"Emmet has taken your bags up," said Daisy. "Come into the study."
I followed her and when the door was shut I told her about Teresa.
"She left them and travelled on her own! I shouldn't have thought Teresa would have had the courage to do that."
"She's grown up quite a lot lately."
"She evidently hated it with the cousins. I wrote to them and it was all amicably settled. They were really rather relieved. I think that much was obvious and I got their permission for her to spend the summer holiday with us."
Daisy nodded.
"Her travelling on her own like that was not our responsibility," she said. "I hope Teresa is not getting too fond of you, Cordelia. You have to be careful with these impressionable girls."
"Actually I think she is more with Violet than with me. It is amazing how they get on."
She nodded. Then she said: "And Sir Jason ... I was surprised to see you in his carriage ... and seated next to him."
I explained: "It was as he said. He was there. He was so persistent. I couldn't refuse his offer without seeming impolite and ... uncivilized."
"I understand. Be careful of him. He's a dangerous man."
"Dangerous ... in what way?"
"I mean it would be unwise for a young woman in your position to become too friendly with him." "I am not likely to do that." "I hope not."
"Did he marry Mrs. Martindale, or is that to come?"
"There has been no marriage ... yet. There is a good deal of speculation as there has been since Mrs. Martindale came to Rooks' Rest."
"She is there now, is she?"
"Oh yes. She has been back for about three weeks. So has he, and people are waiting for the next development. The general opinion seems to be that they will be married. The unpleasant rumour that he helped his wife to her death so that he could marry Mrs. Martindale still persists. I don't like that sort of gossip about someone so close to the school. It is a pity the place belongs to him and he shows an interest in it. I am sure all those rumours are nonsense. He might be all sorts of rogue but he isn't the sort to murder his wife. But until he marries and settles down, I am afraid these rumours will persist. In the meantime it is well for our people to remain as aloof as possible."
"I agree," I said. "And it is certainly what I intend to do."
Daisy nodded, satisfied. "It is not easy," she went on, "he being our landlord and this connection between the Hall and the Abbey."
Later I saw Eileen Eccles in the calefactory and I looked in to have a word with her.
"Welcome back to the grindstone," she said. "Had a good holiday?"
"Very good, thanks. And you?"
"Lovely. It's a long time to wait for the summer break. I always think this term is the most difficult. I suppose it is because the longing to get away is more acute than usual."
"Oh please," I laughed. "It hasn't begun yet."
"I think it will be a grim one. Just think we are going to have that appalling Midsummer thing. I was here for the last one and you have no idea until you have suffered it what a ghastly business it is. Musical interludes, singing under the shadow of the great nave, prowling about in white, the robes of our founders ... staging a little pageant ... a play probably-act one the building of the Abbey; act two the Dissolution; and act three the rising of Phoenix - our own dear Academy for Young Ladies."
"In any case you can laugh at it."
"Laugh, my dear Cordelia. One must either laugh or weep."
"I daresay we shall do more of the former during the proceedings."
"And after that - glorious freedom. Keep your eyes on that all through the weeks of toil and conflict: the light at the end of the tunnel. By the way, you came back in style."
"Oh, you knew about that then?"
"My dear Cordelia, everyone knows. There you were seated beside him for everyone to see. This is not only the home of clotted cream and cider, but of scandal and gossip. And they are two of its major industries."
"There is no need for scandal concerning me, I do assure you."
"I'm glad. I shouldn't like you to be stabbed with a poniard and your grisly remains buried beneath the ruined chancel ... or perhaps your body thrown into the fish ponds one dark night. Madam Martindale looks to me as if she might employ the methods of the Borgias or Medici if the mood took her."
"She certainly does seem a little theatrical."
"And determined to reach her goal, which, my dear Cordelia, is the Hall and the title that goes with it. For these benefits she is prepared to take Sir Jason too, and it might well be woe betide any rivals for that desirable parti."
"You talk such nonsense," I said laughing. "I can assure you that a ride in a carriage does not constitute a proposal of marriage-or intentions to such a thing."
"I thought he might have his eyes on you, nevertheless. You are not without personal charms."
"Oh, thank you! You said that gossip and scandal were the products of this place. I think some people suffer from an excess of imagination. I have seen very little of this Jason Verringer and what I have I don't like very much."
"Keep it that way, Cordelia. Be a wise virgin."
I laughed with her. It was rather good to be back.
In spite of my assurances to myself that Jason Verringer did not concern me in the least, during the days which followed I was finding more and more that this was .not so. Whenever I went out I looked for him; once I saw him coming from the Hall and turned and galloped as far from the place as possible. I believe he saw me but as he was on foot he had no chance of catching up with me ... if he had been of a mind to do so.
Then when I rode out from school on my free periods very often I would meet him and I realized that he contrived these meetings. In my position it was natural that my outings must occur at regular times and he quickly discovered when.
This alarmed and intrigued me; and if I were perfectly honest with myself I would admit that I was far from indifferent to him, which was the state of mind I was striving for.
He was intruding, not only on my free afternoons but into my thoughts. Whenever his name was mentioned-which was frequently for one could not go into one of the shops without hearing something about him or his affairs - I would pretend not to be interested, when all the time I was trying to glean as much information as I could.
I was very inexperienced of the world and of men. The only encounter had been with Edward Compton, and as I grew farther away from that the more like a dream it seemed. Perhaps if I had been more worldly I would have been more alarmed than I atually was. The fact was that I was allowing myself to be drawn into his orbit and he-a man who had a wide knowledge of my sex-understood my feelings and determined to exploit them.
He was attracted by me from the moment he had seen me riding with Emmet, and when he was attracted by a woman he was not the man to deny himself the pleasure of pursuit.
Therefore he now pursued me.
My acid manner did not deter him in the least. On the other hand, if I had been wiser, I should have known it made him all the more determined.
From a man who was on the point of marriage with another woman this was deplorable. I refused to accept it and told myself that his manner towards me was the same as it would be towards any woman who was young and moderately good-looking. There was nothing special about it.
But of course it was not so.
Once I was riding out for my afternoon's exercise when he came cantering up beside me.
"What a pleasant surprise," he said ironically, for he had clearly been waiting for me. "I am sure you won't have any objection to my riding with you."
"Actually I prefer to ride alone," I said. "One can go at one's own pace."
"I will adjust mine to yours. What a glorious afternoon! The more so for me, I might say, since I have met you."