The Mask of the Enchantress (38 page)

Oh, my poor child! I thought. Sixteen years old and about to become a mother. No husband and only a terrible self-righteous family to turn to.

Poor little Leah! How I wished I could help her! I will, I promised myself. I will somehow.

I went to the bed and Granny opened her eyes and looked at me. A flicker of recognition appeared there.

iss Su Su she murmured.

es,I said, here. Don try to talk. Wee taking care of you.

She stared at me, her eyes expressing the wonderment she could not voice. l Bl she muttered.

on talk,I begged.

-bless you.

I took her hand and kissed it and something like a smile touched her lips.

o not M-Miss

Not Miss Susannah. That was what she meant. Susannah had never concerned herself with sick old women. She did not sit by their bedsides. I knew I was acting out of character but I didn care. I so longed to comfort her. I wanted to tell her that we had arranged for the thatcher to come and mend the roof, that everything was going to be taken care of and the last years of her life should be spent without worry.

I think I conveyed that by my presence there.

She kept hold of my hand and we were sitting thus when Leah returned with the milk.

ou could heat a little,I said, nd see if she would take some.

Leah went into the kitchen and lighted the spirit lamp. Granny had fallen asleep and I went out with Leah.

hat right, Leah,I said.

She lifted her eyes to my face, those big doelike eyes that were so haunted by fear.

oue good, Miss Susannah,she said, hatever they say. Youe not like you used to be Youe not the same.

She did not know how disturbing her words were.

hank you, Leah,I said. should like you to tell me if there is anything wrong. If you are in need of help I want to help all the people on the estate. Do you understand?

She nodded.

ell then, Leah, is anything wrong? Youe worried about something?

She shook her head. all right, miss.

I left her to give the milk to Granny Bell and rode back to the castle.

I was different. I cared about people. Susannah had never cared for anyone but herself. And they were beginning to notice this difference.

At dinner that night Emerald said she must write to Garth. It was a long time since she had heard from him.

I wondered about Garth. I had seen several references to him. All I knew of him was that he was the son of Elizabeth Larkham, who had been Emerald companion in the old days. She had been a widow and Garth was her only son.

Then I forgot about him. I was so absorbed by the problem of Granny Bell and her cottage and Leah Cringle and her trouble.

I had fears of Leah taking some violent action. I did not see how she could face a family like hers; she did not seem to be equipped to rebel against them. I had visions of her drowning herself in the stream which ran through the castle grounds, looking like Ophelia with flowers in her hair. Or finding some other means of ending her life. I had tried to talk to her several times but could make no headway. She always insisted that nothing was wrong.

Then two mornings later when I went to the cottage it was to find that Granny Bell was dead.

No one talked of anything then but Granny Bell. The district nurse came to lay her out and Jacks the gravedigger dug her grave. I went to the funeral and Malcolm came with me. I realized that there again I had surprised them all. Susannah had never been to funerals on the estate, though Esmond had now and then. He had often promised to go and when he did not attend would go along afterwards to tell the bereaved family what had prevented him. It might not have been the truth but it mollified them to a certain extent because it showed that he knew what was due the dead.

So I created quite a stir by going and I was glad, for my presence and that of Malcolm seemed to add to the ceremony simply because those who attended thought it did.

I felt tears in my eyes as I listened to the clods of earth falling on the coffin and thought of poor old Granny. At least she was at peace at last.

Malcolm took my arm as we walked away.

oue really affected,he said.

ho wouldn be?I replied. eath is awe-inspiring.

know some who wouldn, and who would find the death of anyone with whom they were not personally involved quite boring. That is just how you would have been once, Susannah.

He gripped my arm tightly and turned me round so that I was facing him. Moments like that were really frightening. I felt he must be on the point of telling me I was a cheat and a fraud.

often wonder he began.

hat?I asked faintly.

usannah, what has happened to change you? Youe become so human.

always belonged to the species, you know.

lippancy solves nothing.

ell, let me tell you I am just the same as I ever was.

hen you put on a very good show of being something else.

h, I was young and careless, I dare say.

t was not a matter of youth and carelessness. You were a monster.

I pretended to ignore that. I went on: oor Granny! She was a good woman. She did her duty here all those years and was so grateful for living in that dark little cottage and being able to make ends meet.

He was silent and appeared to be deep in thought, which was disquieting.

As we went back to the castle neither of us spoke very much.

The next morning there was a caller at the castle to see me. It was a young man called Jack Chivers. He was employed by several of the farms, working when he was needed.

I saw him in the small parlor which led from the hall. He stood before me, nervously twirling his cap round.

had to speak to you quick, Miss Susannah,he said. want to know whether I have a chance of Mrs. Bell cottage.

h, but I began. ell, it is all but decided.

His face fell. hen I sorry to have troubled you, miss,he said, and turned away.

There was something so despairing about the droop of his shoulders that I detained him. I noticed that he was about eighteen years old and good-looking.

I said: ust a moment. Don go yet. Why are you so anxious to have the cottage?

want to get married, miss.

ell,I told him, ou can wait awhile, can you? Therel be other cottages in due course.

e can wait,he muttered. hank you, miss. I just thought there might be a chance.

ou can wait,I said. And then: ell me who you are going to marry.

eah Cringle, miss.

h,I said; and then: it down a moment.

He sat down and I looked at him steadily. eah is going to have a baby, is that it?I asked.

He flushed to the roots of his hair. Then he grinned, but it was not a grin of pleasure. Embarrassment and panic would describe it better.

es, miss, that about it. If we had a place to go to we could get married.

an you get married without the cottage?

here be nowhere for her Leah would have to stay at Cringlesfarm. Life wouldn be worth living for her. The only way is for us to get married on the sly and then go into a cottage together.

see,I said. es, I do understand. The roof has to be thatched, you know. You would want the place done up a bit.

He was staring at me incredulously.

I went on: can see how difficult it would be for Leah at Cringlesfarm. I suppose I ought to say you should have thought of this before.

know, miss. You always ought to but somehow you don. She awful pretty and one day she was crying. Something had happened. Something always happening at Cringles . It all prayers and doing so much good and making everybody miserable. And then afore I knew what was happening and once it had begun it went on. I love Leah, miss, and she loves me and there nothing we want more than our little baby.

I felt a great lump in my throat. I don care what Jeff says, I thought. I don care what Malcolm says. I the Queen of the Castle.

ll right,I said. ou shall have the cottage. There no sense in delay. Get married and move in. You can clean it up, can you? Better say nothing until you and Leah are married. The Cringles are odd people.

h, miss, do you mean it?

mean it. The cottage is yours. Go and tell Leah and don forget it a secret as yet.

h, miss,he said, dunno what to say.

n that case, say nothing. I know how you feel, so you have no need to tell me.

I rode straight over to Jeffs house. Malcolm was there. Malcolm was often there. One would have thought the castle was his by the way he concerned himself in its affairs.

I blurted out right away: e settled the business of the Bell cottage. Jack Chivers is having it.

ack Chivers!cried Jeff. e only a boy. The Baddocks come before him.

he Baddocks will have to wait. Jack Chivers is having it.

hy?demanded Malcolm.

I turned to him. he castle estate is mine,I said. am the one who makes the decisions. I have already told Jack Chivers that he can have the cottage.

ut it seems unreasonable,said Jeff soothingly.

n fact there is a very good reason why he should have it. Leah Cringle is going to have his baby. They want to get married right away. They need the cottage.

Both of the men were staring at me.

magine Leah Cringle living with those dreadful parents of hers,I went on passionately. o say nothing of the old grandfather. Of course, she can. I have a strange feeling that if something isn done she will do away with herself. It up to me to look after these people. Leah and Jack Chivers are going to have the cottage and there is an end of the matter.

I could see that both men thought it was foolish to allow a woman to make decisions. She responded to the urge of the heart and they, being shrewd businessmen, knew that the head should always rule.

I laughed inwardly. It was for them to remember that I was the one who commanded.

The next day I went over to the cottage and as I stood in the bedroom I heard the door open cautiously. I went down the stairs. Jack Chivers was standing there with Leah. They were looking round with rapturous wonder. The transformation in Leah was miraculous. I had never seen anyone express greater happiness.

And I had done this.

I experienced one of those supremely happy moments which come rarely and are usually brief when they do.

ome to inspect your new home?I asked.

Leah ran to me. Then she did a strange thing. She knelt and, taking my skirt by the hem, she lifted it to her lips and kissed it.

eah,I said, fighting back my emotion, et up at once. Tell me, are you going to change the wallpaper?

During the next few weeks I was really happy, which meant that I could go for several hours at a stretch without remembering the sight of that devastated island and the terrible sense of loss for my loved ones; and at the same time I did not brood on the enormity of this masquerade which I had undertaken and ask myself how I could ever have been drawn into it.

The reason was that I was beginning to be more and more involved in the affairs of the castle estate. I relished the involvement. I felt I had been born to do just that. If only I had been in truth Susannah, how contented I could have been!

I was delighted to see the change in Leah; she was a beautiful girl and happiness accentuated her beauty. She and Jack Chivers were in a state of bliss. They spent every spare moment in the cottage getting it ready; the roof had been thatched and the place was beginning to look very different from the way it had during Mrs. Bell occupation. I found some curtains in the castle which could be cut down and fitted to the windows. Leah gratitude shone out of her eyes.

Of course there was some opposition and particularly from the Baddocks. It seemed, was the comment, that some people were rewarded for their sins and the righteous sent empty away.

Jeff Carleton agreed with that. I don think Malcolm did. However, it was my will and, whatever anyone thought about it, they could do nothing.

I managed to placate the Baddocks by promising them the next cottage which fell vacant and they were, to a certain extent, mollified.

I was discovering a new talent in myself. I had always been interested in people. I understood them because I could put myself in their place; and this stood me in good stead. I was beginning to win confidences and this was quite an achievement, for Susannah had been very unpredictablehowing friendship one day and seeming to be unaware of people existence the next. But I was winning through. I knew this by the way they discussed their problems with me and that I was beginning to erase the impression Susannah had made on them and replace it with my own.

Not only did it please me to be able to help, but always at the back of my mind was the thought: Is it so bad if I can do good to them? If I can make them happier than they would have been under Susannah, can it be so wicked? It did not alter the fact that it was fraud, but I could do some good through it. Susannah was not here to enjoy this so I was not taking anything away from her. But this should be Malcolm.

Malcolm! He was constantly in my thoughts. Ever since the day when I had said that Jack Chivers should have the cottage Malcolm and I had spent a good deal of time in each other company.

Jack Chivers and Leah Cringle were married. I went to the wedding and to my surprise Malcolm came.

The church was almost empty. None of the Cringle family was there. They were still showing their disapproval because of the circumstances.

et them stay away,I whispered to Malcolm. t a happier occasion without them.

s usual you are right,he answered.

I was so delighted to see Leah come down the aisle on Jack arm, her fawnlike eyes radiant with happiness. She saw me there and tears welled into her eyes. I thought she was going to stop in her progress and come and kiss the hem of my skirt.

Outside the church we congratulated them.

h, Miss Susannah,said Leah, twouldn have happened but for you. I can never do enough for you.

ell, here you are, Leah. Mrs. Chivers now. Youe going to live happy ever after.

hat a command,put in Malcolm. command from Miss Susannah, and you know they always have to be obeyed.