“Ah,” she said. She had a deep voice, almost masculine, and it seemed to boom through the hall. “Come along, Caroline. And Miss Bell. You must be very hungry. Are you not? But of course you are. And you have had an exhausting journey. You can go now, Betty. Come along up. They’ll see to the baggage. There’ll be food right away. Something hot. In my sitting room. I thought that best.”
She stood there while we mounted the stairs.
As we came close she took me by the shoulders and looked at me and although I thought she was going to embrace me, she did not. I soon learned that Cousin Mary was not prone to demonstrations of affection. She just peered into my face and laughed.
“You’re not much like your father,” she said. “More like your mother perhaps. All to the good. We can’t be called a good-looking lot.” She chuckled and released me, and as I had been about to respond to her embrace I felt a little deflated. She turned to Miss Bell and shook her by the hand. “Glad to meet you, Miss Bell. You have delivered her safely into my hands, eh? Come along. Come along. Hot soup, I thought. Food … and then I thought bed. You have to be off again in the morning. You should have had a few days’ rest here.”
“Thank you so much, Miss Tressidor,” said Miss Bell, “but I am expected back.”
“Robert Tressidor’s arrangements, I understand. Just like him. Drop the child and turn at once. He should know you need a little rest after that journey.”
Miss Bell looked uncomfortable. Her code would never allow her to listen to criticism of her employers. I did not feel the same compunction to hear my father spoken of in this way, and I was rather intrigued by Cousin Mary, who was quite different from what I had been imagining.
We were taken into a sitting room and almost immediately hot soup was brought in.
I think Miss Bell would have preferred to wash first, but she knew that one in her position did not go against the wishes of people in authority and there was no doubt that Cousin Mary was accustomed to command.
The room was cosy and panelled, but I was too uncertain and tired to notice very much and in any case I should have plenty of time to discover my surroundings. The soup was served immediately and we did need it. There was cold ham to follow and apple pie with clotted cream—and cider to drink.
Cousin Mary had left us while we were eating.
I whispered to Miss Belclass="underline" “I do wish you could have stayed for a day or so.”
“Never mind. Perhaps it is better thus.”
“Just think. You’ll have that long journey again tomorrow.”
“Well, I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that you are here.”
“I am not sure that I am going to like it. Cousin Mary is rather … rather …”
“Hush. You don’t know what she is like yet. She seems to me very … worthy. I am sure she is a lady of great integrity.”
“She is like my father.”
“Well, they are first cousins. There is often a family resemblance. It is better than being among complete strangers.”
“I wonder what Olivia is doing.”
“Wondering what you are doing, I imagine.”
“I wish she were here.”
“I daresay she wishes she were.”
“Oh, Miss Bell, why did I have to go away so suddenly?”
“Family decisions, my dear.”
Her lips were clamped together. She knew something which she was not going to tell me.
I was surprised that I could eat so heartily, and as we were finishing the meal Cousin Mary came back.
“Ah,” she said. “That’s better, eh? Now, if you’re ready I’ll take you to your rooms. You’ll have to be up early in the morning, Miss Bell. Joe will take you to the station. You should get a good night’s sleep. We’ll give you a packed lunch and return you to my cousin in the good order you left. Come with me now.”
We mounted the staircase. The long gallery was on the first floor. As we passed through it, long dead and gone Tressidors looked down on me. The fast fading light gave it an eerie look.
There was a staircase at the end of the gallery and this we mounted. We were in a corridor in which there were many doors. Cousin Mary opened one of them.
“This is yours, Caroline, and Miss Bell’s is next to it.” She patted the bed. “Yes, they’ve aired it. Oh, there’s your trunk. I shouldn’t unpack it until tomorrow. One of the maids can help you then. There’s hot water. You can wash off the train smell. Always think you carry that with you for a while. And then I should think a good night’s sleep—and in the morning you can start to explore … get to know the house and our ways. Miss Bell, if you’d step along with me...
At last I was alone. My bedroom was high-ceilinged, the walls panelled; a little light filtered through the thick glass of the windows. I noticed the candles in their carved wooden sticks over the fireplace. My trunk had been placed in one corner; my hand-case was on a chair. I had a nightgown and slippers in it so I could well leave unpacking until the morning. The floor sloped a little and mats covered the boards; the curtains were heavy grey velvet; and there was a court cupboard which looked solid and ancient, and an oak chest on which stood a Chinese bowl. On a dressing table with numerous drawers was a sling-back mirror. I took a look at myself. I was paler than usual and my eyes looked enormous. There was no mistaking the apprehension in them. Who would not be apprehensive in such circumstances?
The door opened and Cousin Mary came in.
“Goodnight,” she said brusquely. “Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Cousin Mary.”
She gave just a nod of the head. She was not unwelcoming, but she was not warm either. I was not sure yet of Cousin Mary. I sat down on the bed and resisted the impulse to cry weakly. I was longing for my familiar room, with Olivia seated at the dressing table plaiting her hair.
There was a knock on the door and Miss Bell came in.
“Well,” she said. “Here we are.”
“Is it how you thought it would be, Miss Bell?”
“Life is rarely what one thinks it will be—so therefore I make no pre-judgments.”
I felt myself smiling in spite of everything.
Oh, how I was going to miss my precise Miss Bell!
She sensed my emotion and went on: “We are both exhausted, you know. Much more tired than we realize. What we need to do is rest. Goodnight, my dear.” She came to me and kissed me. She had never done that before and it aroused a sudden emotion in me. I put my arms round her and hugged her.
“You’ll be all right,” she said, patting me brusquely, ashamed now of her own emotion. “You’ll always be all right, Caroline!”
Comforting words!
“Goodnight, my child.”
Then she was gone.
I lay in bed. Sleep eluded me at first. Pictures crowded into my mind, shutting out my tiredness. The men on the train, the great fortress which was their home, Joe driving the trap, the man with the bees … and finally Cousin Mary who was like my father and yet … quite different.
In time I should know more of them. But now … I was very tired and even my apprehension could not keep sleep at bay.
I was awakened by Miss Bell sitting on my bed, ready for her journey.
“Are you going … already?”
“It’s time,” she said. “You were in a deep sleep. I wondered whether to wake you, but I thought you would not want me to go without saying goodbye.”
“Oh, Miss Bell, you’re going. When shall I see you again?”
“Very soon. It’s just a holiday, you know. I shall be there when you come back.”
“I don’t think it is going to be quite like that.”
“You’ll see. I’ll have to go. The trap is down there. I must not miss that train. Good luck, Caroline. You’re going to have an interesting time here and you won’t want to come back to us.”