"Why ..." she began. "She ..."
Johnny's head came through. There was a brief silence; then he murmured: "It's only one of the cottage children."
"Be careful there! It might not be safe." I knew the voice now. It belonged to Justin St. Larnston—heir to the estate—no longer a boy, but a man, home from the University on vacation.
"But I tell you there's someone in there," Johnny replied.
"Don't tell me the lady's still there"
Yet another voice, and one I knew as that of Dick Kimber who lived in the Dower House and was at Oxford with young Justin.
"Come and see for yourself," called Johnny.
I was crouching closer to the wall. I didn't know what I hated most— the fact that I was caught or the way they looked on me—"one of the cottage children!" How dared he!
Another face was looking in on me; it was brown, crowned by untidy dark hair; the brown eyes were laughing.
"Not the virgin," commented Dick Kimber.
"Does she look like it, Kim?" said Johnny.
Now Justin pushed them aside to look in. He was very tall and thin; his eyes were serene, his voice calm.
"Who is it?" he said.
"It's not an 'it," I replied. "It's a Miss Kerensa Carlee."
"You are a child from the cottages," he said. "You've no right to be here, but come out now."
I hesitated, not knowing what he intended to do. I pictured him taking me to the house and accusing me of trespassing. Also I did not want to stand before them in my scanty Holland smock which was becoming too small for me; my feet were well shaped though brown, but I had no shoes and they would be grimy. I washed them in the stream every night because I was very anxious to keep myself as clean as the gentry but, having no shoes to protect them, they were always dirty by the end of the day.
"What's the matter?" demanded Dick Kimber, whom they called Kim. I should always think of him as Kim in future. "Why don't you come out?"
"Go away," I retorted, "and I will."
He was about to step into the hollow when Justin warned; "Careful, Kim. You might bring the entire wall down."
Kim remained where he was. "What did you say your name was?" he asked.
"Kerensa Carlee."
"Very grand. But you'd better come out."
"Go away."
"Ding ding bell," sang Johnny, "Kerensa's in the well."
"Who put her in?" continued Kim. "Was it due to sin?"
They were laughing at me, and as I stepped out of the hole preparing to run, they made a circle round me. In half a second I thought of the circle of stones and it was as uncanny a feeling as that which I had experienced in the wall.
They must have been noticing the difference between us. My hair was so black that it had a blue sheen in it; my eyes were big and they looked enormous in my small face; my skin was smooth and olive. They were so neat and civilized, all of them; even Kim with his untidy hair and laughing eyes.
Mellyora's blue ones were troubled and in that moment I knew I had underrated her. She was soft but she wasn't silly; she knew far better than the others did, how I felt.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Kerensa," she said.
"Oh, isn't there!" contradicted Johnny. "Miss Kerensa Carlee is guilty of trespassing. She's been caught in the act. We must think up a punishment for her."
He was teasing, of course. He wasn't going to hurt me; he had noticed my long black hair and I saw his eyes on the bare skin of my shoulder where it showed through my torn smock.
Kim said: "It isn't only cats who die of curiosity."
"Do be careful," ordered Justin. He turned to me. "You've been very silly. Don't you know that scrambling about a wall that has just collapsed could be dangerous? Moreover, what are you doing here?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Now get out ... the faster the better."
I hated them all—Justin for his coldness, and talking to me as though I was no different from the people who lived in the cottages on his father's estates, Johnny and Kim for their teasing, and Mellyora because she knew how I felt and was sorry for me.
I ran, but when I came to the door of the walled garden and was at a safe distance from them, I stopped and looked back at them.
They were still standing in a semicircle watching me. Mellyora was the one I had to stare at; she looked so concerned—and her concern was for me.
I put out my tongue; I heard Johnny and Kim laughing. Then I turned my back on them and sped away.
Granny Bee was sitting outside the cottage when I reached home; she often sat in the sun, her stool propped up against the wall, her pipe in her mouth; her eyes half closed as she smiled to herself.
I threw myself down beside her and told her what had happened. She rested her hand on my head as I talked; she liked to stroke my hair which was like her own, for although she was an old woman her hair was thick and black. She took great care of it, sometimes wearing it in two thick plaits, at others piling it high in coils. People said that it wasn't natural for a woman of her age to have hair like that; and Granny Bee liked them to say it. She was proud of her hair, yes, but it was more than that; it was a symbol. Like Samson's, I used to tell her, and she would laugh. I knew that she brewed a special preparation which she brushed in every night and she would sit for five minutes massaging her head. No one knew what she did except Joe and me, and Joe didn't notice; he was always too busy with some bird or animal; but I would sit and watch her do her hair and she used to say to me, "I'll tell you how to keep your hair, Kerensa; then you'll have a head of hair like mine till the day you die." But she hadn't told me as yet. "All in good time," she added. "And if I was to be took sudden, you'd find the receipt in the corner cupboard."
Granny Bee loved Joe and me and it was a wonderful thing to be loved by her; but what was more wonderful still was to know that I was the first with her always. Joe was like a little pet; we loved him in a protective sort of way; but between Granny and me there was a closeness which we both knew about and were glad of.
She was a wise woman; I don't mean merely that she had good sense; but she was known for miles round for her special powers and people of all sorts came to see her. She could cure them of their ailments and they trusted her more than they did the doctor. The cottage was filled with smells which changed from day to day, according to the remedies which were being brewed. I was learning what herbs to gather in the woods and fields and what they would cure. She was also believed to have special powers which enabled her to see into the future; I asked her to teach me, too, but she said it was something you taught yourself by keeping your eyes and ears open, and learning about people—for human nature was the same all the world over; there was so much bad in the good and so much good in the bad, that it was all a matter of weighing up how much good or bad had been allotted to each one. If you knew your people you could make a good guess as to how they would act and that was seeing into the future. And when you became clever at it, people believed in you, and they'd often act the way you had told them to, just to help you along.
We lived on Granny's wisdom; and we didn't do too badly. When someone killed a pig, there would be a good joint for us. Often some grateful client would put a sack of potatoes or peas on our doorstep; there would often be hot baked bread. I was good at managing, too. I could cook well. I could bake our bread and pasties, and turn out a fine pie of taddage or squab.
I had been happier since Joe and I had come to Granny than I was before.
But the best thing of all was this bond between us; and I felt it now as I sat beside her at the cottage door.
"They mocked me," I said. "The St. Larnstons and Kim. Mellyora didn't though. She was sorry for me."