” They look close together from here,” said Roc, ” but there’s a good mile between them on the coast road—of course as the crow flies they’re a little nearer—but you can understand the wrath of the Pendorrics, can’t you, to find that set up where they just can’t get it out of their sight.”
We had now reached a major road, and we sped along this until we came to a turning and began to plunge down one of the steepest hills we had come upon as yet. The banks were covered with the wild flowers which I had noticed before, and stubby fir trees with their resinous scent.
At the bottom of the hill we struck the cliff road, and then I saw the coast in all its glory. The water was quiet on that night and I could hear the gentle swish as it washed against the rocks. The cliffs were covered in grass and bracken, and dotted here and there were clumps of pink, red, and white valerian; the sweep of the bay was magnificent.
The tide was outland in the evening light I saw those malignant rooks jutting cruelly out of the shallow water.
And there half a mile ahead of us was Pendorric itself, and I caught my breath for it was awe-inspiring. It towered above the sea a massive rectangle of grey stone, with crenellated towers and an air of impregnability, noble and arrogant as though defying the sea and the weather and anyone who came against it.
” This is your home, my dear,” said Roc, and I could hear the pride in his voice.
” It’s … superb.”
” So you’re not unhappy? I’m glad you’re seeing it for the first time.
Otherwise I might have thought you married it rather than me. “
” I would never marry a house! “
” No, you’re too honest—too full of common sense … in fact too wonderful. That’s why I fell in love with you and determined to marry you.”
We were roaring uphill again, and now that we were closer the house certainly dominated the landscape. There were lights in some of the windows and I saw the arch leading to the north portico.
“The grounds,” Roc explained, “are on the south side. We can approach the house from the south; there are four porticoes—north, south, east and west. But we’ll go into the north tonight because Morwenna and Charlie will be waiting for us there. Why, look,” he went on, and following his gaze I saw a slight figure in riding breeches and scarlet blouse, black hair flying, running towards us. Roc slowed the car and she leapt on to the running-board. Her face was brown with sun and weather, her eyes were long and black and very like Roc’s. ” I wanted to be the first to see the bride!” she shouted. ” And you always get your way,” answered Roc. ” Favel, this is Lowella, of whom beware.”
” Don’t listen to him,” said the girl. ” I expect I’ll be your friend.”
” Thank you,” I said. ” I hope you will.”
The black eyes studied me curiously. ” I said she’d be fair,” she went on. ” I was certain.”
“Well, you’re impeding our progress,” Roc told her. ” Either hop in or get off.”
” I’ll stay here,” she announced. ” Drive in. ” Roc obeyed and we went slowly towards the house.
“They’re all waiting to meet you,” Lowella told me.
“We’re very excited. We’ve all been trying to guess what you’ll be like. In the village they’re all waiting to see you too. Every time one of us goes down they say, ” And when will the Bride be coming to Pendorric? “
” ” I hope they’ll be pleased with me. “
Lowella looked at her uncle mischievously and I thought again how remarkably like him she was. ” Oh, it was time he was married,” she said. ” We were getting worried.”
” You see I was right to warn you,” put in Roc. ” She’s the enfant terrible.”
” And not such an infant,” insisted Lowella. ” I’m twelve now, you know.”
“You ‘grow more terrible with the years. I tremble to think what you’ll be like at twenty.”
We had now passed through the gates and I saw the great stone arch looming ahead. Beyond it was a portico guarded on either side by two huge carved lions, battered by the years but still looking fierce as though warning any to be wary of entering.
And there was a woman—so like Roc that I knew she was his twin sister—and behind her a man, whom I guessed to be her husband and father of the twins.
Morwenna came towards the car. ” Roc! So you’re here at last. And this is Favel. Welcome to Pendorric, Favel.”
I smiled up at her, and for those first moments I was glad that she looked so like Roc, because it made me feel that she was not quite a stranger. Her dark hair was thick with a slight natural wave and it grew to a widow’s peak which in the half-light gave the impression that she was wearing a sixteenth-century cap. She wore a dress of emerald-green linen which became her dark hair and eyes. and there were gold rings in her ears.
” I’m so glad to meet you at last,” I said. ” I do hope this isn’t a shock to you.”
” Nothing my brother does ever shocks us, really, because we’re expecting surprises.”
” You see I’ve brought them up in the right way,” said Roc lightly. ” Oh and here’s Charlie.”
My hand was gripped so firmly that I winced. I was hoping Charles Chaston didn’t notice this as I looked up into his plump bronzed face.
” We’ve all been eagerly waiting to see you, ever since we heard you were coming,” he told me.
I saw that Lowella was dancing round us in a circle; with her flying hair, and as she was chanting something to herself which might have been an incantation, she reminded me of a witch, “Oh Lowella, do stop,” cried her mother with a little laugh.
“Where’s Hyson?”
Lowella lifted her arms in a gesture which implied she had no idea. ” Go and find her. She’ll want to say hallo to her Aunt Favel.”
“We’re not calling her aunt,” said Lowella.
“She’s too young. She’s just going to be Favel. You’ll like that better, won’t you, Favel?”
” Yes, it sounds more friendly.”
” There you see,” said Lowella, and she ran into the house. Morwenna slipped her arm through mine, and Roc came up and took the other as he called: “Where’s Toms? Tom's Come and bring in our baggage.”
I heard a voice say: ” Ay sir. I be coming.”
But before he appeared Morwenna and Roc were leading me through the portico, and with Charles hovering behind we entered the house. I was in an enormous hall at either end of which was a beautiful curved staircase leading to a gallery. On the panelled walls were swords and shields and at the foot of each staircase a suit of armour. ” This is our wing,” Morwenna told me. ” It’s a most convenient house, really, being built round a quadrangle. It is almost like four houses in one and it was built with the intention of keeping Pendorrics together in the days of large families. I believe years ago the house was crowded. Only a few servants lived in the attics; the rest of them were in the cottages. There are six of them side by side, most picturesque and insanitary—until Roc and Charles did something about it. We still draw on them for help; and we only keep Toms and his wife and daughter Hetty, and Mrs. Penhalligan and her daughter Maria, living in. A change from the old days. I expect you’re hungry.” I told her we had had dinner on the train.
” Then well have a snack later. You’ll want to see some thing of the house, but perhaps you’d like to go to your own part first.” I said I should, and as I spoke, my eye was caught by a portrait which hung on the wall of the gallery. It was a picture of a fair-haired young woman m a clinging blue gown which showed her shapely shoulders; her hair was piled high above her head and one ringlet hung over her shoulder. She clearly belonged to the late eighteenth century, and I thought that her picture, placed as it was, dominated the gallery and hall.