Menfreya in the Morning (4 page)

I must be clever too. I must plan the next move. Gwennan often took an early morning ride and she came this way, for she had told me it was one of her favorite rides.

If I hid myself in a cave in the cliffs which we had discovered, I might see her. If not, I should have to make further plans. Perhaps it would be better to go to the stables and hide there. But I might meet some of the grooms; besides there were the dogs. No, I must take my chance and wait in the cave. If she were riding today she would most certainly come this way.

I waited for what seemed like hours, but I was lucky in the end. Gwennan came, and she came alone.

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Menfreya in the Morning

Victoria Holt

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I called to her. She pulled up sharp and stopped.

When I told her, she was amused. It was she who thought of the island. It was an adventure which appealed to her. She had me at her mercy now and she was delighted.

“Come with me,” she said. “I know where to bide you,”

It was high tide so she rowed me over to the island, making me lie in the bottom of the boat for fear someone should see me.

“I shall see that you’re fed,” she told me. “And as no one else wants to live in the house, why shouldn’t you?”

That had happened the day before. Now here was Gwen-nan with the newspaper. I had not thought that my running away could be so important

Gwennan said: “They were all talking about it at breakfast. Papa says that someone is going to demand a ransom for you. Thousands of pounds. Fancy being worth that!”

“My papa would never pay it He would be glad, really, to be rid of me.”

Gwennan nodded, conceding the possibility of this. “Still,1* she said wisely, “he mightn’t want the papers to know it, and so pay up.”

“But nobody’s asking. I’m not kidnaped.”

Gwennan was regarding me speculatively. “We’re in need of money, you know,” she said.

I laughed. “What! The Menfreys holding me to ransom. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It would,” sighed Gwennan, “if Sir Edward paid us the money. You know, we’re finding it bard to make ends meet That’s why this place has been furnished. Papa said he didn’t see why it shouldn’t be put to use. It’s been standing idle for years. So they painted it up a little, and they brought this furniture over. That was a year ago. We’ve been waiting for the first tenant And it’s you!”

“I’m not a real tenant I’m just hiding here.”

“Besides, you’re not paying rent Still, if there’s a ransom .. .”

“There isn’t”

“No. But I’m not surprised you ran away. That hateful old Clarissa creature. I should have gone down and boxed her ears, if I’d been in your place.”

“You wouldn’t have been. You’re beautiful and no one could say those things about you.”

Gwennan slipped off the table on which she had been sitting and, uncovering one of the mirrors, studied her face. I limped over and we stood side by side, looking. She couldn’t help but be pleased with her reflection—round face, creamy skin, faintly freckled, tawny hair, tawny eyes and an en- i chanting little nose with wide nostrils which, I said, made j her look like a tiger.

“You always look as though you think people aren’t going to like you—that’s your trouble,” said Gwennan. ‘

“Well, why should I look any other way when they don’t?”

“It reminds them they don’t. They might forget it if you looked as if you didn’t know it Well, you’ll have to stay here. I’ll bring you food every day so you won’t starve. You’ll have to see how long you can hold out. How did you like spending a night on No Man’s?” “Oh … it was all right.” “Liar. You were scared.” “Wouldn’t you have been?” “Perhaps. It’s haunted, you know.”

“It isn’t” I said fiercely. It mustn’t be, and yet if it was, I didn’t want to hear about it; but on the other band, I couldn’t resist urging her to go on.

In any case Gwennan wasn’t going to spare me. “Oh yes, it is. Papa says there might be a tenant but for the whispers. People come and look at the house and then get to hear.”

She spent about an hour with me and when she went, promised to come back in the afternoon. She would have to be very careful not to arouse suspicions, for someone might wonder why she was suddenly interested in the island.

I should have been excited in her place; she had all the fun of it; I had all the difficulties.

I felt uneasy as twilight began to fall. I did not want to enter the house until I had to, so I sat leaning against the wall staring across the sea to Menfreya Manor … a comforting sight. There were lights in several of the windows. Bevil was probably there; I had wanted to ask Gwennan about him but I had refrained from doing so, for Gwennan had an uneasy habit of reading my thoughts and if she discovered that I was interested in her brother, she would be amused and not only tease me but exaggerate my interest.

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Menfreya in the Morning

- — –*-&

It would soon be high tide and I watched the water slowly creeping nearer to the house. It came to within a few yards on this side, and on very high tides I had heard it reached the wall and flooded the kitchen. That was at certain times of the year, I believed, and it was not now. But the encroaching sea held less terror for me than the dark house.

Gwennaa had brought me candles in the afternoon, and before it was quite dark I would go in and light a few. The more candles there were, the less uneasy I felt. Perhaps I would leave one burning in the bedroom all night; then, when I awoke startled, I would see where I was at once.

I had no watch so I did not know the time, but the sun had long disappeared and the first stars were beginning to show themselves. I watched them—one moment not there and the next there they were. I discovered the Plough and then looked for the other constellations which, I hod learned from Miss James, I could expect to find in the night sky. Fear was creeping closer, like the sea, like darkness. Perhaps if I went to bed and lay down I might sleep, for I had slept little for two nights.

I went into the house and hastily lighted the candles; then I carried one upstairs to the bedroom. I fancied the furniture leaped into place as I entered. I hastily looked about me and shut the door. Then, carrying my candle, I went cautiously to each grotesque hump and lifted the sheet, just to assure myself that it was only furniture beneath and that there was nothing hidden there but the pieces which had been brought over from Menfreya Manor to furnish the place for the hoped-for tenant I was foolish. The fear was within myself. If I could only drive it out of my mind, this would be merely a lonely house to me; I should lie on the bed and fall fast asleep.

I would try this; but I would leave the candle burning.

I lay on the bed as I had the previous night and closed my eyes, immediately opening them to see if I could catch something before it had time to hide. How foolish! Some people said you didn’t actually see ghosts, because seeing was a physical process and gbosts were not physical. You sensed them. And I sensed something in this house when darkness fell, I was sure.

I closed my eyes again and suddenly thought I was traveling on the train, and because I was so tired I slept

I awoke terrified. The first thing I saw was the candle, and

Victoria Holt

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I knew that I had slept some time because of how much of it was burned. I sat up and looked about the room; it seemed as though the sheeted humps suddenly stood in the places they had occupied when I closed my eyes. I glanced at the window. It was still night Something had awakened me. A dream? A bad one, because I was trembling and my heart was bumping madly

“Only a dream,” I said aloud. Then I was alert. Above the gentle murmur of the waves I heard a sound below. Voices … and then the creak of a door.

I leaped off the bed and stood staring at the door.

I was not alone on the island. I was not alone in the house.

VoicesI Whispering voices! One deep, one of a higher pitch. I heard a sound that could have been a footstep.

“You’re imagining it” I whispered.

No. There was the creak of a stair, and the unmistakable sound of stealthy footsteps.

My heart was beating so loudly that it stopped my thinking. I was standing against the door listening. Those were undoubtedly footsteps on the stairs. Then I heard a voice, a female voice. “Let’s go. I don’t like it”

A low laugh—a man’s laugh.

One thing was certain. Whoever these were, they were no ghosts, and at any moment they would burst into the room. I ran to the dressing table and scrambled under the dust sheet. I had only just succeeded in biding myself when the door opened.

“Ah! Here we are!” said a voice I knew.

“A candle … a light, Mr. Bevil.” That was the woman.

“Whoever is in the house is hiding here,” said Bevil Men-frey.

He was pulling off the dust covers, and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before he reached the dressing table.

I looked up at him, and even at such a moment I thought how magnificent he looked in candlelight. He had become older since I last saw him. He was indeed a man. He looked enormously tall, and the candlelight threw a long shadow of him on the wall with the smaller figure of the woman cowering behind him.

“Good God!” he cried. “It’s Harriet Delvaney. Come out you little wretch. What are you doing here?”

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Menfreya in the Morning

Victoria Holt

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Then, stooping, he gripped me by the arm and pulled me up.

“Can’t say I admire your choice of a residence. How long have you been here?”

“This is the second night.”

He turned to his companion, and I saw that she was a young and pretty girl whom I did not know.

“Well. The mystery’s solved, then.”

“What are you going to do, Mr. Bevil?” asked the girl; and then I knew that she was one of the village girls who wouldn’t be invited as a guest to Menfreya, so I wondered what she was doing here at this time of night with Bevil.

“There’s only one thing to do. I’m going to row her straight back to the mainland; and well have to let her father know she’s found.”

“Oh … the wicked little thing!”

“And what about you?” I asked.

That made Bevil laugh again. “Yes,” he said, “what about you and what about me? No recriminations on either side, eh, Harriet?”

“No,” I said, not understanding, but suddenly almost happy—first, because I was not going to have to spend the rest of the night alone on the island, and secondly, because he was amused by what I had done and because I understood that, just as he had discovered me where I should not be, so bad I discovered him.

He looked down at me. “You shouldn’t have left the candle burning,” he said. “Very careless. We saw the flickering light in the window almost as soon as we landed.” His face was suddenly stern. “Do you know, Miss Harriet, that there’s great consternation about you. They’ve all but decided to drag the Thames.”

He was joking; but he was puzzled, and again I felt that glow of pleasure. Never before had I had his undivided attention; I could see that he had quite forgotten his companion.

We went down to the boat, and in a short time we had reached the mainland.

He said to the girl: “You go now.”

Her mouth slackened and she looked at him in surprise, but he said impatiently, “Yes, go.”

She gave him a rather sullen look and, lifting her skirts about her thighs, stepped over the side of the boat into the shallow water. Her feet were bare and she stood for a

moment with the water lapping about her ankles to look back and see if Bevil was watching. He wasn’t He was looking at me, his hands resting on the oars.

“Why did you do it?” he said.

“I wanted to.”

“You ran away to spend a night on that island?”

“Not to do that.”

“How did you get there?”

I didn’t answer. I was not going to involve Gwennan.

“You’re an odd child, Harriet,” he said. “I suspect that you worry too much about things that are not half as important as you imagine them to be.”

“You can’t know how important my being lame is to me.” I was passionately angry suddenly. “You say it’s not important Nor is it to you. But you don’t have to limp about, do you? Of course, you can imagine it is not important It isn’t to you.”

He looked startled. “My dear Harriet, how vehement you are. People don’t like you less for being lame. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. But that’s not the question at the moment, is it? You have run away. There’s a great fuss about it. And now you are discovered. What are you going to do? You’re not planning to run away from me, are you? Because I shall catch you and bring you back. I want to help you.” He leaned towards me. His eyes were quizzical and not without tenderness, which warmed me and made me happy. “Was life impossible there?”

I nodded.

“Your father, I suppose.” He sighed. “My poor little Harriet I’m afraid I’ll have to take you back. I’ll have to say I found you. If I didn’t, I’d be an accessory after the fact or something like that. Who brought you over? Gwennan, I suppose. She’s been glowing with importance all day. So it was Gwennan!”

I did not answer.

“Honor bright,” he said. “Very creditable. Well, there’s nothing to be done but face the music. But tell me this: What were your intentions?”

“I don’t know.”

“You mean you just ran away without deciding where you would run to?”

*1 came down here.”

“By train, I suppose. That was daring of you, But; you

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Menfreya in the Morning

should have had a plan of campaign, you know. And what did you hope to achieve?”

“I don’t know.”

He shook his head. Then his face was suddenly tender again. “Poor Harriet, it must have been bad.”

“I heard Aunt Clarissa talking about the difficulty of finding a husband for me,” I blurted out “Because,” I added, “I was .. .”

“Wel!, don’t let that worry you. Who knows, I might marry you myself.”

I laughed.

“I resent that,” he said mockingly. “Here I am making a perfectly reasonable suggestion, and you treat it with scorn.”

“Well,” I said, “it wasn’t serious.”