Kirkland Revels

by Victoria Holt

  " I am going down to tea," I told her; but she did nol answer me.

  It was some days later when Ruth came to my room with a letter.

  "One of the servants from Kelly Grange brought this over," she said.

  "For me?" I asked, astonished.

  " Undoubtedly for you. Mrs. Gabriel Rockwell'--it says it distinctly on the envelope."

  Ruth was smiling as though she were amused when she handed this to me, and as she did not attempt to go I murmured, " Excuse me," and read it.

  It was formal; almost like a command.

  If Mrs. Gabriel Rockwell will call at Kelly Grange on Friday at 3. 30

  Mrs. Hagar Rockwell-Redvers will be pleased to receive her.

  Because I had already crosed swords with Mrs. Hagar Redvers's grandson, I was prepared to do so with her. I flushed faintly with annoyance.

  " A royal command?" asked Ruth with a smile.

  I passed the invitation to her.

  " It's characteristic of my Aunt Hagar," she said. " I really believe she's of the opinion that she is head of the family. She wants to inspect you."

  " I have no intention of being inspected," I retorted rather sharply.

  " The inspection in any case would be rather useless at this stage."

  "She's very old," said Ruth apologetically.

  "She's older than my father. She can't be far off ninety. You have to go carefully with her."

  I said quickly: "I have decided that I shall not go to call on Friday."

  Ruth shrugged.

  "The servant's waiting," she said.

  "My aunt will expect a reply."

  " She shall have that," I answered; and sat down at my writing-table and wrote:

  Mrs. Gabriel Rockwell regrets that she is unable to call on Mrs.

  Hagar Rockwell-Redvers at Kelly Grange on Friday at 3. 30. Ruth took the note from me. She was clearly amused.

  I stood at my window watching the messenger from Kelly Grange ride away, and I thought: So it is from his Grandmother that he gets his arrogance.

  Early the following week I was on the front lawn when Simon Redvers rode up to the house.

  He leaped from his horse, lifted his hat to greet me, then shouted to one of the grooms as though he were the master of this house and its servants.

  " Mrs. Catherine," he said, " I am pleased to find you at home because it was to see you that I have ridden over from the Grange."

  I had not seen him since my return and I thought he looked larger, and more arrogant than ever. I endeavoured to look as dignified as possible as I said: "Pray tell me what your business is with me."

  As soon as his horse was taken from him he came towards me; he was smiling almost ingratiatingly.

  " May I say that it is a great pleasure to see you here again?"

  " You may say it if you wish to."

  " You are still angry with me."

  "I have not forgotten certain remarks you made to me before I left."

  " Do you harbour resentments then?"

  "If they are as insulting as those you made, yes."

  " I am sorry about that because I have come to apologise."

  "Indeed!"

  "Mrs. Catherine, I am a forthright Yorkshireman, and you are a Yorkshire woman, and therefore forthright also. We are no dandified southerners to wrap up our thoughts in pretty phrases. I cannot pretend to possess the manners and style of a gentleman of London."

  " I am sure it would be useless for you to make such a pretence."

  He laughed. " You have a sharp tongue, Mrs. Catherine." 105 I was not altogether displeased by his method of addressing me. I found Mrs.

  Rockwell formal, and naturally I did not wish him to use my Christian name alone.

  " I can only hope that it will be a match for yours on those occasions when we are obliged to meet."

  " I hope those occasions will be many, and that while we sharpen our tongues we shall also sharpen our wits."

  " What did you wish to say to me?"

  " I wished to ask your pardon for certain unmannerly remarks I made at our last meeting. I have come to offer my congratulations, and to wish you good health and happiness."

  "So you have changed your mind concerning me?"

  " I hope I shall not do that, because I always admired you. But I sincerely ask your pardon. May I explain my feelings? Let us say that I was angered by the loss of one who was as my brother. I am the type who loses control of his tongue in anger, Mrs. Catherine. One of my less worthy traits, of which I fear there are many."

  " Then let us say no more of the incident."

  " So you will forgive and forget?"

  " Forgiveness is so much easier to grant than forgetfulness. I promise you the first. The second ... I hope will come."

  " You are gracious, Mrs. Catherine, beyond my deserts. Now I am going to ask a favour of you."

  "Ah!" I said.

  " Not for myself," he added hastily, " but for my grand mother. She has asked you to visit her."

  " It was scarcely a request."

  He laughed. " You must forgive her methods. She is used to authority.

  It is a great grief to her that she has not seen you, and it would give her much pleasure if you would pass over the manner of her asking and remember that she is a very old lady, rarely able to leave the house.

  "

  " Did she send you to give this second command?"

  " She has no idea that I have come. She was hurt by your refusal of her invitation and I am going to ask you to allow me to take you there to-morrow. I will drive over for you and take you to her. Will you allow me to do this?"

  I hesitated.

  " Oh come," he urged. " Remember she is old; she is lonely; she is greatly interested in the family and you are now a member of it.

  Please say yes. Please, Mrs. Catherine. "

  He suddenly seemed attractive; his eyes, screwed up against 106 the sunlight had lost their boldness; I noticed his strong teeth which looked very white against his sun-bronzed skin. He was a little like Gabriel without any of Gabriel's delicacy; and as [ looked at him I found myself relenting.

  He saw the change in my mood immediately. " Oh, thanks," he cried, and his face was creased in smiles such as I had not seen there before.

  He's really fond of that old grandmother, I thought; and I almost liked him because he was fond of someone other than himself.

  He went on exuberantly: " You'll like her. You can't fail to do so.

  And she will like you . though she may be a little chary of showing it at first. Like you, she's a Strong character. "

  This was the second time a man had refered to my strength, and I felt weakened suddenly. There was even a prickle in my eyes which suggested tears. I was horrified at the idea of shedding tears, particularly before this man!

  I said hurriedly to hide my embarassment: "Very well. I will come."

  " That's wonderful. I shall call for you to-morrow at two o'clock. I am now going back to tell her that you have agreed to call and see her."

  He did not wait for any more. He was shouting to the groom and seemed to have forgotten me.

  Yet I liked him for it; and liking him, I was prepared not to dislike his grandmother, which previously I am afraid I had made up my mind to do.

  The next day Simon Redvers called at the Revels promptly at two o'clock; he came in a phaeton drawn by two of the handsomest horses I had ever seen. I sat beside him during the journey which was under two miles.

  " I could have walked," I said.

  " And deprived me of the pleasure of taking you?" The mocking note was back in his voice, but the antagonism between us had considerably lessened. He was pleased with me because I had agreed to see his grandmother, and as his obvious affection for her had softened me towards him, we could not hate each other so wholeheartedly.

  Kelly Grange was a manor house which I guessed to be less than a hundred years old--very modem when compared with the Revels. It was of grey stone and surrounded by 10
7 tertile land. We drove up to a pair of massive wrought-iron gates through which I saw an avenue of chestnut trees. From the lodge a woman, who was clearly with child, came out to open the gates for us.

  Simon Redvers touched his hat in acknowledgment and she bobbed a curtsy, I smiled, and her eyes rested on me with speculation.

  " Now I wonder," I said as we drove on, " if that could be Mary-Jane's sister."

  "It's Etty Hardcastle. Her husband works on the land for us."

  " Then it would be. Mary-Jane is my personal maid and she has told me of her sister."

  " In a place like this, you find everyone is related to every one else.

  There! What do you think of the Grange? A pale shadow, eh, of the Revels."

  " It's very attractive."

  " It has its points. Kelly Grange can offer you more in the way of comfort than the Revels, I do assure you. Wait until the winter and compare them. Our great fires keep the house warm. There are many draughty spots in the Revels. You'd need all the coal of Newcastle to keep that place warm in the winter."

  " It is so much easier with a smaller place."

  " Yet we are not exactly cramped. However, you shall see for yourself."

  The wheels crunched on a gravel drive and soon we had drawn up before the front porch, on either side of which were marble statues of women, decently draped, holding baskets in which geraniums and lob elias had been painted. There was a long marble seat on each side of the porch.

  The door was opened by a parlour maid before we had reached it and I guessed that she had heard the sound of wheels in the drive. As we alighted, and the coachman drove off in the phaeton, I imagined this house full of servants all alert to anticipate Simon's needs.

  We went into a tiled hall from which rose a wide staircase. The house was built round this hall, and, standing in it, one could look up to the roof.

  It was a large house of its kind but it seemed small and intimate when compared with the Revels.

  Simon turned to me. " If you will wait here a moment, I will go and tell my grandmother that you have arrived." 108 I watched him mount the stairs to the first-floor gallery, knock at a door and enter. In a few minutes he appeared and beckoned. I went up.

  Simon stood aside for me to pass him and said with a certain amount of ceremony which may have held its mockery--I was not entirely sure of this"-Mrs. Gabriel Rockwell!"

  I entered. It was a room crowded with heavy furniture; thick plush curtains as well as lace ones were held back by ornate brass fittings. There was a table in the centre of the room as well as several occasional tables; there was a horsehair sofa, a grandfather-clock, many chairs, cabinets containing china, a whatnot, an epergne filled with white and red roses.

  But all this I took in at a glance, for it was the woman in the high-backed chair who demanded my attention.

  This was Hagar Redvers, Rockwell-Redvers as she called herself, the autocrat of the schoolroom who had remained an autocrat all her life.

  It was evident that she was tall, although she was sitting down; her back was very straight; her chair was no soft and comfortable one, but had a hard carved wood back; her white hair was piled high on her head and on it was a white lace cap. There were garnets in her ears and her dress of lavender-coloured satin was high at the throat where a lace collar was held in place by a garnet brooch to match the stones in her ears. An ebony stick with a gold top leaned against her chair; I gathered she needed it when she walked. Her eyes were bright blue; another version of Gabriel's eyes, but there was none of Gabriel's gentleness there; there was none of his delicacy in this woman. Her hands, resting on the carved wooden arms of the chair, must have been beautiful in her youth; they were still shapely, and I saw diamonds and garnets there.

  For a few seconds we took the measure of each other. I, being conscious of a faint hostility, held my head a little higher than I normally should have done, and perhaps my voice held a trace of haughtiness as I said: " Good afternoon, Mrs. RockwellRedvers."

  She held out a hand as though she were a queen and I a subject. I had a feeling that she expected me to go down on my knees before her.

  Instead I coolly took the hand, bowed over it and relinquished it.

  "It was good of you to come this afternoon," she said. " I had hoped you would come before." 109 " It was your grandson who suggested that I should come this afternoon," I told her.

  "Ah!" her lips twitched a little, I fancied, with amusement " We must not keep you standing," she said.

  Simon brought a chair for me and set it before the old lady. I was very close to her and facing what light could come through the lace curtains; she had her own face in shadow and I felt that even in this small way they had sought to place me at a disadvantage.

  "You are no doubt thirsty after your drive," she said, her keen eyes seeming to search through mine into my mind.

  " It was a very short one."

  " It is a little early for tea, but on this occasion I think we will not wait."

  " I am quite happy to wait."

  She smiled at me, then turned to Simon.

  "Ring the bell, grandson."

  Simon immediately obeyed.

  "We shall have much to say to each other," she went on, " and what more comfortable way of saying it than over a cup of tea?"

  The parlour maid whom I had seen before appeared, and the old lady said: " Dawson, tea ... please."

  " Yes, madam."

  The door was quietly shut.

  " You will not wish to join us, Simon," she said. " We will excuse you."

  I was not sure whether she used the word royally or whether she meant that we should both prefer him not to be with us; but I did know that I had passed the first small test and that she had unbent slightly towards me. My appearance and manners evidently did not disgust her.

  Simon said: "Very well. I'll leave the two of you to become acquainted."

  " And be ready to drive Mrs. Rockwell back to the Revels at five o'clock."

  Simon surprised me by his acquiescence. He took her hand and kissed it and, although even then there was a certain mockery in his manner, I could see how she enjoyed this attention and that, although she tried to, she could not retain her autocratic manner with him.

  We did not speak until the door closed on him; then she said: " I had hoped to see you when you were at the Revels previously. I was unable at that time to corns to see you and HO i did not invite you because I felt certain that Gabriel would bring you to see me in due course. I am sure he would have done so had he lived. He was always conscious of his duty to the family."

  " I am sure he would."

  " I am glad that you are not one of those stupid modem girls who faint when any difficulty presents itself."

  " How can you know these things on such a short acquaintance I asked, because I was determined that she should treat me as an equal, as I had no intention of giving her the reverence she seemed to demand.

  " My eyes are as sharp as they were at twenty. They have a great deal more experience to help them along than they had then. Moreover, Simon told me how admirably calm you were during that distressing time. I am sure you are not one of those foolish people who say: We must not talk of this or that. Things exist whether we talk of them or not; so why pretend they don't by never mentioning them? Indeed, hiding the truth and making mysteries of straightforward events is the way to keep them alive. Do you agree?"

  " I think there may be occasions when that is true."

  "I was pleased when I heard you had married Gabriel. He was always rather unstable. So many of the family are, ['m afraid. No backbone, that's the trouble."

  I looked at her erect figure and I permited myself a little joke. "

  You evidently do not suffer from that complaint."

  She seemed rather pleased.

  "What do you think of the Revels?" she asked.

  " I found the house fascinating."

  "Ah! It is a wonderful place. There as not so many like it left in Englan
d. That's why it is important that it should be in good hands.

  My father was very capable. There have been Rockwells, you know, who almost ruined the place. A house . an estate like that needs constant care and attention if it is to remain in good repair.

  Matthew could have been better. But a squire in his position should have dignity. There was always some woman. That's bad. As for Gabriel he was a pleasant creature but weak. That was why I was gratified when I heard he had married a strong young woman. "