The Mask of the Enchantress (12 page)

nd the princesses were all beautiful with long yellow hair. Your color, Anabel.

don think I fit the role somehow. Youe the princess, Jessamy. Awakened from years of slumber at Seton by Prince Joel kiss.

h, I am glad you came, Anabel.

We went under the gatehouse and into a courtyard. Grooms hurried out and we alighted from the carriage.

hank you, Evans,said Jessamy, very dignified. I thought that life in a castle suited her.

You have seen the outside of the castle, Suewellyn, but not the interior. Believe me, the inside is equally enthralling. The past seems to rush at you and envelop you when you enter the hall. I am not surprised that the Matelands all seem to revere the place. It has been there for centuries. It was built by one of their ancestors years ago, although in the twelfth century it was little more than a fortress. It has been added to through the ages. I think they loved every stone. It has been cherished by them, enhanced by them. It is their home and their pride. Even I began to feel something of its magnetism although my connection with it was through Jessamy, who had married into it.

The hall was lofty with finely carved stone walls on which weapons hung. There were several suits of armor which had belonged to various members of the family. They looked like sentinels, standing guard. Its timbered roof was very fine and there was a minstrelsgallery at the end; at the other were the screens and near the gallery a beautiful staircase. Jessamy was looking sideways at me to see the effect the place was having, but even I was struck dumb with wonder.

l take you to your room,she said. t near mine. Come along.

We walked through the hall and up the staircase. At the head of the staircase was a long gallery. t the picture gallery. Here hang the members of the family, illustrious and otherwise.

on tell me there are therwiseMatelands.

cores of them,she said with a laugh.

I wanted to linger but she hurried me on. oul have plenty of time to look,she said. ome on. I want to show you your room.

o they know youe coming back? Do they know I coming?

hey know I am. I didn mention you were. You know you didn decide at once.

hey might not want me here.

do,she said, and gave me a hug.

t a strange sort of household, isn it?

think it seems so because it so big. Everyone goes his own way. Nobody interferes with anyone. It works very well. I thought you wouldn want to be isolated in the castle. That why your room is near mine.

oue right. I shouldn want to be. I should be imagining all those long-dead Matelands, good and otherwise, were descending on me.

ou were always imagining something. Later on Il show you everything the library, the long gallery, the armory, the dining room, the drawing room, the music room all of it.

not surprised your mother liked this place and thought it a worthy setting for her precious daughter.

h, my mother was enchanted by it from the moment she set eyes on it.

t makes Seton Manor look like a farm laborer cottage.

h, come, hardly that.

o, of course not. Unfair to dear old Seton. Seton is lovely. I not sure I wouldn rather have it than a castle. There something about this place. It seems almost alive.

o more fancies. This is your room.

I looked round it. It was circular in shape. There were three tall narrow windows at which hung draperies in scarlet velvet. There was a four-poster bed with gold hangings and a gold-colored bedspread. There was an alcove in which were a basin and ewer. Persian rugs covered the stone-flagged floor; there were a table and small bureau, a few chairs and several cupboards. I thought it very well appointed.

ee in the west front drum tower,said Jessamy, and I looked out of the window. I could see lawns, grassy slopes and woods in the distance.

we are just along the corridor.

I said suddenly: ay I see your room?and immediately wished I hadn. I did not want to see their room. I wanted to forget about them altogether.

f course. Come along and see it.I followed her down three steps to a corridor. She flung open a door. It was a large and lofty room and there was a big bed in it with fine silk hangings. There were a dressing table, chairs and two big court cupboards; and an alcove similar to mine.

I kept seeing them there together and I wanted to shut out the picture. It made me unhappy.

I turned away and started back to my own room.

here are the rest of them?I asked.

h, David and Emerald are on the east side. We meet at meals.

nd the grandfather?

e has his own apartments. He doesn leave them very often. Anabel, there something I have to warn you about.

es.

t Emerald. She an invalid. She has been for some years. She has a companion.

h, I didn imagine her an invalid.

he had a riding accident about two years ago. She is in a chair most of the time. Elizabeth is devoted to her.

lizabeth?

lizabeth Larkham. She is more like a friend really. She a widow. She has a son Garth. He away at school. He comes here for his holidays to be with his mother. You see she like one of the family. Youl meet them all at dinner.

nd your husband?

e will be there, I think.

There was a knock on the door. h, they are bringing your things up. Would you like to wash? Theyl bring hot water. Then perhaps you like to rest a little. We shall be eating in the small dining room. Il take you there when youe ready. Youl lose your way in the castle at first. I did.

My baggage came and with it a maid bringing hot water.

I took out a dress blue one with a tight-fitting bodice and a rather full skirt, one of the made-over ones of which my wardrobe consisted. It was a fairly large wardrobe and the only one which had been made for me was the blue silk chiffon bridesmaid dress.

When I had washed I lay on my bed for a while and thought about the strangeness of everything and how quickly it had all come about. This time last year we had been unaware of the name Mateland. Now here we were joined up with the family.

And all the time I lay there I was wondering what it would be like to see Jessamy husband again. I had only seen him twiceonce when I was doing the flowers in the church and the other occasion was that of the wedding; and yet I could remember every detail of his face, how he had looked at me, wonderingly, intently, as though I had the same effect on him as he had on me.

My longing to see him was almost unbearable and yet at the same time I was aware of warning voices within me.

You shouldn have come, they said.

But of course I must accept Jessamy invitation to her new home. Even Aunt Amy Jane did not disapprove of my doing so.

There was a tap on the door.

re you ready?said Jessamy. ow nice you look.

ecognize it?I asked.

es, but it never looked so well on me.

t would now. You look very pretty. Marriage suits you, Jessamy.

es,she said, think it does.

She slipped her arm through mine.

omorrow I going to take you round and show you the castle.

ou are like the monarch of all you survey.

h no. Not me. Grandfather Egmont is very much the lord of the castle and after him, David. Then Esmond. They are the monarchs. We are on the fringe. Remember, Joel is only a younger son.

believe you love your old castle.

ne does, you know, Anabel. Perhaps you can feel it not being a Mateland, but it there. They have fought for it in the past given their lives for it.

am sure they have. Well, you have become one of them, dear cousin. What a long way it is.

told you it was a very big castle.

look forward to exploring it.

t grisly in parts. Dungeons and so on.

y dear Jessamy, I should have been hideously disappointed if there had been no dungeons.

We had come to a door framed in a pointed stone arch, and I heard voices behind it. Jessamy lifted the latch and walked in. I followed.

It was not a large room. There was a fire in the grate, which gave a welcoming look to the room. I was aware that several people were there and as we entered a man rose and came towards us.

He was not really like Joel, who had haunted my thoughts ever since I had seen him, and yet there was a resemblance, so I knew at once that this was David, the elder brother and heir to the castle. He had dark hair and brilliant dark eyes. He took my hands and held them firmly. elcome to Mateland,he said. knew at once who you were. Miss Anabel Campion. Jessamy has talked of you.

nd you must be

avid Mateland. I have the honor to be brother-in-law to your cousin.

He had slipped his arm through mine. His hands were warm, almost caressing.

ere she is, my dear,he said. essamy cousin Anabel. I suppose we may call you Anabel? Youe part of the family now.

So this was Emerald of the brilliant name. Anyone less like a precious gem I could not imagine. She was pale and her hair was a dusty brown. Her light blue eyes were sunken, and I wondered if she suffered much pain. Her legs were covered in a blue fleecy rug and her thin blue-veined hands lay limply on it.

She smiled at me and her smile was kind.

e are glad to have you at the castle,she said. t will be nice for Jessamy. Elizabeth, my dear, come and meet Anabel.

A tall youngish woman had come into the room. I imagined her to be in her late twenties. She was slender, with sleek dark hair parted down the center and brought to a nob at the nape of her neck. She had large rather sleepy blue eyes and full red lips which somehow did not match the rest of her face. Her nose was rather thin, which gave her a shrewish look. It was an interesting face.

She held out her hand and gripped mine tightly.

e have heard so much of you from Jessamy,she said. he has been determined that you should come here for a long time.

e have always been good friends as well as cousins,I said.

Her eyes were assessing me and I imagined there was a glitter of speculation in the sleepy blue eyes.

here is Joel?asked David. s he coming?

e knew I was coming home today,said Jessamy. am sure he will be here.

should hope so,said David. e has not been a husband long enough to stay away. Let us have a drink while we are waiting. I wonder if Miss Anabel would like to sample our Mate-land cup. It a special brew, I assure you, Miss Anabel.

hank you,I said. l try it.

on drink too much of it, Anabel,warned Jessamy. t very potent.

ou shouldn have warned her,said David. was hoping to see the gates of restraint opened and the real Anabel emerge.

can assure you I myself now,I said. here is no other one to be let out.

He came to stand beside me. I could feel his eyes on me. He made me rather uncomfortable. s that so?he said. felt from the first that you were a very unusual lady.

Elizabeth Larkham brought me a pewter goblet in which was the Mateland cup.

sure youl like it,she said. avid brews it himself. He won let anyone else.

nly I have the magic formula,he said, looking into my eyes.

shall be interested to try it,I said, and put it to my lips.

hang on your words,he said.

t good very good.

hen drink up and have another.

have been warned,I reminded him.

He grimaced and Jessamy came to my side. never drink much of it,she said.

won either.

She smiled at me, a little anxiously. Dear Jessamy, I thought. She deserves everything of the best. A castle, a husband who loves her and whom she loves. And surely everyone must love Jessamy.