The Lost Years (19 page)

It was now suggested that the father of her unborn child was no one from Mevagissey. Heligan began to be mentioned - and a certain young gentleman who had stayed there and who rode a motor-cycle about the countryside.

The certain young gentleman was named as Perys Tremayne.

The rumour reached Annie’s ears via a village woman. She came to Tregassick Farm one day to order a goose for Christmas. Coming into the farm kitchen where Annie and her mother were working, she accepted the offer of a cup of tea while she told the two women the latest Mevagissey gossip.

When Annie angrily told the woman she had no right to spread such malicious rumours, the woman said mildly, ‘Oh, ‘t’aint no rumour, m’dear. I put what I’d heard to Eliza Dunn herself and said that, of course, I didn’t believe it. She, bold as brass, snapped back at me, ‘Oh! And why not? Are you saying I’m not good enough to carry a Tremayne baby? If that’s what you’re saying then you’re wrong.’ Well, you can’t have it more plain than that, can you? She’s a hussy, but she’s got her head screwed on the right way. I saw her wearing a coat the other day, the likes of which I’ve never seen in Mevagissey before. It weren’t bought out of no fisherman’s earnings, I can tell you that!’

‘We’ve had Perys Tremayne here in this kitchen sitting in the very chair where you are. I think I’d trust him far more than I would the word of Eliza Dunn!’

Annie was still angry and the village woman gave her a searching look before saying, ‘Well, I don’t know the young gentleman myself, but one thing’s certain - Eliza Dunn didn’t get pregnant all by herself.’

‘No, but you don’t need to go to Heligan to find someone who could be the father.’

Annie was aware the innuendo would strike home. The woman’s son had been one of Eliza’s lovers a year or so before.

Harriet knew it too. She also knew the woman was an inveterate gossip. In a bid to prevent Annie from saying any more and getting herself talked about for having leaped to Perys’s defence so strongly, she said, ‘I thought young Master Perys was a nice young man . . . but don’t let’s waste the opportunity of a nice chat by discussing Eliza Dunn. Annie, go to the dairy and bring in some more milk, there’s a dear we’re running short.’

Turning back to the Mevagissey woman, she said, ‘Now, tell me what’s happening down in the village. How is the fishing . . . ?’

* * *

Later that evening in the Tregassick farmhouse, Walter and Harriet Bray had just completed the evening ritual of wondering ‘what Martin is doing right now’, while Annie washed up the dishes.

Martin had been accepted by the Royal Flying Corps as a motor transport driver and mechanic and had been called up for training a week before, much earlier than the family had anticipated.

Suddenly, Annie untied her apron, hung it on a hook behind the kitchen door and announced, ‘I’m going down to Mevagissey.’

Startled, Harriet said, ‘At this time of night? What on earth for?’

‘I’m going to find Eliza Dunn and have it out with her for what she’s saying about Perys. It isn’t fair for him to have his name blackened by her while he’s not here to defend himself.’

Walter looked questioningly at his wife and she briefly explained about the visit from the Mevagissey gossip, adding to her daughter, ‘I can understand you being upset by what she said, Annie, but by going down to the village and making a fuss about it you’ll get yourself talked about.’

‘I don’t care!’ Anger had been bottled up inside Annie all day. She had decided she would direct it where it belonged - at Eliza. ‘She’s no right to tell lies about Perys, making people believe he’s the one who made her pregnant.’

Her father remained silent until Annie was about to leave the kitchen to find her coat, then he asked, quietly, ‘What makes you think Eliza’s lying, Annie?’

Taken aback, she replied, ‘Because she is, that’s why. He would never have had anything to do with the likes of her. You should know that, you met him more than once.’

‘I don’t know anything of the sort, girl. In fact, I know he was seeing her.’

‘You mean that time our Martin saw them talking on the driveway up at Heligan? Perys explained to me about that.’

‘No, Annie, I’m not talking of what anyone else has seen.’

‘What do you mean?’ Annie did not take her father’s words lightly. He was not in the habit of speaking ill of anyone neither did he pass on gossip.

‘I saw Master Perys and Eliza together down by the track to Heligan Mill one day - it was just before he went away. He’d been up here on that motor-bike of his and must have gone straight from here to meet her.’

Annie looked at her father in disbelief. ‘The day he came here . . . ?’ She remembered the occasion. It had been later that same day when he had told her how much she meant to him. ‘. . . He probably needed to go to Mevagissey for something and just met up with her by chance.’

She desperately hoped her father would agree with her, but he shook his head.

‘No, Annie. He’d left his motor-bike along the lane to go and meet her. They went back to it and were standing together just past the old barn. I saw him hand something to her. It might have been money, but I couldn’t really be sure. Then . . .’ he paused for a moment, aware that what he was about to say would upset Annie even more than she already was ‘. . . and then they kissed.’

There was a sharp intake of breath from Harriet, but Walter continued, ‘So you see, Annie, the rumours aren’t as far-fetched as they seem.’

Annie looked at him for a few minutes, her expression a mixture of disbelief and anguish.

‘I’m sorry, Annie -‘

Before he had finished speaking she turned and fled from the room and Walter and Harriet heard her running up the uncarpeted stairs to her room.

‘I’d better go up and see if there’s anything I can do.’ Harriet rose to her feet to go to her daughter but Walter put out a hand to restrain her.

‘Best let her be, Harriet. Let her get it out of her system. I always knew no good would come of her getting mixed up with anyone from the big house, but I didn’t realise it had gone this far.’

For Walter, having everything out in the open had come as a great relief. But he had another guilty secret, one that had been causing him a great deal of heart-searching during the past few weeks. Upstairs in the bedroom, in a locked deed box, were five unopened letters addressed to Annie. Letters he knew must have come from Perys. His actions in intercepting them and hiding them from her had troubled him greatly.

Now he felt he had been justified in taking such action.

Chapter 31

The weather showed signs of deteriorating. Although it had been Perys’s intention to make the journey from London to Heligan on his motor-cycle, he changed his mind. With the machine stowed in the guard’s van, he travelled to Cornwall by train.

He was very excited at the prospect of seeing Annie again, although he was concerned that she had not replied to the four or five letters he had sent to her during the weeks he had been away from Cornwall. However, he had telephoned the housekeeper at Heligan to tell her the expected time and date of his arrival. He knew that within an hour every servant in the household would have the details and hoped Polly would pass on the news to Annie.

As the train pulled slowly into St Austell railway station, Perys opened the carriage window and looked out. He had nursed a faint hope that Annie might have found an excuse to come to the station to meet him, but he looked in vain. There were perhaps half-a-dozen women standing on the platform. Annie was not among them.

One of the passengers disembarking at St Austell was a soldier who lowered himself clumsily to the platform, supporting himself with the aid of two crutches.

Perys felt a pang of guilt at the realisation that the wounded soldier had endured a long journey in a crowded third-class compartment, while he had travelled in the near-empty luxury of a first-class carriage. However, it was not long before the wounded soldier was surrounded by laughing and crying relatives, young and old, and borne away in the midst of them, while Perys was left alone, watching his motor-cycle being unloaded at the rear of the train.

Once clear of St Austell, Perys bowled happily along the valley towards Heligan, enjoying the near-deserted road that was such a marked contrast to the noisy and crowded streets of London.

When he neared the lower lodge house that guarded one of the entrances to Heligan House, he decided he would call in to say hello to Annie before arriving at his destination.

It was with a great sense of excitement that he turned in to the track that led to Tregassick Farm. As he approached the farm buildings he cut the engine of the motor-cycle and coasted into the farmyard. This way he would not frighten the animals and birds. He also hoped he might take Annie by surprise.

Perys was successful in that his arrival did not cause consternation among geese and chickens in the farmyard, but no one came from the house to greet him.

Leaning his machine against a stable wall, he walked up to the farmhouse door. He was met there by Harriet, who had glanced out of a window and witnessed his arrival.

Smiling happily at her, Perys said, ‘Hello, Mrs Bray. I’ve just arrived at Saint Austell by train. I thought I’d call in to say hello before going up to the house.’

The warmth of his greeting was not reciprocated. ‘That was nice of you, Master Perys.’ Harriet replied, with no indication that she was pleased to see him. ‘I hope you enjoy your stay up at Heligan.’

Puzzled by her attitude, Perys’s smile faded. ‘Thank you . . . but is Annie around the farm?’

‘I’m afraid she’s away from Tregassick at the moment.’

‘Away? You don’t mean she’s in Saint Austell? I’ve just come from there. I could have given her a ride back home . . .’

‘She’s not in Saint Austell, Master Perys, she’s off staying at the family farm of a young man she’s known since she was a girl. He’s in the army and she’s staying with the family so as to be near him until he goes off to war.’

Perys was unable to hide his dismay. ‘You mean . . . Annie and this . . . this farmer’s son have been walking out together? For how long?’

For a moment he thought Harriet was going to tell him it was none of his business. Instead, she said, ‘It’s not so much a question of them ‘walking out’. They’ve known each other since they were small, when his family had the next farm, up at Tregiskey. They moved away a few years ago, but there’s always been an unspoken understanding between our families about Jimmy and Annie. He joined the army as soon as the war started. Now he’s being sent to France. ‘He came to see Annie and asked that she come to stay at his family’s farm so she would be there when he left.’

The story was almost the truth. When the two families occupied adjoining farms, they had hoped Jimmy and Annie would one day marry, but they had not met for a couple of years until recently, when Jimmy and his sister, Rose, who had been Annie’s best friend, called at Tregassick. It was immediately apparent to Harriet that the reunion had rekindled Jimmy’s interest in her daughter. When Rose suggested Annie should come and stay with them for a few days, it seemed to Harriet an answer to the problems associated with Perys’s expected arrival at Heligan.

The farm where she was staying was only a few miles distant, in nearby Fowey, but as Perys did not know this it might as well have been a thousand miles away.

Deeply upset by the reasons behind Annie’s absence and by the noticeable coolness of her mother, Perys mumbled, ‘I’m sorry to have troubled you, Mrs Bray.’ At a loss for words, he could only add, ‘Please tell Annie I called and . . . and say I hope she will be very happy.’ He turned to leave, but suddenly turned back again. ‘Did Annie receive my letters? I wrote some four or five to her.’

‘I know nothing of any letters. If they did arrive she didn’t say anything to me about them.’

* * *

Perys was very despondent as he rode away from Tregassick Farm. He had come to Cornwall only because Annie was there and he wanted to be with her. Without her there was very little reason for his presence at Heligan.

His mood was not helped when he found the servants at Heligan House were no warmer towards him than Harriet had been. There seemed to be no men servants at the house and his bag was taken to his room by a maid. On the way he asked about Martin and was told he had left to join the Royal Flying Corps.

He immediately enquired after Polly and was told in a disinterested fashion that she was ‘somewhere about the house’.

It was not until the following day that Perys met up with Polly - and even then it was not of her making. He encountered her in a passageway on the first floor, when he was on his way downstairs and she was heading for the top floor of the house with clean linen for the servants’ quarters.

‘Polly!’ Perys showed his delight at the meeting. ‘I was beginning to think you were deliberately avoiding me. How is Martin?’

‘He’s all right, thank you, Master Perys. We had a letter from him only yesterday. He’s in Wiltshire, looking forward to finishing his training. He’s grateful to you for the advice you gave him about joining the Royal Flying Corps. He likes what he’s doing. He says it’s far more interesting than the army would be.’

‘Good. I too shall be in the RFC immediately after Christmas. I hope we’ll meet up.’

There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes before Polly said, ‘I must get this linen up to the servants’ floor, Master Perys.’

‘Before you do that I want you to tell me what has happened to turn Annie and her family against me, Polly. I thought she and I had an understanding, but I have come back to Cornwall to see her, only to learn she has apparently taken up with someone else.’

Ill-at-ease, Polly said, ‘I think you must speak to Annie about that, Master Perys, not me.’

‘I would, Polly, but she’s not at the farm, as I am sure you know.’

‘Please don’t get me involved in this, Master Perys. I’m finding things difficult enough as it is, what with Martin going away so quickly, and all. Things are changing so fast here, sir. I liked them the way they were.’

‘I was happy with the way things were too, Polly. I especially remember that night when we all walked back to Heligan from Tregassick. I thought Annie and I had arrived at an understanding, yet I’ve returned to find that everything has changed - and I don’t know why. When I called at Tregassick Farm, Annie’s mother behaved as though I was a stranger. It’s the same here. The servants are polite, but no more than that. Even you have been trying to avoid me - no, don’t deny it. If we had not met accidentally now you would have kept out of my way for as long as you possibly could. What am I supposed to have done wrong, Polly? You must tell me . . . no one else will.’