Victoria Holt (4 page)

“I’ll remember that,” he said. “You will see me.”

“Are you going home?”

“Yes,” he answered.

I waited but he did not tell me where. There was about him an aloofness, something which warned me not to ask questions.

“You will be looking forward to your meeting with your aunt.”

“Very much.”

“She seems a very indulgent lady.”

“Indulgent? Yes, I suppose so. She is warmhearted and loving and I don’t think she ever felt any malice toward anyone. She has wit and says amusing things but she is never hurtful…unless anyone hurts her or hers, then she would respond with gusto. She is a wonderful human being.”

“Your devotion to her is apparent.”

“She was a mother to me when I needed one.”

“A rare person clearly.”

There was a short silence and then he said: “Tell me about yourself.”

“You don’t want to talk very much about
yourself
,” I commented.

“That will come. Now it is your turn.”

It was like a command and I found myself talking of my early life, remembering things which I thought until this moment I had forgotten. I remembered incidents from Africa, the hours in the mission hall which had seemed endless, the singing of hymns, prayers, always prayers, little black babies playing in the dust, the multi-colored beads which jangled at their necks and waists, strange insects which looked like sticks and seemed as sinister as the snakes which slithered through the grass and of which one had to be very careful.

But mostly I talked about Aunt Patty and the Manor and the school itself and how much I was looking forward to being a part of it.

“You are fully qualified,” he said.

“Oh yes, Aunt Patty saw to that. I have studied a number of subjects and then of course I went to Schaffenbrucken to be finished off, as Aunt Patty puts it.”

“A very expensive school. Aunt Patty must be a rich woman to be able to send her niece there.”

“I think she looked upon it as a good investment.”

“Tell me about the Manor,” he said.

So I talked, describing it room by room and the grounds which surrounded it. There were twenty acres. “We have a paddock and stables and playing fields, you see.”

“It sounds commodious.”

“It has a high reputation. Aunt Patty is always trying to increase it.”

“I like your Aunt Patty.”

“No one could help doing that.”

“Loyal Miss Cordelia.”

He lay back and closed his eyes. I thought it was an intimation that he did not want to talk for a while. So I did the same.

The rocking of the boat was soothing, and as I was really very tired and it was the middle of the night, I went into a light doze. I awoke suddenly to the sounds of activity about me. I could just catch a glimpse of the coastline ahead.

I turned to look at my companion. There was no one there. His chair and his rug were gone.

I stood up and looked about me. There were not many people on deck, and certainly no sign of him.

I went down to find Lydia.

***

Aunt Patty was at the docks waiting to greet me, looking rounder than I remembered and her hat was splendid—ruchings of blue ribbon and a bow as wide as herself.

I was clasped to her fondly and was able to introduce Lydia who couldn’t resist saying: “She is just as you said she was.”

“Been telling tales about me in school, eh?” said Aunt Patty.

“All she told us was lovely,” said Lydia. “She made us all want to come to your school.”

I was hastily introduced to the woman who had come for Lydia. I gathered she was a sort of housekeeper, and I again rejoiced in Aunt Patty, who had come herself to meet me.

Aunt Patty and I settled into the train, talking all the time.

I did look round for the stranger but he was nowhere to be seen. There were so many people about and it would have been something of a miracle if I had been able to see him. I wondered where he was going.

At the Canterton station, which was little more than a halt, we were met by the fly and whisked home in a very short time. I was moved as always by the first sight of Grantley Manor after an absence. Red-bricked, lattice-windowed, it looked gracious rather than grand, but most of all it looked like home.

“Dear old place,” I said.

“So you feel like that about it, do you?”

“But of course. I remember the first time I saw it…but by then I knew everything was going to be all right because I had met you.”

“Bless you, child. But believe me, bricks and mortar don’t make a home. You’ll find a home where you find the people who make a home for you.”

“As you did, dear Aunt Patty. The girls love hearing about you…the macaroons and the hats and everything. They always call you Aunt Patty as though you are theirs too. I feel I want to say, ‘Here, stop it. She’s mine.’”

It was lovely to step into the hall, to smell the beeswax and turpentine which always clung about the furniture mingling with the smell of cooking which came from the other side of the screens.

“It’s a queer time to arrive. It’s just past noon. Do you feel tired?”

“Not really. Only excited to be here.”

“You’ll be tired later. Best to have a rest this afternoon. Then I want to talk to you.”

“Of course. This is the great occasion. I have said goodbye to Schaffenbrucken.”

“I’m glad you went there, Cordelia. It will be a blessing.”

“It will bring them streaming in.”

She gave a little cough and said: “You’ll miss all the girls though, won’t you, and the mountains and everything.”

“I missed you most of all, Aunt Patty.”

“Go on with you,” she said, but she was deeply moved.

If I had not been a little bemused by the man whom I called the Stranger, I might have noticed there was a change in Aunt Patty. It was hardly perceptible, but then I knew her so well. I might have asked myself if she was a trifle less exuberant than usual.

I did get a hint though from Violet Barker—Aunt Patty’s housekeeper, companion and devoted friend who had been with Aunt Patty when I first arrived all those years ago. She was rather angular and lean—the complete opposite of Aunt Patty. They suited each other perfectly. Violet had nothing to do with the teaching of pupils but she did manage the household with expertise and was a very important part of the establishment.

Violet looked at me so cautiously that I thought Aunt Patty must have talked so earnestly of Schaffenbrucken polish that Violet was trying to discern it.

Then she said quite suddenly: “It’s the roof. It would have to be done within the next two years they say. And that’s not all. The west wall wants propping up. It’s been a wet winter so far. It’s given your aunt concern. Did she say?”

“No. Well, I have just got home.”

Violet nodded and pressed her lips tightly together. I might have guessed that something was very wrong.

It was after dinner at about half-past eight when Aunt Patty and I were in her sitting room with Violet when she told me.

I gasped and couldn’t believe I was hearing correctly when she said, “Cordelia. I’ve sold the Manor.”

“Aunt Patty! What do you mean?”

“I should have warned you. Led up to it. Things have not been too flourishing for the last three years.”

“Oh, Aunt Patty.”

“Dear child, don’t look so tragic. I am sure it is going to be all for the best. I’m sorry I have to confront you with a fait accompli. But there was no help for it, was there, Vi? We talked it over and over and this offer came along. You see there’s the roof and the west wall. The house needs a fortune spent on it. Times haven’t been so good for some years. I’ve had some bad debts.”

I guessed that. I knew of at least three pupils whose parents hardly ever paid the fees. “Bright girls all of them,” Aunt Patty used to say. “A credit to the school.” Times were hard. No watered-down soup for Grantley. I had often wondered how she managed at the fees she charged but as she had never mentioned the matter to me I had supposed that all was well.

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

Aunt Patty burst into laughter. “We are going to cast aside our troubles and enjoy life. That’s right, eh, Violet?”

“So you say, Patty.”

“Yes,” said Aunt Patty. “The fact of the matter is, dear, that I have been thinking for some time that I should retire and I should have done it long ago but for…” She looked at me and I said: “But for me. You were keeping it for me.”

“I thought it would be a future for you. I thought I’d retire and just be an adviser when I was wanted or something like that. It was the idea behind Schaffenbrucken.”

“And you sent me to that expensive school when you were already in financial difficulties.”

“I was looking ahead. The trouble is things have gone a bit too far. There would have been the enormous expenditure on repairs. It would have been crippling. Well, not exactly but it would have made the alternative impossible. So…the opportunity came and I decided to sell.”

“Will it be a school?”

“No. Some millionaire who wants to restore the place and be a lord of the manor.”

“Aunt Patty, what about us?”

“All arranged, dear. Most satisfactorily. We have an enchanting house in Moldenbury…near Nottingham. It’s a lovely village right in the heart of the country. It’s not as big as Grantley of course and I can only take Mary Ann with me. I hope the rest of the staff will stay on to serve the new owners of Grantley. The parents have all had their notices. We are closing down at the end of the Spring term. It is all settled.”

“And this house—where is it? Moldenbury?”

“We are negotiating for it. It will pass into our hands shortly. Everything is arranged to our mutual satisfaction. We shall have enough to live on in a simple way perhaps but adequate for our needs and we shall give ourselves up to life in the country, following all sorts of pursuits which we never had time for before. We shall adjust happily, as I keep telling Violet.”

I glanced at Violet. She was not quite as optimistic as my aunt, but optimism was not one of Violet’s qualities.

“Dear Aunt Patty,” I said. “You should have told me before. You shouldn’t have let me go on at that place. It must have been ridiculously costly.”

“Having put my hand to the plough I was not going to spoil the ship for a ha ’p ’orth of tar, and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing properly. I can’t think of any more maxims but I am sure they abound to support me. I have done the right thing by you, Cordelia. Schaffenbrucken will never be wasted. I’ll tell you more later on. I’ll show you the books and how things are going. Also I’ve got to talk to you about our new home. We’ll go and see it one day before the start of next term. You’ll love it. It’s the dearest little village and I have already made the acquaintance of the rector who seems a very charming gentleman with a wife who is overflowing with welcome for us. I think we are going to find it amusing.”

“And different,” said Violet somberly.

“Change is always stimulating,” said Aunt Patty. “I think we have been moving along in the same groove for too long. A new life, Cordelia. A challenge. We shall be working for the good of our new village…fetes, bazaars, committees, feuds. I can see we are going to have an interesting time.”

She believed it. That was the wonderful thing about Aunt Patty. She saw everything as amusing, exciting and challenging and she had always been able to convince me, if she was not managing to do the same with Violet. But then Aunt Patty and I always said that Violet enjoyed adversity.

I went to bed rather bemused. There were hundreds of questions to be asked. The future was a little hazy at the moment.

***

During the next day I learned more from Aunt Patty. The school had been, as she said, ticking over, for some little time. Perhaps her fees were not high enough; she had, she was told by her financial advisers, overspent on food and fuel, and the amount of those costly items was out of proportion to receipts.

“I didn’t want to make it into a Dothegirls Hall such as Mr. Dickens wrote about in his wonderful book. I didn’t want that at all. I wanted my school to be…just as I wanted it, and if it can’t be that, then I’d rather there was no school. So that is how it is going to be, Cordelia. I can’t say I’m sorry myself. I wanted to pass it on to you, but there is no point in passing on a concern which would have tottered into bankruptcy. No, cut your losses, said I. And that is what I am doing. In our new home we’ll all have a rest for a while and we’ll plan what we are going to do next.”

She made it all sound like a new and exciting adventure on which we were embarking and I caught her enthusiasm.

In the afternoon when classes were in progress I went for a walk. I left about two o’clock intending to be back before it was dark, which would be soon after four. School would be breaking up in the next week or so and after that only one more term. There would be the bustle of departure; the mistresses would be arranging journeys for the girls, seeing them to trains, just as it had been at Schaffenbrucken. I supposed many of the teachers were anxious, wondering about their new posts and certain that they would not find many employers as easy-going as Aunt Patty had been.

I detected an air of melancholy over the house. Both pupils and mistresses had appreciated the atmosphere of Grantley Manor.

Without Aunt Patty at my side to stress how wonderful everything was going to be, I too felt the depression. I tried to imagine what my future would be. I couldn’t just live all my life in a country village even though Aunt Patty would be with me. Somehow I did not think Aunt Patty believed I could either. I had caught her almost speculative gaze on me, rather secretive as though she had something up her sleeve which she was going to produce to the wonderment of all who perceived it.

I always enjoyed my first walk after returning to Grantley. I usually went into the little town of Canterton, looked into the shops and stopped for a chat with the people I knew. It was always a pleasure. Today it seemed different. I did not feel the same urge to talk to people. I wondered how much they knew about Aunt Patty’s move and I couldn’t really talk about something of which I knew so little as yet.