The Mask of the Enchantress (7 page)

othing is going to take us away from each other,she said at last.

My father went away for what seemed like a long time. Each day we would watch for the return of the ship which would bring him. Anabel grew sad, I knew, though she tried not to let me see it. We went on living as we had when the three of us were together; but I could see she was different. She was always looking across the sea.

Then one day he came back.

He was very pleased. He held her tightly in his arms and then he picked me up, still holding her with one arm.

He said: ee going away. Ie found the place. Youl like it. We can settle there miles out in the ocean. Youl feel safe there, Anabel.

afe,she repeated. es that what I want to feel safe. Where is it?

here is a map?

We pored over the map. Australia was like a circle of dough which had been kneaded slightly out of shape. New Zealand was two dogs fighting each other. And there right out in the blue ocean were several little black dots.

My father was pointing to one of these.

deal,he was saying. solated except for a group of the same islands. This is the largest. Little goes on there. The people are inclined to be friendly easygoing just what you would expect. There has been some cultivation of the coconut, but little now. There are palms all over the place. I called it Palmtree Island but it is already named Vulcan. They are in need of a doctor there. There is none on the island no school nothing It is the place where one can lose oneself a place to develop a place to offer something to. Oh, Anabel, I like it. You will too.

nd Suewellyn?

e thought of Suewellyn. You can teach her for a few years and then she can go to school in Sydney. Wee not all that far. A ship calls once now and then to collect the copra. It the place, Anabel. I knew it as soon as I saw it.

hat shall we need?she asked.

ots and lots of things. We have a month or so. The ship calls every two months. I want us to be on the next one that goes. In the meantime we are going to be busy.

We were busy. We bought all kinds of thingsurniture, clothes, stores of all sorts.

y father must be a very rich man,I said. unt Amelia said she always looked twice before she spent a farthing.Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves was one of her favorite sayings. Waste not, want not was another. Every crust of bread had to be made into a bread and butter pudding, and I was often in trouble for feeding the birds in winter.

My father talked a great deal about the island. Palms grew in abundance, but there were other trees as well as breadfruit, bananas, oranges and lemons.

There was a house there which had been built for the man who had made a thriving industry out of the cultivation of coconuts. My father had taken over the house at a bargain price.

All our baggage was put on board the ship and we set sail. I don remember what time of year it was. One forgot because there were no seasons as I had known them. It was always summer.

What I shall never forget is my first glimpse of Vulcan Island. I immediately noticed the enormous peak which seemed to rise up out of the sea and was visible long before we reached the island.

t has a strange name, that island,said my father. t is called something which when translated means the Grumbling Giant.

We were standing on deck, the three of us hand in hand, watching for the first glimpse of our new home. And there it was great peak rising out of the sea.

hy does it grumble?I asked eagerly.

t always grumbled. Sometimes when it gets really angry it sends out a few stones and boulders. They are boiling hot.

s it really a giant?I asked. have never seen one.

ell, you are going to make the acquaintance of the Grumbling Giant, but it not a real giant,answered my father. afraid it is only a mountain. It dominates the island. The native name is Grumbling Giant Island but some travelers came by long ago and called it Vulcan. So on the maps it has become that.

We remained there looking and in due course the land seemed to form itself about the great mountain and there were yellow sands and waving palms everywhere.

t like a paradise,said Anabel.

e are going to make it that,answered my father.

We could not go right in to the island and had to anchor quite a mile out. There was a tremendous bustle of activity on the shore. Brown-skinned people paddled out in light slim craft which I afterwards learned were called canoes. They were shouting and gesticulating and mostly laughing.

Our possessions were loaded into some of the ship lifeboats and they and the canoes brought them ashore.

When the goods had all gone, we were taken.

Then the little boats were drawn up and the big ship set sail, leaving us in our new home on Vulcan Island.

There was so much to do, so much to see. I could not entirely believe it was all happening. It seemed like something out of an adventure story.

Anabel was aware of my bewilderment.

She said: ne day you will understand.

ell me now,I begged.

She shook her head. ou would not understand now. I want to leave it until you are older. I am going to start writing it down now so that you can read it when you are older and understand. Oh, Suewellyn, I do want you to understand. I don want you ever to blame us. We love you. You are our very own child and, because of the way it happened, it only makes us love you more.

She could see that I was very puzzled. She kissed me and, holding me close to her, went on: going to tell you all about it. Why youe here why wee all here how it came about. There was nothing else we could do. You must not blame your father nor me. We are not like Amelia and William.She gave a little laugh. hey live safely. That the word I was looking for. We don. It not in our nature to. I have a feeling that you might be as we are.Then she laughed again. ell, that the way wee made. And yet Suewellyn, wee going to settle here wee going to like it. Wee going to remember all the time if we feel homesick that wee together and this is the only way we can stay together.

I put my arms round her neck. I was overwhelmed by my love for her.

ee never, never going to leave each other, are we?I asked fearfully.

ever,she said vehemently. nly death can part us. But who wants to talk about death? Here is life. Don you feel it, Suewellyn? It teeming with life here. You only have to lift a stone and there it is.She grimaced. ind you, I could do without the ants and termites and suchlike. But there life here and it our life the three of us together. Be patient, my dearest child. Be happy. Let live for each day as it comes along. Can you do that?

I nodded vigorously, and we walked together through the palm trees to where the warm tropical water rippled onto the sandy beach.

Anabel Story

Jessamy had played a big part in my life. She had always been there. She was rich, petted and the only child of doting parents. I never envied her her pretty clothes and her jewelry. I am not, I believe, envious by nature. It is one of my virtues, and as I have few others it is advisable to record it. In any case I always believed I had so much more than she did.

It was true I did not live in a mansion surrounded by servants. I did not have several ponies which I could ride as the fancy took me. I lived in a rambling vicarage with my widowed father y mother had died giving birth to mend we had two servants only, Janet and Amelia. Neither of them exactly doted on me, but I think Janet was fond of me in her way, though she would never admit it. They were both quick and eager to tell me of my faults. But I was happier, I think, yes, a great deal happier than Jessamy.

The fact was that Jessamy was decidedly what kind people call omelyand those uncomfortable people like Janet, who could never tell a lie however much it might save someone feelings being hurt, called downright plain.

ever mind,Janet used to say. er father will buy a nice husband for her. You, Miss Anabel, will have to find your own.

Janet pursed her lips when she said this as though she was certain that my hopes of finding one were very frail. Dear Janet, she was the best soul in the world but she was obsessed by her own unshakable veracity from which she would never diverge.

t a good thing youe not brought up before the Inquisition, Janet,I said to her once. ou still stick out for the silliest little truth in face of the stake.

ow what are you talking about, Miss Anabel?she replied. never knew anyone who took such flights of fancy. And, mark my words, youl come a cropper one of these days.

She had seen that prophecy come true; but that was later.

So there I was in my vicarage home with my absent-minded father, down-to-earth honest Janet and Amelia, who was every bit as virtuous as Janet and even more aware of it.

Some people might wonder how I could enjoy life thoroughly but I did. There was so much to do. There was interest all around me. I helped my father quite a bit. I even wrote a sermon for him once and he was halfway through it before he realized it was not the kind of sermon his parishioners wanted to hear. It was all about what constituted a good person and I had unwittingly illustrated my meaning by describing some of the failings of the people who were sitting in the pews listening. Fortunately Father changed to one he kept in a drawer about God gifts to the land, which was really one for the harvest festival, but as he changed over before my revolutionary words had aroused the congregation from its usual slumber, no one noticed.

I was not allowed to write sermons after that. It was a pity. I should have liked to.

I remember Sundays well. The Seton family were always there in the family pew right in the front under the lectern. They were the big family who lived in the manor and it was to them my father owed his living. They were related to us. Lady Seton was my aunt, for she and my mother had been sisters. Amy Jane had married ellwhen she took Sir Timothy Seton, for he was a rich man owning a great deal of land and, I believe, had many possessions as well. It was a very satisfactory match apart from one thing. They had no son to carry on the illustrious Seton name and their hopes rested on their only daughter, Jessamy. Jessamy was constantly indulged, but oddly enough that did not spoil her. She was a rather timid child and I always got the better of her when we were alone. Of course when we were not and there were adults present, they always saw fair play, which meant putting Jessamy in the ascendant.

When we were young and before Jessamy had a governess, she came to the vicarage for lessons because then my father had a curate who used to teach us.

Let me start at the beginning though. There were two sisters-Amy Jane and Susan Ellen. They were the daughters of a parson and when they grew up the younger of the two, Susan Ellen, fell in love with the curate who came to assist her father. He was poor and not in a position to marry but Susan Ellen had never been one to consider the practical side of life. Acting against the advice of her father, the entire village community and her forceful sister, she eloped with the curate. They were very poor because he had no living and they opened a little school and taught in it for a while. Meanwhile Amy Jane, the wise virgin, had made the acquaintance of the wealthy Sir Timothy Seton. He was a widower with no children and he desperately wanted them. Amy Jane was a good-looking, very capable young lady. Why should they not marry? He needed a mistress for his house and children for his nurseries. Amy Jane seemed well equipped to provide them both.

Amy Jane believed she was a suitable wife for him and, what was more important, that he would be the right husband for her. Riches, standing, securityhey were three very desirable goals in Amy Jane eyes. And after the disastrous marriage of her sister there must be someone to reinstate the family fortunes.

So Amy Jane married and in her forceful way set about performing the tasks she had undertaken. In a short while Sir Timothy household was managed with the utmost skill, to his delight and to slightly less of that of the domestics, for those whom Amy Jane considered not worth their salt were dismissed, and the rest, realizing their fate lay in their ability to please Amy Jane, proceeded to do just that.

It was not long before a living was found for the curate and his reckless bride; and they were to live right under the shadow of Seton Manor.

Amy Jane then set about the next project, which was to fill the nurseries at Seton Manor.

In this she was less successful. She had one miscarriage, which she believed to be an oversight on the part of the Almighty as she had prayed, and set the whole village praying, for a son. But she was almost immediately pregnant and this time that pregnancy was brought to a conclusion and, although it might not be entirely satisfactory, it was at least a start.

Sir Timothy was delighted with the puling infant who, Nurse Abbott declared, had needed an extra smart slap on the posterior to start its breathing. he next will be a boy,stated Amy Jane, in a voice before which Heaven itself would have quailed. Opposition came from the doctor; Amy Jane would risk her life by trying again. Let her rest content with her girl. The child was responding to treatment and was going to survive. on risk it again,said the doctor. could not answer for the consequences.And as neither Amy Jane nor Sir Timothy wished to face such a disaster, there were no more children; and Jessamy, after clinging to life somewhat precariously for a few weeks, suddenly began to clamor for food and to kick and cry the same as other children.

A few months after the birth of Jessamy, life and death came to the vicarage hand in hand. Amy Jane was shocked. My mother had always been a great disappointment to her. Not only had she made a disastrous marriage, but just when her capable sister was putting her on her feet in a very pleasant living which Sir Timothy had secured with some effort, for there were others who were in fact more deserving than my father, she had given birth to a child and died doing it. A small baby in a vicarage with a man who was more than usually helpless was inconvenient to say the least, but a woman of Amy Jane caliber was not to be deterred. She found Janet and installed her. Henceforth I was cared for, and Amy Jane, as my mother closest relative, would of course keep an eye on me.