Porthellis

by Porthellis (retail) (epub)

  ‘Good afternoon, Mrs Penney,’ she said politely. ‘Can I help you?’

  Hannah knew that as Mrs Opie’s visitor, and an important one by the way Mrs Opie treated her, as well as sister to Mr Greg’s bride, Miss Benson did not approve of her being in the kitchen. ‘Lily is making tea for me and Mrs Opie,’ she explained humbly, then grinned mischievously at Patrick who reciprocated under the cover of pretending to scratch his nose.

  ‘Lily will carry it upstairs for you,’ Miss Benson stressed. She wouldn’t countenance anyone not being kept to their rightful duties.

  ‘Of course,’ Hannah replied, thinking proudly that the house had been run just as well under her more relaxed supervision. She led the way up the narrow stone servants’ stairs.

  ‘Mrs Penney,’ Lily said under her breath, glancing round first to make sure Miss Benson had not followed them, ‘do you see much of your cousin?’

  ‘Would that be my cousin Jowan?’ Hannah said knowingly as they mounted the main staircase together.

  ‘Yes, that’s the one,’ Lily said, unable to keep her eagerness out of her broad accent. Her young, slightly chubby face turned scarlet, accentuating the sprinkling of dark freckles across the bridge of her nose. She concentrated on not rattling the things on the tray. ‘Well, I was wond’ring if he’s got a girlfriend.’

  ‘I don’t think he has,’ Hannah teased.

  Lily swallowed hard. ‘’Tis an awful liberty I know but do you think you could find out? I mean—’

  ‘Let me put you out of your agony, Lily,’ Hannah laughed kindly. ‘Jowan hasn’t got a girlfriend and he was asking me questions about you only this morning. You’re a Methodist, aren’t you? Why don’t you come to chapel on Sunday and I’ll make sure you get the chance to talk to each other.’

  ‘You’d really do that, Mrs Penney? You don’t mind?’

  ‘Of course not. I’m very fond of Jowan, he’s more like a brother to me than a cousin and I think you’d be well suited. No need to get dressed up or anything. Jowan doesn’t like people who put on airs and graces.’

  ‘Oh, thank you, Mrs Penney, and thank you for the advice. I’ll be down in the village on Sunday bright and early.’

  Hannah opened the door to Feena’s suite and Lily bounced in with the tea tray and out again in the same fashion. Feena was winding up a jack-in-a-box for Nathan but she watched Hannah pour the tea. ‘Lily looked animated. Were you discussing anything interesting?’

  ‘She met my cousin Jowan at the wedding reception and they hit it off straightaway,’ Hannah answered; she didn’t mind Feena’s prying most of the time. She put Feena’s cup and saucer on a table where Nathan couldn’t reach it. ‘I’ve been doing a bit of matchmaking. You don’t mind if they walk out together, do you?’

  ‘Well, I don’t want you robbing me of my staff.’ Feena tapped Hannah’s wrist in mock chiding.

  ‘You’ll never lose Patrick, Angie or Miss Benson,’ Hannah pointed out laughing.

  Feena suddenly gripped her hand tightly. ‘I don’t care about anyone as long as I never lose you or Nathan, Hannah.’

  Chapter 5

  Hannah and Grace had been walking over the cliff for nearly two hours. They were not moving at a fast pace and Grace stopped often to look through her field glasses at small boats and white-sailed yachts in the dark blue waters of Veryan Bay, at Dodman Point rearing out in the sea behind them, over the land to where Caerhays church and a plantation of trees stood out on the horizon. It was hot under the blazing sun; the south-westerly breeze was bringing humidity with it.

  They were now scaling the steep winding climb up from the tiny hamlet of Portholland. Hannah glanced behind her to see if Grace was tiring but she was clambering up the narrow rocky path with the loose, easy movements of a man.

  ‘Shall we find a spot to take a drink when we reach the top?’ Hannah said, pausing beside some wild apple trees.

  Grace took off her sunglasses, pushed back her straw hat and wiped perspiration from her brow. ‘That would be wise on a hot day like this. It’s like summer. Let’s find a place where the breeze will cool us down.’

  It was a hilly walk along the cliff top, so steep and narrow in parts they had to turn their feet at an awkward sideways angle to keep their balance. In one place the ground had given way at a burrow and they gripped the high bank to get past. They leapt over a tinkling stream. Brambles, gorse, fern and the windswept landward-veering trees often hid the sea from view. They carried on until the cliff dropped into a hollow and bare rock left the sea naked to their eyes. A strong breeze cooled their bare arms and their lower legs exposed by their shorts.

  Hannah sat down on a grassy tussock, pointing out a similar one to Grace. They took their bags off their backs, Hannah’s an old crib bag of Matt’s, Grace’s a smart sturdy haversack.

  ‘You must say when you want to turn back, Hannah,’ Grace said, pouring herself lemonade and passing the bottle. ‘I mustn’t be selfish and forget you have a family to care for.’

  ‘There’s no hurry. Matt’s at sea and Aunty Janet won’t like it if I pick up Nathan too soon.’ Hannah smiled. ‘And Mrs Penney will be glad to have the house to herself for a while.’

  ‘I suppose this must be a welcome break for you,’ Grace observed. ‘You seem to get on well with your mother-in-law. That’s good as you live in her house.’

  ‘It’s Matt’s house actually. His father left it to him. But I do get on well with Mrs Penney. I’m happy to leave the house as she’s always had it. As Matt says, our turn will come if we want to make changes. Would you like one of these shortbread biscuits? Mr Patrick at Roscarrock made them.’

  ‘Thank you. Mmmm, delicious. It’s curious how some people do things that don’t appear to suit them.’

  ‘Oh, in what way?’

  ‘Well, Patrick Opie doesn’t seem the sort to be good at baking and you, if I may say so, don’t look at all like a seamstress. You seem the outdoor type.’

  ‘I am. I would have liked to work on the boats but that of course isn’t allowed, it’s entirely a man’s domain.’ Hannah gazed dreamily at the sea. ‘I used to live with my aunt and she set her heart on me following her trade. Who else were you thinking of?’

  ‘On, no one really,’ Grace replied quickly, remembering there were bad feelings between Hannah and the man she had been thinking about. ‘I was stopped from doing what I wanted to do too, by my father. I wanted to go to university and become a doctor. He wouldn’t let me do either, no matter how much I begged him. As far as he was concerned, women were meant only to be wives, mothers or servants. He was most disappointed in me for not trotting off dutifully and getting married to provide him with grandchildren. Every time we sat down to dinner there seemed to be some young man, usually squirming with embarrassment, put there for me to consider. I didn’t meet anyone I really liked and domesticity has never been attractive to me. I’ve noticed the way you and Matt look at each other,’ she went on, talking in the easy manner the two women had fallen into. ‘If I met a man who moved me in the same way…’

  ‘You’d willingly change your name,’ Hannah finished for her.

  ‘Yes.’ Grace turned her face, afraid Hannah would read her thoughts. Out in the sea was a huge lump of land called Shag Rock and through her field glasses she watched a group of the distinctive crested birds that had colonized the rock and given it its name. She listened to the wash of the sea, loud, heavy, constant. At the bottom of the cliff the rock reached out in long fat fingers, its submerged depths lurking in greenish-white shadows. Two gulls stood on the orange-coloured lichened top of the boulder directly below them, then flew down and bobbed about on the water. ‘I think the bay is particularly beautiful. I do envy you living here all your life. My mother wouldn’t leave her birthplace. My father’s family was Cornish but there’s no one left here now except for Aunt Adela. You’re lucky coming from a large family. I saw your older brother the other day. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but was he born with his condition?’

>   ‘No, Josh was like any other man until two years ago.’ Now Hannah looked away. ‘He had an accident.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  Hannah fell quiet, eating shortbread biscuits and sipping lemonade. It was the talk of the village that Grace had been to Daniel’s new house again and again. There were many who had warned her that an association with him would lead to disaster but she had assured them that it was only out of charity that she was bothering with him. Hannah thought Grace foolish but considered it none of her business. But now that their friendship was becoming established, should she tell her that Daniel had been involved the night Josh had received the brain damage that turned him into an imbecile? It was a family secret that her other brother, Mitch, had beaten Josh into his idiotic state for attacking his bride-to-be. That was no concern of Grace’s, but should she tell her that Viv had been seduced by Daniel, that he’d forced the sixteen-year-old girl to seek an abortion and when she couldn’t go through with it he had cruelly told her to keep out of his life? Daniel had stopped Josh from doing his worst to Viv, but he was still responsible for the condition that had made her stepfather throw her out on the street and turn to Mitch. If Grace knew this, would she give up her quest, her belief that Daniel deserved a second chance? Grace was not naive, stupid or easily fooled, Hannah guessed. She sensed Grace had a slightly wicked sense of humour; perhaps she was amusing herself and enjoyed shocking the villagers. Hannah decided Grace was old enough and sensible enough to look after herself. And if Daniel’s good looks were what was attracting Grace to him, she was probably a lost cause anyway and criticism would only send her rushing more eagerly into his arms. She could never mention Daniel’s attack on herself to Grace, it was far too personal.

  Grace was thinking about Daniel again. She was curious to know why there was animosity between him and Hannah. Aunt Adela had told her that Daniel and Matt Penney had once been partners on the abandoned boat and had publicly fought over Hannah in the chapel forecourt. Strange that Hannah hadn’t added her voice to the warnings about Daniel.

  She couldn’t stop herself from asking, ‘Why do you hate Daniel Kittow?’

  Hannah was shocked at the sudden question. She packed up the crib bag. ‘He’s evil.’

  ‘That’s a rather simplistic statement, isn’t it? I can’t agree with it,’ Grace returned shortly, standing up so she could see Hannah’s face more clearly.

  ‘It’s the truth,’ Hannah said rather tartly, looking at her squarely. ‘No one has been closer to Daniel than me. You should believe what people are telling you about him.’

  A shaft of cold air blew up from the sea, sweeping away with it the close friendship that had been forming between the women. Hannah was vexed at Grace’s superior tone. Grace felt jealous that Hannah should have been so close to Daniel.

  ‘We’ll walk on to Portloe, the next village, then turn back,’ Hannah said. ‘You can see Nare Head from here, the other end of Veryan Bay. It’s a clear day, soon you’ll be able to make out Falmouth on the horizon.’

  ‘Really? How interesting.’

  They went on their way, talking like a tour guide and holidaymaker.

  * * *

  Mrs Skewes hastened to her husband’s study that afternoon. ‘David, can you leave what you’re doing? I want to talk about Grace again. I’ve just been down to the village and Miss Peters told me that Grace is still seeing Daniel Kittow, after all we’ve said to her. What shall we do?’

  The Reverend Skewes abandoned his sermon. ‘I don’t think there is anything we can do, Adela. Grace is infatuated with the man. The warnings she’s received have only served to make him more attractive to her. If we continue to berate her I fear she’ll move out. Then she’ll be entirely at Kittow’s mercy. If your brother hadn’t been so strict with her she wouldn’t be letting her freedom go to her head now. We must hope and pray she won’t let him take things to the extreme. If he hurts her, we’ll be here to pick up the pieces.’

  ‘But she’s making a laughing stock of us, David. People are saying we shouldn’t allow it.’

  ‘None of us are immune to foolishness, Adela. We’re setting an example, standing by Grace and loving her no matter what she does.’

  ‘I suppose so.’ Mrs Skewes wrung her hands. ‘But it’s terrible to think she might throw her future and happiness away on that odious man.’

  * * *

  Lily walked to chapel that Sunday and, forewarned by Hannah, Jowan met her on the forecourt. Shyly and awkwardly he invited her to sit next to him for the service.

  After the service, Janet invited Lily to stay for dinner. She approved of her son’s choice.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Rouse,’ Lily said, blushing prettily. ‘I’m afraid I’m expected back at Roscarrock very soon.’

  ‘Well, perhaps another time. Jowan will walk you part of the way home.’ It was settled, as far as both Janet and the villagers were concerned. Jowan and Lily were officially walking out together.

  Hannah watched smiling as Jowan stuck out his arm, Lily put hers through it and the young couple walked away.

  ‘Thank you, Hannah,’ Janet said.

  ‘What for?’ Matt asked, emerging from the chapel with Nathan wriggling in his arms.

  ‘She knows,’ Janet said in the mysterious way women sometimes have of communicating.

  Matt grinned and kissed Hannah’s cheeks. ‘What have you been up to?’ He laughed when she explained. ‘Think she’ll make a fisherman’s wife?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Nathan held out his arms to Hannah and she took him from Matt. Grace passed them, offering a brief good morning and going straight to the Manse.

  ‘That didn’t seem very friendly,’ Matt observed. ‘You haven’t fallen out, have you?’

  ‘We didn’t hit it off as well as I’d hoped.’

  ‘Why not? Is she a snob?’

  ‘No, not at all. She’s still seeing Daniel. It’s put a barrier between us.’

  Matt slipped his arm round her waist and led her up the hill. ‘It’s just as well then. I don’t want you involved with him in any way at all.’

  Clicking heels were heard behind them and a hand touched Hannah’s shoulder. ‘Please wait a moment,’ Mrs Skewes puffed, her plain face pinched and anxious. ‘Mr Skewes said I shouldn’t but I must ask a favour of you, Hannah. You see, I’m desperately worried about Grace. She won’t listen to me. I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘About what?’ Matt asked, frowning at what he saw as another piece of female illogicality.

  ‘I think I know,’ Hannah said to Mrs Skewes. ‘You’re worried about Grace seeing Daniel Kittow. I’m afraid it would be a waste of time me saying anything to her. I’ve told her Daniel is evil but she didn’t believe me. I’m sorry. You’ll just have to hope she’ll tire of him or go home to Kent.’

  ‘Or wait for him to chuck her over,’ Matt said bluntly.

  ‘You shouldn’t have said that,’ Hannah remonstrated with Matt as they walked on. ‘Mrs Skewes was thunderstruck.’

  Matt was unrepentant. ‘She might as well brace herself for the inevitable. That man is spreading poison through the village, you can smell it, breathe it.’

  It wasn’t like Matt to be melodramatic, but Hannah couldn’t disagree with him.

  Poison and evil influences were far from the minds of Jowan and Lily as they walked towards Roscarrock. At Turn-A-Penny Lane, Lily stopped and looked at Jowan. ‘You’d better go back for your dinner now,’ she said reluctantly.

  ‘When do you next have time off?’ Jowan asked, his chest thrust out confidently now that the initial part of the courtship was over.

  ‘Wednesday afternoon,’ she answered, looking coyly at the ground.

  ‘Oh.’ His fresh face creased in disappointment. ‘I’ll be at sea then, unless the weather takes a bad turn.’

  ‘I can get away on Saturday evening.’

  ‘That should be all right. Would you like me to meet you at the gates of Roscarrock? At seven o’clock? I’ll think
of something we can do.’

  ‘I’d love to.’ Lily looked modestly over his shoulder.

  Jowan shuffled his feet on the dusty lane, then bending forward quickly he put a soft peck on her cheek and turned for home, whistling cheerfully.

  Lily watched him until he was out of sight then skipped along like a happy little girl. She was conjuring up a vision of standing in the Rouses’ doorway, waving goodbye to Jowan as his boat put to sea; Mrs Rouse herself.

  When she reached Roscarrock’s tall wrought-iron gates, a smartly dressed man was there, staring at them. ‘Good morning,’ she chirped gaily. ‘Can I help you, sir?’

  He turned and took off his hat, uncovering his thick red hair. Daniel gazed down on Lily, his eyes widening in pleasure at what he saw. She was just his type, exactly what he needed. He liked making love outside.

  ‘Good morning,’ he replied in a soft lazy drawl. ‘I was just curious to see the pair of gates here. I haven’t been about locally for several months and they weren’t here then.’

  Lily was puzzled. He looked a bit like a gentleman, stood straight and confident as if he was someone of importance, but his voice and the ruggedness of his face suggested a working man. ‘Mrs Opie had them put up just before last Christmas. I think they’re very grand.’

  ‘I agree with you, Miss…?’ He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

  ‘Miss Lily Andrews,’ she said with a nervous giggle.

  ‘You have a connection with Roscarrock, Miss Andrews?’

  ‘I work there, as under-housemaid.’ She blushed harder under his piercing gaze than she had at her meeting with Jowan earlier this morning. He was so very good-looking, with an appealing sternness about him, like the heroes in the romantic books she read in her room. ‘Well, I must run along or I’ll be late helping with luncheon.’