The India Fan (20 page)

This was progress and Polly and I in due course set out on our voyage of discovery.

We arrived in the late afternoon and decided that on the following morning we would visit the site.

In the meantime we were able to have a little conversation. First of all we talked to the chambermaid. She was a middle-aged woman who had worked at The Feathers when she was a girl, and now that her children were off her hands she came in the afternoons. She lived only a few yards from the hotel.

o,I said, ou know the district well.

ike the palm of my hand, Madam.

ou must remember the fire.

t The Firs?

es.

h, that wasn so long ago. My goodness, what a blaze that was! It happened in the night.

e read about it in the paper,said Polly. t was quite a piece of news, that.

t was a strange place. Used to give me the horrors every time I passed by.

hy?I asked.

dunno. That Mrs. Fletcher As a matter of fact, before I came back here just when my youngest was old enough not to need me at her heels all the time I worked there for a bit.

h,I said faintly, fearing suddenly that she might have seen Lavinia and me.

est part of five years ago, that was.

I was relieved.

hy did it give you the creeps?asked Polly.

can rightly say. There was something about it. It was all them old people. You get the feeling that they are all there waiting for death to come along and take them. It gives you the shivers in a way. People used to say they were put there because their families did not want them. And a funny lot they was and there always be one or two who had come there to have a baby on the quiet, if you know what I mean?

I certainly knew what she meant.

nd the fire?I prompted.

it up the whole place. I was in bed and I said to my old man, acob, something going on.He said, o to sleep,and then he realized there was a funny smell and a sort of light in the room. nakes alive,he said, and he was out of that bed in a flash. He was out there helping them. The whole village seemed to be out there. Oh, it was a night, I can tell you.

here were a lot of casualties, were there not?I asked.

h yes. Well, you see, this batty old man had started fires in one of the downstairs cupboards and the whole of the ground floor was well on the way to being destroyed before it spread about. They were all burned to death Mrs. Fletcher herself among them.

ll?I asked. veryone?

veryone in the place. It was too late to rescue them. Nobody knew the place was on fire until it was well on the way.

hat a terrible tragedy.

I did not sleep that night. I kept on thinking of Janine and how easily it might have been the end for Fleur, Lavinia and me.

The next day Polly and I made our way to The Firs. The gate, with he Firson it in brass letters, was open. Memories rushed back as I went up the drive. The walls were surprisingly still standing in some parts. I looked through the windows onto the scorched pile.

Polly said, t makes you think. Il tell Eff wee got to be specially careful. Make sure all the fires are out before we go to bed. Watch out for candles. Them paraffin lamps could turn over as soon as you could say Jack Robinson and then it would be a case of God help you.

It was difficult to recognize the place. I tried to work out which room would have been Lavinia and mine, which Mrs. Fletcher sanctum on the first floor and Janine room and that of Emmeline and the others.

It was impossible, and Polly thought we should not try to mount the remains of the staircase.

ou only have to take a look at that and it would collapse.

I was thoughtful and sad, remembering so much.

Polly said, ere. Let go. Wee had enough of this.

It was as I stood with Polly among the debris that I heard quick footsteps coming along the drive. A middle-aged woman came into sight. I saw her before she saw us. Her face was pale and her eyes tragic. She stood for a few moments looking up at the grim remains. Then she saw us.

ood morning,I said.

h er good morning.

ike us, you are looking at the burnt-out house.

She nodded. She looked as though she were fighting to conceal her emotion.

Then she said, id you have someone someone who perished?

don know,I replied. here was a girl I used to know at school. Mrs. Fletcher was her aunt.

She nodded. t was my daughter who was here. We didn know she was. It wouldn have mattered. She could have told me. She was so bright a lovely girl to go like that.

I guessed the story. It was similar to others. The daughter was going to have a baby and she had come here in secret and here she had died.

uch a tragedy,said the woman. t should never have happened.

t doesn really help us to come here,I replied.

She shook her head. have to. When I found out she was here and died in the fire I would have done anything

Polly said, hings like that happen sometimes. It hard to know why. Makes you bitter. I know.

The woman looked enquiringly at her.

y husband was lost at sea.

It is amazing how someone else tragedy can make one own seem lighter. The woman certainly looked a little comforted.

ave you been here before?I asked.

She nodded. can seem to keep away. I just had to come.

o you know anything about the people who died?

nly what Ie heard from others.

here was a young girl with whom I was at school. I wonder if you knew whether she was saved.

wouldn know. I only know that my daughter was there and it happened to her … my girl.

We left her there contemplating the ruins as if by doing so she could bring her daughter back.

We walked slowly to The Feathers. There was a bench on a stretch of grass in front of a pond and on this sat two old men. They were not talking just staring into space.

Polly and I sat down on the seat and they regarded us with interest.

taying there?said one of the men, taking his pipe from his lips and jerking it towards The Feathers.

es,I replied.

ice place, eh?

ery nice.

sed to do pretty well before the fire.

hat must have been terrifying.

One of the old men nodded. eckon it was the vengeance of the Lord,he said. he lot they had up there. Sodom and Gomorrah that what it was. They got their just deserts.

heard there were several old people there.

The old man fiercely tapped his head. ot right up there. Offended against the Lord in some way. It was the punishment of the Lord, that what I reckon. Her she was a queer one and all them women no better than they should be.

I was in no mood to enter into a theological discussion. I said, id you hear if there were any survivors?

The two old men looked at each other. The religious fanatic said with satisfaction, ll burnt to a cinder taste of hell fire that waiting for m.

Polly said ironically, oue destined for the heavenly choir, I reckon.

hat so, Missus. Good churchgoer all me life. Regular every Sunday night and morning.

y goodness,said Polly. ou must have a good record. Wasn there any time you did a bit of sinning?

was brought up in the shadow of the Lord.

h, I reckon the recording angel would have looked the other way when you got up to your little bits of mischief.

I could feel a real antagonism building up between them and I guessed that if I were going to get any information from them this was not the way to do it.

o everyone there died,I said.

ere,put in the other. asn there some niece or something, Abel?

I said eagerly, er name was Janine Fletcher. Do you know what became of her?

h, I remember,said the man to Abel. ou know that young woman wasn she out of the place on a visit or something? That right. She was the only one who didn die.

t was God will,said Abel.

I was excited. I turned to his companion. o she didn die?

o that it. She came back. There was some sort of to-do about insurance and that sort of thing.

t wasn insured,said Abel. hey was like the foolish virgins unprepared when the bridegroom came.

oesn sound much like a wedding to me,commented Polly.

o you know where she went?I asked.

an tell you that, Miss.

I could see that that was all the information we could get. I rose as Abel began reminding me about the rewards of evil. I said, e must get back.

Polly agreed. reckon,she said, as we walked away, hat that Abel got a nasty surprise waiting for him when he gets to Heaven.

I felt our journey had not been wasted. We had not discovered where Janine was, but we knew she was still alive.

I had not been back at the rectory for more than two days when, to my surprise, Fabian called.

In all the years he had not called before, except with Dougal, and I was surprised to see him.

I must have shown my surprise.

heard that you had been to London,he said. came to assure myself of your safe return.

I raised my eyebrows. hat was extraordinarily kind of you.

was concerned. Had you told me I should have made my visit coincide with yours.

he journey is not long and I was met at the other end.

y the inestimable Polly, I guess. And how is her sister and that enchanting ward of theirs?

ery well.

hat is good. I have news of a friend of yours.

eally?

ougal Carruthers.

hat news?

e has become an exalted gentleman overnight.

hat do you mean?

ou were aware that his cousin had an accident. Alas, the cousin died from his injuries.

ere they close friends?

elations.He smiled sardonically. hat is quite a different thing. They say that one chooses one friends, but one relations are thrust upon one.

here is often a stronger bond between relations than friends.

he proverbial blood being thicker than the proverbial water.

xactly.

ell, I don think the cousin or to give him his full name, the Earl of Tenleigh had very much in common with our friend Dougal. He was the hunting manore at home on a horse than on his own two legs. Athletic, all physical activity and a brain that hardly ever got any consideration and had begun to pine away from neglect. Ah, I speaking ill of the dead and perhaps shocking your conventional heart just a little.

I smiled. ot in the least,I said. ut how has Mr. Carruthers become an exalted gentleman?

y the death of the cousin. You see, the Earl was the son of Dougal father elder brother, so he got the title and the family estates. Dougal father was just a younger son. I gathered from Dougal that he was rather pleased about that. Like his son, he was the studious type. I am not sure what his obsession was. The Byzantine Empire, I fancy. Dougal takes after him with his Anglo-Saxons and Normans. Alas for Dougal. The present has impinged itself on the past. He will have to tear himself away from Hengist and Horsa and Boadicea, most likely, and think a little about his obligations to the present.

daresay he will enjoy it. He will probably have the money to continue with his research in the way he wanted it.

reat estates are demanding and he may not find it so easy. In any case I thought I ought to warn you that we shall doubtless see little of him from now on. These things change people, you know.

do not believe they will change him.

e too wise, you think?

do think that. He would never be arrogant.

I looked at him and he smiled. s some people are,he murmured.

es, as some people are.

ell, we shall see. But it will mean that he will not be here to enjoy those little picnics in ruined places. I thought I should warn you.

hank you.

t is a pity that the picnics cannot continue.

here was only one in which you shared.

nto which I forced myself. It would be rather pleasant not to have to do that. Why do we not have a picnic of our own you and I?

t would be quite impossible.

henever I hear that word I am always challenged to disprove it.

ou are not interested in ruins.

ou could teach me.

I laughed at him. don think you would relish the idea of being taught anything.

ou are mistaken. I am avid for knowledge particularly the kind which you can supply.

don quite know what that means.

ow you are looking like a teacher a little severe rather displeased with the bad boy and wondering whether to give him a hundred lines or make him stand in the corner with the dunce cap on his head.

am sure I implied nothing of the sort.

shall see if I can discover a ruin you have never seen and tempt you.

on bother. I am sure I should not be able to come with you.

shall never give up hope,he said and added, eacher.

f you will excuse me I have several things to do.

et me help you.

ou could not really. They are parish matters.

hich you perform with Mr. Brady?

h, no he has his own affairs. You have no idea what has to be done in a rectory and with my father not so well we are very busy.

hen I must detain you no longer. I will see you very soon. Au revoir.

When he had gone I could not get him out of my thoughts. It made me forget Dougal elevation to high rank and fortune. Then I began to consider that and to wonder what difference it would make to him and to our relationship, which was just beginning to flower into something deeper.

Colin Brady said to me, e should be thinking about the summer fete.

veryone knows it is to be on the first Saturday in August. It always has been. Most of them have been working for months getting things together for the stalls.

he rector was saying that it is the custom to ask permission of the Framlings to hold it in the grounds and if it is wet to use the hall. I suppose it big enough.

h, yes. It vast. There have only been a few occasions in my memory when we have had to go inside. The Framlings know about it. It a tradition and Lady Harriet has always granted permission most graciously.

es, but your father says it has to be asked for. That is also a part of the tradition.