The Black Opal (4 page)

He gave Nanny that rather cool look which confirmed my belief that he did not like her at all.

He said: “Carmel could not have walked back herself. It was good of them to take care of her. I dare say Mrs. Marline will want to write a note thanking them for their kindness.”

He turned to me and his smile was gentle again.

“I don’t suppose they mentioned their names?”

“Oh yes,” I cried.

“One did. The one who gave me the toddy and bandaged it. She is Rosie Perrin.”

“I shall remember that,” he said, nodded and went out.

Nanny muttered, “Writing to gipsies, my foot! What next? Mistress will know better than that. A nice thing you’ve done. Falling about in woods and bringing that sort into the house!”

Sally wanted to hear all about my adventure, and I think Estella wished it had happened to her. Sally said it was very nice of the gipsies to look after me.

The doctor came every day to look at the wound on my leg and to test my ankle. He was always kind and gentle to me and cool to Nanny. I liked him more for both of these reasons. Mrs. Marline did not come to see me. I wondered whether she wrote that note to Rosie Perrin.

That incident marked a turning-point in my relationship with the doctor. He noticed me now and then and would say: “Ankle feeling all right now?” and after a while, just:

“All right?”

I was getting quite fond of him. He gave me the impression that he really cared that 1 was ‘all right’, even though 1 was left under the azalea bush and had brought gipsies into the house.

The big house in the neighbourhood was the Grange. It was owned by Sir Grant Crompton, who was regarded as

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the ‘lord of the manor’. Sir Grant and Lady Crompton were the benefactors of the neighbourhood and employed quite a number of the local population; they let their farms to tenant farmers and sent a goose to the poor every Christmas.

It was all very traditional. Lady Crompton officiated at fetes, bazaars, and such affairs which raised money for good causes. The family always appeared at church if they were in residence, sitting in those pews which had been occupied by the family for two hundred years. The servants sat immediately behind them. Sir Grant contributed generously to funds for the church’s needs and he was greatly revered by us all.

There were two children of the household Lucian and Camilla. I used to see them riding with a groom. They seemed a very handsome and haughty pair who rarely looked our way when we passed them in the lanes they on magnificent steeds, we on foot. Estella sighed and wished she lived at the Grange and rode a white horse with her brother, equally splendidly mounted, beside her. Lucian, moreover, was much bigger and more handsome than Henry.

Well, of course, they were “Grange folk’, and although the doctor was not exactly despised in social circles, and had on occasions even been invited to the Grange, it was suspected that it was only to make up numbers or due to the last-minute cancellation of some more worthy guest.

Mrs. Marline was a little disgruntled about it, and had been heard to ask who the Cromptons thought they were, but when an opportunity came to extend the connection between the Grange and Commonwood House, she was delighted.

Mrs. Marline had been engaged on some charitable work which entailed a visit to the Grange, where she had been graciously received by Lady

Crompton, and during the interview it had transpired that both ladies were concerned about their sons’ education.

Lady Crompton was proposing to engage a tutor for Lucian because she felt it was not quite time for him to go away to school, and, as the same problem concerned Mrs. Marline, the two ladies had a great deal to talk about. The outcome was that Lady Crompton suggested that the boys share the tutor who was to come to the Grange.

Mrs. Marline was delighted with the idea.

I presumed that she would share the cost of the tutor, for I heard Nanny Gilroy say that, in spite of their grandeur, the Cromptons were not ones to ‘throw their money about’ and she reckoned they were rather ‘near’. And, of course, we all knew that Mrs. Marline had the money and she would be ready to pay for what she would consider such a privilege.

So it was arranged and every morning, except Sundays, Henry used to set off for the Grange and he would return in the mid-afternoon with books and work to be done in preparation for the next day’s session.

It was a very satisfactory arrangement in Mrs. Marline’s eyes, for it meant that the families met more frequently than they had before.

Estella, Henry and Adeline were invited to the Grange to tea with Lucian and Camilla. Estella was delighted, but it made her very dissatisfied with Commonwood House, which was humble in comparison with the Grange.

I was never asked to go. I believe Nanny Gilroy had something to do with that, and Mrs. Marline would, of course, have been in agreement with her. But I was sure the doctor would not have been if he had had any say in the matter.

Then it changed.

Uncle Toby paid us a visit while his ship was in port for minor repairs.

It was, as usual, a wonderful visit. He brought me a

2. present from Hong Kong. It was a jade pendant on a slender gold chain, and the pendant was decorated with signs which he told me meant “Good Luck’ in Chinese.

I had in my possession that other pendant, which had been round my neck when I was found under the azalea bush. I often looked at it, but I never wore it. I think I felt it would remind people of my arrival and that I did not really belong here.

Uncle Toby’s gift was different. I was enchanted not only for its promise of good fortune, but because Uncle Toby had given it to me.

Nanny Gilroy would have said it was unsuitable for a child of my age to wear jewellery and would have ordered me to take it off, so I used to wear it hidden under my dress when she was around. I was never without it, even during the night, and the first thing I did, on waking, was to touch it and murmur “Good Luck’ while I stretched out my other hand to the musical box and listened to ” God Save the Queen’.

Estella was very excited because she and Henry had been invited to take tea at the Grange. If the weather was fine and we were in the middle of a heat wave it was to take place on the lawn in front of the house.

Nanny had told Sally to press Estella’s blue dress with a satin sash and the puffed sleeves. Estella must look just as well-dressed as that Camilla.

“And prettier, too,” added Nanny.

I watched Sally carefully pressing the dress.

“It’s a shame they don’t ask you,” she said.

“You’d like to go, wouldn’t you? You’d look as good as any of them.”

“I don’t want to go,” I lied.

“I’d rather be here.”

“It would be nice for you,” persisted Sally.

“And they ought to ask you. I reckon they might well … but for Nanny. 1 wouldn’t mind taking a bet on that. And then there’s Her, too.”

By Her, she meant Mrs. Marline; and 1 was sure her conjecture was correct.

Estella was duly garbed in the dress and I had to admit, though rather reluctantly, that she looked very pretty.

I watched them from my window as they set out for the Grange, and a wild idea came to me. I had not been invited but that was no reason why I should not go.

1 had on one occasion been inside the grounds of the Grange. Curiosity had overcome me. It had been one afternoon when I guessed the house would be at its quietest. If I were discovered, I told myself, I could say I was lost. There was a way in through a hedge round the paddock and beyond that was the shrubbery which bordered the lawn in front of the house. I had crept through the hedge and sped across the paddock to this shrubbery, from where I had a good view of the lawns and the house.

Very fine it was of grey stone and ancient, with a turret at either end and a big gateway which I could see led into a courtyard. From the shrubbery I could have a good view of the tea-party without any one of them being aware that I was there.

Well, if I could not be a guest, there was no reason why I should not look in on the party. So when they had left, I slipped out after them, fingering my good luck pendant to assure myself that I had that with me and that while I had, no matter what reckless action I took, 1 was safe.

I made my way to the shrubbery undetected. I had a clear view over the lawn. A white table with white chairs had been set up in readiness for the al fresco party. Estella and Henry had arrived and had first been taken into the house, I guessed they would come out very soon, accompanied by Lucian and Camilla, and possibly the pale-faced young man who was the tutor.

I crouched under the bushes. On no account must 1 be seen and 1 must choose the right moment to slip away. I would creep through the shrubbery and then negotiate the dangerous part, which was running across the paddock to

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the hedge. Once I had crawled through that I would be safe.

All would be well because I had my good luck pendant with me. I put my hands up to touch it and horror swept over me. It was not there.

For a few moments I was so numb with horror that I could not move.

Only a short while before I had touched it. It must be there. I was dreaming. This was a nightmare. I stood up, risking being seen. Again I put my hands to my neck. No pendant. No chain. What could have happened? I had fastened it securely when I put it on. I always did. I shook my dress. I stared at the brown earth. There was no sign of the pendant.

It could not be far, I comforted myself. It had been round my neck only a few minutes ago. I was on my hands and knees searching. It must have fallen off. I had lost my precious gift Uncle Toby’s gift and all my luck.

I felt desolate. There were tears on my cheeks. I must find it, I must. I crawled around . searching . searching. I must go back the way I had come. Could I be sure of the exact path I had taken across the paddock? My despair overcame me. I sat down, covered my face with my hands and wept.

Suddenly I was aware of someone close to me.

“What’s wrong?” asked Lucian Crompton.

I forgot that I had no right to be there. There was no other thought in my mind than that I had lost my most treasured possession.

I stammered: “I’ve lost my good luck pendant.”

“Your what?” he cried.

“And who are you? What are you doing here?”

I answered the questions in order.

“The pendant my Uncle Toby brought home from Hong Kong. It says ” Good Luck” on it. I’m Carmel and they didn’t ask me to the party, so 1 came to have a look.”

“Where do you come from?”

“From Commonwood House.”

They’re here today. “

“Yes … but not me. I was just going to watch.”

“Oh, I know. You’re the little girl who …”

I nodded.

“I was found under the azalea bush which gave Tom Yardley a lot of trouble one year. I’m Carmel, which means garden. It’s where I was found, you see.”

“And you’ve lost this pendant?”

“It was there after I’d crawled under the hedge.”

“Which hedge?”

I pointed across the paddock.

“That was the way you came in, was it?”

I nodded.

“And you had it then. Well, it can’t be far off, can it? It must be round here somewhere.”

1 felt a little happier. He spoke so confidently.

“Let’s have a look for it. Which way did you come?”

I pointed.

“Well, here we go. You show me. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.

You keep yours open. This way. Watch your step. Don’t want to tread on it, do you? What does it look like? “

“It’s green and it’s got ” Good Luck” on it in Chinese letters.”

“Right. It shouldn’t be hard to find.”

We came to the edge of the shrubbery without success.

“Now,” he said.

“You crossed the paddock. I see where you got through the hedge. There’s a little opening there, isn’t there? That’s where it was.”

1 nodded.

“Then we’ll make for that space. Keep your eyes open and we’ll cross the paddock. Try to remember the exact way you came.”

We walked across, a little apart and arrived at the hedge. He knelt down and gave a cry of triumph.

“Is this it?”

I could have wept with joy.

He held it up and said: “Ah, I see. Look. The clasp is broken. That’s why it dropped off.”

“Broken,” I said in dismay, my joy evaporating.

He studied it intently.

“Oh, 1 see. A link has come off. All it needs is to fix it back. The clasp itself is all right. It’s a job for the jeweller, though. Old Higgs in the High Street will fix it in a few minutes. Then it will be all right.”

He handed it to me. I clutched it, half joyful, half tearful. I had not lost it, but I had to get it to old Higgs in the High Street.

Nanny would not allow that. I should have to get Estella or Henry to help me. Perhaps Sally could.

He was watching. Then he smiled.

“I tell you what we’ll do,” he said.

“After tea I’ll take it to Higgs and he’ll do it right away.”

“Would you?” I cried.

“I don’t see why not.”

“After…”

“Well, we ought to be there now, you know. Let’s go.”

“But I’m not supposed to be there.”

“I’ve invited you. This will be my house one day and I can ask whom I like.”

“Nanny …”

“Nanny who?”

“Nanny Gilroy. She’d say it wasn’t right for you to ask me. You see, I was found under the azalea bush. Nanny would say I didn’t belong ..

”

“If I say you belong, you belong,” he said in a swaggering way which made me laugh.

1 was hugging my pendant. Good luck had returned.

So 1 went back with him to the Grange. Estella was amazed, and so was

Henry. Lucian told them about the pendant and Camilla wanted to see it and hear about the Chinese letters which meant “Good Luck’.

“It’s lovely,” she said.

“I wish I had one.”

I glowed with pleasure and was very happy.

Estella looked alarmed. She said: “You know Carmel is … not really one of us.”