A great excitement took possession of me. I thought how wonderful it would be to see him again.
I said: "Was his name Edward Compton?"
Violet considered. "It could have been. I wouldn't say it wasn't ... and then I wouldn't say it was."
"Oh Violet," I said in exasperation.
"Well, what's all the fuss? You'll know tomorrow. Patience is a virtue ... and I'm not talking about you, Patty."
Aunt Patty smiled, not betraying that she had heard that so-called joke a hundred times before from Violet. Tomorrow, I thought. It is not long to wait.
The familiar peace of Moldenbury descended on me. I unpacked my things and went for a walk with Teresa. After supper we sat in the garden and talked desultorily of village affairs. The usual "Bring and Buy" and the church fête were looming. There was a controversy as to whether the proceeds should go to the tower or the bells. Aunt Patty was on the side of the tower. "We don't want that toppling down on us," she said. But Violet was for the bells. "I do like to hear them. Specially on a Sunday morning," she said.
"Bells wouldn't be much use if the tower collapsed," pointed out Aunt Patty.
"Not much use having a tower if there's no bells to bring people to church."
And so it went on.
When I retired for the night Aunt Patty came to my room. -
"Is everything all right?" she said. "I thought you seemed a bit ... remote. Not worried about that girl eloping are you? They're not blaming you for letting her get away, I hope."
"Oh no. Daisy is most fair. It wasn't the fault of anyone at the school. It was the girls more likely. They had been meeting this man, some of them. If it had been Eugenie Verringer I wouldn't have been so surprised, but that Fiona should have been so bold ... well, it was unlike her."
"In love, I suppose. They say that changes people. Cordelia, do you want to tell me what's on your mind?"
I hesitated. Then I burst out: "I had an anonymous letter. It was horrible. Accusing me of being involved in ... murder."
"Good gracious me!"
"It concerned a woman who disappeared suddenly. She had been Jason Verringer's mistress at some Lime and he ..."
"He seemed rather interested in you when he came here. I remember that."
"Yes," I said.
"And how do you feel about him?"
"I try to avoid him all I can, but he is not the sort of man to respect anyone's wishes if they conflict with what he wants. He is arrogant and ruthless. He is very powerful. He seems to own everything in Colby ... including the school. Even Daisy Hetherington is a little subservient."
Aunt Patty nodded her head slowly. "I daresay there is a lot you haven't told me."
There was. I could not bring myself to speak of that scene when I had cut my hands at the window.
She went on gently: "You could always leave. Come back here. You could do something else later if you wanted to. Daisy's is not the only school in the country, you know."
"Leave the school? Leave Colby? I should hate that. Besides, I should have to give a term's notice, so in any case I should have to go back to all that gossip and rumour. Even Teresa is upset."
"Where is she involved?"
"There must be a lot of chatter about Jason Verringer and me. She thinks he is involved with that woman's disappearance, and I believe she is afraid for me. I fancy she wants to warn me against him. As if I needed to be warned!"
Aunt Patty was looking at me quizzically.
I went on: "The girls talk a great deal. They overdramatize. She has a notion that he killed this woman. To girls of Teresa's age there are only the good and the bad ... the saints and the devils."
"And she has put him into the devil's category."
"She certainly has."
"You too?"
I was faintly embarrassed, remembering so much about him and that peculiar kind of pleasure which his proximity brought to me.
"I remember him well from the time he came here," went on Aunt Patty. "He did not strike me as a very happy person."
"I don't think he has ever been really happy. His marriage was a failure and I imagine he has gone out in all the wrong directions."
"Tis strange," said Aunt Patty, "how so many who have worldly possessions lack real happiness. I suppose he is richly endowed."
"Very much so."
"I've always thought that the really successful people in life are those who know how to be happy. If you are not happy you're not a success. You may have all the kingdoms of the Earth and if you haven't found happiness you've failed. After ail, that is what we are all striving for, isn't it?"
"You're right. You and Violet must be the most successful people in the world."
"It makes you laugh, doesn't it? Here we are tucked away in our Little house ... of no importance to the world ... except to those who are near us... yet we have reached the goal to which everyone is striving. Yes, we're happy. Dear child, I want that same happiness for you. Perhaps it was easier for me. I've always been single. I've made my own life. It's been a good one."
"You have made it so."
"We all make our lives what they are. Sometimes there is a partner to help you make it. Then it's not always easy to go the way one wants to. That's where the difficulties lie. That poor man! Interesting... but I sensed something dark there. He's not a happy person. You are, Cordelia. You came to us ... and everything was right ... from the start. We gave you love and you took it and gave us love in return. It was easy ... no complications. I'm not being clear, but I want you to be very careful if the time should come when you decide to choose someone to share your life."
"I am not thinking of sharing my life with anyone, Aunt Patty, except you and Violet."
"You think a great deal about that man."
"Aunt Patty, I dislike him. I find him most ..." She held up her hand. "You are so vehement."
"So would you be if -"
She waited and I did not go on.
Then suddenly she bent forward and kissed me. "My dear," she said, "you have chosen your profession and it suits you. You were meant to guide, counsel and protect. He is, as you imply, a man of the world and sometimes they are the ones who need most care. Well, we shall see. Now you are here and you are going to be lazy and rest, and we shall talk and talk. But it is time you were in bed. Good night, my dear."
I threw myself into her arms and she kissed me. Then she released me and went to the door. Neither of us cared to show the depth of our emotion; but our love and trust in each other was known to us both and there was no need to talk of it.
I lay between the cool lavender-scented sheets and thought of Violet assiduously collecting the blooms and making them into sachets to scent the household linen as well as Aunt Patty's clothes. Peace ... and yet how could I enjoy it?
Then I was thinking about the next day when the mysterious gentleman would call. I was convincing myself that it was the stranger of the forest who had at last come in search of me. I could remember his face clearly. Yes, he was undoubtedly handsome. His fair hair grew back from a high forehead and he had strong features and rather piercingly blue eyes; and there was something about him which made him different from other men, something not quite of this world. Or had I imagined that after I had had that eerie experience in the Suffolk graveyard?
How strange it would be if I really did see him again. I wondered what the explanation could be and how I should feel when I came face to face with him.
We had breakfasted and Teresa was helping Violet with the washing up. Aunt Patty was going to the Vicarage to discuss the "Bring and Buy" and was wondering if I would like to go with her.
"You'll be roped in for a stall," she said. "For Heaven's sake don't take the white elephant if you can help it. They turn up year after year. Everybody's got to know them by now."