The innkeeper’s wife talked with enthusiasm of duck and green peas and roast beef, but we were, neither of us, very interested in food.
We ordered roast beef, I think it was, and as soon as we were alone, Miss Jansen said to me: ” What do you think of Mount Mellyn?”
” It’s a wonderful old place.”
” One of the most interesting houses I ever saw,” she replied.
” I did hear, from Mrs. Polgrey I think, that old houses specially interested you.”
” They do. I was brought up in one. However, the family fortunes declined. That’s what happens to so many of us who become governesses.
I was sorry to leave Mount Mellyn. You have heard why I went? “
” Y … yes,” I said hesitantly.
” It was a very distressing afiFair. I was furiously angry to be unjustly accused.”
She was so frank and sincere that I believed her, and I made that clear n She looked pleased; and then the food was brought in.
As we sat eating it in a somewhat desultory way she told me of the affair.
” The Treslyns and the Nansellocks had been having tea at the house.
You know the Treslyn’s and the Nansellocks of course? “
“Oh yes.”
” I mean, I expect you know quite a lot about them. They are such friends of the family, are they not?”
” Indeed yes.”
” I had been treated rather specially.” She flushed slightly, and I thought. Yes, you are so pretty. Connan would have thought so. I was aware of a flash not so much of jealousy as uneasiness as I wondered whether in the years to come I was going to be continually jealous of Connan’s appreciation of the attractive members of my sex.
She went on: ” They had called me in to tea, because Miss Nansellock wanted to ask some questions about Alvean. She did dote on that child.
Does she still? “
” Indeed yes.”
” She is such a kind person. I don’t know what I should have done without her.”
” I am so glad somebody was kind to you.”
” I think that she looks upon Alvean as her child. There was a rumour that Miss Nansellock’s brother was the father of Alvean, which would make her Miss Nansellock’s niece. Perhaps that is why …”
” She certainly does feel strongly about Alvean.”
” So I was called down to talk to her, and I was given tea and chatted with them as though I were a guest as they were. I think that Treslyn woman resented it … she resented my presence there altogether.
Perhaps they were a little too attentive to me I mean Mr. Peter Nansellock and Mr. TreMellyn. Lady Treslyn has a hot temper, I am sure. In any case I believe she arranged the whole thing. “
” She couldn’t be so vile!”
” Oh, but I am sure she could, and she was. You see, she was wearing a diamond bracelet and the safety chain had broken. It bad caught in the upholstery of the chair, I think.
She said, I won’t wear it. I’ll take it down to old Pastern to get it repaired as soon as we leave. ” She took it off and put it on the table. I left them at tea and went to the schoolroom to do some work with Alvean. It was while we were there that the door was thrown open and they all stood there looking at me accusingly.
” Lady Treslyn said something about having a search made because her diamond bracelet was missing. She was truculent. One would have thought she was already the mistress of the house. Mr. TreMellyn said very kindly that Lady Treslyn was asking that my room be searched, and he hoped I would not object. I was very angry and I said: Come on, search my room. Nothing will satisfy me, but that you should.”
” So we all went into my room, and there in a drawer, hidden under some of my things was the diamond bracelet.
” Lady Treslyn said I was caught red-handed, and she was going to have me sent to prison. The others all pleaded with her not to make a scandal. Finally they agreed that if I went at once the matter would be forgotten. I was furious. I wanted an inquiry. But what could I do?
They had found the thing there, and whatever I had to say after that they wouldn’t believe me. “
” It must have been terrible for you,” I began to shiver.
She leaned across the table and smiled in a kindly way at me. ” You are afraid that they may do something similar to you. Lady Treslyn is determined to marry Connan TreMellyn.”
” Do you think so?”
” I do. I am sure there was something between them. He was, after all, a widower and ‘not the sort of man, I think, to live without women.
One knows his sort. “
I said: “I suppose he made advances to you?”
She shrugged her shoulders. ” At least Lady Treslyn imagined that I might be a menace, and I am sure she chose that way to get rid of me.”
“What a foul creature she is! But Miss Nansellock was kind.”
” Very kind. She was with them, of course, when they found the bracelet; and when I was packing she came to my room. She said: I’m very distressed. Miss Jansen, that this should have happened. I know they found the bracelet in your drawer, but you didn’t put it there, did you?” I said: Miss Nansellock, I swear I didn’t. ” I can tell you, I was hysterical. It had all happened so suddenly. I didn’t know what was to become of me. I had very little money and I would have to go to some hostel to look for work, and I knew I could not expect a testimonial. I shall never forget her kindness to me. She asked me where I was going and I gave her this address in Plymouth. She said: ” I know the Merrivales are going to want a governess for a month or so. I am going to see that you get that job. ” She lent me some money, which I have now paid back, although she did not want me to do so; and that’s how I lived until I went to the Merrivales. I have written, thanking Miss Nansellock, but how can one thank people adequately who do so much for one when one is in such dire need?”
” Thank goodness there was someone to help.”
” Heaven knows what would have become of me if she had not been there. Ours is a precarious profession, Miss Leigh. We are at the mercy of our employers. No wonder so many of us become meek and down-trodden. "
She brightened. ” I try to forget all that. I’m going to be married.
He is a doctor who looks after the family. In six months’ time my governessing days will be over. “
” Congratulations! As a matter of fact I, too, am engaged to be married.”
” How wonderful!”
” To Connan TreMellyn,” I added.
She stared at me in astonishment. ” Why …” she stammered, ” I wish you the best of luck.”
I could see that she was a little embarrassed and trying to remember what she had said about Connan. I felt too that she thought I should need that good luck.
I could not explain to her that I would rather have one stormy year with Connan than a lifetime of peace with anyone else.
” I wonder,” she said after a pause, ” why you wanted to see me.”
” It is because I had heard of you. They talk of you often. Alvean was fond of you and there are things I want to know.”
” But you, who are soon to be a member of the family, will know so much more than I can tell you.”
” What do you think of Gilly Gillyflower?”
” Oh, poor little Gilly. A strange, mad Ophelia-like creature. I always felt that one day we should find her floating on the stream with rosemary in her hands.”
” The child had a shock.”
” Yes, the first Mrs. TreMellyn’s horse nearly trampled her to death.”
” You must have gone there soon after the death of Mrs. TreMellyn.”
” There were two others before me. I heard they left because the house was too spooky. A house couldn’t be too spooky for me.”
” Oh yes, you’re an expert on old houses?”
” Expert! Indeed I’m not. I just love them. I’ve seen a great many and I’ve read a great deal about them.”
” There was
a peep in your room. Gilly showed it to me the other day.”
” Do you know, I lived in that room three weeks without knowing it was there.”
” I’m not surprised. The peeps are so cleverly concealed in the murals.”
” That’s an excellent way of doing it. Do you know those in the solarium?”
” Oh yes.”
” One overlooking the hall, the other, the chapel. I think there’s a reason for that. You see, the hall and the chapel would be the most important parts of the house at the time that was built.”
” You know a great deal about period and so on. At what period was Mount Mellyn built?”
” Late Elizabethan. At the time when people had to keep the presence of priests in their houses secret. I think that’s why they had all these peeps and things.”
” How interesting.”
” Miss Nansellock is an expert on houses. That was some thing we had in common. Does she know we’re meeting?”
” No one knows.”
” You mean, you came here without telling even your future husband?”
Confidences trembled on my lips. I wondered if I dared share them with this stranger. I wished it were Phillida sitting opposite me. Then I could have poured out my heart to her; I could have listened to her advice, which I was sure would be good.
But, although I had heard Miss Jansen’s name mentioned so much since I had come to Mount Mellyn, she was still a stranger to me. How could I say to a stranger: I suspect the man I am engaged to marry of being involved in a plot to murder me.
No! It was impossible.
But, I reasoned, she had suffered accusation and dismissal. There was a kind of bond between us.
How far, I asked myself, are hot-blooded people prepared to go for the satisfaction of their lust?
I could not tell her.
” He is away on business,” I said. ” We are to be married in three weeks’ time.”
” I wish you the best of luck. It must have happened very suddenly.”
” It was August when I went to the house.”
” And you had never met before?”
” Living in the same house one quickly gets to know people.”
” Yes, I suppose that is so.”
” And you yourself must have become engaged in almost as short a time.”
” Oh yes, but …”
I knew what she was thinking. Her pleasant country doctor was a very different person from the Master of Mount Mellyn.
I went on quickly: ” I wanted to meet you because I believed you had been falsely accused. I am sure that many people at the house think that.”
” I’m glad.”
” When Mr. TreMellyn returns I shall tell him that I have seen you, and I shall ask if something can be done.”
” It is of little consequence now. Dr. Luscombe knows what happened. He is very indignant. But I have made him see that no good purpose could be served by bringing up the matter again. If Lady Treslyn ever tried to make more mischief, then something could be done. But she won’t; her only desire was to get rid of me, and that she did … quite effectively.”
” What a wicked woman she is! She did not consider the effect on you.
But for the kindness of Miss Nansellock. “
” I know. But don’t let’s talk of it. You will tell Miss Nansellock that you have seen me?”
” Yes, I will.”
” Then tell her that I am engaged now to Dr. Luscombe. She will be so pleased. And there’s something else I would like her to know. Perhaps you’ll be interested too. It’s about the house. The house will soon be your home, won’t it? I envy you the house. It’s one of the most interesting places I’ve ever seen.”
” What were you going to tell me to pass on to Miss Nansellock?”
” I’ve been doing a little research on architecture, and so on, of the Elizabethan period, and my fiance arranged for me to see Cotehele, the Mount Edgcumbes’ place. They were delighted to let me see it because they are understandably proud of it. It’s more like Mount Mellyn than any house I’ve ever seen. The chapel is almost identical, even to the lepers’ squint. But the squint at Mount Mellyn is much bigger, and the construction of the walls is slightly different. As a matter of fact I’ve never seen a squint quite like that at Mount Mellyn before. Do tell Miss Nansellock. She would be most interested, I’m sure.”
” I’ll tell her. I expect she’ll be more interested to hear that you are so happy and that you are going to marry.”
” Don’t forget to tell her too that I remember I owe it all to her.
Give her my kindest regards and my best thanks. “
” I will,” I said.
We parted, and on my journey home I felt I had obtained from Miss Jansen some fresh light on my problem.
There was no doubt that Lady Treslyn arranged for Miss Jansen’s dismissal. Miss Jansen was very pretty indeed. Connan admired her and Alvean was fond of her. Connan would consider marriage because he would want sons; and Lady g to allow him to marry anyone but herself.
I believed now that Lady Treslyn was planning to remove me as she had removed Miss Jansen; but because I was already engaged to Connan she would have to use more drastic methods in my case.
But Connan did not know of this attempt on my life.
I refused to believe that of him and, refusing, I felt a great deal happier.
Moreover, I had made up my mind. When Connan came back I was going to tell him everything—all I had discovered, all I had feared.
The decision brought me great comfort.
Two days passed, and still Connan had not returned.
Peter Nansellock came over to say goodbye. He was leaving late that night for London on his way to join the ship which would carry him to Australia.
Celestine was with him when he came to say goodbye. They thought Connan would have returned by now. As a matter of fact while they were there a letter arrived from-Connan. He was coming back if possible late that night; if not, as early as possible next day.
I felt tremendously happy.
I gave them tea and, as we talked, I mentioned Miss Jansen.
I saw no reason why I should not do so in front of Peter, because it was he who had told me that Celestine had found her a job with the Merrivales.
” I met Miss Jansen the other day,” I began.
They were both startled. ” But how?” asked Peter. ” I wrote and asked her to meet me.”
” What made you do that?” asked Celestine.
“Well, she had lived here, and there was a mystery about her, and I thought it would be rather interesting, so, as I was going to Plymouth. “
” A charming creature,” mused Peter. ” Yes. You’ll be pleased to hear that she’s engaged to be married.
” How interesting,” cried Celestine, her face growing pink. ” I’m delighted. “
” To the local doctor,” I added.
” She’ll make an excellent doctor’s wife,” said Celestine.
” Her husband’s male patients will all be in love with her,” put in Peter.
” That could be disconcerting,” I replied.
” But good for business,” murmured Peter. ” Did she send us greetings?”
” Particularly to your sister,” I smiled at Celestine. ” She is so grateful to you; you were wonderful to her. She says she’ll never forget.”
” It was nothing. I could not let that woman do what she did and stand by doing nothing.”
” You think Lady Treslyn deliberately planted that theft on her? I know Miss Jansen does.”
” There is no doubt of it,” said Celestine firmly.
” What an unscrupulous woman she must be!”
” I believe that to be so.”
” Well, Miss Jansen is happy now, so good came out of evil. By the way, I have a special message for you. It’s about the house.”
” What house?” asked Celestine with great interest.
” This one
. Miss Jansen has been to Cotehele and has been comparing their squint, in the chapel, with ours. She says ours is quite unique.”
” Oh really! That’s very interesting.”
” It’s bigger, she says I mean ours is. And there’s some thing about the construction of the walls.”
” Celestine is aching to go down and have a look at it,” said Peter.
She smiled at me.
“We’ll look at it together sometime. You’re going to be the Mistress of the house, so you ought to take an interest in it.”
” I’m becoming more and more interested. I’m going to ask you to teach me lots about it.”
She smiled at me warmly. ” I’ll be glad.”
I asked Peter what train he was catching, and he answered that it would be the ten o’clock from St. Germans.
” I’ll ride to the station,” he said, ” and stable the horse there.
The baggage has gone on ahead of me. I shall go alone. I don’t want any fond farewells at the station. After all, I shall no doubt be home this time next year . with a fortune. Au revoir, Miss Leigh,” he went on. ” I’ll come back one day. And if you do feel like coming with me . it’s not too late even now. “
He spoke flippantly, and his eyes were full of mischief, I wondered what he would say if T suddenly agreed to his proposal, if I suddenly told him that I was filled with terrible doubts about the man I had promised to marry.
I went down to the porch to say my last farewells. The servants were there for he was a great favourite. I guessed that he had bestowed many a sly kiss on Daisy and Kitty, and they were sad to see him go.
He looked very handsome in the saddle and beside him Celestine seemed insignificant. We stood waving to them. His last words were: ” Don’t forget. Miss Leigh … if you should change your mind!”
Everybody laughed and T joined in with them. I think we all felt a little sad that he was going.
As we were going back into the house, Mrs. Polgrey said to me: ” Miss Leigh, could I have a word with you?”
” But certainly. Shall I come to your room?”
She led the way there.
” I’ve just had word,” she said. ” The result of the autopsy.
Death through natural causes. “
Mistress of Mellyn Page 26
