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“I watched over it,” I said. “See this creeper. It is going from my mother’s to the grave of the unknown sailor.”
“In time,” he said, “it will cover them both.”
He stood up and took my hands in his.
“Thank you for caring for this grave, Tamsyn. I dare say you will think I am fanciful. You see, I don’t know where my father lies and in a way this is a sort of substitute.”
“I understand absolutely. I should feel the same. Rest assured that I will always care for the grave.”
He looked at me very solemnly and I thought: This is the moment. But then I heard someone calling my name. “Tamsyn. Tamsyn, where are you?”
It was Senara.
She was at the edge of the burial ground, dressed in her riding habit. It was of mulberry-coloured velvet and she had a riding hat, rather like a man’s, with a band about it and feather at the back. She seemed to grow more beautiful every day; she was begi
She studied us rather mockingly. “Why,” she said, “you are about to ride too. Why should we not all go together?”
Other guests arrived at the castle. When we rode out it was in a large company. My father hunted the deer some miles inland and made up a party. Fe
That meant that Melanie and her mother were left for us to look after. Melanie was very interested in the domestic side of the castle. She met some of the servants. Merry said afterwards that she was a very gracious lady and she hoped Master Co
I was very drawn to Melanie—perhaps because she was Fe
When the men returned they brought some fine deer with them and these were to be roasted for the grand banquet which would be given on the night before the Landors returned.
In the afternoon of that day Co
There was a great deal of chatter in our bedchamber as we prepared for the banquet. Senara’s gown was of red silk and her petticoat of embroidered damask, and the silk divided in the skirt to give an ample view of this magnificent petticoat; her bodice was tightly laced with gold thread; on her head she wore a jewelled ornament which her mother had given her. When she was dressed she studied me. “You look quite beautiful in your blue velvet,” she told me, her head on one side. “Now, Merry, who is the more beautiful do you think?”
Merry looked embarrassed and said “Do not ask such questions.”
“You discomfort poor Merry,” I said. “You know you are so why do you wish to make her say it?”
“It is always good to speak the truth,” said Senara demurely.
What a night that was. The smell of roasting venison filled the castle; the great table in the hall was laden with food of all descriptions; there was beef and mutton besides the venison; and all ma
There mead and metheglin were freely served, with sloe gin and wines made from cowslips, and gillyflowers. When the company had eaten its fill and the musicians were about to play, my father stood up and said he had news to impart which gave him great pleasure.
“My friends,” he said, “you are this day celebrating the betrothal of my son Co
There was a filling of goblets and glasses and toasts were drunk and Co
I caught Fe
Then my father called to the musicians to play and he rose from the table and, taking Melanie by the hand, he opened the dance with her. Co
I said to Fe
“I like well,” he replied, with a pressure on my hand, “that our families should be united. If your brother makes my sister happy I shall be well content.”
“I trust he will,” I answered fervently.
“There has been a restraint between our families because of my aunt’s marriage to your father. It was wrong of my grandmother to blame him for her death. She was somewhat unbalanced and became very strange before she died. But that is over now. Now there will be friendship between us.”
I was happy dancing with Fe
Then the happiness of the evening disintegrated. Above the sound of the music came the sound of piercing screams. The dancers stopped; so did the musicians. My father cried angrily: “What means this?” But the screaming went on.
The door at one end of the hall opened into the kitchens and it was from this direction that the screaming came. Senara and I were close behind my father as he flung open the door.
Two of the serving-girls were being held up by others and they were the ones who were making the noise.
“Silence,” cried my father.
So great was their fear of him that he could silence them whatever the state of their minds.
I saw that Merry was there. She curtsied and said: “Master, these two girls have seen something terrible.”
All the guests were crowding round the door and my father said: “You’ll be whipped for this. What think you you are doing, disturbing my guests in this way?”
My stepmother had taken charge. She said: “The girls are beside themselves with fear. You had better tell me what has happened.”
“’Twas what they did see, Mistress,” said Merry.
“Let them speak for themselves,” said my stepmother. “Jane. Bet. What was it?”
The two who had been screaming stared at my stepmother with round frightened eyes. But they had recovered their senses. They were as frightened of her as they were of my father—though for different reasons and I had at times wondered which they feared most, the whipping which he would order or the vague terror which the thought of witchcraft could inspire.
“We did see a light, Mistress.”
“A light! What light?”
“’Twas in the burial ground … ’Twas moving hither and thither, like … a ghostly light. ’Twere not natural.”
“Is that all? You saw a light and you make this noise?”
“Bet, she said to me she’d wager I wouldn’t go with her … and I said I would and then we wished we hadn’t, but we went and … oh, Mistress, I dursen’t speak of it.”