Beyond the Storm

by E. V. Thompson

  ‘Do you think that wise, Alice? It is a long way to Camelford, five miles or more and they will be returning home in the dark! I share your trust in them but they are both young and healthy and are obviously very fond of each other. It would be foolish to put unnecessary temptation in their way.’

  Aware of her brother’s strong and somewhat puritanical views about the morals of young people, Alice said, ‘I think we might be able to find an answer to that problem, David. In the last letter I received from Jory he mentioned the fair. In addition to all the entertainments there, it is a well-known hiring-fair and he intends being present to recruit young men for both the Coast Guard and the Royal Navy. The letter was sent some time ago and his plans might have changed, but if they have not I thought it would be a nice idea to invite him to stay with us at the rectory after the fair and ask him to bring Tristram and Eliza home with him.’

  David did not reply to her suggestion immediately. Aware that Alice had a very deep affection for Jory Kendall, he believed the naval officer would one day ask her to marry him. It would be an excellent marriage for her, of course, one of which their late parents would have heartily approved, but it would pose a great many problems for him.

  He could not possibly continue to have only a young maid living in the rectory with him. He would need to take on a housekeeper, an elderly lady, and quite apart from the extra cost involved, they would need to learn each other’s ways. It would cause disruption to what was at present a very pleasant way of life.

  Nevertheless, to refuse to allow Jory Kendall to spend a night at the rectory would not only be churlish but deeply upsetting for Alice.

  ‘Have you already made mention of this to Jory?’

  ‘Not yet. I wanted to speak to you about it first.’

  After thinking it over for a little longer, David nodded his approval. ‘It would be a very hospitable thing to do, but I feel it might be more appropriate for such an offer to come from me. Remind me when we return to the rectory tonight and I will write and extend an invitation to him.’

  Giving her brother’s arm an affectionate squeeze, Alice said, ‘You are a generous brother, David, but I know you enjoy Jory’s company too. Oh, I forgot to mention, in his letter Jory mentioned that an uncle, the Bishop of Winchester, will be paying a visit to the Kendalls’ family home soon. He says that while the bishop is there he will arrange for you to meet with him.’

  Alice had not forgotten to mention this piece of information to her brother, but had been keeping it in reserve should David prove difficult about allowing Jory to stay at the Trethevy rectory on the night of the Camelford fair.

  David was an ambitious cleric and although he thoroughly enjoyed his work in North Cornwall he had said on more than one occasion that Trethevy was very much a backwater where he was unlikely ever to meet with anyone able to further his career in the Church.

  The Bishop of Winchester was a very influential figure in the Church of England hierarchy and able to do a great deal to help David if he was so inclined.

  Alice also had hopes that Jory Kendall might one day ask her to marry him and by consenting to the marriage, as she certainly would, she realised the problems it would pose for both David and herself. She felt it her duty to take care of her brother, and had promised her dying mother she would do so. The most satisfactory solution would be for him to find a wife but since coming to Cornwall they had met with no one even remotely suitable.

  However, she was trying to find solutions to problems that had not yet arisen. Although she had known Jory for some three years she had never met with any of his family – and they might not approve of her.

  Indeed, for some time she had not seen as much of Jory as she would have liked. Although still a coast guard officer he had succeeded in achieving his wish for command of a ship. He was now the commanding officer of a coast guard cutter, the Vixen, patrolling the whole of the Cornish coast, both north and south.

  On a couple of occasions Vixen had anchored in the cove where Jory and Alice had first met and he had climbed up the steep cliff path to pay a surprise visit to the rectory. However, his visits were few and far between and as a consequence their relationship had not progressed as rapidly as she had hoped it might.

  Alice was aware she was in love with Jory, but there had been none of the excitement she had always expected to accompany such a depth of feeling for the man she wanted to marry.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by David. As they were passing through a tiny hamlet with houses scattered on both sides of the lane on which they were travelling, he said, ‘I would like to stop here for a few minutes, Alice. I wish to call in on a veteran of the Peninsular wars. He and his wife live here with their increasingly demented daughter and I fear for their safety. I want to check they are alright.’

  ‘Would you like me to come in with you?’

  ‘No, the daughter becomes very agitated at meeting strangers, it has taken me a long time to gain her confidence and persuade her to pray with me. The old soldier says my prayers are better than anything the doctor gives her and she is quiet for a couple of days afterwards. Sadly she will need to go into an asylum soon because the parents are becoming too old to take care of her and they are dreading it. Life is very difficult for them but they love the girl deeply. Indeed, their whole life is centred about her.’

  ‘All right, go in and see her now but tell the girl’s parents I would like to call on them sometime to see if I might do anything to help them. The girl might come to accept me in time.’

  ‘That would be very nice. There is nowhere to tie the pony, but I will leave the reins over the rail where you can reach them if she decides to wander off. I won’t be long.’

  When David had gone Alice sat in the four-wheeled trap, thinking her own thoughts and looking at the cottages of the tiny hamlet. Some were thatched, others had slate roofing but all were old and shabby, the one David was visiting particularly so, its thatch ragged and stained with patches of variable coloured moss and mould, and there were a number of small panes of glass missing from the leaded windows.

  The gardens were better cared for than the cottages, a few having roses growing around doorways and windows, distracting attention from peeling paint and rotting woodwork.

  The condition of the cottages in this particular hamlet was not unusual, here in North Cornwall. The parish served by Reverend David Kilpeck was in an area where poverty was an ever-present problem and it was hardly surprising that those who lived here should turn to non-conformist religions that promised them better things in after-life.

  All these things were going through Alice’s mind and as a result she was only vaguely aware of a horse trotting along the lane behind the stationary pony and trap.

  Suddenly, a large dog emerged from the garden of the cottage next to the one David was visiting and, dashed at the horse and rider, barking furiously. The sound startled Alice – but it alarmed the Kilpecks’ pony more. Throwing up its head with a snort of fright the animal bolted, and Alice was catapulted backwards to land inelegantly, legs in air, in the rear of the four-wheeled vehicle.

  Scrambling to her knees with difficulty in the bouncing and lurching vehicle, she looked for the reins. To her dismay they were no longer hanging over the front rail but were trailing in the dust of the lane, beneath the careering vehicle.

  Alice realised she was in grave danger. The pony was galloping out of control with the light trap bouncing along on the uneven lane behind it and likely to overturn at any moment. She was also aware that not far ahead there was a sharp bend at the end of a short downhill stretch of lane. If the pony maintained its present speed the trap would certain overturn – but there was nothing at all she could do about it!

  At that moment a horse and rider overtook the trap, the horse travelling at a reckless gallop, its rider crouching low on its back, outstretched arms gripping the rein. Bringing his horse alongside the runaway pony, the rider reached out and took a firm grip on the pony’s bridle, then, us
ing sheer physical strength, pulled the pony’s head down to one side, at the same time slowing his own mount.

  For a few terrifying moments Alice feared his actions would cause pony, trap, horse and rider to veer off the lane but the unknown rider proved to be a very skilled horseman. Gradually the pony slowed and was eventually brought to a halt, to stand, glistening with sweat, its sides heaving and shivering with fright in consequence of its recent experience.

  ‘Are you alright?’ The rider put the question to Alice as he gathered up the long reins trailing from the pony and handed them up to her as she climbed back into the trap’s driving seat.

  ‘I will be when I have time to catch my breath – thanks entirely to you. Had you not been at hand to show such presence of mind I fear I might well have lost my life when we reached the bend ahead.’

  ‘I am glad I was able to be of help. It was the fault of that stupid hound back there.’ The rider spoke with a cultured voice and, suddenly smiling, he added, ‘I must say, it is the most excitement I have had since returning from cavalry duty in India!’

  When he smiled at her, Alice realised he was an extremely handsome man. She also knew intuitively it was something of which he was very much aware – but he had undoubtedly saved her life.

  There was a shout from farther back along the lane they had just traversed so dramatically and they both turned to see David running towards them, wide-brimmed hat clutched in his hand.

  ‘Your little escapade would appear to have given your husband something of a fright,’ Alice’s rescuer commented.

  ‘He is my brother, not my husband. Reverend Kilpeck is rector of Trethevy and curate at Tintagel, where he is due to take a service this evening. We stopped for only a few minutes in order that he might visit a needy parishioner.’

  ‘He has an impressive turn of speed for a man of the cloth,’ the horseman said, dryly, ‘but then, there can be few parish priests who have such an attractive sister to be concerned about.’ Giving Alice a bold look, he added, ‘I am Hugo Trevelyan, by the way, Captain Hugo Trevelyan. You are…?’

  ‘Alice Kilpeck, and my brother is David.’

  Alice was aware that Captain Trevelyan had gone beyond the bounds of etiquette by his remark about her ‘attractiveness’, and perhaps she should have been offended, but she was not. Alice had never before met a man quite like Hugo Trevelyn and she found him both attractive and exciting.

  David had witnessed the pony bolt with Alice in the trap and when he reached them he was fulsome in his breathless gratitude to the dashing young army officer.

  Captain Hugo Trevelyan rode alongside the pony and trap for the remainder of the journey to Tintagel and left with a promise that he would call in at the Trethevy rectory when he returned from his visit to Padstow in a few days time.

  Chapter Two

  ALICE FOUND HERSELF thinking about the young army officer with a disturbing frequency during the next few days, although she never really expected to meet with him again. On the journey to Tintagel he had mentioned that he had only chanced to be on the coastal road through Trethevy because of a wish to visit the ruins of the ancient castle situated on the headland at Tintagel. Hugo Trevelyan had said he would call in on his way home from Padstow, but she was doubtful whether he would pass that way again.

  However, exactly a week after the incident with the pony and trap, Alice’s rescuer rode up to the rectory to be greeted at the garden gate with great enthusiasm by David. From the church where he passed much of his time he had seen the visitor and ran to meet him as he dismounted from his horse.

  Clasping the cavalry captain’s hand, he declared, ‘I am so glad you have called in. I confess to being so shaken by what had happened to Alice that I feel I never thanked you fulsomely enough for your brave actions in saving her from what would have been a dreadful accident. I shall always be deeply indebted to you. Alice too will be delighted to see you, do come in and join us for lunch, at least.’

  Now Hugo Trevelyan was here, Alice was less certain about him. Not only was he a type of man she never met with before and a handsome man of the world, he also possessed a devil-may-care attitude that was in sharp contrast to her brother’s careful and cautious approach to life.

  Despite the excitement Captain Trevelyan undoubtedly engendered in her, Alice could not rid herself of the slight unease she felt about the familiarity he showed towards her, even though she told herself the problem lay entirely with her. He was a man who had travelled extensively and was at his ease with all that life had to offer, while she had been brought up within the narrow confines of an East Anglian deanery. Before coming to Cornwall she had never ventured outside of the restrictive lifestyle imposed upon her by such an environment and very little had happened here to widen her experience of life.

  Over lunch David insisted that Hugo Trevelyan should stay for dinner and remain at the rectory overnight and, when the midday meal was over, he insisted upon taking Captain Trevelyan to visit his church.

  In the churchyard the two men paused at the wooden cross marking the mass grave in which the victims of the shipwreck three years before were buried and Hugo Trevelyan read the inscription …

  ‘7 unknown passengers and crew of the ship Balladeer wrecked on Lye Rock during the night of 16/17 June 1840 during a violent storm. God Rest their souls’.

  ‘Having been at sea in violent storms during my voyages to and from India, I feel for them,’ said David’s companion.

  ‘Yes, Eliza was the only survivor and she too had been given up for dead. Had it not been for the efforts of Alice and Lieutenant Kendall she would have been buried here with the others.’

  Showing immediate interest, Captain Trevelyan queried, ‘Are you speaking of Lieutenant Kendall from Lostwithiel?’

  ‘Yes, you know him?’

  ‘I certainly know of him, but we have never met. Is he a particular friend of yours?’

  ‘He visits the rectory whenever possible, but he comes to see Alice, rather than me.’

  ‘Is there an “understanding” between them?’

  ‘Nothing official. They seem to enjoy each other’s company, although his duties have kept him away from Trethevy of late, but Alice will tell you more, I am sure. Now, here we are at my little church, it was derelict for very many years before my appointment and Alice has worked wonders in renovating the interior, let me show you….’

  While the two men were absent Alice helped Eliza in the kitchen, clearing up after the meal and preparing dinner for that evening. The relationship between Alice and Eliza was quite unlike that of mistress and servant in a large household, or even that which might have been expected in a city environment.

  Trethevy was a very remote rural parish with no large houses or wealthy families and, as a result, there was a total absence of social activity in the immediate area and Alice and Eliza seldom met other women with whom to talk. As a result, they had come to value each other’s company.

  As they worked together Alice was enthusing about their house guest. ‘He is such an interesting man,’ she said. ‘Over lunch he was telling us about life in India, it must be terribly exciting there, dangerous too for officers in the army. They need to be very brave and ready for anything that happens. It is hardly surprising that he reacted so swiftly when the pony bolted with me.’

  Eliza did not share Alice’s enthusiasm for the army officer. She felt that Jory Kendall was a much more pleasant man in every way.

  ‘Lieutenant Kendall would have behaved in exactly the same way had it been him there and not Captain Trevelyan.’

  ‘Perhaps, but Lieutenant Kendall was not there, and has not visited the rectory for many months.’

  ‘That’s not his fault. He’s in command of a coast guard ship now and because most of the navy ships are still out in China, or some such place, he has to spend far more time at sea. He’s come to see you whenever he could, and sometimes even brought his ship into Bossiney Cove especially to pay you a quick visit. He’d probably have go
t into a lot of trouble if news of that got about.’

  When Alice failed to reply, Eliza asked, hesitantly, ‘Do you like Captain Trevelyan better than Lieutenant Kendall?’

  If she was being honest with herself, Alice knew she was not absolutely certain at this very moment, but only because Hugo Trevelyan was here and Jory was not. As a result she replied sharply, ‘Of course not! Although I have known Lieutenant Kendall for three years now and we are still hardly more than just good friends. I had thought … well, never mind what I thought. The truth is that I am not getting any younger and he has never suggested that our relationship is anything more than just a casual friendship.’

  ‘Have you ever hinted that you’d like to be more than friends with him?’

  ‘Of course not, that would be most improper. Anyway, we are talking nonsense, I could not possibly leave my brother to fend for himself.’

  ‘If Reverend David found someone he wanted to marry, you’d be left to fend for yourself.’

  ‘David is unlikely to find anyone while he has a parish like Trethevy, but this is a foolish conversation, Eliza. David and I are grateful to Captain Trevelyan for his prompt and brave action in saving me when the pony bolted and there is nothing more to it than that. The very least we can do is offer him our hospitality and enjoy his company while we can. When he leaves tomorrow I doubt whether we will ever see him again. That reminds me, will you ensure that the sheets on the bed in the spare room are properly aired? This is a damp house, we do not want him catching a chill.’

  Eliza hoped Alice’s assessment of their guest’s future movements would prove accurate and that he would leave the rectory the next day never to be seen by its occupants again. Mistrusting the too-handsome captain and his over-familiarity with Alice, she had also felt uncomfortable on the couple of occasions she had found herself alone in his company.