She nodded. It was not a good recommendation: the sister of the wife who had taken the place of her daughter.
I said hastily: “I shall not be there long. My mother and I are going home in a few days.”
She nodded again. I think that made her feel a little more kindly toward me.
I realized she was not going to share any confidences with me. I was wasting my time. But I was not going to give up yet.
I said, putting the cup down close to Annette’s picture: “Well, thank you. That was very nice. I do hope the cutting takes.”
“We’ll have to see about that.”
“I wonder…if you’d mind…?”
She looked at me intently and I went on boldly: “I wonder, on my next visit, if I might call so that you could show me how it thrived?”
Her face changed. The gardener was a different woman from the bereaved mother.
“Of course, you must come. I’ll be glad to show you. And I’ll tell you this: It’s going to be happy in my garden. You’ll see. When you next come, it will be settled in a treat.”
I came out of Cliff Cottage smiling.
Not exactly a successful enterprise, but it was not completely closed.
I started on my way down to the little town, thinking of Mrs. Pardell and wondering if I should ever succeed in getting her to talk to me as I wanted her to. It was a challenge, and I could not help feeling proud of myself for thinking of such an astute move in taking the cutting. She was forthright in the extreme. She would pride herself on calling a spade a spade. She would not tolerate deception as she would call the diplomatic but not quite sincere methods of the Southerners in making life comfortable with a few white lies. I knew her type well. For her the bare truth must stand, however disagreeable.
There was a slight breeze bringing with it the smell of seaweed. The path along the cliff was uneven. One went downhill and then up again. Tom Smart, the groom, had said: “ ’Tis a bony road along they cliff paths,” and I knew what he meant. In places the path was narrow—not safe for children—and in parts there was a direct drop to the sea. Farther along, I knew, there was a section where the path was particularly narrow and the drop exceptionally steep. A fence had been erected there since, Matilda had told me, one day an elderly man had slipped on an icy surface and plunged over the cliff to his death.
I stood still for a moment to fill my lungs with the invigorating air.
Few people used this part of the cliff. It was very rugged and particularly beautiful. I supposed I should get to know it very well in time, for Dorabella and I would never tolerate being apart for long, and I supposed I should be here often.
I watched a greedy gull snatch a tidbit from the mouth of another. He swooped triumphantly while the victim screeched in anger.
Then I heard footsteps coming along the path. I started to move and came to the narrow spot with the fence. It certainly did not look very strong. Above the path rose the cliff face and below it the steep drop to the sea.
“Violetta,” said a voice. I swung round. Gordon Lewyth was coming toward me.
“Oh,” I said. “It’s you.”
“I saw you coming out of Cliff Cottage.”
“Did you? I didn’t see you.”
“Visiting Mrs. Pardell?”
“Oh, yes.”
“How did you manage that? She is not known for her hospitality.”
“No,” I replied. “But she is a very keen gardener, too.”
“A common interest? So you are a keen gardener, too?”
“Well, not exactly.”
He was standing very near to me. I did not know what to think of him. I never had. He was a very secret person, and I felt it would be very hard to understand what was in his mind. His height, his broadness, seemed to dwarf me so that I felt a certain vulnerability. I had the sudden feeling that he could be very ruthless, and I seemed very much alone and unprotected.
I heard myself explaining: “I looked at her garden when I was passing, and she came out and talked and told me about some plant she had seen in the gardens at Tregarland’s, and I got a cutting for her from Jack. I took it to her and she asked me in for a cup of coffee.”
“That was a great concession. She is not very friendly with us at the house.”
“I have heard of the connection.”
He nodded. “And did you have an interesting chat?”
“Well, no…it was about gardens, of which I know very little.”
“Oh,” he said, and put his hand on the fence. “People don’t use this road very much,” he went on.
“There are lots of ups and downs,” I said.
“There is the higher road above…” He nodded upwards. “But it is a long way round. Wet weather, frost, could be a hazard on this road.”
He seemed to be watching me intently, and again I felt a twinge of uneasiness.
“The fence is not very strong,” he said, gripping it and shaking it a little. “If someone fell against it…Well, it wouldn’t stand up to much, would it? It should be repaired. They don’t move very fast about that sort of thing in these parts.”
I wondered why we were standing here, but he seemed to be barring my way. I felt a sudden relief when I heard a footstep. Someone was coming along the path.
I moved forward and he could only walk beside me. I was glad when we had passed the fence, and it was comforting to hear the voices of people coming along behind us. They were visitors to the place, most likely, as Gordon did not know them.
We walked in single file when the path narrowed and then again we were side by side.
He told me he had business in the town and talked a little about the place.
“The river mouth makes a nice little harbor,” he said. “The town owes its prosperity to that. The fishing is good here. And how is your father?”
I said he was well.
“I hope he will come with you next time.”
“I don’t know. He is always so busy on the estate.”
“I can understand that.”
We were descending rapidly and he held out a hand to steady me when the ground grew rougher. Then he apologized for the gesture.
He was a strange man. I could not help feeling that he was someone quite different from the person he appeared to be. I was not sure whether I was repulsed or drawn to him.
He said suddenly: “Do you propose to call on Mrs. Pardell again?”
“We are not really on visiting terms. In due course I might be allowed to see if the plant is flourishing. That is all.”
A slight smile touched his lips.
“If you go,” he said, “be careful on that path. The way round the top road is much longer and you’d have a steep descent to reach the cottage.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll risk the path. But I shall have to wait until the plant has taken root, or whatever it has to do.”
He smiled. “You certainly don’t sound like the dedicated gardener.”
“No, I am not.”
He was looking at me with a quizzical expression. I knew he was asking himself how I had managed to insinuate myself into Cliff Cottage. It must seem like a very calculated operation to him, and he must be wondering why I should take so much trouble merely to talk to Mrs. Pardell.
He said: “I shall have to leave you here.” He looked at his watch. “I have to meet someone in five minutes.”
“Goodbye,” I said.
As I walked back, I thought it seemed rather a strange encounter, but I had spoken to him more during it than I had all the time I had known him.
That afternoon I met Jowan Jermyn in the field at the spot where the tree had fallen.
It was clear that he was delighted to see me.
Dorabella had been feeling very tired and was resting, otherwise it would not have been easy to get away. I had been out all the morning.
I did not tell her about my adventure with Mrs. Pardell. I was not sure how she felt about that first marriage of Dermot’s, and I did not want to upset her in the slightest way.
She did not protest when I went off. I think she was content because my mother and I were there and if she wanted us, one of us would be at hand.