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Authors: Victoria Holt
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careful. I shouldn’t like him to be around when your parents return. I think your father might well smell a rat.”
“It’s a wonderful idea. I am sure Harriet will help. When will you leave?”
“Today. There’s no time to lose. I really do want to get him out of the cave. I think I shall leave immediately. You can explain to the others.”
“I don’t think I shall let Carl into the secret,” I said. “He means well but he could betray something unwittingly.”
“Good idea!” He put his hands on my shoulders and kissed me. “I knew I could rely on my little sister.”
49
“Oh, yes, and, Leigh, there is one thing more.” “What’s that?”
“I am neither particularly little, nor am I your little sister.” He grinned at me.
“I’ll make a note of that,” he said.
Within an hour he was on his way to Eyot Abbas, his mother’s country home in Sussex, and we were all praying that Harriet might be at home and not, as she so much enjoyed doing, be on a visit to London. Harriet was not exactly a countrywoman; she liked the pleasures of Court, fine clothes, masculine admiration and above all the theatre; and as her doting husband, Sir Gregory Stevens, who, before he had inherited his title and estates, had been tutor to Leigh and Edwin (and it was at Eversleigh Court where he and Harriet had first met), always did exactly as she asked, there was a strong possibility that she would not be at home. If that were so, Leigh would have to go to London to see her, which would mean another week’s delay at least.
Several days passed. We arranged that one of us took food to Jocelyn each day and did our best to keep his spirits up. He was embarrassingly grateful-especially to me-and he said that he regarded me as his saviour. I pointed out to him that Leigh was the one who was in charge of everything. We were all longing for him to come back.
There were constant alarms during those days. Carl was caught sneaking out of the kitchen with a large piece of cold bacon. Ellen said the boy had become a thief and anyone would think he was starved. The bacon was taken from him and I could see that henceforth Ellen’s sharp eyes would watch the victuals.
Leigh had been away a week. December had come and it was going to be a hard winter, they said. Sally Nullens could feel it in her bones, and they never lied, she added ominously. We had had no snow yet but the rain fell incessantly. Jasper said that there was more of it to come-cloudfuls of it. It wouldn’t surprise him if we were in for another flood. The world was wicked enough for God to want to drown it.
“He’d tell you,” I said ironically, “and hi good time so that you could prepare your ark to save the righteous. There wouldn’t be many. You would be the only one to qualify, Jasper.”
He looked at me under his shaggy eyebrows. He believed I would be one of the first destined for hell fire. The Lord did not like a woman’s saucy tongue, he told me; and Ellen was always disturbed when-as she said-I came back “pat” with an answer for him. But at
r
50
that time she was worrying about the disappearance of the remains of a tansy pudding to which she had been looking forward.
“They’ll feel the vengeance of the Lord,” said Jasper. “The whole boiling of them!
I reckon Master Titus Gates be bringing a few of them to their just deserts.”
In the ordinary way I should have challenged that. But I realized we were getting onto dangerous ground.
I was thinking of that scene in the kitchen as I rode over to White Cliff Cave. The rain, prophesied by Sally Nullens’s bones, had started to fall. Sally was full of old lore. “I saw the cat washing his face and ears extra well,” she had said, “and bless me if he didn’t Me on his brain.
” ‘When the cat lies on his brain/That do be a sign of rain!’ And my bones are telling me a story today. Mark my words it’ll be raining cats and dogs before the day’s out.”
Emily Philpots said
“It’s a wonderful idea. I am sure Harriet will help. When will you leave?”
“Today. There’s no time to lose. I really do want to get him out of the cave. I think I shall leave immediately. You can explain to the others.”
“I don’t think I shall let Carl into the secret,” I said. “He means well but he could betray something unwittingly.”
“Good idea!” He put his hands on my shoulders and kissed me. “I knew I could rely on my little sister.”
49
“Oh, yes, and, Leigh, there is one thing more.” “What’s that?”
“I am neither particularly little, nor am I your little sister.” He grinned at me.
“I’ll make a note of that,” he said.
Within an hour he was on his way to Eyot Abbas, his mother’s country home in Sussex, and we were all praying that Harriet might be at home and not, as she so much enjoyed doing, be on a visit to London. Harriet was not exactly a countrywoman; she liked the pleasures of Court, fine clothes, masculine admiration and above all the theatre; and as her doting husband, Sir Gregory Stevens, who, before he had inherited his title and estates, had been tutor to Leigh and Edwin (and it was at Eversleigh Court where he and Harriet had first met), always did exactly as she asked, there was a strong possibility that she would not be at home. If that were so, Leigh would have to go to London to see her, which would mean another week’s delay at least.
Several days passed. We arranged that one of us took food to Jocelyn each day and did our best to keep his spirits up. He was embarrassingly grateful-especially to me-and he said that he regarded me as his saviour. I pointed out to him that Leigh was the one who was in charge of everything. We were all longing for him to come back.
There were constant alarms during those days. Carl was caught sneaking out of the kitchen with a large piece of cold bacon. Ellen said the boy had become a thief and anyone would think he was starved. The bacon was taken from him and I could see that henceforth Ellen’s sharp eyes would watch the victuals.
Leigh had been away a week. December had come and it was going to be a hard winter, they said. Sally Nullens could feel it in her bones, and they never lied, she added ominously. We had had no snow yet but the rain fell incessantly. Jasper said that there was more of it to come-cloudfuls of it. It wouldn’t surprise him if we were in for another flood. The world was wicked enough for God to want to drown it.
“He’d tell you,” I said ironically, “and hi good time so that you could prepare your ark to save the righteous. There wouldn’t be many. You would be the only one to qualify, Jasper.”
He looked at me under his shaggy eyebrows. He believed I would be one of the first destined for hell fire. The Lord did not like a woman’s saucy tongue, he told me; and Ellen was always disturbed when-as she said-I came back “pat” with an answer for him. But at
r
50
that time she was worrying about the disappearance of the remains of a tansy pudding to which she had been looking forward.
“They’ll feel the vengeance of the Lord,” said Jasper. “The whole boiling of them!
I reckon Master Titus Gates be bringing a few of them to their just deserts.”
In the ordinary way I should have challenged that. But I realized we were getting onto dangerous ground.
I was thinking of that scene in the kitchen as I rode over to White Cliff Cave. The rain, prophesied by Sally Nullens’s bones, had started to fall. Sally was full of old lore. “I saw the cat washing his face and ears extra well,” she had said, “and bless me if he didn’t Me on his brain.
” ‘When the cat lies on his brain/That do be a sign of rain!’ And my bones are telling me a story today. Mark my words it’ll be raining cats and dogs before the day’s out.”
Emily Philpots said
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