Books 9-12: Finch's Fortune / The Master of Jalna / Whiteoak Harvest / Wakefield's Course

by Mazo de La Roche

  They had left London at seven in the morning. It was midafternoon when they entered the Valley of the Wye. The deep-bosomed beauty of Herefordshire enfolded them. They got out of the car and lay on the grass high above the river to rest. Before them, wooded as thick as trees can stand, rose Symond’s Yat.

  “Some of the names begin to be funny,” said Wakefield. “Are we getting near Wales?”

  “Pretty near.”

  She plucked nervously at the grass in silence for a space, then she said — “I think I ought to tell you something about my family.”

  “You have mentioned your brother but scarcely spoken of the rest. I expect I talk so much of mine that I haven’t given you a chance. I wish you’d tell me what they’re like. How Welsh are you?”

  “Christopher and I aren’t Welsh at all. We’re English. You see, my mother made a second marriage. My stepfather had three children, all girls. He was an engineer. He built bridges and things. But he drank and he made mistakes. We lived near London for years. Then we couldn’t afford that and Mother thought it might be good for Father to go far into the country. He’d inherited a house and some land in Wales, so he agreed and we went there. Christopher loves farming and animals. He was very happy. Things went better for a while. Then Mother died.” Her voice began to shake. Wake put his hand on hers but she drew away.

  “Don’t sympathize with me,” she said. “It always makes me cry. I shall be all right in a minute.”

  After a little she went on steadily. “After that Father seemed not to care how things went. It’s Christopher who keeps the family together. He’s a lovely brother — and stepbrother, too. He’s just as good to the others as he is to me.”

  “Molly,” asked Wake, “are you fond of your stepfather?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I am. He’s very kind — in his own way — especially when he’s not been drinking.”

  “It’s all different from what I’ve pictured.”

  “My sisters are shy. You’ll probably find them odd at first, especially Gemmel. She’s crippled and rather spoilt.”

  “Which of them paints?”

  “Althea, the eldest of all of us, and the shyest too. You mustn’t ask about her pictures unless she suggests it.”

  “Which is the youngest?”

  “Garda. She’s only sixteen. She’s a fat little thing and sensible. She and Christopher hold the place together. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know what would happen.”

  Wakefield considered all this, then looked at his watch.

  “I say, how much longer will it take us?”

  “About two hours. Are you tired?”

  “Just pleasantly. Do you know what I’ve been thinking?”

  “What?”

  “That I wish we could spend the night somewhere about here and take our time tomorrow.”

  “I wish we could,” she answered simply.

  There was nothing flirtatious about her, he thought. It was one of her charms that she was so straightforward.

  “I wonder what we shall be saying when we drive back this way,” he said.

  “I never look forward more than I can help.”

  “How strange! I’m always looking forward.”

  “You’ve nothing to fear.”

  He was startled. “Have you?”

  “Well, it’s like this. Father has a small annuity. When he dies that dies too. Whether Christopher and I could make enough between us to keep the home together is what worries me. The girls simply aren’t capable of looking after themselves.”

  “Good Lord! Are you to have them on your hands for the rest of your days?”

  “Don’t look so upset, Wake. I may be famous and make masses of money.”

  “Perhaps your sisters will marry.”

  “Maybe Garda. Not the others. Come, let’s go on.” She sprang up and brushed the grass spears from her dress.

  As he slid under the wheel he asked — “Why haven’t you told me this before, Molly?”

  “Why should I worry you?”

  “You know very well why. That’s what I’m for.”

  “You are sweet to me, Wake. Let’s not think about my troubles. I daresay Father will live to be ninety…. He would if he’d behave himself,” she added, bitterly.

  They drove in silence for a while, each content in the thought that the intimate space within the car was shared by the other. Clouds came up from the west and the breeze freshened to a wind. They turned into a narrow road, with low irregular stone walls on either side. The face of the country changed. From opulent curves it changed to a hard boniness. The land was open and sparsely treed. There were scattered farms but no large houses. The air had a sharpness in it. Molly threw back her head and took deep breaths. She laughed.

  “I’ve got you here at last,” she said. “We’ve a whole week ahead of us.”

  “If you think,” said Wakefield, “that I can drive straight when you say things like that, you’re mistaken.”

  He turned swiftly and kissed her on the cheek. The car swerved. Her cheeks were a bright pink.

  “Be careful!”

  “Of what?” he asked.

  “Of our precious tires. This is a rough road.”

  It grew wilder and rougher as they penetrated deeper into the heart of Wales. They were among barren hills that seemed to have upheaved themselves from the bowels of the earth. Beyond and beyond they reared their rocky heads, their shoulders shaggy with bracken. Beyond and beyond they crouched and sank like retreating waves. There was endless variety, and endless monotony. The motorcar was like a grey beetle making its way along the rough road. Wakefield exclaimed: —

  “If Sarah had known what her car would go through she’d have thought twice before lending it.”

  Molly was concerned. “I should have told you. I do hope the car won’t he hurt. Anyhow we shall soon be there…. Is it as wild as I said?”

  Wakefield put on the tone of his Uncle Ernest. “My child, I’ve never known such an example of understatement. It’s as though you said you were going to present me to a gazelle and produced a dinosaur.”

  She was delighted. “I thought you’d like it…. Look, there’s the Abbey, and away below — our house!”

  He stopped the car on a level green plateau. On a rocky hilltop before them stood the ruin of an Abbey. A broken arch of stone and a crumbling tower, dark against the fragile blueness of the June sky. A flock of sheep were grazing on the rich grass surrounding the ruin. The white lambs sported in and out like mischievous choirboys. Below in the valley a grey stone house had spread a flower garden about it as though in passing challenge to the hills.

  Wakefield stared in silence, trying to fit Molly Griffith into this picture. Then he said: —

  “I can’t do it. I can’t believe in your living here. Perhaps I shall later, but just at this first glimpse it seems incredible.”

  She laughed. “When you see Christopher you’ll think he fits in. And so do my sisters. Do you like the Abbey? It was built in the thirteenth century. Christopher says the monks had a garden and that a richness is still in the soil. That’s why it’s such good pasture. Those sheep are his.”

  “I see a girl,” said Wakefield, “going down the mountainside beyond the valley.”

  Molly exclaimed, “It’s Althea! She’s been sketching. Remember, you mustn’t ask to see her pictures. We’d better go. They’ll be expecting us. I’m tired and hungry. Are you?”

  “I scarcely know what I am. I’m in a dream.”

  Slowly the car bumped down the steep road into the valley. It lay in the purple shadow of the mountain. In that light the colours of the garden flowers took on a strange intensity. The house looked incredibly remote. An old thorn tree, distorted by gales, grew by the door. A great boulder, half hidden in flowering gorse, lay near the tree. The girl descending the mountain path had evidently seen them and was hurrying to the house.

  Molly seemed tense, Wakefield thought, almost as though she were uncertain of their welcome as
they stood in the stone porch. An iron boot-scraper was by the door, flakes of mud beneath it.

  “We’ll go straight in,” said Molly. But she opened the door softly and stood as though irresolutely in the hall.

  It was square and furnished only with an old oak table and settle where a yellow cat lay sleeping. He rose, arched his back, and blinked a half-welcome at Molly.

  She bent to stroke his back. “Hullo, Owen! Where is everybody?” She pushed open a door and disclosed an old-fashioned parlor, small and unused, with a faint smell of must.

  “Wait here a moment,” she said. “I can’t think what’s become of everybody.”

  Wakefield waited, thinking how different this was to Jalna, where no one could arrive without a warning from the dogs that brought the family on the scene. These people were odd and he pitied Molly. He had a sudden desire to protect her from her own family. He had a feeling that he would dislike them on sight. The cat had followed her and he was alone. There was nothing in the room that gave him a clue to the tastes of the younger generation, for it had obviously been furnished at least fifty years before.

  Wakefield was both tired and restless. He could not sit down. He looked out of one window and saw the mountainside in deepening purple, flame-etched clouds moving westward above it. Up there, there must be a strong wind. Here, everything was still.

  A voice spoke suddenly behind him.

  “How do you do?” The voice was clear, young, and self-assured.

  Wakefield started and looked sharply round. He discovered no one. Then came a teasing laugh with a note of triumph in it. It came from under a table over which lay an old-fashioned embroidered cover. But the voice was not a child’s voice. He drew away to the other side of the room.

  A corner of the tablecover was drawn aside. A girl’s face, pale and pointed, with dense dark hair and greenish-blue eyes, smiled up at him.

  “Oh, how do you do,” he answered. “I didn’t see you before.” He tried to speak naturally. If this was the way they welcomed guests in Wales he must play up to it.

  She came from under the table on her hands and seat, moving quickly, as though accustomed to this means of getting about. Though she was pale it was not the pallor of ill-health. She looked strong and her hands were extraordinarily supple and capable-looking.

  Now she folded them in her lap and sat looking up at him. He saw that her back was somewhat curved, though not deformed. She asked: —

  “Did Molly tell you about me?”

  “She said …” He hesitated.

  “Then she did! I wanted to be the first to meet you. We’ve all been so curious. We never have visitors, you know. You’re the first in years and years.” She looked up at him admiringly. “Goodness, you’re handsome! No wonder Molly raved about you!”

  He was recovering himself. “How nice of her! Well, I’ll tell you what she told me about you. She said her sisters were shy.”

  She answered seriously — “I am when I want to be. It saves me trouble. But I’m not going to be shy with you. You’re our first visitor and I want to do all I can to make your visit happy.” Was there malice in her smile?

  He heard Molly’s quick step. She came into the room.

  “Oh, Gemmel,” she exclaimed — “you’re here!” She bent to kiss the girl, who was about her own age. She put up strong arms and pulled Molly to the floor beside her.

  “Sit down here,” she said, “where I can look at you.”

  They sat on the floor, side by side.

  How extraordinary all this was! For a moment Wakefield did not know what to do with himself. Then he dropped to the floor beside them.

  “Good,” said Gemniel. “Now I can see you better too.” She gave him a long look, then turned to her stepsister. “He’s just like you said, Molly. I couldn’t have believed it.”

  Molly gave a little apologetic smile at Wakefield.

  “Didn’t I tell you she is spoilt?” she asked.

  “No,” declared Gemmel. “You told him I was shy. But, as I said to him, I can’t afford to he shy with our only visitor in years. I’ve got to make the most of him.”

  “Here comes Christopher,” said Molly. “He will take you to your room. Then we’ll have some food.”

  Both sisters turned eagerly to the door where the one brother entered.

  Christopher was lightly built and of a fairness that takes on a warm golden tan. It was easy to see that he and Molly were brother and sister, but while her young face showed her awareness of the threatenings and pitfalls of life, his wore an expression of serene confidence in the good intentions of the world. Wake thought he had never seen a sweeter smile. The two shook hands.

  Wake and Molly had got to their feet. Gemmel had moved herself so as to be the centre of the group, turning up her face to peer inquisitively into theirs. From this continual upgazing her neck had become extraordinarily supple. She turned her face from side to side with a graceful movement, as of a windflower on its stem.

  Christopher smiled down at her good-humouredly. She struck at him with petulance.

  “I should think you’d be ashamed,” she said, “to come in here wearing those old clothes. Why didn’t you change?”

  “I hadn’t time.”

  “Where is the honey in the comb you promised to get for me?”

  “By George, I forgot.”

  “There’s a brother for you!” she cried, scornfully. “He promises one thing, and does another. I’ll bet you didn’t forget the things Althea ordered!”

  “They were for the evening meal, Gemmel.”

  “And the honey was for my breakfast. I won’t eat any breakfast. Do you hear?”

  She looked furious, but Wake had the feeling that she was showing off. Where Finch would have been embarrassed by the situation, Wake was amused. Her voice pursued them into the hall. She propelled herself swiftly to the door and raised her face to their retreating figures.

  At the top of the stairs Christopher turned to Wakefield with a smile. “She’s often like that to me,” he said. “It really doesn’t mean anything. She’s very fond of me.”

  “That’s easily to be seen,” answered Wake, adding grimly to himself, “Sadistic little devil!”

  It was a low room under the eaves to which Molly’s brother led Wakefield. The casement was half hidden by a climbing rose and through its greenness he could see the hill, topped by the ruin of the Abbey, now ruby-tinted in the sunset. The fleece of the sheep was ruddy too and the young lambs bleated as they sought the ewes’ udders for the good, night feed.

  “And Molly belongs here!” thought Wake, as he put on his tie. “Instead of bringing her closer, it’s made her seem almost like a stranger. I’m meeting her for the first time. Of course, I can believe in Christopher. He’s like Molly. But those sisters!”

  Yet he was pleasurably excited as he went down the stairs. Christopher was waiting for him. They went straight to the dining room. Its ceiling was so low that Wakefield could have put up his hand and touched it. He liked this room as much as he disliked the parlor. It belonged to a much earlier period, with its oak refectory table and Welsh dresser and dark blue and red Mason stoneware. The flagged floor was bare, so were the oak walls; there were no curtains to the small-paned casements that stood open to the pure air from the mountains.

  He could see Molly in this and her smile drew him closer as he sat down by her side.

  Gemmel was already sitting at the table in a high-backed leather chair. Her peculiar characteristics were for the moment obliterated. “She looks,” thought Wakefield, “like any other girl, till she moves her head and her eyes slant up at you.” At her side the youngest sister seated herself. Molly had briefly introduced her as Garda. She was sixteen, shy and too plump. She looked sturdy and wholesome. Christopher sat in an armchair at one end of the table.

  “This is Father’s place,” he said, “but I’m sitting here tonight. He’s feeling seedy.”

  At the same moment there was a heavy thud in the room above
. The brother and sisters gave each other a startled look, then Molly began to talk eagerly of what she meant to do on her holiday. Every time she looked at Christopher their eyes smiled. The place at the other end of the table was still vacant. A middle-aged servant brought in the soup. Molly gave Wakefield a thick square of bread.

  “It’s homemade,” she said. “I used to dream about it in London.”

  “Delidgious!” he agreed. The word was a joke between them. An Italian waiter in a restaurant they went to in Soho always said it that way.

  “Delidgious!” repeated Gemmel. “How lovely!”

  Garda began to laugh and could scarcely stop herself. Her colour became rosy in her cheeks.

  Wakefield was startled to see that the seat at the end of the table facing Christopher was now occupied by Althea. She was fair and slender but not in the way Molly was fair and slender. Althea’s fairness was pale, almost wan; her slenderness that of extremely small bones. Yet she was rather tall. She sat with eyes downcast, like a nun, her long narrow hands moving nervously.

  Molly looked at her anxiously. “Althea, this is Wakefield Whiteoak,” she said.

  “How do you do.” Althea’s voice was scarcely audible. She did not raise her eyes.

  “It’s so kind of you to have me,” said Wake, his brilliant gaze trying to force a return glance.

  She neither looked up nor answered. She did not speak again during the meal. But her silence was not a chill or damping one. Indeed a smile played once about her mouth when some nonsense passed between Wakefield and Molly.

  Wakefield found Molly’s family, with the exception of Althea, easy to get on with. Christopher was always ready to laugh at other people’s jokes. The accounts of theatrical life filled him with an amused wonder. Wake thought he had never met a young fellow of twenty-one so unsophisticated, so naïve. He felt like a grandfather beside him and, being the youngest of a large family, enjoyed the feeling.

  After dinner the two young men sat on the bench in the porch smoking. Before them the dark humps of the mountains rose and fell till they melted into the hyacinth horizon. There were other small farms tucked away in the valleys but none in sight. In this light the mountains no longer seemed granite-hard but malleable and changeful, as though they took on new postures, moving like ponderous bedfellows to curl closer for the night. The sheep huddled by the Abbey, becoming one with its paleness. Sometimes out of this pale fleecy bulk came the plaintive bleat of a young lamb.