Mistress of Mellyn (3 page)

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

She looked at the main table and tutted in exasperation;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

” Yes, please,” I said.

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

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

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

” When does he return?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

and I noticed that there was a door in addition to the one by which I had entered.

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

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

” I see. So the schoolroom separates us.”

Mrs. Polgrey nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

” Then I owe thanks to Miss Celestine.”

” A very pleasant lady. She thinks the world of Miss Alvean.” Mrs.

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

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

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

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

” With Miss Alvean?”

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

” There are other children?”

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

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

” I see.”

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

” In the schoolroom.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Alvean!” I called on impulse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I rang the bell and Daisy appeared.

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

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

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

She led the way to the punch room through which I had passed with Mrs.

Polgrey on my way to my own quarters. She drew aside the curtains and with a dramatic gesture cried:

” Here be Miss!”

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

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

” How do you do?” I asked.

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