At the House of the Magician

by Mary Hooper

  ‘Do you say so?’

  ‘I am completely sure of it.’

  ‘And I believe she’s e’en now waiting to be called by us,’ said Mr Kelly, making a sweeping gesture towards the chalk circle.

  Lord Vaizey breathed out with a long sigh and I believe a purse was handed over at this stage, for I saw Mr Kelly slip something into his pocket. The three of them walked towards the chalk circle, then Dr Dee placed himself in its centre, with Mr Kelly and Lord Vaizey standing a little way off, on the other side of the circle from where I was standing.

  Dr Dee began bowing to each corner of the graveyard: low, reverential bows, his arms raised to heaven between each one.

  ‘Dr Dee is preparing to entice your daughter’s spirit to return to earth from the heavenly chambers in which she now dwells,’ explained Mr Kelly.

  ‘I pray he succeeds,’ said Lord Vaizey. ‘For I can live no longer with my guilt.’

  ‘You must understand, my Lord, that if he manages to raise her, she’ll be an ethereal being; an insubstantial wraith. You mustn’t touch her, or even come too close.’

  Lord Vaizey didn’t reply to this. He seemed too distressed.

  ‘If you disobey these rules, if you do touch her,’ went on Mr Kelly, ‘I must warn you that her soul may be in danger.’

  ‘I won’t touch her,’ came the hoarse promise.

  There was a moment’s complete silence.

  ‘Then call in the elements!’ Dr Dee declared, and Mr Kelly produced five small pewter bowls from somewhere outside my vision. The first contained something which he set alight, saying as he did so, ‘Fire!’ The next held water, then came air, spirit and earth. Each bowl was placed at one point of the star.

  ‘The circle of a pentacle protects and contains,’ Dr Dee intoned. ‘It symbolises eternity and infinity, the cycle of life. The circle touching all five elements indicates their connection.’

  ‘So be it,’ responded Mr Kelly.

  ‘Tonight is an auspicious time for a ceremony such as this, for departed spirits will not be far from earth and are ever watching o’er their loved ones …’

  As this discourse continued I used the time to prepare myself for my entrance, breathing evenly and trying to remember everything about Mistress Vaizey that I’d learned. In a moment I’d take a few steps into the churchyard, give Lord Vaizey a sympathetic glance, utter four short words, and it would be over.

  As Dr Dee neared the end of his speech, a cloud of sulphur-tinged smoke began billowing from near the church porch. I was frightened by this at first, thinking it to be something other-worldly, then realised that it was only some stage-setting, a ‘mystical’ backdrop set up by Dr Dee and Mr Kelly. This was confirmed to me when Mr Kelly pointed at it in wonder, saying, ‘The spirits hear us! Oh, see the spirits rising!’

  Dr Dee raised his hands to heaven once more and I saw that in his right hand he had the black and silver mirror. ‘If you are close to our earth, Alice Vaizey, then hear your father’s plea and return through this glass!’ he called into the air.

  I began to shake with fright.

  Dr Dee turned in my direction.

  ‘Alice Vaizey! Arise, sweet spirit!’ he commanded, and as he spoke to give me my cue to appear, something very strange happened: a warmth ran through my limbs and I became filled with both calm and courage. Completely in control of myself now, I pulled myself up to my full height, tossed my hair back from my shoulders and walked lightly through the smoke until I reached the pentacle. I was on one side of it, Lord Vaizey on the other.

  I stood as I’d been tutored, head slightly lowered now so that he couldn’t see my face too clearly, hands folded as if in prayer, and waited for the smoke to clear.

  When it shifted slightly, there was a gasp from Lord Vaizey, a throaty cry of, ‘Alice!’

  I nodded meekly.

  ‘Alice! Oh, let me …’ Lord Vaizey took a step towards me, arms outstretched, and had to be restrained by Mr Kelly.

  ‘Lord Vaizey, please,’ he said, ‘remember what we have told you. Remember that it could be dangerous for your daughter’s soul …’

  ‘Ah yes,’ said Lord Vaizey. I stole a glance at him and saw – poor man – that there were tears coursing down his face.

  ‘Say what you wish to say swiftly, my Lord, for her time on earth will be but brief,’ said Dr Dee.

  ‘Alice, Alice!’ said Lord Vaizey brokenly. ‘I only gave you in marriage because I thought it for the best.’

  I let my head fall to one side, as if considering this.

  ‘I … I imagined that you would come to love him in time, but if I had known you were that unhappy, I would never have forced the marriage upon you.’

  I waited another moment, head still bowed.

  ‘I was a selfish and unfeeling man!’ he said. ‘Oh, child, just tell me that you forgive me.’

  I paused again for a count of five, then looked up and said my words: ‘I forgive you, Father.’

  ‘Oh, bless you, child!’ cried Lord Vaizey, and I heard Dr Dee breathe out, a long rasping breath.

  Mr Kelly said with some relief, ‘Hallelujah! You are forgiven indeed, Sir!’ and I was about to turn and go back when I felt the heat course through me again and I heard myself saying with some urgency, ‘’Tis too late for me, but save my lady!’

  From Dr Dee and Mr Kelly there came a shocked silence.

  Lord Vaizey looked at me, baffled and at a loss. ‘My dear,’ he began. ‘What do you speak of? What do you mean?’

  In my head I saw myself holding the crystal ball – the seeing stone – again, and spying the jewelled flask within it. ‘You must save my royal lady!’ I cried.

  Dr Dee raised the mirror in the air. ‘Sweet spirit! Haste ye back from whence you came!’ he cried, and his words acted like cold water on the warmth and energy that had coursed through me so that I became myself again.

  Turning, I walked back through the smoke. Why I had spoken thus, I had no idea.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘You fool-born idiot – you could have ruined things for all of us!’ said Dr Dee angrily.

  ‘Not only that; you could have condemned us to death!’ Mr Kelly raged. ‘We could have all ended up hung, drawn and quartered.’

  I flinched under their looks but managed to answer steadily. ‘How so?’ I said. ‘For wasn’t last night just an entertainment?’

  Mr Kelly waved me off angrily. ‘Less of your impudence!’ he barked. ‘Dr Dee should dismiss you for disobedience and lack of respect.’

  It was the morning after the raising of Mistress Vaizey and I’d been asked to attend upon the two gentlemen in the library. On the journey back the previous night we hadn’t spoken of the matter, for they’d been too intent on getting home swiftly and undetected. Besides, Mr Kelly had said that he couldn’t trust himself to speak to me, so angry was he.

  ‘You knew what your words were to be; who gave you the authority to say more?’ he asked now, while Dr Dee stood by, simply shaking his head and running his hands along his beard. ‘Whatever possessed you to say such things?’

  ‘I just felt that the young lady I was speaking for wanted me to …’ I said helplessly.

  ‘What nonsense!’ He turned to Dr Dee. ‘This is what you get, Dee, if you ask someone simple and unschooled to undertake an important task.’

  ‘We had very little choice,’ said Dr Dee tersely.

  ‘Girls such as she are of a shallow, flighty nature and allow their imaginations to run away with them,’ Mr Kelly continued, pacing about the room. ‘Their girlish fancies cause them to forget the directions of their elders. A girl of this standard and this class cannot possibly be trusted.’

  ‘You may be right,’ Dr Dee shrugged, ‘but I still say we had no choice.’

  ‘And what is her excuse and explanation? She felt the young lady wanted her to …’ he finished, cruelly mimicking my country accent.

  I hung my head, knowing better than to speak up for myself and risk losing my position in the h
ousehold. I could explain no further, however, bar to say that something – someone – had compelled me to speak as I had done. And it was obvious to me who that someone was.

  * * *

  I yawned frequently as I managed my chores that day, and although cook gave me many sidelong glances and more than once called me a slugabed and a lazy strumpet, she didn’t ask why I was so tired. The mistress was abed again, weary and ailing, so that in the afternoon Mistress Midge sent me and the children to the market to buy some elderflowers and tansy, for she had a mind to make her a tonic. I went off eagerly, for I thought the walk might clear my head a little, and I also very much wanted to see Isabelle.

  My friend was sitting on a wooden box in the marketplace, selling produce. ‘White cabbage, white young cabbage!’ she called. ‘White cabbage, fine and white!’

  ‘Isabelle is back wearing your bodice and skirt again,’ Beth said in a loud whisper as we approached.

  I shushed her. ‘They are her own now. I’ve given them to her and you must say no more about them.’

  She looked at me, wide-eyed, but said nothing. Margaret was there also, sitting on the box beside Isabelle and selling walnuts, so we sent all the children off to play together so that we could talk.

  ‘I’m so very glad to see you, for I couldn’t sleep last night for thinking of you in the churchyard!’ she said. I sat down beside her and she gave me a hug. ‘Do tell what happened, for I swear I can’t wait another moment.’ Without pausing for breath she went on, ‘But if it’s a tale of devils and black dogs then I pray you leave out the worst, or I shall ne’er sleep again!’

  I smiled a little at that. ‘No dogs. I survived and am here.’

  ‘And what terrors did you see?’

  ‘I saw none – but I was extremely afeared and wouldn’t do it again – no, not even for four gold coins.’

  ‘And did the man they were duping believe in you? Did he truly think he was speaking to the wraith of his daughter?’

  I nodded. ‘I believe so …’

  I paused in my tale as a housewife stopped in front of us, picked up one of the cabbages and squeezed it, then put it down again, shaking her head.

  ‘But something more occurred,’ I said as soon as the woman was out of earshot. ‘Something strange happened so that I found myself saying more than I should have done.’

  She looked at me, puzzled. ‘Why should you have done such a thing?’

  ‘That’s just it – I don’t know,’ I answered. ‘I was arrayed in my grave-clothes and appeared just as I was supposed to. The girl’s father spoke to ask forgiveness, I said my part, then … then instead of vanishing, I told them that it was too late for me, but that they must save the life of the queen.’

  Isabelle pulled herself away from me, looking at me strangely. ‘Save the queen?’

  I nodded. ‘And … and at the same time I saw the image I’d seen in the show-stone: the jewelled flask. It has something to do with that, but I don’t know what.’

  Isabelle shook her head. ‘I mislike this.’

  ‘So do I.’ My hands twisted together nervously. ‘But I feel that this message is with me now; is mine to pass on. It … it’s as if it’s been given into my safekeeping.’

  ‘What did you actually say? The exact words?’

  I had no trouble remembering: ‘’Tis too late for me, but save my lady. Save my royal lady!’

  ‘And you are quite sure that you were talking of the queen?’

  I nodded emphatically. ‘Alice Vaizey was maid of honour to the queen. She would have laid down her life for Her Grace.’ As most of us would, if asked, I thought to myself.

  ‘And doesn’t your master – doesn’t Dr Dee – seem inclined to do anything about this message?’

  I shook my head. ‘They think it’s merely a girlish fancy on my part. A wish to make myself sound more important.’

  ‘Well.’ Isabelle thought for a moment. ‘Can’t you just forget about it?’

  ‘I’ve been trying to,’ I said wryly, ‘but I don’t think it’s going to let me.’

  I had another vivid dream that night. Not about Ma this time, but one in which I saw our queen lying on a bed hung with black velvet curtains, while above her was placed a wooden shield which bore the royal coat of arms draped in black sarcenet. Twelve maidens knelt around the bed, the sounds of sobbing filled the air and there was solemn music playing, so that I knew she must be dead. As I looked on, one of the kneeling girls turned and stared straight at me, and I knew in my soul it was Alice Vaizey.

  ‘Lucy,’ said the image, ‘I cannot, but you must save my lady.’

  ‘And how shall I do that?’ I asked her. ‘For no one will listen to a low-born maid.’

  ‘You must try. You must save my royal lady!’ she said again, more urgently, and I remember feeling the great weight of this responsibility, and, weeping and struggling, trying to get away from the room in which the body of the queen lay, and in doing this I succeeded in waking myself up.

  I thought long about the matter and, Dr Dee being on his own that morning, I went to him to recount the dream. I’d thought that perhaps he’d take note of it and tell me what it meant, for the well-to-do citizens of the town consulted him on their dreams regularly, seeking to know if a certain one was a good portent or no. My employer was hard into a book, however, for a new and seemingly important volume had arrived that day, and hardly noticed my presence in the room until I made it felt.

  ‘Excuse my presumption, Sir,’ I began, standing full square before his desk, ‘but I’ve had a dream which I feel may be of some import.’

  He didn’t raise his head but merely waved a hand to dismiss me.

  ‘’Twas about the queen, Sir, and her safety.’

  He glanced up for an instant. ‘Not that again.’

  ‘But it seems most important to me, Sir, and in my childhood I often had dreams which …’

  His attention returned once more to the book and he began tracing along a line of strange symbols with his fingers. ‘I’ve already heard these attempts to draw attention to yourself. I’ll have you know that there’s no more money forthcoming.’

  ‘I don’t speak for the sake of money, Sir, but for love of our queen!’ I said with some indignation.

  ‘Begone!’ he said. ‘Or I shall do what Mr Kelly suggests and dismiss you from the house.’

  I opened my mouth to speak further but then gave up and turned away. I’d realised that it was just as I’d thought all along: that it was only the dreams of the wealthy and powerful that were significant; the dreams of servant girls were as nothing.

  Another day went by before I could get out to try to see Isabelle, and by that time I’d had the dream again, exactly as before. But I couldn’t find her at the market that morning and was told by a woman selling pies that she was at home, boiling up candle ends, and would be there on the morrow.

  Another night meant another dream, every detail the same as before, and it came to me that I was going to continue having this dream until I acted upon it. Until I acted on it – or until something terrible happened to the queen …

  Going to market the following morning I found Isabelle at her usual spot near the well and selling not cabbages nor lavender wands, but wax candles made from scraps and stub-ends of the old. ‘White wax candles for one ha’penny!’ she was calling. ‘Light your way with fine white candles!’

  I smiled as I approached her. ‘If a maid waited long enough, she would find you selling everything she ever wanted to buy.’

  She laughed, patted the box beside her and I sat down. ‘Is all well with you?’ she asked with some concern. ‘You look very pale.’

  ‘I do feel somewhat strange,’ I admitted. And I told her about the dreams concerning the queen, and how I felt I should do something, longed to do something, but couldn’t think what this should be. ‘I’ve tried to speak to Dr Dee,’ I said, ‘but now that he no longer needs me for his masque, he hardly bothers to acknowledge my presence in a room, much
less listens to me.’

  ‘What are you going to do, then?’

  I shrugged. ‘What indeed?’

  ‘Maybe you should take heed of the dreams and go and warn the queen.’

  I looked at her and could not help but laugh. ‘Oh, of course! I’ll go to the palace to seek an audience. The queen will receive me graciously and offer refreshment, and then I’ll tell her the whole story.’

  ‘That may be the only way,’ Isabelle said seriously. She closed her eyes for a moment as if she was thinking hard. ‘Are you sure you aren’t cursed with the Sight?’

  I shook my head and then looked at her sideways, somewhat embarrassed to confess. ‘But – well, I have sometimes dreamed of things which later came true,’ I admitted.

  ‘You have?’

  ‘As a child, yes.’

  ‘So what if coming to live in the magician’s house has somehow enhanced that gift.’

  I stared at her. ‘There is another thing: I share the same birthday as Alice Vaizey,’ I said.

  ‘Which surely means there is a further link between you – that is, if those astrologers who cast birth charts are right.’

  I was silent, thinking. ‘We have a wise fool living in our hamlet,’ Isabelle confided, ‘an old woman who sometimes speaks perfect sense and at other times babbles without meaning. Once she told me that the spirits of the dead are unable to leave the earth if they still have work to do on it.’

  I looked at her with some considerable interest.

  ‘What if Alice Vaizey, feeling that the queen is in danger, is unable to move on to a higher state?’ she asked.

  ‘Might such a thing be possible?’

  ‘I’ve heard it said that the veil between this world and the next is but wafer thin, and that sometimes – in times of need – it can disappear altogether. Perhaps, by pretending to be Alice Vaizey, you’ve somehow attracted her spirit to yours. Perhaps she’s trying to speak through you.’

  ‘Through me …’

  ‘Isn’t that just what Mr Kelly does – gives the dead voices? They talk through him, do they not?’