Seven Days in New Crete (Penguin Modern Classics) (22 page)

I tried it, but without result.

The sign of the Cross?
In hoc signo vinces
?

I tried that, too; with no better success. Either it had lost its efficacy since the close of the Christian Era, or else I did not use it with sufficient faith. I am a Christian only by virtue of infant baptism.

She was almost upon me, when I suddenly remembered that interview with the Hag. My hands dived into my pockets and felt for the locket. It was still there. I raised it above my head and said solemnly: ‘In the Mother’s Name! Set me free and give me safe conduct to the house where I live!’

She made two more complete circuits, fanning me with the wind of her career, and then another half-circle, before my words sank in and she slowed down to a stumbling halt. Quietly and soberly she turned about and unwound the pattern, coil by coil, moodily braiding her hair as she went, her eyes on the ground.

‘Thank you, Sally,’ I said, when she had finished and I found that I could move again. ‘Now get some clothes on like a good girl.’

She obeyed meekly and modestly, retrieved her shoes, resumed her cloak and stood waiting for further orders.

‘Now let’s find See-a-Bird and Starfish and ride home.’

She gave me her arm and we walked calmly off down the lane towards Zapmor.

Peaches and the captain were still in the ditch as we went by.

‘Excuse me, my dears,’ I said. ‘You’ll be doing me a great favour if you finish your love-making by the waterfall at the end of the lane. You’ll find two mounds there, newly turfed. Spread your cloaks on the smaller one, and give loving hospitality to an injured ghost. He was a good man, and my friend.’

From a small crowded knoll where the horses were tethered Sally and I silently watched the dancing until the first signs of dawn appeared; then formal goodbyes were said between the representatives of the two villages and the party broke up. Presently Starfish and See-a-Bird came along for their horses. They stared in surprise as they greeted us, evidently expecting Sally to explain her presence, but all she said was: ‘I’m very tired, let’s go straight home.’

The four of us rode off together, Starfish and I taking turns to sit behind Sally. Apparently in New Crete it was the woman who always rode in front when magicians of opposite sexes shared a horse. As soon as we were clear of the crowd I heard Starfish ask Sally, who was riding with him for the first stage, whether Fig-bread had come home. She answered with a simple ‘no’.

After a pause, Starfish asked whether she had walked all the way to Zapmor. Again she said ‘no’, in a voice that warned him to refrain from further questions.

Since Sally had calmed down and made at least a show of decent behaviour I had decided to say nothing either to antagonize or charm her. Though anxious to know what had happened to Sapphire in my absence, for the sake of peace I had not so much as mentioned her after we had left the clearing. I wondered whether she had already been bewitched, or encouraged to break her promise and go off. Sally had been capable of any mischief that day. I blamed myself for following the Hag’s advice about not going home at noon.

See-a-Bird asked the question for me. ‘How’s Sapphire?’

Sally shrugged. ‘I can’t answer for her any longer. She’s gone away. This evening she rode off, just before I started out myself.’

‘Where did she go?’

‘Probably to Dunrena, to consult the Goddess Ana at the royal shrine.’

‘Why Ana, not Mari? I don’t like that. She must be in a bad way.’

‘Not through any fault of mine.’

No more was said. We clattered through Rabnon, which was illuminated by victory bonfires, and turned down the lane for home; I was now riding behind Sally. As the light increased we began to exchange greetings with peasants from Horned Lamb, already working in the dewy fields, and smell the wood-smoke that drifted from cottage chimneys. I recognized it as chestnut-wood smoke; abstention from tobacco had made my sense of smell abnormally keen, as it had also sharpened my sense of taste.

‘Normally, you mean, not abnormally,’ Sally said over her shoulder.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘That’s the reason why we smoke only one cigarette a day. Constant smoking would dull our appreciation of the Goddess’s gifts. It’s normal to distinguish one sort of wood-smoke from another.’

‘But I didn’t say a word, did I?’

‘Only to yourself. But I overheard you.’

‘How on earth did you do that?’

‘I’m a witch, aren’t I?’

‘And you’ve been listening to my thoughts ever since you evoked me?’

‘Oh, no. Only since you’ve been riding behind me.’

‘You might at least have warned me that you were listening.’

‘I forgot that you didn’t know why the women always ride in front. If the man did, he’d overhear the woman’s thoughts, which would be indecent. I wondered why you were being so open with me. Well, if you have any thoughts that you don’t want me to share you’d better dismount; but we’re all friends here, and it’s most unfriendly for a man to close his mind to a woman. I was listening to Starfish on the road between Zapmor and Rabnon; he had very generous thoughts about me.’

We had nearly reached home, so I refrained from making a scene by dismounting. As we passed the Nonsense House I decided to cover my mental nakedness by silently repeating the more abstruse of Lear’s Nonsense Rhymes. But the impudence of the woman! It was difficult to keep my mind on the verses.

I went straight up to the bedroom. Looking around carefully, I was reassured to find that Sapphire had not taken any of her toilet things, except a toothbrush: evidently she had not gone off for good. Now that I’d got the locket, I felt much happier about the whole situation; it would give me the whip-hand of Sally. What a fool I had been, though, to miss the perfect chance of using it! If it was an all-purpose pass, why hadn’t I produced it just now and made Sally yield me the front seat? Then I might have been able to listen to her thoughts. I resented the theory that it was decent for a woman to eavesdrop, but indecent for a man.

I undressed, got into bed, and was soon asleep. I had taken the precaution of tying the locket around my ankle with a piece of ribbon from Sapphire’s dressing-table. Sally was quite capable of trying to steal it.

A gentle knock at the door woke me soon afterwards, and Antonia came in.

‘Hullo, Tonia,’ I said sleepily.

‘Oh, hullo, Ned.’

‘How did you come here?’

‘A woman with blue legs and a tall fancy-dress hat evoked me.’

‘That was very nice of her. I’ve missed you a lot, these last five days.’

‘How do you mean: five days? We were together all yesterday…’

‘Five of their days. And because of the tobacco shortage they seem twice as long as ours. How are you?’

‘A bit puzzled, but a good deal happier now I’ve found you. I thought I was dreaming.’

‘Well, you’re not. This place is real enough. Who’s looking after Mun?’

‘Nobody, but Mlle Blue-legs promised me that I’d be away only between one heart-beat and the next; and even Mun can’t manage to fall out of his cot in that time. I rather like the look of this place. I wish we had servants like the ones here. Just look at the polish on that chest-of-drawers!’

‘I can’t see it without sitting up and I don’t feel like moving at the moment.’

‘Shall I come to bed with you? It’s still very early.’

‘There’s nothing I’d enjoy more. In this brave new world we poets are expected to twine and float platonically in the air with our disembodied loved ones.’

‘But how charming! Like Levitated Lottie and her boy friend?’

‘That’s right. Or else we have to defend our virtue against assaults by stark naked maenads.’

‘But how alarming! I hope you’ve managed to defend yours, my sweet?’ She slipped into bed as she spoke.

‘So far, Mari be praised!’

‘
What
did you say?’

‘Mari be praised!’

‘Do you mean to say that they’ve succeeded where even Ronnie Knox failed, and made a
Car
tholic of you? Oh, Ned, I never thought I’d see the day!’

‘Here, don’t shrink from me, you black Protestant! Everyone in New Crete says “Mari be praised!” It doesn’t mean a thing.’

‘Promise me you’re telling the truth. I’d never forgive myself if I found myself in bed with a ruddy Papist. It’s my oldest superstition.’

‘I promise faithfully. I’ll even sing “Clitter, clatter, Holy Watter” for you, if you insist. But, really, Tonia, you ought to know me better by now. I’ve still got C of E stamped on my identity disc.’

‘Oh, is
that
what you’re wearing round your ankle?’

‘I was speaking figuratively. The thing round my ankle is a sort of New Cretan passport. When we get up we’ll go places with it.’

‘I say, those are lovely brushes on the dressing-table! I wish you’d buy me a new ivory brush; I’ve never felt quite a lady since mine was blown to hell by that Good Friday bomb. Whose bedroom is this, by the bye?’

‘A nice girl called Sapphire lives here. She’s away at the moment. You’ll like her. Something almost Lady Margaret Hall about her.’

‘Are you in love with her?’

‘What an untimely question!’

‘Oh, Ned, isn’t this fun? Let’s have a look at that passport for a moment. Is there any mention of me, and does the photograph make you look any less criminal than usual?’

‘It isn’t that sort of a passport. And I’m not untying it from my ankle. No, leave go of it or I’ll tickle you till you scream! It stays where it is. I don’t trust anyone with it, not even you. We live precarious lives in this somewhere-nowhere place and I’m not taking any risks. One slip, and we might topple off into nothingness.’

‘You make me feel like Mrs Discobbolus on the wall with Mr Discobbolus.’

‘I didn’t realize you knew your Lear. You’ve always said you had a rhymeless and storyless childhood. Anyway, stop chattering now and lie still. I’m going to start serious proceedings by kissing you on the tip of your unluminous nose.’

‘Why unluminous?’

‘Hush, darling!’

I slept till nearly dinner time. When I awoke, Antonia had already dressed and left the bedroom. She must have had breakfast by now. This was Wednesday, the day when the recorders took their holiday, so there would be no Interpreter to help her. But she could always make signs to supplement her French – French was, after all, closely related to Catalan, the basis of New Cretan – or draw pictures on a scrap of paper. ‘No, not on paper,’ I reminded myself, ‘but she always made herself understood perfectly, even to our dumb Sudanese cook at Heliopolis.’

As I dressed, I wondered why Sally had evoked Antonia. Was spite the motive? Since I had refused to share her cloak, had she made up her mind that I should at least not share Sapphire’s? No, that wasn’t right; obviously she could not act on her own. I had the Hag to thank for my present happiness. All orders for evocation came from her; Sally could only have been the agent. But what I did not understand was how Sally had managed it so quickly. She had been away all night, and when we came back I could hardly have been asleep for more than half an hour before Antonia knocked. Yet my own evocation, according to the Interpreter, had lasted from dawn to midday, and then I had not woken up until fairly late in the afternoon. Evidently Sally had improved on her technique and cut down the time to a few minutes. Or were women perhaps more easily evoked than men?

I went out to look for Antonia. She was not in the dining-room, nor in the sitting-room, nor on the veranda, nor in the study behind the sitting-room where I had first found myself. Through a window I saw See-a-Bird pacing up and down the garden and called to him: ‘Have you seen my wife?’

‘No, I haven’t. She hasn’t returned from Court yet.’

I had used the word
dona
, which in New Cretan means ‘lady’ or ‘sweetheart’ as well as wife, so See-a-Bird had misunderstood my question.

‘I don’t mean Sapphire, I mean Antonia,’ I said.

‘Oh, Edward, has she died?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I thought you said that Sapphire was no longer called Sapphire, but Antonia.’

‘If she were dead I shouldn’t ask you whether you’d seen her. No, you’ve got the wires hopelessly crossed. I am asking you whether you’ve seen a young woman wandering about – not Sapphire, nor anything to do with her – long-legged and rather purposeful with dark, wavy hair, wearing a striped yellow-and-black skirt, a white blouse with short sleeves, and high-heeled black shoes. She’s called Antonia.’

‘Nobody like that has been downstairs since breakfast time.’

‘Then she must have missed breakfast.’

At that moment Starfish came up and See-a-Bird passed my question on to him.

‘No, I’ve seen nobody,’ he answered. ‘Nor can anyone have gone out by either of the gates before breakfast. They have the “keep-away” symbol marked on both sides.’

‘Then she can only be in Sally’s bedroom. Antonia’s my wife, you know – from my own age. Is Sally up yet?’

‘No.’ Now See-a-Bird was looking scared.

I went to Sally’s door and knocked. Presently she opened the door, tousled and cheerful. She was wearing a red, Chinese-looking dressing-gown and her legs showed no sign of woad. ‘Hello, how are things this morning?’ she asked.

‘Fine, thanks.’

‘Good. Is there anything you want?’

‘Yes, I want Antonia. Is she in there with you?’

‘What’s your hurry?’

‘She doesn’t seem to have had breakfast.’

Sally eyed me inscrutably. ‘No, not a bite. I’ll be along in a moment. It must be nearly time for lunch.’

‘But where is Antonia? I want to see her.’

‘I said I’d be along in a moment.’

‘Don’t tease me, Sally. She’s in there with you, isn’t she?’

‘In a manner of speaking – yes!’ She shut the door, laughing softly to herself. Then she half-opened it again and asked me: ‘Why unluminous?’

Then, of course, I understood. It had not been Antonia: it had been Sally, hypnotizing me into building up a false Antonia from my scattered memories of her – like the false Helen, the
idolon
, that had precipitated the Trojan War – and then giving it physical reality with her own body. She had started that game on the first night I spent with Sapphire. The conversation had been an invention of my own, of the unilateral sort that people often carry on in their minds with absent friends or lovers – this was proved by the reference to Lear’s Mr and Mrs. Discobbolus: as soon as I put it into the idolon’s mouth I had recognized that it was not the sort of remark the real Antonia would have made, and immediately corrected it.