yes, please. I’ve a theory about it. There may be a door in the panelling which leads to another part of the house. Wouldn’t it be fun if we could discover it and tell Connan about it when he arrives?”

” Yes,” I agreed, ” it would.”

” Let’s go now then.”

We went through the hall and, as we did so, I glanced up at the peep, because I had an uncanny feeling that we were being watched. I thought I saw a movement up there, but I was not sure, and said nothing.

We went along to the end of the hall, through the door, down the stone steps, and were in the chapel.

The place smelt damp. I said; ” It smells as though it hasn’t been used for years.” And my voice echoed weirdly through the place.

Celestine did not answer. She had lighted one of the candles which stood on the altar. I watched the long shadow which the flickering light threw against the wall.

” Let’s get into the squint,” she said. ” Through this door. There is another door in the squint itself which opens on to the walled garden. That was the way the lepers used to come in.”

She carried the candle high and I found that we were in a small chamber.

” This is the place,” I said, ” which is bigger than most of its kind.”

She did not answer. She was pressing different parts of the wall.

I watched her long fingers at work.

Suddenly she turned and smiled at me. ” I’ve always had a theory that somewhere in this house there is a priest’s hole … you know, the hidy hole of the resident priest into which he scuttled when the queen’s men arrived. As a matter of fact I know that one TreMellyn did toy with the idea of becoming a Catholic. I’ll swear there is a priest’s hole somewhere. Connan would be delighted if we found it. He loves this place as much as I do … as much as you’re going to. If I found it it would be the best wedding present I could give him, wouldn’t it? After all, what can you give people who have all they want?”

She hesitated, and her voice was high with excitement. ” Just a minute. There’s something here.” I came dose to her, and caught my breath with amazement, for the panel had moved inward and shown itself as a long narrow door.

She turned to look at me and she looked unlike herself. Her eyes were brilliant with exdtement. She put her head inside the aperture and was about to go forward when she said: ” No, you first. It’s going to be your house. You should be the first to enter it.”

I had caught her exdtement. I knew how pleased Connan would be.

I stepped ahead of her and was aware of an unrecognisable pungent odour.

She said: ” Have a quick look. It’s probably a bit foul in there.

Careful. There are probably steps. ” She held the candle high, and I saw there were two of them. I went down those steps and, as I did so, the door shut behind me.

” Celestine!” I cried in terror. But there was no answer. ” Open that door,” I screamed. But my voice was caught and was a prisoner too—Celestine’s prisoner.

The darkness shut me in. It was cold and eerie—foul, evil. Panic seized me. How can I explain such terror? There are no words to describe it. Only those who have suffered it could understand.

Thoughts—hideous thoughts—seemed to be battering on my brain. I had been a fool. I had been trapped. I had accepted what seemed obvious, I had walked the way she who wished to be rid of me had directed; and like a fool I had asked no questions.

My fear numbed my brain as it did my body.

I was terrified.

I mounted the two steps. I beat my fists against what now seemed to be a wall. ” Let me out. Let me out …” I cried.

But I knew that my voice would not be heard beyond the lepers’ squint.

And how often did people go to the chapel?

She would slip away . no one would know she had even been in the house.

I was so frightened I did not know what to do. I heard my own voice sobbing out my terror, and it frightened me afresh because, for the moment, I did not recognise it as my own.

I felt exhausted and limp. I knew that one could not live for long in this dark, damp place. I pulled at the wall until I tore my nails and I felt the blood on my hands.

I began to look about me because my eyes were becoming familiar to the gloom. Then I saw that I was not alone.

Someone had come here before me. What was left of Alice lay there. At last I had found her.

” Alice,” I screamed. ” Alice. It is you then? So you were here in the house all the time?”

There was no answer from Alice. Her lips had been silent for more than a year.

I covered my face with my hands. I could not bear to look. There was the smell of death and decay everywhere.

I wondered: How long did Alice live after the door had closed on her? I wanted to know because so long I might expect to live.

I think I must have fainted for a long time and I was delirious when I came to. I heard a voice babbling; it must have been my own because it could not have belonged to Alice.

I was mercifully only half-conscious. But it was as though a part of me understood so much.

During that time I spent in the dark and gruesome place I was not sure who I was. Was I Martha? Was I Alice?

Our stories were so much alike. I believed the pattern was similar.

They had said she ran away with GeofFry. They would say I had run away with Peter. Our departure had been cleverly timed. ” But why …” I said, ” but why….”

I knew whose shadow I had seen on the blind. It was hers . that diabolical woman. She had known of the existence of that little diary which I had discovered in Alice’s coat pocket and she was searching for it because she knew it could provide one of those small clues which might lead to discovery.

I knew that she did not love Alvean, that she had tricked us all with her gentle demeanour. I knew that she was incapable of loving anyone.

She had used Alvean as she had used others, as she was going to use Connan.

It was the house that she loved.

I pictured her during those delirious moments looking from her window at Mount Widden across the cove coveting a house as fiercely as man ever coveted woman or woman man.

” Alice,” I said. ” Alice we were her victims … you and I.”

And I fancied Alice talked to me . and told me of the day GeofFry had caught the London train and how Celestine had come to the house and told her of the great discovery in the chapel.

I saw Alice . pale, pretty, fragile Alice crying out in pleasure at the discovery, taking those fatal steps forward to death.

But it was not Alice’s voice I heard. It was my own.

Yet I thought she was with me. I thought that at last I had found her, and that we had comfort to offer each other as I waited to go with her into the shadowy world which had been hers since she was led by Cdestine Nansellock into the lepers’ squint.

There was a blinding light in my eyes. I was being carried.

I said: ” Am I dead then, Alice?”

And a voice answered: ” My darling … my darling … you are safe.”

It was Connan’s voice, and it was his arms which held me.

” Are there dreams in death then, Alice?” I asked.

I was conscious of a voice which whispered: ” My dearest … oh, my dearest….” And I was laid upon a bed, and many people stood about me.

Then I saw the light glinting on hair which looked almost white.

” Alice, there is an angel.”

Then the angel answered and said: ” It’s Gilly. Gilly brought them to you. Gilly watched and Gilly saw….”

And oddly enough it was Gilly who brought me back to the world of reality. I knew that I was not dead, that some miracle had happened; that it was in truth Connan’s arms which I had felt about me, Connan’s voice I heard.

I was in my own bedroom from the window of which I could see the lawns and the palm trees and the room which had once been Alice’s, on the blind of which I had seen the shadow of Alice’s murderer who had sought to kill me too.

I called out in terror. But Connan was beside me.

I heard his voice, tender, soothing, loving. ” It’s all right, my love my only love. I’m here … I’m with you for evermore.”