"That's wonderful," I say, and can barely keep my fingers off the keyboard. "Can you play something?"
"Well, Father has only recently brought it here, but I have started a few things," she says, shyly. "Like this pretty little tune. It's by Ben Jonson, from back in Shakespeare's time, and is called 'Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes.'" She arches her fingers above the keyboard and brings them down and plays and fills the room with rich and sweet sound. After she plays the melody, she sings a verse:
"Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine.
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And III not look for wine."
I am sitting all wrapped up in the music and don't notice when the door opens and Randall comes quietly in, but Amy does and she stops playing.
"I was about to ride up to the tavern in Braintree," says Randall, "to find more convivial company than was available around here, when I heard the noise."
"Please leave, Randall. We are not dressed," orders Amy.
"No, wait," says I, rising and facing him. "It is just Randall, and if I am your sister, Amy, is he not then my brother, and all is right and proper? Isn't that right?"
A bow of agreement from Randall, a snort from Amy, but she don't press it.
"Shall we have a song, then? Have you a good voice, Randall?" I asks.
"I have a passable baritone," says he. "What would you like to sing? 'The Riddle Song'? 'Captain Marshall's Courtship,' 'The Maid Who Lost Her Cow'...?"
"Ah no, Sir, none of those songs where the maid sets forth these riddles to try to protect her virtue from the advances of the man and the man is not supposed to be able answer them but he does, the rascal, and the girl always loses and we both know what she has to do then." I plant my finger in the center of Randall's chest and push him back. "No, Sir, we shall not sing those. Perhaps we will dance, instead.
"Amy," I say, "that pretty song you were playing, the one about 'drink to me only'...Could you play that again, please? For me?"
Amy turns back to the keyboard and, with a reluctant sniff, begins to play. I turn to Randall. "Shall I teach you a simple country dance, then, Lieutenant Trevelyne?" He seems willing.
"Very well, put your right hand here on my waist. No, here on the small of my back—a little higher, please ... that's it. And put your other hand in mine and then we move together, like this. Your feet make a pattern like this—watch me, I'll lead, and then when you get it, you'll lead. Good. Shuffle, shuffle, and turn. Smooth and light. See, by pushing and pulling me with your right hand, I know what direction you're gonna go in, and I can follow, and we glide about together like this. Isn't this nice?"
I think he finds it nice. I'm liking it, too. When we started the dance, there was some space between us—there ain't no such space now. When the music comes around to the beginning again, I start to sing the verse into his ear: "Drink to me only with thine eyes..."
He brings his face to mine and I pull back, but he comes on further and I lift my fingers and place them on his lips and lightly push him back. He retreats and we dance like that until Amy finishes.
She makes it plain that she is done by pulling down the keyboard cover. "Good night, Randall," she says firmly.
Randall bows and I curtsy.
"Good night, Jacky."
"Good night, Mr. Trevelyne. You be careful tonight."
"I shall. Thank you for your concern. I look forward to showing you about tomorrow." He bows and leaves.
I sit down on the bench next to Amy again and put my head back and smile in the darkness and let out a sigh and ... "What?" I say to Amy, who seems right steamed about something.
Chapter 41
The next morning, after chapel, I say I'm gonna go give the Sheik a pet and Amy goes off to our room and when she's well off and gone, Randall appears. He had sat between us during the service. It seems he never passes up a chance to make Amy angry.
"May I show you around Dovecote now, Jacky?"
"I think dear Amy has shown me most of it, Mr. Trevelyne," I say, all demure in my lovely riding habit that Amy gave me, my soul newly scrubbed free of sin, but I have no intention of letting him get away. I had spent most of the service checking out the fit of his clothes from the corner of my eye. It's none of my business, but aside from the flaws in his character—arrogance, a tendency to swagger, false bravado and all—he is really a most beautiful boy, and, deep down, I think a very sweet one, too.
The young groom Edward brings out Randall's horse, a big bay gelding with a good head and fine white boots all around that Randall has named Comrade. Randall puts his foot in the stirrup and smoothly mounts.
"She cannot show you the place like I can. I know of places she does not know. Come"—and he extends his hand. There is no mention of rigging up a buggy, I notice, like I know he would for Clarissa. Well, we must know our place.
"Wait. I'll go get..."
"No need," says Randall. "Climb up here behind me. Comrade can carry us both."
I consider this for a moment and then I hand my hymnal to the groom and say, "You'll keep this for me, won't you, Edward?" He nods, but he don't look happy. He sends a glare in Randall's direction and I lean over and whisper, "Oh, don't worry, Eddie, I can take care of myself."
"All right, Mr. Trevelyne, go over by that feed box, if you would," I say, and he does.
I put my foot on the box and then leap up behind Randall onto Comrade. I get settled with a leg to each side and wrap my arms around Randall's middle and says, "So, show me."
Randall touches Comrade with his spurs and we are off.
It is a glorious spring day with all the world rejoicing in it. There is a steam rising from the ground and the birds rise with it and whirl and sing and we ride down along the river till it meets the ocean, and the sea is as blue as any sky I have ever seen. There is a long beach made flat and smooth by the tides and we gallop along it, tossing up sand, and Comrade even goes into the water and I squeal at the spray thrown up by his hooves and I pound on Randall's back and tell him to stop it, my clothes are going to be ruined, and we go back up along the riverbank and Randall points out a boathouse that he says has several small boats in it, and I say maybe I'll teach him to sail if I come back here in the summer and he says I must.
We go farther along the river, leaving the main houses of Dovecote to our right and then far behind.
"Where are we going now, Mr. Trevelyne?" I ask from behind him. I twist my head around. There don't seem to be any buildings or anything else around here.
"Please call me Randall, Jacky. I think we know each other well enough now to do that."
"Very well, Randall," I say. "Where are we going now?"
"I thought I might show you a spot that was quite dear to me in my youth. A place where I used to come to read and think and be by myself with my thoughts and dreams."
Aw, ain't that sweet, I thinks, the young lord off by himself dreaming like any silly boy or girl. I look up at the back of his head with its black curls looping over his collar. Without thinking, I hugs him a little tighter.
We come to a bend in the river, the bank of which is covered with bushes that are already putting out their leaves. Randall pulls up and, throwing his leg over his mount's head, he slides off and then reaches up for me. Before I can lift my own leg and slide off in my usual manner, he reaches up and grasps me by the waist and lifts me up and off and puts my feet on the ground.