Elizabeth had sent for one of the servants to take the shoe away. It was too filthy for us to touch. It was unfortunate that it should be Mary Rook who came. She brought an ash pan and a little broom. Then she curtsied and went out with it, Belle following her.
The charades were over. Our words, “cloak and dagger,” had been guessed and we guessed our opposing team, which was “Gunpowder Plot.”
There was to be more dancing but as I stepped from the stage with Matt, my father had come up to me and said: “Your mother is not feeling well. We’re going home now. You’d better get those things off and come with us.”
So the evening had ended. I took off the clothes in Elizabeth’s bedroom and resumed my own and went back with my parents.
Dear Belle, she had been so happy with her find, so eager to show Matt so that he could join in her pleasure.
And somehow that incident had seemed as dramatic as our amateur acting in charades.
We had been so happy together, Matt and I. I had looked forward to dancing with him again. He danced beautifully when he was not encumbered by those heavy clothes, which did not fit too well. I could not match him but somehow when we had danced together I had felt I danced better than ever before. That was how it was with Matt. I felt different in his company. I felt I had changed my character, become more interesting, more attractive.
That was what Matt had done for me and I wanted him to go on doing it.
It had been a wonderful evening, but I felt faintly frustrated. But I went to sleep assuring myself that Matt did love me.
During the next week a change seemed to have come over everything. My mother was in bed for a few days. She looked very wan when I went in to see her. She was very tired, she said. She certainly looked pale and ill. I suggested she should see the doctor but she refused to do this.
My father was clearly worried about her. It changed the household. Things did not improve when a rumour started that will-o’-the-wisps had been seen in the woods and in that patch of fenced-off land. Will-o’-the-wisps were said to be the souls of departed spirits who could not find rest and came back to earth to try to wreak vengeance on those who had wronged them in life.
My father said that it was a lot of nonsense and he was going to put a stop to it, but when I asked him how he had no solution to offer.
“It was all due to that dog getting caught in a trap there. You know it’s the Rooks who are spreading these rumors.” He was so vehement that I couldn’t help remonstrating with him.
“It’s all a lot of fuss about nothing,” I said. “Father, you must do something with that land. If you turned it into pasture or grew something there or even took down the fences it would be like the rest of the land.”
“All in good time,” he said.
But he was very uneasy. He was worried about my mother, I was sure. She did not seem to want anyone to be with her except him, and when I had gone in to her room once I found him sitting by her bed holding her hand and saying over and over again: “It will be all right, Priscilla. I’ll see that it’s all right.”
After a few days my mother was about again but she still looked strained and ill.
I found it very difficult to settle. Matt did not call for a day or so. I had an idea that he was not sure about his feelings for me and I believed that it was all because of my extreme youth. How I wished I were a few years older!
Oddly enough my footsteps always seemed to lead me in the direction of Enderby. I was becoming obsessed by the place and the patch of fenced-in land. It was because of all the talk about it; the will-o’-the wisps and the gossip that was circulating about something’s being hidden there. I was sure the Rooks had started that.
Oh, Belle, I thought, why did you want to get caught in that trap!
Then I thought of my father, and I really did wonder why he became so angry about his rights over a piece of land which was no good to anyone.
I came close to it. I leaned against the fence and looked towards the house, and it occurred to me that if some nice ordinary family went to live at Enderby it would stop all this gossip. Carlotta must see sense and either let or sell the place.
Then as I sat there I heard the bark of a dog. My heart sank. I thought, oh, Belle, you’re in there again. You’re like everyone else, you are obsessed by the place. What is the attraction?
If my father discovered Belle in there he would be angry, I was sure. There was only one thing to do. That was climb over the gate. Find Belle and get her out.
There was certainly something eerie about the place. I found myself looking about nervously. Had people really seen mysterious lights about the place? Were there such things as spirits which could not rest—people who had sinned on earth and perhaps died by violent means before they had been able to repent? Will-o’-the-wisps … lights shining through the trees. I shivered.
I heard the bark again. I called: “Belle. Belle. Where are you?”
I listened. But there was only silence.
I went on through the undergrowth. The fenced-in land was not very large—I imagined about half an acre. My father had behaved really very oddly about it.
“Belle,” I called. “Belle.”
I heard the bark again. She was answering me. Not caught in another trap. No, no one would dare put a trap here after what had happened to Rook.
I saw Belle. She was not alone. I gasped with astonishment for she was on a lead and Elizabeth was with her.
“Oh, Damaris,” she said, “I heard you calling.”
“I was on the other side of the fence and I heard Belle. I was afraid she might be in another trap.”
“She has a fancy for this place.” Elizabeth laughed but her manner was different from usual. She seemed nervous and her hair was untidy as I had never seen it before. She was wearing a dark dress and thick woollen gloves. I noticed that there was mud on her skirt.
She went on speaking rather quickly. “I heard her in this place and I didn’t want any more trouble so I came after her.”
“You brought the lead. Belle’s not used to that.”
She said: “I saw her leave the house and I guessed where she had come. I was determined to bring her away so I brought the lead …”
I supposed that she had put on the gloves because she thought holding the lead with a rather boisterous dog at the other end of it might have bruised her hands.
“I was doing a little gardening …” she said, as though she had to make excuses to me.
I said: “Poor Belle. She doesn’t like being on the lead.”
“Perhaps I should let her off. Are you going back past Grasslands?”
“I might as well,” I said, “I was just out for a walk.”
So we walked and we talked mostly about the success of the party. We laughed over the charades, and by the time we reached Grasslands Elizabeth was her old relaxed self. But she did not invite me in.
My uneasiness persisted. After my morning lessons the next day I went out again, and once again almost involuntarily I went in the direction of Enderby Hall.
And when I came to the fence I felt an irresistible urge to go into the forbidden territory and look again at the spot where Belle had found the old shoe. I had become adept at scrambling over that gate.
The place was less eerie in the early morning. The sunlight filtered through the trees almost denuded of their leaves by now. I saw two magpies black and white against the sky and a cheeky little robin strutted a few paces ahead of me flicking his tail and his head. I thought sadly that many of the birds would already have left for warmer climes. The swallows, the house martins and my beloved sandpipers.
The oaks were bronze now—the leaves dry and ready to drop.