In the drawing-room I pulled back the curtains and drew up the Venetian blinds. Now it seemed more cheerful or perhaps that was due to Gabriel. When he sat in one of the arm-chairs, and smiled at me, I was conscious that in my blue velvet with my neatly plaited hair I looked very different from the girl in the riding-habit.
” I’m glad you were able to save him,” he said.
” You did that.”
He looked pleased and I rang the bell, which was’ almost immediately answered by Janet.
She-stared at my visitor and, when I told her to bring tea, she looked as though I were asking for the moon.
Five minutes later Fanny came in; she had an indignant air and I felt angry with her. She would have to realise that I was now mistress of the house.
” So it’s visitors,” said Fanny ungraciously.
” Yes, Fanny, we have a visitor. Pray see that tea is not long delayed.”
Fanny pursed her lips; I could see that she was trying to make some retort, but I turned my back on her and said to Gabrieclass="underline" ” I trust you did not have to ride far.”
” From the Black Hart Inn in Tomblersbury.”
I knew Tomblersbury. It was a small village, rather like our own, some five or six miles away. ‘” You are staying at the Black Hart?”
” Yes, for a short while.”
” You must be on holiday.”
” You could call it that.”
“Your home is in Yorkshire, Mr. Rockwell? But I am asking too many questions.”
I was aware that Fanny had left the room. I could imagine her going to the kitchen or perhaps to my father’s study. She would consider it most unseemly for me to entertain a gentle man alone. Let heri It was time she and my father under stood that the life I was called upon to live was not only exceedingly lonely but one unsuitable for a young lady of my education.
“No,” he replied, “please ask me as many questions a& you like. If I cannot answer them, I shall say so.”
” Where is your home, Mr. Rockwell?”
” The house is called Kirkland Revels, and it is situated in the village or rather on the outskirts of the village of Kirkland Moorside.”
” Kirkland Revels! That sounds joyous.”
The expression which flitted across his face was enough to tell me that my remark made him uncomfortable. It had told me something else; he was not happy in his home life. Was that the reason for that moodiness of his? I ought to have curbed my curiosity regarding his private affairs but I found it exceedingly difficult to do so.
I said quickly: ” Kirkland Moorside … is that far from here?”
” Some thirty miles perhaps.”
“And you are on holiday in this district, and you were taking a ride on the moors when …”
” When our little adventure occurred. You cannot be more glad than I am that it happened.”
I felt reassured that the temporary awkwardness was past and I said: “
If you will excuse me, I will bring Friday down to show you.”
When I returned with the dog, my father was in the room. I guessed Fanny had insisted on his joining us and that even he had ‘been conscious of the proprieties. Gabriel was telling how we had acquired the dog and my father was being charming ; he listened attentively and I was pleased that he manifested an interest even though I did not believe h& really felt it.
Friday in his basket, too weak to rise, made an effort to do so ; his pleasure was obvious at the sight of Gabriel, whose long, elegant fingers gently stroked the dog’s ear.
” He’s fond of you,” I said.
” But you’ll have first place in. his heart.”
” I saw him first,” I reminded him. ” I shall keep him with me always.
Will you let me pay you what you gave the woman? “
” I wouldn’t hear of it,” he told me.
“I should like to feel that he is all mine.”
” So he is. A gift. But I admit to an interest. If I may. I shall call again to inquire after his health.”
” It is not a bad idea to have a dog in the house,” said my father, as he came to stand beside us and took down into the basket.
We were standing thus when Mary brought in the tea wagon. There were hot crumpets as well as bread and butter and cakes; and as I sat ‘behind the silver teapot, I thought this was my happiest afternoon since I had returned from France; I was as contented as I had been when Uncle Dick came home.
I did not realise until later that this was because I now had something in the house which I could love. I had Friday. I did not think at this stage that I had Gabriel too. That came later.
During the next two weeks Gabriel called regularly at Glen House; and at the end of that first week Friday was fully restored to health. His wounds had healed and good food regularly taken had done the rest.
He slept in his basket in my room and followed me where- ever he could.
I talked to him continuously. The house had changed; my life had changed because of him.
He wanted to ‘be not only my companion but my defender. There was adoration in those limpid eyes when they looked into mine. He remembered that he owed his life to me; and because he was the faithful sort, that was something he would never forget.
We went for walks together—he and I. Only when I rode did I leave him behind, and when I returned he would fling himself at me in the sort of welcome I had only ever had from Uncle Dick.
Then there was Gabriel.
He continued to stay at the Black Hart. I wondered why. There was a lot I could not quite understand about Gabriel. There were times when he talked freely about himself, but even at such times I always had the impression that there was something he was holding back. I felt that he was on the verge of telling me, that he longed to tell me, and could never quite bring himself to do so; and that which he held back was some dark secret, perhaps something which he did not entirely understand himself.
We had become great friends. My father seemed to like him—at least he made no protests about his constant visits, The servants had grown used to him, and even Fanny, as long as we were properly chaperoned, made no complaints. At the end of the first week he had said that soon he would be going home; but at the end of the second he was still with us.
I had a feeling that he was deceiving himself in some way, that he was promising himself that he would go home, and then making excuses not to.
I did not ask him questions about his home even though I longed to learn more about him. This was something else I had learned. At school I had often been made uneasy by searching questions about my home; I had determined not to inflict the same discomfort on others. I would never probe, but always wait to be told.
So we talked about me, for Gabriel had no such reticence where I was concerned, and strangely enough, with him I did not mind. I told him about Uncle Dick who had always been a kind of hero to me, and I made him see Uncle Dick with his sparkling greenish eyes and black ‘beard.
Gabriel said once when I had talked of my uncle: ” You and he must be somewhat alike.”
” There is a strong resemblance, I believe.”
” He sounds like the sort of person who is determined to get the most out of life. I mean, he would act without first weighing up the consequences. Tell me, are you like that?”
” Perhaps I am.”
He smiled. ” I believe you are,” he said; and there came into his eyes what I can only describe as a far-away look, by which I mean that he was seeing me, not as we were together at that moment, ‘but in some other place, in some other situation.
I thought he was about to speak, but he remained silent and I did not press him, for I was already beginning to feel that too much probing, too many questions, disturbed him. I must wait, I knew intuitively, for him to tell me without prompting.