Only I’m not sure of the number of greats. ” I went on walking along the gallery.
” Oh, and here’s your father-in-law himself,” he added.
A younger Sir Matthew looked back at me; his flowing cravat was the essence of elegance as was his green velvet jacket; his complexion was ruddy, rather than port wine, his eyes slightly bigger than they were now, and I was sure that I had not been mistaken when I had judged him to have been something of a rake in his day. And beside him was a woman whom I knew to be his wife; she was beautiful in a frail way and there was an expression of resignation on her face. Gabriel’s mother, I thought, who had died soon after his birth. And there was a picture of Gabriel himself, looking young and innocent.
“You’ll be beside him,” said Luke.
“You’ll be captured like the rest and held prisoner on canvas … so that in two hundred years’ time the new lady of the house will come to look at you and wonder about you.”
I shivered, and was conscious of a great desire to escape from him, to get out of the house, if only for half an hour, because the talk of suicides had oppressed me.
” Friday is impatient for his walk,” I said. ” I think perhaps that I should take him now. It is very good of you to have taken so much trouble to show me everything.”
” But I have not shown you everything There is a great deal more for you to see.”
” I shall enjoy it more another time,” I replied firmly.
He bowed his head.
“When,” he murmured, “it will be my pleasure to continue with our tour.”
I went down the staircase and, half-way, turned to look back. Luke was standing by the portraits watching me, looking as though he had but to step up into one of those frames to become one of them.
The rest of the day I spent with Gabriel. We went for a ride in the afternoon, right out on to the moors; and when we came back it was time to change for dinner, and the evening was spent like the previous one.
Before we retired for the night Gabriel took me out to the balcony, and as he stood for a while admiring that superb view I remarked that I had not yet visited the Abbey ruins and decided that I would do so the next day.
During the morning which followed, Gabriel was again with his father and I wandered on with Friday; this time I went to the Abbey.
As I approached those ancient piles I was struck with wonder. It was a sunny morning; and here and there the stone glistened as though it had been set with diamonds. I could have believed that this was not a ruin, for the great tower was intact and so was the wall which was facing me; it was not until I came close that I realised that there was no roof but the sky. The Abbey nestled in the valley close to the river and I guessed that it would be more sheltered from the storms than the Revels was. Now I saw clearly the high Norman tower, the ancient buttresses and the nave which, like the tower, was almost intact, apart from the fact that there was no roof. I was surprised at the vastness of the ruins and I thought how interesting it would be to make a plan of the Abbey and try to rebuild it in the imagination.
Friday was running to and fro in great excitement as though he shared my emotions about the place. Here, I told myself, was a shell; yet there were enough stones to indicate which parts were the kitchens for instance, the cloister, the nave, the transept, the monks’ quarters.
It was necessary to tread warily, for here and there stones jutted dangerously out of the ground. I lost Friday for a moment and was immediately conscious of a panic which was quite ridiculous; equally so was my relief, when after I had called to him, he came running back to me.
I wondered from what part of the Abbey the stones had been taken to build the house. I wanted to learn something of the history of this house and the family to which I now belonged. I laughed at myself.
There was so much I did not know about my own husband. Why was he so secretive with me? Why was there this constant feeling that he was hiding something from me?
I sat down on a ridge of stones, obviously all that was left of a room of some sort the monks’ dorter, I hazarded and I told myself then that I had not thought enough of Gabriel since I had arrived here.
Naturally Gabriel would be full of odd fancies; he was a young man who was afflicted with a disease of the heart which threatened his life.
It was for that reason that he was moody. He was afraid of death and I had thought it was something in the house, something in these old ruins which had disturbed him! How should / feel if Death were round the corner, waiting for me? That was something which one could not imagine until it happened to one.
I would make Gabriel happy. Moreover, I would not accept the inevitability of death as he seemed to. I would take such care of him that he would live on.
Friday’s barking startled me out of my daydream. I called:
” Friday! Friday!”
And as he did not come to me I went to look for him.
I found him in the hands of a strange man; be was struggling and, if he had not been so expertly held, he would have bitten those hands which imprisoned him.
” Friday!” I called. Then the man who held him turned to look at me.
He was of medium height and I was struck by his brilliant dark eyes and olive complexion.
He released the dog when he saw me and, taking off his hat, bowed.
Friday ran to me, barking furiously and, as I came forward, stood between me and the stranger as though to protect me.
” So the dog is yours, madam,” said the man.
“Yes, what happened? He’s usually so friendly.”
” He was a little annoyed with me.” I noticed the flash of very white teeth in that dark face.
“He didn’t understand that I probably saved his life.”
” How was that?”
He turned and pointed to what I saw now was a well.
” He was perilously perched on the edge, looking down. If he had decided to explore farther, that would have been the end of him.”
” Then I have to thank you.”
He inclined his head, ” This was the monks’ well. It’s deep and probably not very sweet down there.”
I peered over into the darkness. I was looking down the narrow well, to what might have been water at the bottom.
” He’s rather inquisitive,” I said.
“I should put him on a lead when you bring him here again. And you will come here again, won’t you? I can see this place intrigues you.
You have a look in your eyes which betrays your interest. “
” Surely everyone would be interested.”
” Some more than others. May I introduce myself? I believe I know you. You are Mrs. Gabriel Rockwell, are you not?”
” But how did you know?”
He spread his hands and smiled again; it was a warm, friendly smile. “
A simple deduction. I knew you were due to arrive and, as I know almost everyone in these parts, I put two and two together and tried to guess.”
” Your guess was correct.”
“Then welcome to our community. My name is Devere Smith. Doctor. I am at the Revels almost every day, so we should have met sooner or later.”
“I have heard you mentioned.”
“Pleasantly, I hope?”
” Very much so.”
” I’m an old friend of the family as well as the doctor; and of course Sir Matthew and Miss Rock-well are no longer young. They both need my services rather frequently. Tell me, when did you arrive?”
I told him and he listened gravely. I thought there was a foreign look about him but his name was as English as it could be; I supposed he seemed so dark because of the extreme fairness of my new relations.
He said: ” I was going to call at the Revels to-day. Shall we walk back together?”
We did so and he made me feel that I had found a new friend.