I said quietly and quickly: "I expect we shall know in due course. I just wanted some stamps, please Mrs. Baddicombe. I have to get back quickly."
I came out into the sunshine. A sudden fear had seized me. Why? Surely if Marcia Martindale wanted to leave in a hurry, there was nothing in that to arouse my concern.
Miss Hetherington called a conference to discuss what she grandiloquently called "The Pageant". She reminded us all that time was short and it would be most effective if it took place on Midsummer's Eve. That left us about a month for preparation, which was not long, but she did not care for these things to go on too long because they had a way of interfering with school work, as we had seen recently in the case of Cinderella.
"We have some costumes," she said. "Those which have been used in previous pageants, and Sir Jason Verringer has promised to lend us others. Naturally we must have monks ... and some of the seniors can take those parts. The smaller girls will look incongruous in the habits. We shall do the usual three-act piece. The beginning leading to the Dissolution; the Elizabethan age and revival; and today with the school. All the girls can take part in singing the school song, etc. If it is warm and fine it will take place out of doors. There will be a full moon, which is ideal. The tains will make a wonderful setting. I hope and pray it will not be wet. Then it will have to be in the refectory hall or perhaps Sir Jason would offer us the ball-room at the Hall. That is really very suitable but I should have to wait for him to offer. Mr. Crowe, you could get down to work on the singing. There should be quite a lot of that so that everyone can foin in. Miss Eccles, you could do the settings, and Miss Grant of course will choose the pieces for recitation and direct the players. Miss Parker, I think for the fmal part they might do a few attractive physical exercises. We could have a few folk dances, Mr. Bathurst. We must make an interesting evening and, if it is a success, we could repeat the highlights just before break-up when the parents could come. Not many of them would want to make the journey in mid-term even to see their offspring perform. The thing is to get into action without delay. Any questions?"
There were a few and there was no talk of anything else in the school but the pageant. I threw myself into it with fervour, trying to forget those alarming yet stimulating moments in the Devil's Den. I knew that he had been on the verge of treating me barbarously and I continued to be amazed that the sight of my injuries had had such an immediate effect on him and brought out that little decency which must be in him. Perhaps he had really believed until then that I had wanted him to seize me, to possess me as he had clearly threatened to do. Perhaps I did. Yet, I had made that desperate gesture, almost without thinking, for it would have been quite impossible for me to have escaped by the window.
I could not forget it. It was there in my dreams.
And now Marcia Martindale had gone. What could that mean?
He called at the school and was closeted with Miss Hetherington in her study. I was summoned with Eileen Eccles. I avoided looking at him as much as possible. He asked about my hands and I told him they were recovering fast. We talked about the pageant, and I believe I was quite cool and certainly aloof. He tried to make me look at him and it was almost as though he were pleading for forgiveness.
Daisy went to the gates to see him off and during the next days I did not go out riding alone. I was afraid of meeting him and I kept reminding myself that I must never again be alone with him.
I learned from Teresa that the new maid, Elsa, was voted "very jolly" by most of the girls. She was not like the others. She never complained about untidy bedrooms and, when she knew that Miss Hetherington was going to make an inspection, she had hastened into Charlotte's room and tidied up. They thought that was "very sporting".
She seemed to like that threesome particularly and was always gossiping with Fiona, Eugenie and Charlotte. I was surprised, for Charlotte was not the sort to talk to servants but evidently even she had been won over by Elsa.
"I remember her well," I told Teresa. "She was like that at Schaffenbrucken, a great favourite with the girls."
It must have been about a week after the departure
"Marcia Martindale that the rumours started. Mrs. Baddicombe, I was sure, had kept up her comments on the strangeness of the situation, and en one of the baker's boys delivering to the post office told her that he had driven his cart past Rocks' Rest and seen a lady standing at the door with a child in her arms, Mrs. Baddicombe was determined to wring as much drama as she could from the situation.
The lady seen by the boy was probably Mrs. Coverdale who had a young child, and it was quite natural that she should be at the door holding her youngest child in her arms.
However, Mrs. Baddicombe would not accept such a simple explanation.
"Poor Tom Yeo! He was struck all of a heap. Said his hair stood on end. She was surrounded by a misty light, and she held up her hands as though calling for help."
"I hope she didn't drop the child," I said. "And why didn't Tom Yeo go to help her or at least see what she wanted?"
"Why, bless you, Miss Grant, have you ever tome face to face with that what's not natural?" "No," I admitted.
"If you had, you'd understand. Poor Tom, he just whipped up his horse and got off fast as he could." "But the Coverdales have moved in, haven't they?
"Well, she did go rather sudden, didn't she?" "Mrs. Baddicombe," I said seriously, "You ought to be careful."
She drew herself up and looked at me suspiciously. "Careful? Me? Ain't I always careful?"
"I'd like to know what you're hinting."
"Plain as the nose on your face, Miss. She comes here ... and then when she's not wanted no more ... she goes."
"Not wanted?"
Mrs. Baddicombe smirked. "I read between the lines ..." she said.
"And compose the script," I added angrily. She looked at me blankly.
"Good day, Mrs. Baddicombe," I said.
I was trembling as I stood outside the shop. I thought how foolish I had been. I should now be cut off from the information she had to offer; and although half of it might be false, I wanted to hear what was said.
The extent of my foolishness was obvious when Eileen Eccles met me in the calefactory and said: "You're becoming involved in the dramas of Colby, Cordelia. The Sibyl of the post office whispered to me that she thinks you are `sweet on' Sir Jason Verringer, and she has known for some time that he had his eyes on you, and ain't it a funny thing that poor Mrs. Martindale, who has had her hopes raised for so long, should, as if by magic, disappear when she is not wanted."
"What nonsense!" I said flushing scarlet.
"The trouble with that sort of talk is that it often has an element of truth in it. I certainly think the libidinous Sir J. has had his eyes on you, and there is no doubt that at one time Mrs. Martindale was his very good friend. So far so good. On this flimsy foundation Mrs. B. weaves her fantasies. Nonsense, yes, but founded on a certain fact, and that is where the danger lies."
"You're warning me," I said.
She put her head on one side and regarded me 'with mock seriousness. "You know best what you have to do," she said. "All I can say is that he has a reputation of sorts. There were rumours about his wife's death. Now there are rumours about the disappearance, as they call it, of his lady friend. He is rumour-prone, and in our profession rumour can kill careers. I would advise ... but I expect that you know as well as I do that advice is something to be given freely and taken only if it suits the recipient's inclinations. I'd keep away from him, and after the Kummer holidays it may have died down."
I looked fondly at Eileen. She was a good friend and a sensible woman. I wanted to tell her that I needed no warning. I had decided never to be alone with Jason Verringer again.