Bride of Pendorric (32 page)

” And Morwenna went to France for two months.”

” Rachel went with her. So did Roe for a while. I was a bit alarmed at that time. Roe was with them so much and I was beginning to be afraid that he and Rachel …”

” You wouldn’t have welcomed … that?”

” My dear, I expect I’m being rather mean, but somehow I should not have liked to see Rachel mistress of Pendorric. She hasn’t the … charm. Oh, she’s an educated girl, but there’s something I don’t like about her … something I don’t altogether trust. This is strictly between ourselves, of course! I wouldn’t say it to anyone else.”

” I

think I know what you mean. “

” She’s too sharp. One gets the idea that she’s watching for the main chance all the time. I expect it’s my stupid imagination, but I can tell you I had some very deep qualms at that time, because Roe was so anxious to see the girls settled in their pension comfortably. And he actually stayed there for a while and went back and forth while they were there. Every time he returned I was terrified that he would announce his intentions. Fortunately it all fell through.”

” It was a long time ago,” I said.

Deborah nodded.

I was thinking. They were eighteen, and the boy could be about fourteen now. Roe is thirty-two.

I had often felt that Rachel had some hold on the Pendorrics. She gave that impression. She was like a person with a chip on her shoulder and yet at the same time there was a certain truculence about her. It was as though she was continually implying: Treat me as a member of the family or else . 1 And she visited the boy who was living with Louisa Sellick! I said:

“I suppose at that time their father was dead … I mean Roe’s and Morwenna’s.”

” They were about eleven when he died. It was six years after Barbarina …”

So the boy was not his, I thought. Oh Roe, why do you keep these secrets from me? There’s no need.

My impulse was to talk to Roe at the earliest opportunity, to tell him what I had conjectured.

When I went to my room I put the miniature on the mantel shelf and stood for some minutes looking into the serene eyes depicted there.

Then I decided to wait a while, to try to find out more about the nature of this web in which I was becoming entangled.

In the midst of this uncertainty Mabell Clement gave a party. When Roe and I drove over, we were both a little subdued;

I felt weighed down with thoughts of the boy who lived on the moors, and conjectures as to what part Roe had played in bringing him into the world. I longed to talk to Roe and yet I was afraid to do so.

Actually I was afraid to face up to the fact that Roe might not tell me the truth. I was pathetically eager that he should not lie to me, and at the same time I was desperately trying to keep intact that wonderful happiness which I had known.

As for Roe, he was telling himself that my adventure in the vault had naturally upset me a good deal and that I should need time to recover.

He treated me gently, and reminded me of those days immediately following my father’s death.

Mabell, ear-rings swinging, was a wonderful hostess and there was an informal atmosphere about the party. Several of the local artists were present, for our scenery had made the district an artists’ colony; and I was gratified when one of them mentioned my father and spoke with reverence of his work.

From the other side of the room I heard Roe’s laughter and saw that he was the centre of a group, mainly women. He seemed to be amusing them, and I wished that I was with them. And how I wished that there were no more doubts and that I could escape from my misgivings into that complete and unadulterated happiness which no one on earth but Roe could give to me.

” Here’s someone who wants to meet you.” Mabell was at my elbow and with her was a young man. I looked at him for some seconds before I recognised him.

” John Poldree, you remember?” be said.

“Why yes. The ball …”

Mabell gave him a little push towards me and then was gone. ” It was a wonderful ball,” he went on.

” I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

” And very sad of course that …”

I nodded.

“There was something I wanted to tell you, Mrs. Pendorric. Though I don’t suppose it matters much now.”

“Yes?”

” It’s about the nurse.”

“Nurse Grey?”

” M’m. Where I’d seen her before.”

” And you remember? ” “Yes. It was something in one of the papers. It came back to me. Then I remembered that I was in Genoa at the time

and it wasn’t all that easy to get English papers. Having fixed the date I went and looked up old copies. She’s the one all right. Nurse Althea Stoner Grey, Nurse Stoner Grey, she was called. If I’d heard the double-barrelled name I’d have remembered. But I couldn’t mistake (he face. It’s rarely that you find a face as perfect as that one.”

” What did you find out?”

” I’m afraid I misjudged her. I’d got it into my head that she’d committed some crime. Hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression. All the same it wasn’t very pleasant. She was lucky to have a name like Stoner Grey. She could drop the first part and seem like a different person. After all, Grey’s a fairly common name. Coupled with Stoner, far from it. She lost the case.”

” What was the case, then? ” ” She’d been nursing an old man and he’d left her money; his estranged wife contested the will. It was only a few para graphs and you know how disjointed these newspaper reports can be.”

” When did all this happen?”

” About six years’ ago

“I expect she’s had a case or two in between that and coming to my grandfather.”

” No doubt of it.”

“Well, she must have brought good references to my grandfather, I imagine. He was the sort who would make sure of that.”

” That wouldn’t be difficult with a woman like that. She’s got a way of getting round people. You can see that. She’s pretty hard-boiled, I should think.”

” I should think so too.”

He laughed. ” I wanted to tell you ever since I solved the mystery. I expect she’s far away by now.”

” No. She’s still living fairly near us. She’s taking a little holiday and renting a cottage for a time. My grandfather left her a small legacy, so she probably feels she can afford a rest.”

” Must be a lucrative job—private nursing—providing you have the foresight to choose rich patients.”

“Of course, you couldn’t be sure that they would conveniently die and leave the legacy.”

He lifted his shoulders.

“Smart woman, that one. I think she’d be the sort who’d choose with care.” He had picked up one of the pieces of pottery which were lying about the studio. ” Good, this,” he said.

And for him the subject was closed; but not for me. I could not get Nurse Grey out of mind, and when I thought of her I thought of Roe. I was very quiet during the drive back to Pendorric.

I had noticed a change in Morwenna; there were days when she gave me the impression that she was walking in her sleep; and her dreams seemed to be happy ones, for at times her expression was almost rapturous. She was absentminded, too, and I had on one or two occasions spoken to her and received no answer. She came up to our room one evening when we were changing for dinner. ” There’s something I want to tell you two.”

” We’re all ears,” Roe told her.

She sat down and did not speak for a few seconds. Roe looked at me, his eyebrows raised.

” I didn’t want to say anything to any of you until I was absolutely sure.”

“The suspense is becoming unbearable,” commented Roe lightly. ” I’ve told Charles, of course, and I wanted to tell you two before it became generally known.”

” Are we soon to hear the patter of little feet in the Pendorric nurseries?” asked Roe.

She stood up. ” Oh … Roe!” she cried, and threw herself into his arms. He hugged her and then began waltzing round the room with her.

He stopped abruptly with exaggerated concern. ” Ah, we have to take great care of you now.” He released her and putting his hand on her shoulder kissed her cheek solemnly. ” Wenna,” he said, reverting to his childhood’s name for her, ” I’m delighted. It’s wonderful. Bless you.”

There was real emotion in his voice, and I was touched to see the affection between them.

” I knew you’d be pleased.”

I felt as though I were shut out of their rejoicing; and it occurred to me how very close they were, because Morwenna seemed to have forgotten my existence and I knew that when she had said she wanted to tell us first she had meant she had wanted to tell Roe. Of course, they were twins, and how true it was that the bond between twins was strong!

They suddenly seemed to remember me, and Morwenna immediately brought me into the picture.

“You’ll think we’re crazy, Favel.”

” No, of course not. I think it’s wonderful news. Congratulations I” She clasped her hands together and murmured: “If only you knew!”

” Well pray for a boy,” said Roe.

” It must be a boy this time—it must.”

“And what does old Charles say?”

” What do you think! He’s rapturous. He’s already thinking up names.”

” Make sure it’s a good old Cornish name, but we don’t want any more Petrocs about the place for a while.”

Morwenna said to me: ” After all these years. It does seem marvelous.

You see, we’ve always wanted a boy. “

We all went down to dinner together, and after the meal Roe proposed the health of the mother-to-be, and we all became quite hilarious.

Next day I had a talk with Morwenna, who had become more friendly, I thought; I liked her new serenity.

She told me that she was three months pregnant and had started to plan the child’s layette; and she was so certain that it was going to be a boy that I was a little afraid for her, because I realised how disappointed she would be if it should be a girl.

“You probably think that I’m behaving like a young girl about to have her first baby,” she said with a laugh. ” Well, that’s how I feel.

Charles wanted a boy so much . and so do I, and I always felt I was letting him down in some way by not producing one. “

” I’m sure he didn’t feel that.”

“Charles is such a good man. He would never show resentment. But I know he longed for a son. I’ll have to be careful nothing goes wrong.

It did about five years ago. I had a miscarriage and was very ill, and Dr. Elgin, who was here before Andrew Clement, said I shouldn’t make any more attempts . not for some time in any case. So you see how we feel. “

” Well, you must take the greatest care.”

“Of course one can take too much care. Some people think you should carry on as normally as possible for as long as possible.”

” I’m sure you’ll be all right; but suppose it should be a girl?” Her face fell.

“You’d love it just the same,” I assured her.

“People always do.”

“I

should love her, but it wouldn’t be the same. I long for a boy, Favel. I can’t tell you how I long for a boy. “

” What name have you decided to give him?” I asked. ” Or haven’t you thought of that?”

” Charles is insisting that if it’s a boy we call him Ennis. It’s a name that’s been given to lots of Pendorrics. If you and Roe have a son you’ll call him Petroc. That’s the custom: the eldest son of the eldest son. But Ennis is as Cornish as Petroc. It’s rather charming, don’t you think?”

” Ennis,” I repeated.

She was smiling, and the intensity of her expression disturbed me. ” He’s certain to be Ennis,” she went on.

I tamed to the book of baby patterns which was lying on her lap and expressed more interest in it than I really felt.

So even Morwenna’s news added to my uneasiness. Ennis was a family name; and the boy on the moor had the looks as well as the name;

Morwenna had taken Rachel away and Roe had been at hand to help make arrangements; he had visited them during their sojourn abroad, and Deborah had been afraid that Roe was going to marry Rachel. I thought I was controlling my suspicions, but I couldn’t hide them from Roe.

One day he announced that he was going to take me out for the day. I mustn’t imagine I knew Cornwall just because I had seen our little corner; he was going to take me farther afield. There was an autumnal mist in the air when we left Pendorric in the Daimler, but Roe assured me that it was only the pride of the morning; the sun would break through before long; and he was right. We drove on to the moor, and then turned northward and stopped at a country hotel for lunch.

It was over this meal that I realised Roe had brought me out to talk seriously to me.

” Now,” he said, filling my glass with Chablis, ” let’s have it.”

“Have what?”

” What’s on your mind?”

“On my mind?”

” Darling, innocence, in this case, is unbecoming. You know perfectly well what I mean. You’ve been looking at me for the last week or so as though you’re wondering whether I’m Bluebeard and you’re my ninth wife.”

” Well, Roe,” I replied, ” although you’re my husband and we’ve been married quite a few months, I don’t always feel I know you very well.”

” Am I one of those people who don’t improve on acquaintance?” As usual he caught me up in his mood; and I was already beginning to feel gay and that my suspicions were rather foolish. ” You remain .. mysterious,” I told him.

” And it’s time you began to clear up the mysteries, you’re thinking?”

“As you’re my husband I don’t think there should be secrets between us.”

He gave me that disarming smile which always touched me deeply. ” Nor do I. I know what’s disturbing you. You discovered that I haven’t lived the life of a monk before my marriage. You’re right in that. But you don’t want details of every little peccadillo, do you?”

” No,” I told him, ” not every one. Only the important ones.”

” But when I met you I realised that nothing that had happened to me before was of the slightest significance.”

” And you haven’t taken up the old way of life since you married me?”

“I can assure you that I have been faithful to you in thought and deed. There! Satisfied?”

” Yes, but …”

“So you’re not?”

“There are people who seem to regard you in a certain way and I wondered whether they realise that any relationship which existed between you is now … merely friendship.”