The legend of the seventh virgin

"Do you know so well the ways of gentlemen?"

"Let me go."

"When you answer my questions. I've already asked the first. Now I want an answer to the second."

"I shall answer no questions."

"Then," he said, "I shall be forced to satisfy my curiosity and impatience." With a swift gesture he snatched at my mask and as it came away in his hand, I heard the sudden gasp of amazement.

"So ... Miss Carlyon!" he said. "Carlyon." Then he began to chant:

"Ding dong bell, Someone's in the well. Who put her in? Was it due to sin?"

He laughed. "I'm right, am I not? I do remember you. You are not a girl one easily forgets, Miss Carlyon. And what are you doing at our ball?"

I snatched the mask from him. "I came because I was invited!"

"H'm! And deceived us all very nicely. My mother is not in the habit of inviting cottagers to St. Larnston balls."

"I'm a friend of Mellyora's."

"Yes ... Mellyora! Now who would have thought her capable of this! I wonder what my mother is going to say when I tell her?"

"But you won't," I said, and I was annoyed with myself because there seemed to be a note of pleading in my voice.

"But don't you think it is my duty?" He was mocking. "Of course, for a consideration I might agree to join in the deception."

"Keep away," I warned. "There is no question of a consideration." He put his head on one side and regarded me with a puzzled look. "You give yourself airs, my cottage beauty."

"I live at the parsonage," I retorted. "I am being educated there."

"Tr la," he mocked. "Tr la la!"

"And now I wish to return to the ball."

"Maskless? Doubtless known by some of the servants? Oh, Miss Carlyon!"

I turned from him and started to run. There was no reason why I should return to the ballroom. The evening was spoilt for me in any case. I would go back to the parsonage and at least preserve my dignity. He ran after me and caught my arm. "Where are you going?"

"As I am not returning to the ballroom, that is no concern of yours."

"So you are going to leave us? Now please don't do that. I was only teasing you. Don't you recognize a joke when you hear one? That's something you have to learn. I don't want you to leave the ball. I want to help. Could you repair the mask?"

"Yes, with a needle and thread."

"I will get them for you if you come with me."

I hesitated, not trusting him; but the temptation to go back was too great to be resisted.

He led me to a wall which was covered with ivy, and pushing this aside disclosed a door. When we passed through this we were in the walled garden and straight ahead of us was the spot in which the bones had been discovered. He was taking me to the oldest wing of the Abbas.

He opened a heavily studded door and we were in a dank passage. There was a lanthom hanging on the wall which gave a feeble light. Johnny took this down and holding it high above his head turned to grin at me. He looked satanic and I wanted to run, but I knew that if I did I could not return to the ball. So when he said: "Come on!" I followed him up a spiral staircase, the steps of which were steep and worn down by the tread of feet over hundreds of years.

He turned to me and said in a hollow voice: "We are in that part of the house which was certainly the old convent. This is where our virgins lived. Eerie, don't you think?"

I agreed.

At the top of the staircase he paused. I saw a corridor in which were what appeared to be a row of cells, and when I followed Johnny into one of these, I saw the stone ledge cut in the wall which might have served as a bed for a nun; I saw a narrow slit unprotected by glass which could have been her window.

Johnny set down the lanthom and grinned at me.

"Now we want a needle and thread," he said. "Or do we?"

I was alarmed. "I'm sure you won't find one here."

"Never mind. There are more important things in life, I do assure you. Give me the mask."

I refused and turned away, but he was beside me. I might have been very frightened if I hadn't remembered that this was only Johnny St. Larnston whom I regarded as a boy not much older than myself. With a gesture which took him completely by surprise, and using all my strength, I pushed him from me. He went sprawling backways, tripping over the lanthom.

This was my opportunity. I ran along the corridor, clutching my mask in my hand, looking for the spiral staircase which we had ascended.

I could not find it, but came to another which led upwards; and although I knew I should not be going further into the house when what I wanted was to leave it, I daren't turn back for fear of meeting Johnny. There was a rope attached to the wall to serve as a banister because the stairs were so steep, and I saw that it could be dangerous not to use it. This was a part of the house which was rarely used, but on this night, presumably in case some of the guests should lose their way and find themselves in this wing, lanthorns had been placed at intervals. The light was dim and just enough to show the way.

I discovered more alcoves like those to which Johnny had taken me. I stood listening, wondering whether it would be wise to retrace my steps. My heart was racing; I could not help glancing furtively about me. I was prepared at any moment to see the ghostly figures of nuns coming towards me. That was the effect being alone in this most ancient part of the house had on me. The gaiety of the ball seemed far away—not only in distance but in time.

I had to get away quickly.

Cautiously I tried to retrace my steps, but when I came to a corridor through which I knew I had not passed before, I began to feel frantic. I thought: What if they never discovered me again? What if I remained locked away in this part of the house forever? It would be a kind of walling up. They would come for the lanthorns. But why should they? They would gradually go out one by one and no one would think of relighting them until there was another ball or house party at the Abbas.

This was panic. It was more likely that I should be discovered wandering about the house and recognized. They would be suspicious of me and accuse me of trying to steal. They were always suspicious of people like myself.

I tried to think calmly of what I knew of the house. The old wing was that part which looked down on the walled garden. That was where I must be ... perhaps close to the spot where the nun's bones had been discovered. The thought made me shiver. It was so gloomy in the passages and there was no covering on the floor of the corridor which was cold stone like the spiral stairs. I wondered if it were true that when something violent happened to people their spirits haunted the scene of their last hours on earth. I thought of her being brought along these corridors from one of those alcoves which could have been her cell. What terrible despair there must have been in her heart! How frightened she must have been!

I took courage. My situation was comic compared with hers. I was not afraid, I told myself. If necessary, I should tell exactly how I came to be in this situation. Lady St. Larnston would then be more annoyed with Johnny than with me.

At the end of the stone corridor was a heavy door which I opened cautiously. It was like stepping into another world. The corridor was carpeted and there were lamps hanging at frequent intervals on the wall; I could hear the sound of music—though muted—which I had lost before.

I was relieved. Now to find my way to the dressing rooms. There would be pins there. I even believed I had seen some in a little alabaster bowl. I wondered I hadn't thought of it before; I had an uncanny feeling that thinking of the seventh virgin had helped me by calming my mind which was overexcited by the mingling of unaccustomed wine and strange events.

This was a vast house. I had heard it contained about a hundred rooms. I paused by a door and, hoping this might lead me towards that wing in which the ball was being held, gently turned the handle and opened it. I gasped with horror for in the dim light from the shaded lamp which stood by the bed, it seemed for those first seconds that I was looking at a corpse. A man was propped up by pillows; his mouth and one eye were drawn down on the left side. It was a grotesque sight and seeing it so soon after my fanciful thoughts in the corridor, I believed I was seeing a ghost, for it was a dead face ... almost. Then to my horror as I stood there something told me that I was seen, for there was a strange sound from the figure in the bed. I shut the door quickly, my heart pounding.