“You don’t think I have a chance here?”
“The Menfreys have held the seat for a long time.”
“There was a period when your father represented Lansella. That could happen again.”
“But… he was of the same party.”
“The allegiance to a certain party doesn’t have to go on forever.”
I could see the grim set of his lips, and I believed that he had an idea that if he won the seat from a Menfrey, life would have, in a measure, made up for the humiliation he had suffered through Gwennan.
It seemed a crazy notion and I didn’t like it.
“You’re going to be disappointed, Harry,” I said.
“Spoken like the wife of the reigning M.P. I wouldn’t expect anything but that from you, Harriet.”
“Why don’t you think about trying to get a chance somewhere else?”
“This is my place,” he said, “as much as the Menfreys. Should I be driven out by them? It’s going to be a fight.”
We sat down for a while and he brought the conversation back to Gwennan. I could see that he was dwelling on the past, that he couldn’t get her out of his mind. It was natural, I thought, for this ball must have recalled that other when they had been together, she so gay hi her homemade blue velvet, enjoying the adventure of the ball she was not supposed to attend. Harry would be carried away by all that charm, exhilarated as never before. No wonder he was full of regrets.
I excused myself to make sure all was well, for after all I was hostess, even though disguised.
I was relieved to get away from him, for he depressed me. I danced now and then; I sat out and talked; it was dear that several people knew who I was. Perhaps my slight limp betrayed me. I talked a good deal of politics; I mingled with the guests; I danced with my father-in-law and with Bevil, who was gay and very affectionate.
“You’re an asset to the party, Harriet Menfrey,” he told me with a laugh. “How Harry Leveret thinks he’s going to beat us when you’re around, I can’t imagine.”
I told him that I had danced with Harry, who seemed to be brooding about Gwennan. Bevil wasn’t very interested hi Harry; he told me I looked wonderful, a most exciting ghost from the past. “We ought to bring that picture out and have it cleaned. It should hang in the gallery. Perhaps well have you painted hi that dress to hang beside it That would be amusing.”
It was wonderful to be with Bevil; I could understand Harry’s bitterness.
But of course Bevil and I could not be together all the evening. It was our duty, he said, to attend to the wilting wallflowers. He went off to talk to a plump Helen of Troy, and I to an aging Sir Galahad.
Now and then I caught sight of the eighteenth-century governess. I knew that she was never without partners; her beauty shone through any disguise, and how clever she had been to come so simply clad! It struck me that she would always be clever.
It was after I had left the supper rooms that I caught sight of her dancing with Bevil. I turned away. I did not want to see them.
All the time I was dancing I was wondering what they were saying to each other. How were they together? The ball had turned sour for me, and I wished it was over. Harry Leveret had disturbed me, and I felt then that once having loved a Menfrey, there was no escape. That was how it would be with me. I was afraid of Jessica Trelarken, and I was afraid of Bevil. I did not understand her, and I understood him too well. Why had she come here as a governess? Was she trying to draw some parallel? Was she saying: It is happening now as it happened then?
I suddenly saw it with clarity, how it must have been all those years ago. The governess who lived in those rooms, had she some irresistible attraction like Jessica’s? I could imagine the husband who could not let her go, who kept her there, close to him …
It was silly. I was not being reasonable. The past could not intrude like that on the present. I had a husband who was fond of female company; there were men who could not be content with one woman, and by a fortuitous chain of events we had a governess who happened to be possessed of rare beauty.
I imagined the rest.
I felt a desire to get out of the ballroom, and slipped into the grounds. The wind caught playfully at my hair, but it was safely held in the filet. A strange urge came to me, and I took the path which led to the cliffside garden and then went into the garden itself. I paused to glance back at the house. It was beautiful in moonlight; the lighted windows, the sound of music before me, and behind me the sound of the waves on the sand and rock.
It was high tide, and the island seemed farther away than a usual; the tips of my slippers were wet, as a wave, wilder than the rest, splashed me with its spray. I looked across at the island and saw the light in the window. I caught my breath and stood still, watching.
I do not know how long I stood there, for as I did so I was back in the past, when I had lain beneath a dust sheet and Bevil had towered over me, the girl from the village standing by.
Who was there now? “Bevil always uses the house for his seductions,” I could hear Gwennan’s voice laughing in my ears; and it seemed that the night was full of ghosts—not of a governess who might have died in childbirth, not of a woman who might have murdered her, not so far back as that … Gwennan … mocking me, yet my friend. I felt Gwennan was warning me on that night.
And as I stood there I saw a figure emerge from the house. It was not easy to see who, from this distance, but a white toga is easily distinguishable. He was joined by a woman, and because she was in a simpler fancy dress than those of everyone else it was easy to recognize her.
They were together on the island. They came down to the shore; the man hi the toga was doing something to the boat They were going to row back.
Anger constricted my throat. I would wait for them. I would be there when the boat touched the sand.
But no … they were not coming back. They had been making sure that the boat was securely tied. Once before they had not tied it securely enough.
I thought: I will go over. I will confront them. This time he’ll not find me cowering under a dust sheet.
I was untying the boat when I heard a cry from behind me.
“Stop, Miss.”
Fanny was running down the cliff path and came panting to stand beside me.
“What are you doing here? You were going to get into that boat!”
“I had a fancy to go out to the island.”
“Are you mad? On a night like this, with the sea choppy! If that boat overturned you’d be dragged down in those skirts before you could say Jack Robinson.”
She was right.
“Oh I know,” she went on grimly, “I saw. But it’s not for you to go over there. Now you’d better get back to that ball and forget about it.”
“Not just yet, Fanny. I want to stay out here for a while.”
“It’s too chilly. Come on.”
We climbed up to one of the arbors, and there we sat together for a while.
Fanny looked fierce. I wanted to talk to her but I daren’t I was trying to pretend that I had imagined I had seen them on the island.
At length we returned. I didn't see Bevil and Jessica again until the unmasking. Then they were not together.
It was the early hours of the morning before the last guests had gone and I was alone with Bevil. I kept on my dress to give me confidence. I was going to speak to him because I couldn’t remain in suspense.
I gripped my hands behind my back to give me courage. He was humming one of the waltz tunes and, coming to me, put his arms about me and tried to dance round the room with me.
“I think our ball was a success,” he said. “We must do more entertaining.”
There’s something I have to say to you, Bevil.”