Aunt Patty burst into laughter. “We are going to cast aside our troubles and enjoy life. That’s right, eh, Violet?”
“So you say, Patty.”
“Yes,” said Aunt Patty. “The fact of the matter is, dear, that I have been thinking for some time that I should retire and I should have done it long ago but for…” She looked at me and I said: “But for me. You were keeping it for me.”
“I thought it would be a future for you. I thought I’d retire and just be an adviser when I was wanted or something like that. It was the idea behind Schaffenbrucken.”
“And you sent me to that expensive school when you were already in financial difficulties.”
“I was looking ahead. The trouble is things have gone a bit too far. There would have been the enormous expenditure on repairs. It would have been crippling. Well, not exactly but it would have made the alternative impossible. So…the opportunity came and I decided to sell.”
“Will it be a school?”
“No. Some millionaire who wants to restore the place and be a lord of the manor.”
“Aunt Patty, what about us?”
“All arranged, dear. Most satisfactorily. We have an enchanting house in Moldenbury…near Nottingham. It’s a lovely village right in the heart of the country. It’s not as big as Grantley of course and I can only take Mary Ann with me. I hope the rest of the staff will stay on to serve the new owners of Grantley. The parents have all had their notices. We are closing down at the end of the Spring term. It is all settled.”
“And this house—where is it? Moldenbury?”
“We are negotiating for it. It will pass into our hands shortly. Everything is arranged to our mutual satisfaction. We shall have enough to live on in a simple way perhaps but adequate for our needs and we shall give ourselves up to life in the country, following all sorts of pursuits which we never had time for before. We shall adjust happily, as I keep telling Violet.”
I glanced at Violet. She was not quite as optimistic as my aunt, but optimism was not one of Violet’s qualities.
“Dear Aunt Patty,” I said. “You should have told me before. You shouldn’t have let me go on at that place. It must have been ridiculously costly.”
“Having put my hand to the plough I was not going to spoil the ship for a ha ’p ’orth of tar, and if a job is worth doing it is worth doing properly. I can’t think of any more maxims but I am sure they abound to support me. I have done the right thing by you, Cordelia. Schaffenbrucken will never be wasted. I’ll tell you more later on. I’ll show you the books and how things are going. Also I’ve got to talk to you about our new home. We’ll go and see it one day before the start of next term. You’ll love it. It’s the dearest little village and I have already made the acquaintance of the rector who seems a very charming gentleman with a wife who is overflowing with welcome for us. I think we are going to find it amusing.”
“And different,” said Violet somberly.
“Change is always stimulating,” said Aunt Patty. “I think we have been moving along in the same groove for too long. A new life, Cordelia. A challenge. We shall be working for the good of our new village…fetes, bazaars, committees, feuds. I can see we are going to have an interesting time.”
She believed it. That was the wonderful thing about Aunt Patty. She saw everything as amusing, exciting and challenging and she had always been able to convince me, if she was not managing to do the same with Violet. But then Aunt Patty and I always said that Violet enjoyed adversity.
I went to bed rather bemused. There were hundreds of questions to be asked. The future was a little hazy at the moment.
***
During the next day I learned more from Aunt Patty. The school had been, as she said, ticking over, for some little time. Perhaps her fees were not high enough; she had, she was told by her financial advisers, overspent on food and fuel, and the amount of those costly items was out of proportion to receipts.
“I didn’t want to make it into a Dothegirls Hall such as Mr. Dickens wrote about in his wonderful book. I didn’t want that at all. I wanted my school to be…just as I wanted it, and if it can’t be that, then I’d rather there was no school. So that is how it is going to be, Cordelia. I can’t say I’m sorry myself. I wanted to pass it on to you, but there is no point in passing on a concern which would have tottered into bankruptcy. No, cut your losses, said I. And that is what I am doing. In our new home we’ll all have a rest for a while and we’ll plan what we are going to do next.”
She made it all sound like a new and exciting adventure on which we were embarking and I caught her enthusiasm.
In the afternoon when classes were in progress I went for a walk. I left about two o’clock intending to be back before it was dark, which would be soon after four. School would be breaking up in the next week or so and after that only one more term. There would be the bustle of departure; the mistresses would be arranging journeys for the girls, seeing them to trains, just as it had been at Schaffenbrucken. I supposed many of the teachers were anxious, wondering about their new posts and certain that they would not find many employers as easy-going as Aunt Patty had been.
I detected an air of melancholy over the house. Both pupils and mistresses had appreciated the atmosphere of Grantley Manor.
Without Aunt Patty at my side to stress how wonderful everything was going to be, I too felt the depression. I tried to imagine what my future would be. I couldn’t just live all my life in a country village even though Aunt Patty would be with me. Somehow I did not think Aunt Patty believed I could either. I had caught her almost speculative gaze on me, rather secretive as though she had something up her sleeve which she was going to produce to the wonderment of all who perceived it.
I always enjoyed my first walk after returning to Grantley. I usually went into the little town of Canterton, looked into the shops and stopped for a chat with the people I knew. It was always a pleasure. Today it seemed different. I did not feel the same urge to talk to people. I wondered how much they knew about Aunt Patty’s move and I couldn’t really talk about something of which I knew so little as yet.
I passed the woods and noticed that there were plenty of berries on the holly this year. The girls would be picking it very soon now for the last week of term would be given over to Christmas jollity. They had already decorated the Christmas tree in the common room and put the presents they had bought for each other under it. Then there would be a concert and carol singing in the chapel. The last time…What a sad phrase that was.
A pale winter sun momentarily showed itself between the clouds. There was a chill in the air but it was mildish for the time of year.
There were not many people about. I had not met anyone since I had left the Manor. I glanced toward the wood and wondered whether the girls would find much mistletoe this year. They usually had to hunt for it, which made it seem precious, and made a great show of fixing it in those places where they could be caught and kissed—if there were any males about who might be tempted to do so.
I hesitated by the woods. Then as I was deciding that I would skirt them and go as far as the town without actually going in, I heard a footstep behind me. I felt a rush of emotion and told myself afterwards that I knew who it was going to be before I turned around.
“Why?” I cried. “You…here?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “You told me you lived in Canterton so I thought I would have a look at it.”
“Are you…staying here?”
“Briefly,” he replied.
“On your way to—”
“Somewhere else. I thought I would call to see you while I was here, but before doing so I was hoping to meet you so that I could ask if it would be correct for me to call. I passed the Manor. It is a fine old place.”
“You should have come in.”
“First of all I wanted to find out whether your aunt would receive me.”
“But of course she would be delighted to receive you.”
“After all,” he went on, “we have not been formally introduced.”
“We have met four times, if you count the time on the train.”
“Yes,” he said slowly, “I feel we are old friends. Your welcome home was very warm I gather.”
“Aunt Patty is such a darling.”
“She is clearly devoted to you.”
“Yes.”
“So it was the happiest of homecomings?”
I hesitated.
“Not?” he asked.
I was silent for a few seconds and he looked at me with some concern. Then he said: “Shall we walk through the forest? I think it rather beautiful at this time of year. The trees without their leaves are so beautiful, don’t you think? Look at the pattern that one makes against the sky.”
“Yes, I have always thought so. More beautiful in winter even than in summer. This is hardly what you call a forest. It’s more of a wood…just clumps of trees which don’t extend for more than a quarter of a mile.”
“Nevertheless let us walk among the beautiful trees and you can tell me why your homecoming was not as usual.”
Still I hesitated and he looked at me with a slight reproachful air. “You can trust me,” he said. “I will keep your secrets. Come, tell me what worries you.”
“It was all so different from what I expected. Aunt Patty had not given a hint.”
“No hint?”
“That everything was not…as it should be. She…she has sold Grantley Manor.”
“Sold that beautiful house! What of the flourishing establishment?”
“Apparently it did not flourish. I was astounded. I suppose one takes these things for granted. There was no reason why I shouldn’t. Aunt Patty had never as much as hinted that we were becoming poorer.”
There seemed to be a sudden chill in the forest.
He had stopped in his walk and looked at me tenderly. “My poor child,” he said.
“Oh, it isn’t so bad. We’re not going to starve. Aunt Patty thinks it is all to the good. But then everything that happens seems to her all to the good.”
“Tell me about it…if you wish to.”
“I don’t know why I am talking to you like this…except that you seem so interested. You just seem to appear, first in the forest, then on the ship and now…You are rather mysterious, you know.”
He laughed. “That makes it all the easier for you to talk to me.”
“Yes, I suppose it does. I was going to avoid going into the town because I didn’t want to talk to people there who have known us for years.”
“Well, tell me instead.”
So I told him that Aunt Patty had had to sell the Manor because it was too expensive to keep up, and that we were going to a small house in another part of the country.
“What shall you do?”
“I don’t know…We have this little house somewhere in the Midlands, I believe. I really haven’t heard much about it yet. Aunt Patty makes it seem…not so bad, but I can see that Violet—that’s her very special friend who lives with us—is very disturbed.”
“I can imagine so. What a terrible blow for you! My deepest sympathy. You seemed so merry when I saw you with your friends in the forest, and I fancied they were all a little envious of you.”
We walked across the stunted grass and the wintry sun glinted through the bare branches of the trees. The smell of damp earth and foliage was in the air and I couldn’t help feeling that something significant would happen because he was with me.
I said: “We have talked about me. Tell me about yourself.”
“You won’t find that very interesting.”
“Oh, but I shall. You have such a way of…appearing. It is quite intriguing really. The way you came upon us in the forest…”
“I was taking a walk.”
“It seemed so strange that you should be there, and then in the train and on the boat…and now here.”
“I am here because I saw it was on my route and I thought I would drop in to see you.”
“On your route to where?”
“To my home.”
“So you live in England.”
“I have a place in Switzerland. I suppose I would say my home is in England.”
“And you are on your way to it now. Why, I don’t even know your name.”
“Was it never mentioned?”
“No. In the forest…”
“I was just a passer-by then, wasn’t I? It would not have been comme il faut to exchange cards.”
“Then on the boat…you were just there.”
“You were rather sleepy, I think.”
“Let’s end the mystery. What is your name?”
He hesitated and I fancied that he did not want to tell me. There must surely be some reason why. He certainly was an enigma.
Then he said suddenly: “It is Edward Compton.”
“Oh…then you are English. I wondered whether you were entirely. Where is your home?”
He said: “It is Compton Manor.”
“Oh…is it far from here?”
“Yes. In Suffolk. In a little village you will never have heard of.”
“What village?”
“Croston.”
“No. I have never heard of it. Is it far from Bury St. Edmunds?”
“Well…that would be the nearest town.”
“And you are on your way there now?”
“Yes, when I leave here.”
“Are you staying in Canterton for a while then?”
“I thought I would…”
“For how long?”
He looked at me intently and said: “That depends…”
I felt myself flush a little. It depended on me, he was implying. The girls had said that I was the one in whom he was interested, and I had instinctively known this from our first meeting in the forest.
“You must be staying at the Three Feathers. It is small but has a good reputation for being comfortable. I hope you will find it so.”
“I am comfortable,” he said.
“You must come to meet Aunt Patty.”
“That would be my pleasure.”
“I should be getting back now. It grows dark early.”
“I’ll walk with you to the Manor.”
We left the wood and took to the road. The Manor was before us. It looked beautiful in the already fading light.
“I can see you admire it,” I said.
“It is sad that you have to let it go,” he answered.
“I haven’t really got used to the idea, but as Aunt Patty says it isn’t bricks and mortar that make a home. We shouldn’t be happy there worrying all the time because we couldn’t afford it, and she says that renovations would have to be done soon or it would be falling about our heads.”
“How frustrating.”
I stopped and smiled at him.
“I’ll leave you here, unless you would like to come in with me now.”
“N…no. I think it better not. Next time perhaps.”
“Tomorrow. You might call for tea. Four o’clock. Aunt Patty makes rather a ritual of tea. She does of all meals. Come just before four.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Then he took my hand and bowed.
I ran into the house without looking back. I was excited. There was something about him which was so intriguing. At last I knew his name. Edward Compton of Compton Manor. I imagined it…redbrick, essentially Tudor rather like our own Manor. No wonder he was interested in Grantley and genuinely shocked because we were having to sell. He would understand what it meant parting with a fine old house which had been one’s home for a long time.
Tomorrow I would see him again. I would write to all the girls and tell them about this exciting meeting. There hadn’t been time on the boat to tell Lydia that I had seen him again there. I doubt whether she would have listened much. We had been so intent on disembarking and meeting those who had come to fetch us.
Perhaps in time there might be more to tell her. I was ver
y fascinated by the mysterious stranger.
When I returned to the house Aunt Patty was in a state of excitement.
“I have just had confirmation from Daisy Hetherington, who is coming to see us. She is arriving at the end of the week on her way to her brother’s for Christmas. She will stay a couple of nights.”
I had heard her mention Daisy Hetherington many times and always in tones of great respect. Daisy Hetherington owned one of the most exclusive schools in England. Aunt Patty couldn’t stop talking about her.
“Aunt Patty,” I cut in, “the most extraordinary thing has happened. There was a man whom I met at Schaffenbrucken and he happens to be in Canterton. I’ve asked him to tea tomorrow. That will be all right, won’t it?”
“But of course dear. A man, you say?” She clearly had her mind on Daisy Hetherington. “That will be nice,” she continued absently. “I’ve told them to get the tapestry room ready for Daisy. I really think it is the nicest room in the house.”
“It certainly has lovely views…but they all have.”
“She’ll want to hear all about the move. She always likes to know everything that’s going on in the scholastic world. Perhaps that is why she is so successful.”
“Aunt Patty, you sound just the tiniest bit envious, which is unlike you.”
“Not me, my dear. I wouldn’t change places with Daisy Hetherington for Colby Abbey Academy itself. No, I’m content. Glad to give up. It was time. There is only one regret and that is you. I’ll confess I wanted to hand on a fine and flourishing business to you…” Her eyes began to twinkle. “But you never know what is waiting to turn up. Cordelia, I think it will be a little quiet for you in that country village of ours. You’ve been to Schaffenbrucken and you’re fully qualified. You see, Daisy Hetherington’s Colby Abbey Academy for Young Ladies—to give it its full title—has a reputation which we never had. Colby is synonymous with Schaffenbrucken…or almost. I was just wondering…”
“Aunt Patty, did you ask Daisy Hetherington to stay here or did she ask to come?”
“Well, I know how she hates staying at inns. I said it was scarcely out of her way and she might as well stay here for a couple of nights. I have a few pieces she might find useful. There’s that roll-top desk and some of the girls’ desks too and books. She was quite interested and she would like to meet you. I have told her so much about you.”