I was given a room next to Mellyora's and was spending a great deal of time with her. I mended her clothes, washed them, shared her lessons and went for walks with her. She was very fond of teaching me and she taught me to ride, taking me round and round the meadow on her pony.
It didn't occur to me how unusual this was, I simply believed that I had made a dream which was coming true, as Granny had told me that it would.
Mellyora and I were about the same height, but I was much more slender than she and when she gave me dresses which she no longer wanted, I only had to take them in to make them fit. I remember the first time I went home to the cottage wearing a blue and white gingham dress, white stockings, and black shiny shoes—all gifts from Mellyora. I carried a basket on my arm, because whenever I visited the cottage I took something.
Mrs. Yeo's remarks had been the only disconcerting note to a perfect day. As I packed the basket, she said: "Miss Mellyora be like parson—very fond of giving away what she can't afford to."
I tried to forget that remark. I told myself that it was just another of Mrs. Yeo's grumbles; but it was like a tiny dark cloud in a summer sky.
As I walked through the village I saw Hetty Pengaster, the farmer s daughter. Before that day I had set myself up for hire at Trelinket Fair I had thought of Hetty with envy. She was the farmer's only daughter, although he had two sons—Thomas, who farmed with him, and Reuben, who worked at Pengrants the builders, and was that young man who had thought he had seen the seventh virgin when the Abbas wall collapsed and consequently had become piskey-mazed. Hetty was the darling of the household, plumply pretty in an overripe way which made the old women shake their heads prophetically and say that Pengasters ought to watch out that Hetty didn't have a baby in a cradle before she had a wedding ring on her finger. I saw what they meant; it was in the way she walked, in the sidelong glances she gave the men, in the thick, sensuous lips. She always had a ribbon in her auburn hair and her dresses were always showy and low cut.
She was all but affianced to Saul Cundy who worked in the Fedder mine. A strange alliance this would be—for Saul was a serious man who must have been some ten years older than Hetty. It would be a marriage approved of by her family, for Saul was no ordinary miner. He was known as Capten Saul and had the power to employ men; he was clearly a leader and one would have thought him scarcely the sort to come courting Hetty. Perhaps Hetty herself thought this and wanted to have some fun before settling down to sober marriage.
She mocked me now. "Well, if it ain't Kerensa Carlee—all dressed up and fit to kill."
I retorted in a tone I had learned from Mellyora: "I am visiting my Grandmother."
"Ooo! Are you then, me lady. Mind 'ee don't soil your hands with the likes of we."
I heard her laughing as I went on and I didn't mind in the least. In fact I was pleased. Why had I ever envied Hetty Pengaster? What was a ribbon in the hair, shoes on the feet, beside the ability to write and read and talk like a lady?
I had rarely felt as happy as I did when I continued on my way to the cottage.
I found Granny alone and her eyes shone with pride when she kissed me. No matter how much I learned I would never cease to love Granny and yearn for her approval.
"Where's Joe?" I asked.
Granny was exultant.
I knew Mr. Pollent, the vet, who had a good business out Molenter way? Well, he had called at the cottage. He had heard tell that Joe was good with, animals and he could do with someone like that ... someone who would work for him. He would train him and make a vet of him, maybe.
"So Joe has gone to Mr. Pollent?"
"Well, what do 'ee think? Twas a chance in a lifetime."
"A vet. I was planning for him to be a doctor."
"A vet has a very good profession, lovey."
"It's not the same," I replied wistfully.
"Well, tis a start like. Get his keep for a year, then he'll be paid. And Joe be happy as a king. Don't think of nothing but they animals."
I repeated Granny's words. "Tis a start."
"Tis a load off my mind, too," Granny admitted. "Now I see you two settled like, I be at peace."
"Granny!' I said, "I reckon anything you want can be yours. Who'd have thought Td be sitting here in buckled shoes and a gingham dress with lace at the collar."
"Who'd have thought it," she agreed.
"I dreamed it; and I wanted it so much that it came... . Granny, it's there, isn't it? The whole world ... it's there if you know how to take it?"
Granny put her hand over mine. "Don't 'ee forget, lovey, life ain't all that easy. What if someone else has the same dream? What if they do want the same piece of the world as you. You've had luck It's all along of parson's daughter. But don't 'ee forget that was chance; and there be good chance and bad chance."
I wasn't really listening. I was too content. I was faintly chagrined, it was true, that it was only the vet to whom Joe had gone. If it had been Dr. Hilliard I should have felt like some magician who had found the keys to the kingdom on earth.
Still, it was a start for Joe; and there was more to eat in the cottage now. People were coming to see Granny. They believed in her again. Look at that granddaughter of hers worming her way into the parsonage! Look at that grandson! Mr. Pollent himself riding to the cottage to ask "Could I train him please?" What was that but witchcraft. Magic! Call it what you will. Any old woman who could do that could charm the warts off you, could give you the right powder to cure this and that, could look into the future and tell you what you belonged to do.
So Granny was prospering, too.
We were all prospering. There had never been such times.
I was singing to myself as I made my way back to the parsonage.
Mellyora and I were together a great deal now that I was a fit companion for her. I imitated her in lots of ways—walking, speaking, remaining still when I spoke, keeping my voice low, holding in my temper, being cold instead of hot. It was a fascinating study. Mrs. Yeo had ceased to grumble; Bess and Kit had ceased to marvel; Belter and Billy Toms no longer called out when I passed; they even called me Miss. And even Miss Kellow was polite to me. I had no duties in the kitchen at all; my task was to look after Mellyora's clothes, do her hair, walk with her, read with her and to her, talk to her. The life of a lady! I assured myself. And it was now two years since I had put myself up for hire at Trelinket Fair.
But I had much to achieve. I was always a little downcast when Mellyora received invitations and went off on visits. Sometimes Miss Kellow accompanied her, sometimes her father; I never did. None of those invitations, naturally, was extended to Mellyora's maid, companion, whatever one liked to call her.
She often went to call at the doctor's house with her father; on very rare occasions she went to the Abbas; she never went to the Dower House because, as she explained to me, Kim's father was a sea captain and he was rarely at home, and during the vacation Kim wasn't expected to entertain; but when she went to the Abbas she often found him there, because he was a friend of Justin's.