Read Online The Mask of the Enchantress by Victoria Holt - Free Book Online
Authors: Victoria Holt
Ads: Link
new home. And there it was great peak rising out of the sea.
hy does it grumble?I asked eagerly.
t always grumbled. Sometimes when it gets really angry it sends out a few stones and boulders. They are boiling hot.
s it really a giant?I asked. have never seen one.
ell, you are going to make the acquaintance of the Grumbling Giant, but it not a real giant,answered my father. afraid it is only a mountain. It dominates the island. The native name is Grumbling Giant Island but some travelers came by long ago and called it Vulcan. So on the maps it has become that.
We remained there looking and in due course the land seemed to form itself about the great mountain and there were yellow sands and waving palms everywhere.
t like a paradise,said Anabel.
e are going to make it that,answered my father.
We could not go right in to the island and had to anchor quite a mile out. There was a tremendous bustle of activity on the shore. Brown-skinned people paddled out in light slim craft which I afterwards learned were called canoes. They were shouting and gesticulating and mostly laughing.
Our possessions were loaded into some of the ship lifeboats and they and the canoes brought them ashore.
When the goods had all gone, we were taken.
Then the little boats were drawn up and the big ship set sail, leaving us in our new home on Vulcan Island.
There was so much to do, so much to see. I could not entirely believe it was all happening. It seemed like something out of an adventure story.
Anabel was aware of my bewilderment.
She said: ne day you will understand.
ell me now,I begged.
She shook her head. ou would not understand now. I want to leave it until you are older. I am going to start writing it down now so that you can read it when you are older and understand. Oh, Suewellyn, I do want you to understand. I don want you ever to blame us. We love you. You are our very own child and, because of the way it happened, it only makes us love you more.
She could see that I was very puzzled. She kissed me and, holding me close to her, went on: going to tell you all about it. Why youe here why wee all here how it came about. There was nothing else we could do. You must not blame your father nor me. We are not like Amelia and William.She gave a little laugh. hey live safely. That the word I was looking for. We don. It not in our nature to. I have a feeling that you might be as we are.Then she laughed again. ell, that the way wee made. And yet Suewellyn, wee going to settle here wee going to like it. Wee going to remember all the time if we feel homesick that wee together and this is the only way we can stay together.
I put my arms round her neck. I was overwhelmed by my love for her.
ee never, never going to leave each other, are we?I asked fearfully.
ever,she said vehemently. nly death can part us. But who wants to talk about death? Here is life. Don you feel it, Suewellyn? It teeming with life here. You only have to lift a stone and there it is.She grimaced. ind you, I could do without the ants and termites and suchlike. But there life here and it our life the three of us together. Be patient, my dearest child. Be happy. Let live for each day as it comes along. Can you do that?
I nodded vigorously, and we walked together through the palm trees to where the warm tropical water rippled onto the sandy beach.
Anabel Story
Jessamy had played a big part in my life. She had always been there. She was rich, petted and the only child of doting parents. I never envied her her pretty clothes and her jewelry. I am not, I believe, envious by nature. It is one of my virtues, and as I have few others it is advisable to record it. In any case I always believed I had so much more than she did.
It was true I did not live in a mansion surrounded by servants. I did not have several ponies which I could ride as the fancy took me. I lived in a rambling vicarage with my widowed father y mother had died giving birth to mend we had two servants only,
hy does it grumble?I asked eagerly.
t always grumbled. Sometimes when it gets really angry it sends out a few stones and boulders. They are boiling hot.
s it really a giant?I asked. have never seen one.
ell, you are going to make the acquaintance of the Grumbling Giant, but it not a real giant,answered my father. afraid it is only a mountain. It dominates the island. The native name is Grumbling Giant Island but some travelers came by long ago and called it Vulcan. So on the maps it has become that.
We remained there looking and in due course the land seemed to form itself about the great mountain and there were yellow sands and waving palms everywhere.
t like a paradise,said Anabel.
e are going to make it that,answered my father.
We could not go right in to the island and had to anchor quite a mile out. There was a tremendous bustle of activity on the shore. Brown-skinned people paddled out in light slim craft which I afterwards learned were called canoes. They were shouting and gesticulating and mostly laughing.
Our possessions were loaded into some of the ship lifeboats and they and the canoes brought them ashore.
When the goods had all gone, we were taken.
Then the little boats were drawn up and the big ship set sail, leaving us in our new home on Vulcan Island.
There was so much to do, so much to see. I could not entirely believe it was all happening. It seemed like something out of an adventure story.
Anabel was aware of my bewilderment.
She said: ne day you will understand.
ell me now,I begged.
She shook her head. ou would not understand now. I want to leave it until you are older. I am going to start writing it down now so that you can read it when you are older and understand. Oh, Suewellyn, I do want you to understand. I don want you ever to blame us. We love you. You are our very own child and, because of the way it happened, it only makes us love you more.
She could see that I was very puzzled. She kissed me and, holding me close to her, went on: going to tell you all about it. Why youe here why wee all here how it came about. There was nothing else we could do. You must not blame your father nor me. We are not like Amelia and William.She gave a little laugh. hey live safely. That the word I was looking for. We don. It not in our nature to. I have a feeling that you might be as we are.Then she laughed again. ell, that the way wee made. And yet Suewellyn, wee going to settle here wee going to like it. Wee going to remember all the time if we feel homesick that wee together and this is the only way we can stay together.
I put my arms round her neck. I was overwhelmed by my love for her.
ee never, never going to leave each other, are we?I asked fearfully.
ever,she said vehemently. nly death can part us. But who wants to talk about death? Here is life. Don you feel it, Suewellyn? It teeming with life here. You only have to lift a stone and there it is.She grimaced. ind you, I could do without the ants and termites and suchlike. But there life here and it our life the three of us together. Be patient, my dearest child. Be happy. Let live for each day as it comes along. Can you do that?
I nodded vigorously, and we walked together through the palm trees to where the warm tropical water rippled onto the sandy beach.
Anabel Story
Jessamy had played a big part in my life. She had always been there. She was rich, petted and the only child of doting parents. I never envied her her pretty clothes and her jewelry. I am not, I believe, envious by nature. It is one of my virtues, and as I have few others it is advisable to record it. In any case I always believed I had so much more than she did.
It was true I did not live in a mansion surrounded by servants. I did not have several ponies which I could ride as the fancy took me. I lived in a rambling vicarage with my widowed father y mother had died giving birth to mend we had two servants only,
Similar Books
