"I'll swear that it is one of my family's legends. Do you want to hear what happened?"
I nodded.
"Well, in time they brought back a young man. He had been riding alone through the forest. He was handsome, vigorous and most attractive in appearance. Only because there had been so many of them and he was alone had they been able to overpower him. When my ancestor saw him he was overjoyed. So was his ugly daughter. `Marry my daughter,' said the father, `and you shall have lands and possessions.' `I have lands and possessions, and no wish to marry your daughter,' said the young man. The father was very angry and ordered him to be put into one of the dungeons - yes, we have a few. They are used for cold storage now. They were to keep him there until he agreed. But. the weeks passed and the young man would not agree. No one came to rescue him. My ancestor would not allow him to be starved or tortured because he wanted to produce a perfect child, and since the young man could not be bribed with possessions it seemed as though the plan would founder. But the Verringers have always been noted for their tenacity. The prisoner was brought up from the dungeons and put into one of the best bedrooms. There were fires in the room and he was supplied with the best food and plenty of wine.
The Verringers have always kept good cellars. My ancestor realized that it had been a mistake to put the young man into the dungeon. Soft living is much more conducive to seduction. And one night, when the young man had partaken very well of the good things which the wily Verringer had had sent to his table, a potent aphrodisiac was tipped into his wine. He was very sleepy and when he had retired to his bed, the daughter was slipped beside him. During the night she conceived a child."
"Are you telling me this to show what enterprising men the Verringers are?"
"Partly, but more than that. Listen to the sequel. Strangely enough when the young man knew that the girl was pregnant through his endeavours, he agreed to marry her and there was great rejoicing throughout the Hall. In due course she produced a child-a boy, strong, healthy and as handsome as his father. Strange things began to happen then. Fire was seen over the child's cradle, but there was no fire there in truth. The child laughed as no newly born baby had ever laughed before; and he grasped everything which came within his reach. They wanted a grand christening, and the chapel was prepared for this. But on the day before this was to take place, the young man went to his father-in-law and said: `There must be no Christian ceremony. You do not know who I am. You thought you were playing with me, but in truth it was I who was playing with you. I was aware of your plans; I allowed myself to be caught and brought here so that I might give my seed to your family. Do you guess who I am?'
"The story is that my ancestor fell to his knees in terror for he was unable to look into the face of the young man, for when he did so it was as bright as the sun and nearly blinded him.
"I am Lucifer, son of the morning,' said the young man. `I have been cast out of Heaven. I am ambitious. I wanted to excel God himself. You are ambitious. You would make yourself powerful beyond all others. You tried to use me to achieve this end. So I have given you a son. Lucifer. And every man-child of your clan in the generations to come will have me in him.' And that is the way the Verringers are indeed spawn of the Devil."
"You tell the story very well indeed," I said. "I felt I was really there. I. could see that young man and the dénouement."
"Does it excuse us?"
"Certainly not."
"I thought that if we had the devil in our blood we could be allowed a little licence."
"I suppose there are legends like that attached to most families who can trace their line back so far. I believe something like it was said of the Angevin fine of the royal family from which so many of our kings came."
"The story has been passed down through the generations."
"And no doubt you all thought you had to live up to it."
"We did not have to work very hard to do so, it appears. But I wanted you to understand that when we do behave badly it is not entirely our own fault."
What was he telling me? That he was capable of a ruthless act? Murder? I could not shut out of my mind the thought of that unwanted wife lying on her pillows, the bottle containing the fatal dose of laudanum in her husband's hands. Had he administered it?
"You are pensive," he said. "You are thinking that you do not accept my excuses."
"You are right," I answered. "I do not."
He sighed. "I knew you wouldn't, but I did want to explain. What a heavenly night! There is a scent of flowers in the air and you look very beautiful sitting there, Cordelia."
"It is because it is almost dark."
"You have always looked beautiful to me in strong sunlight."
"I think it is time for me to say good night and thank you for a very good meal."
"Not yet," he said. "This is such a lovely night. How still it is! Not a breath of wind. It is rarely like this and a shame not to take advantage of it. You dismiss my fantasy. But many people have fantasies in their lives. Have you?"
I was silent. He sent my mind back again to that Suffolk churchyard, and before I could stop myself I was saying: "Something strange happened to me ... once."
"Yes?" He was leaning forward eagerly.
"I haven't talked about it much, not even to my aunt."
"Tell me."
"It seems so absurd. It happened when we were at Schaffenbrucken. There were four of us and we had heard that if we sat under a tree ... a certain tree ... in the forest at a certain time ... it had to be something to do with the full moon, and this was the time of the Hunter's Moon which was supposed to be especially good ... Well, we heard that if we sat under this oak, we might see the man we were going to marry. You know how foolish girls can be."
"I don't think it is foolish. I think it would show a very lethargic and incurious mind not to want to see one's future partner."
"Well, we went and there was a man ..."
"Tall, dark and handsome."
"Tall, fair and handsome actually. And he seemed strange, remote, perhaps that was because of the story. We talked to him for a while and then went back to school."
"Is that all?"
"No, I saw him again. It was on the train coming home to England ... just in a flash he was there and he was gone. Then he was on the boat coming to England. I was on deck, half asleep, it was night, you see, and then ... suddenly it seemed, he was there beside me. We talked, and I suppose I was rather drowsy for when I opened my eyes he was gone."
"Went up in a puff of smoke?"
"No ... just gone ... in a natural sort of way. I saw him again near Grantley Manor where we used to live. He talked to me and I discovered his name. He said he would visit us but he did not come. Then ... and this is what is really odd; I went to the place where he said he lived and I discovered the house. It had been burned down more than twenty years before. I saw his name on a tombstone. He had been dead for more than twenty years. Don't you think that is as strange as your family's trafficking with the Devil?"
"I didn't ..., until you got to the visit to the place where he was supposed to live. That is very strange, I grant you. The rest is easy. He came to the forest by chance. You endowed him with all the noble and somewhat supernatural qualities because you were young and impressionable and believed in the legend. He was impressed by you, which does not surprise me in the least. He saw you on the journey. He sat beside you and talked and then his conscience smote him. He had a wife and six children waiting for him at home. So he slipped away unobtrusively. Then he couldn't resist the temptation to see you again, so he waylaid you. He was to visit you and your aunt, and then his better feelings triumphed once more and he went home to his family."