Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
Page 12
But Emma went to London and married her young doctor and became completely civilised. In due course the son was born who was to inherit most of his great-grandmother’s fortune. He was pushed round Kensington Gardens in the most modern of prams by a brown-clad veiled nurse, and when he grew older he was sometimes allowed to sail his boats in the Round Pond, although he had to be very careful not to get his feet or clothes wet. His mother became a model young wife and hostess, very much admired for her grave, quiet dignity and elegant, but restrained, manner of dressing. She did not visit her sister or father very often.
Hattie was truly happy at Willoweed House, and her father was as happy as his nature would allow him to be. Ebin drove his daughter to school in a glorious green-and-black-striped, fifty-horse-power, Sheffield Simplex, all upholstered in grey. On the back seat an enormous white poodle lay in all its extravagant beauty. The High School girls were so impressed with all this they hardly noticed Hattie’s almost black face and, when it gradually dawned on them she was strangely dark, they christened her the A.P. (African Princess).
Ebin grew a dashing red beard, which gave him a rather nautical appearance, and after being several times mistaken for a sailor, he began to dress in a sailor’s fashion. The villagers forgot he had never been to sea, and in time he came to be regarded by all as a retired sailor, until he became known as Old Captain Willoweed. Before this came about he actually purchased a small sailing boat. When there was not much wind he could be seen sailing with his daughter and heard shouting instructions in a hearty booming voice. Hattie did most of the sailing, completely disregarding his instructions; so they managed very well.
Old Ives lived for many years, outliving all his ducks. He spent much time in the coach house polishing the splendid car and singing hymns as he worked; but he sometimes worried in case he had made a mistake in giving his fortune to the Church: it seemed as if the time would never come when he would reap the benefit.
- THE END -
BARBARA COMYNS was born in England in 1909 and raised in a Warwickshire country house. She and her siblings were largely in the care of governesses, and allowed to run wild. She began writing and illustrating stories when she was a girl. In her teens she attended art school in London. She then married a painter and had two children. To help support her family, she dealt in antiques and vintage cars, renovated apartments, and bred poodles. She later lived in Spain for eighteen years. In addition to being a writer, she was an accomplished painter, and exhibited with the London Group. She died in 1992 leaving two children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and eleven books.
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