I could stay with my father, where I should not be very far from the clinic. I must be close at hand and I wanted Lucas to know that I was there.
I approached young Lady Perrivale.
I said: “I am very sorry, but I have to go to London. A very dear friend of mine is having an operation and I want to be there.
Moreover, it is time I saw my father. I haven’t seen him since I left with my friends Professor and Mrs. Grafton for Cornwall, and I really owe it to my family to explain a few things. “
“Oh dear,” she said.
“I’m afraid Kate will be most upset. You two have got along so well together.”
“Yes, but I have to go. I’ll talk to her. I’ll see that she understands.”
I did talk to her.
“Why can’t I come?” she said.
“Because I have to go alone.”
“I don’t see why.”
“I do.”
“What about me while you’re away?”
“You managed before I came.”
“That was different.”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll find some books for you to read and you can tell me all about them when I get back. I’ll set you some lessons, too. “
“What’s the good of that?”
“It’ll pass the time.”
“I don’t want the time to pass. I don’t want you to go unless I go with you.”
“Alas. That is another lesson you have to learn. Things don’t always turn out the way we want them to. Listen, Kate. This is something I have to do.”
“You might not come back.”
“I will. I swear it.”
She brought a Bible and made me take an oath on it. She seemed a little more satisfied after that.
I was deeply moved to see that I meant so much to her.
My father was pleased to see me. Aunt Maud was cool and disapproving as I had expected her to be.
My father said: “This was a strange decision for you to take, Rosetta.”
“I wanted to do something.”
“There were so many more suitable things you could have done,” said Aunt Maud.
“I could have found you something at the Museum,” added my father.
“That would have been far better,” said Aunt Maud.
“But a governess . and in the wilds of Cornwall.”
“It is a very important family. They are neighbours of the Lorimers.”
“I am so glad you are near them,” said my father.
“What are you teaching?”
“Everything,” I told him.
“It’s not difficult.”
He looked amazed.
“In any case,” said Aunt Maud.
“No matter what you teach and to whom, I think it is a very foolish thing to have done. A governess indeed!”
“Felicity was one, remember.”
“You are not Felicity.”
“No, I’m myself. I was just saying that she managed very well and was not the least bit ashamed of having been once a governess.”
“It was with friends … and to oblige.”
“Well, I’m obliging. They’re very glad to have me.”
Aunt Maud made an impatient gesture.
I had a very good welcome in the kitchen. Mr. Dolland looked a little older. There was a little more white at his temples. Mrs. Harlow seemed larger than I remembered her and the girls were the same.
“So you’re a governess now, are you?” said Mrs. Harlow with a faint sniff.
“Yes, Mrs. Harlow.”
“And you the master’s daughter!”
“I enjoy it. I have a very bright and unusual pupil. She was quite unmanageable until I came.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it … nor would Mr. Dolland … would you, Mr. Dolland?”
Mr. Dolland agreed that he never would.
“It used to be such fun down here,” I said.
“Do you still do The Bells, Mr. Dolland?”
“Now and then. Miss Rosetta.”
“It used to frighten me so. I used to dream about the Polish Jew. I’ve told Kate she’s my pupil about you. I’d love to bring her up to meet you all.”
“We miss not having a young ‘un in the house,” said Mrs. Harlow reminiscently.
I went to her and put my arms round her. She hugged me tightly for a few moments.
“There,” she said, wiping her eyes, ‘we often talk about the old days.
You were an old-fashioned little thing. “
“I must hear The Bells before I go back.”
“I heard Mr. Lorimer is in London.”
“Yes. I shall go to see him while I’m here.”
I intercepted a knowing look which passed between Mrs. Harlow and Mr. Dolland. So they were pairing me off with Lucas.
The next day I went to the clinic. Lucas was delighted to see me.
“I’m so touched that you came,” he said.
“Of course I came. I wanted to be here while it was done, and I want you to know that I’ll be thinking of you all the time. I shall come round tomorrow afternoon with my father or Aunt Maud and find out how it went.”
“That might be too early.”
“Nevertheless, I shall come.”
His room was small with a single bed and a small table beside it. He was in a dressing-gown. He said that he had been advised to rest for the last two days and was spending the time mainly reading. They had to prepare him apparently and this was what they were doing.
“I’m so glad you came, Rosetta,” he said.
“There’s some thing I wanted you to know. Sit down there, by the window, so that I can see you.”
“Does the sound of the traffic disturb you?” I asked.
“No. I like it. It makes me feel there’s a lot going on outside.”
“What do you want to tell me, Lucas?”
“I took some action. It was a little while ago, before you confessed to me that John Player was Simon Perrivale.”
“Action, Lucas? What action?”
“I sent Dick Duvane off to look for him.”
“You … what?”
“I didn’t have much to go on. Dick went off to Constantinople I thought Simon might still be working for the Pasha and there might be a possibility of bribing someone to get him back. I know how these people work. It was just the sort of thing Dick would do well. If anyone could bring it off, he would.”
“Why did you do it, Lucas?”
“Because I knew that he was the one you wanted. I used to tell myself that there was a sort of bond between the three of us. We’d been through so much together. That does something to people. But I was in a way the outsider. On the island I felt that.”
“It was because you weren’t able to walk. We had to go off together to see what we could find to eat. You were never the outsider, Lucas.”
“Oh yes, I was. It was to you he confessed his secret and here you are, intent above everything on proving his innocence.”
I was silent.
“There have been times when I thought you and I … well, it was what I wanted. Life has been different for me since you came to Cornwall.
I’ve felt a certain optimism . just a thought that miracles can happen. “
“We saw one miracle … more than one. It really seemed as if Providence … fate … or whatever you call it, was looking after us. Look how we survived in those seas … and then on the island, and how fortunate I was in the seraglio. I did at times feel my good angel was looking after me. You too, Lucas. The way in which you came home was certainly … miraculous.”
“Like this …” he said, looking down at his leg.
“I don’t think any of us have escaped unscathed. But, Lucas, you did this for me. You were trying to find him to bring him back to me.”
“I admit that at times I thought I was a fool. Let him go, I said to myself. Let him stay away for ever. Then you and I could make something of our lives … together. That’s the way I used to think.
Then I thought: She’ll always hanker. She’ll always think of him. So I came to the conclusion that I’d try to find him and bring him back if that were possible. “