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Authors: Victoria Holt
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talking earnestly.
I could not hear what was said, but every now and then one of them laughed, so it must have been amusing. The doctor’s manner was quite different from usual. I had never seen him like that before. As for Miss Carson, she seemed very merry. It struck me how happy she appeared to be.
It was rather strange, because they both seemed like two different people.
I congratulated myself on hearing them before they could have seen me.
I should have had to explain that I had been visiting the gipsies and I did not want to do that, even to Miss Carson.
1 turned away and silently made my way back to the house through the trees.
1 did go again to the gipsies after that. Rosie Perrin was sitting on the steps of her caravan weaving a basket as she had been when I had first seen her.
She told me Zingara had gone away. She had to fulfill a contract.
People thought highly of her in the theatres, she said, and she danced and sang a lot in the big towns, even London.
We talked a while. She asked me how I had liked Zingara.
I told her, “Very much,” and she pressed my hand and said: “She liked you, too.”
There was a subtle change in Commonwood House. Not in Mrs. Marline so much. She was just as demanding as ever, though Mrs. Barton said she grew worse every day. She never bothered to wait until the door was closed before she started criticizing Dr. Marline again and again, and we heard her reminding him that it was her money which had bought the house, and how he owed everything to her. She seemed to want to hurt everybody, and, perhaps because Adeline was most easily hurt, she seemed to single her out for especially harsh treatment.
She would send for her and ply her with questions to test her progress with the new governess and, as Adeline was reduced to a state of terror, she seemed to lose what wits she had. Mrs. Marline would bewail the fact that she had given birth to such a poor creature, and implied it was all due to some inadequacy in the doctor, and the blame could not be laid at her door.
Miss Carson would be waiting for Adeline to emerge, shaking and demoralized. She would take her upstairs to the schoolroom where she would put her arms around her, hold her tightly, wipe away her tears and murmur words of comfort. She would assure Adeline that she was not a poor creature by any means, she was doing very well with her lessons, and she must take no notice of anything anyone said to the contrary. Nobody was going to hurt her while Miss Carson was there.
They would have to face Miss Carson first.
I would follow them up and join in the comforting. Adeline would smile and listen. She would put her arms round Miss Carson’s neck and cling to her.
Fortunately, Adeline’s moods were transient and Miss Carson could soon convince her that all was well until the next dreaded summons came.
When it did, instead of Adeline, it was Miss Carson who faced Mrs. Marline. Estella, Adeline and I knew that she had gone to Mrs. Marline, and we were all hanging about round the door to discover what would happen.
We heard Mrs. Marline’s raised voice and the low murmur which was Miss Carson’s: and after a while Miss Carson came out, her face red, her eyes blazing. She looked frustrated and angry. I was afraid then that she had been given notice to leave, and the thought of her going filled me with dismay. Adeline and I loved her, and even Estella admitted that she was ‘not bad’.
Miss Carson went to her room and shut herself in. Over come with fearful suspense, I could not stop myself going to her.
She was sitting on her bed, staring ahead of her. I threw myself into her arms and she held me tightly.
“You are not going to leave us?” I cried fearfully.
She did not answer. She just looked miserable, and 1 feared that she had been ordered to leave.
Then she said sadly: “I could be happy here … so happy,” as though she were speaking to herself.
“Don’t go,” I said.
“Don’t leave
I could not hear what was said, but every now and then one of them laughed, so it must have been amusing. The doctor’s manner was quite different from usual. I had never seen him like that before. As for Miss Carson, she seemed very merry. It struck me how happy she appeared to be.
It was rather strange, because they both seemed like two different people.
I congratulated myself on hearing them before they could have seen me.
I should have had to explain that I had been visiting the gipsies and I did not want to do that, even to Miss Carson.
1 turned away and silently made my way back to the house through the trees.
1 did go again to the gipsies after that. Rosie Perrin was sitting on the steps of her caravan weaving a basket as she had been when I had first seen her.
She told me Zingara had gone away. She had to fulfill a contract.
People thought highly of her in the theatres, she said, and she danced and sang a lot in the big towns, even London.
We talked a while. She asked me how I had liked Zingara.
I told her, “Very much,” and she pressed my hand and said: “She liked you, too.”
There was a subtle change in Commonwood House. Not in Mrs. Marline so much. She was just as demanding as ever, though Mrs. Barton said she grew worse every day. She never bothered to wait until the door was closed before she started criticizing Dr. Marline again and again, and we heard her reminding him that it was her money which had bought the house, and how he owed everything to her. She seemed to want to hurt everybody, and, perhaps because Adeline was most easily hurt, she seemed to single her out for especially harsh treatment.
She would send for her and ply her with questions to test her progress with the new governess and, as Adeline was reduced to a state of terror, she seemed to lose what wits she had. Mrs. Marline would bewail the fact that she had given birth to such a poor creature, and implied it was all due to some inadequacy in the doctor, and the blame could not be laid at her door.
Miss Carson would be waiting for Adeline to emerge, shaking and demoralized. She would take her upstairs to the schoolroom where she would put her arms around her, hold her tightly, wipe away her tears and murmur words of comfort. She would assure Adeline that she was not a poor creature by any means, she was doing very well with her lessons, and she must take no notice of anything anyone said to the contrary. Nobody was going to hurt her while Miss Carson was there.
They would have to face Miss Carson first.
I would follow them up and join in the comforting. Adeline would smile and listen. She would put her arms round Miss Carson’s neck and cling to her.
Fortunately, Adeline’s moods were transient and Miss Carson could soon convince her that all was well until the next dreaded summons came.
When it did, instead of Adeline, it was Miss Carson who faced Mrs. Marline. Estella, Adeline and I knew that she had gone to Mrs. Marline, and we were all hanging about round the door to discover what would happen.
We heard Mrs. Marline’s raised voice and the low murmur which was Miss Carson’s: and after a while Miss Carson came out, her face red, her eyes blazing. She looked frustrated and angry. I was afraid then that she had been given notice to leave, and the thought of her going filled me with dismay. Adeline and I loved her, and even Estella admitted that she was ‘not bad’.
Miss Carson went to her room and shut herself in. Over come with fearful suspense, I could not stop myself going to her.
She was sitting on her bed, staring ahead of her. I threw myself into her arms and she held me tightly.
“You are not going to leave us?” I cried fearfully.
She did not answer. She just looked miserable, and 1 feared that she had been ordered to leave.
Then she said sadly: “I could be happy here … so happy,” as though she were speaking to herself.
“Don’t go,” I said.
“Don’t leave
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