Curse of the Kings (3 page)

es, you were in the accident a child of one year or so.

y parents were killed then.

t seems so.

ho were they?

Alison and Dorcas exchanged glances. Dorcas nodded slightly to Alison which meant: Tell her all.

ou were unharmed.

nd my parents killed?

Alison nodded.

ut who were they?

hey they must have been killed outright. No one came forward to say who you were.

hen I might be anybody!I cried.

o,went on Dorcas, s we had lost a sister we adopted you.

hat would have happened to me if you hadn?

omeone else would have done so perhaps.

I looked from one to the other and thought of all the kindness I had had from them and how I had plagued them alking too much and too loudly, bringing mud into the house, breaking their prized crockery; and I ran to them and put my arms about them so that the three of us were in a huddle.

udith! Judith!said Dorcas smiling, and the tearswhich always came rather readily to herlistened in her eyes.

Alison said: ou were a comfort to us. We needed comfort when Lavinia was gone.

ell,I said, t nothing to cry about, is it? Perhaps I the long-lost heiress to a great estate. My parents have been searching high and low for me

Alison and Dorcas were smiling again. I had further food for my flights of fancy. t better than being a distant cousin anyway,I said. ut I do wonder who I was.

t is clear that your parents were killed outright. It was such a violent disaster that we heard many people were unrecognizable. Papa went and identified poor Lavinia. He came back so upset.

hy did you tell me that I came from distant cousins?

e thought it better, Judith. We thought you be happier believing yourself related to us.

oue thinking I was unclaimed unwanted, and that might have upset me and thrown a shadow over my childhood.

here could have been so many explanations. Perhaps you only had your parents and no other relations. We thought that very likely.

n orphan born of two orphans.

hat seems possible.

r perhaps your parents had just come to England.

foreigner. Perhaps I French, or Spanish. I am rather dark. My hair looks quite black by candlelight. My eyes are much lighter though, just ordinary brown. I do look rather like a Spaniard. But then lots of Cornish people do. That because the Spaniards were wrecked along our coasts when we destroyed the Armada.

ell, all ended well. You came to be as our very own and I can never tell you what a joy that has been for us.

don know why youe looking so glum. It rather exciting I think, not to know who you are. Just think what you might discover! I might have a sister or brother somewhere. Or grandparents. Perhaps theyl come and claim me and take me back to Spain. Senorita Judith. It sounds rather good. Mademoiselle Judith de de Something. Just imagine going to see my long-lost family in their wonderful old chateau.

h Judith, you romance about everything,said Dorcas.

glad she taken it like this,added Alison.

hat other way should I take it? I never did like those distant cousins anyway.

o you don feel that you were deserted unwanted unclaimed?

f course not. They didn know that my parents had been killed. Nobody told them and as they were in a foreign country they weren missed. They just thought they had slipped out of their lives. As for the little baby, me, well they often dream of me. wonder what the child is like,they say. he will be fourteen today. Dear little Judith.But I suppose you named me that.

ou were christened by Papa soon after we brought you to the rectory.

ell,I said, t all very exciting. A nice birthday surprise. Look at this. I found it. I think when it cleaned up it will be rather unusual.

hat is it?

e no idea. What would you say, Dorcas? There are scratchings on it. Look.

here did you find it?

n Josiah Polgrey grave. Mr. Pegger was digging it and I had a go, and lo and behold my spade struck this. I shall clean it up and then see what I shall use it for. It a sort of birthday present from Josiah Polgrey.

hat an ideal Ie seen something like this before,continued Alison. think it may have some significance.

hat do you mean, Alison? Significance?

ir Ralph would know.

Dorcas and Alison exchanged looks. Alison said, speaking rather slowly: think, Judith, that you should take it along to Keverall Court and ask if you may show it to Sir Ralph.

hatever for?

ecause he interested in this sort of thing.

hings that are dug up you mean?

ertain things. Of course this may be just nothing but there is something about it. I think it may be very old indeed and you have stumbled on something important.

I was excited. It was true there was talk of digging up Carter Meadow. How interesting if I had been the first to find something!

l take it right away,I said.

should wash first, change your dress and comb your hair.

I smiled at them. I loved them very much; they were so normal. It was my birthday; they had just told me that I had been unclaimed, my parents had been killed and I might be just anybody; I may have stumbled on something important from centuries ago and they were worried about my changing my dress and making myself presentable to see Sir Ralph!

Under the portcullis, into the courtyard, sniffing the stables and touching the mounting block for luck; and then into the great baronial hall. The heavy iron-studded door creaked as I pushed it open. How silent it seemed! I stood there for a second or so looking at the two suits of armor on either side of the wide staircase and the weapons on the walls; on the refectory table were pewter utensils, and there was a great bowl of flowers too.

I wondered what Hadrian and Theodosia were doing and what fun I would have tomorrow when I told them what I had found. I had already magnified it into something priceless. The greatest archaeologists in the world were shaking me by the hand. e are so grateful to you, Judith. We have been digging for years and never have we found anything quite so wonderful as this.

I heard the scraping of a chair behind me. I had not noticed Derwent, the footman, dozing in a chair.

h, it you,he said.

want to see Sir Ralph immediately. It is a matter of the utmost importance.

He looked at me superciliously. ow, Miss. This is another of your tricks, I know.

t no trick. I have found something which is of great value. My auntsI called Dorcas and Alison aunts; it simplified the relationshipsaid I was to bring it to Sir Ralph without delay and woe betide anyone who tries to keep this from him.

I hugged the piece of metal against me and faced him squarely.

e taking tea with her ladyship.

o and tell him I am here,I said imperiously.

Because there had been some talk about Carter Meadow, and Sir Ralph interest in what could be dug out of the earth was well known, I eventually prevailed on Derwent to go and tell Sir Ralph that I had found something which my aunts thought might be of interest. Consequently within five minutes I was in the library, that fascinating room full of Sir Ralph collection of exotic pieces.

I laid the metal on the table, and from that moment I knew that I had made an impression.

ood God,said Sir Ralph; he used oaths of which, I reflected, Dorcas, Alison, and the Reverend James would not have approved, here did you find this?

I told him that it was in Josiah Polgrey grave.

His bushy eyebrows were lifted. hat were you doing there?

elping to dig it.

He had two kinds of laughterne a wild sort of roar and the other inward when his chin shook and I think that was when he was most amused. He was amused in that way now and pleased. He spoke jerkily always as though he were in too much of a hurry to complete his sentences.

,he said. raveyard, eh?

es. It important, isn it?

ronze,he said. ooks prehistoric to me.

hat very interesting I believe.

ood girl!he said. f you find anything more, bring it to me.

He nodded in a way which I realized meant dismissal, but I had no intention of being dismissed like that.

I said: ou want me to leave you my er bronze?

He narrowed his eyes and his jaw wagged slightly. ours!he bellowed. t not yours.

found it.

indingseepings, eh? No, not with this sort of thing, my girl. This belongs to the nation.

hat very strange.

umber of things youl find strange before youe much older.

s it of interest to archaeologists?

hat do you know of archaeologists?

know they dig and find things. They find all sorts of wonderful things. Roman baths and lovely tiles and things like that.

ou don fancy yourself as an archaeologist because you found this, do you?

t doing the same as they do.

nd that what you like to do, is it?

es, I would. I know I be good at it. I find wonderful things that people didn know were there in the earth.

He laughed thenhe wild roar. ou fancy archaeologists are constantly finding jewels and Roman villas. Youe got a lot to learn. Greater part of the time is spent digging looking for tilings of little valuehings like thishe sort of things that have been found times out of number. That what the majority of them do.

wouldn,I said confidently. find beautiful things, significant things.

He laid a hand on my shoulder and led me to the door.

ou like to know what this is youe found, wouldn

es. After all I found it.

l let you know when I get the verdict on it. And meanwhile, if you find anything else, youl know what to do with it, won you?

ring it to you, Sir Ralph.

He nodded and shut the door on me. I went slowly down through the hall and out into the courtyard. I had lost my piece of bronze but it was pleasant to remind myself that I had contributed to the knowledge of the world.

Although my find was identified as part of a shield, possibly of the Bronze Age, and it appeared that many of its kind had been found before, it brought about several changes which were important.

In the first place it sent up my prestige in the schoolroom. When I arrived for lessons both Hadrian and Theodosia were far more respectful than they had been before. I had always thought Theodosia rather a silly little thingalthough she was about a year older than Ind Hadrian was slightly older still. They were both fair, Theodosia rather fragile looking with innocent blue eyes and a chin that receded a little. I was taller than she and, in reality, almost as tall as Hadrian. I never felt the difference in our ages, and in spite of the fact that they lived in this mansion and I came from the rectory I was a kind of leader and was constantly telling them what they ought to do.

They had been informed by their father that I had found something of some importance and had had the good sense to bring it along to him. He would like to see them show as much interest as I had.

I spent the morning on and off explaining how I had dug Josiah Polgrey grave and how I had found the object, and I drove poor Miss Graham to despair. I drew the object for them. It had become enormous in my mind; it shone like gold. It had belonged to some king, who had buried it in the earth so that I should find it.

I whispered to them that we should all get spades and dig in Carter Meadow because that was where they thought there was a lot of treasure. That afternoon we found spades in the gardenerssheds and set to work. We were discovered and reprimanded; but the result was that Sir Ralph decided that we might learn something about archaeology and ordered the long-suffering Miss Graham to give us lessons. Poor Miss Graham was obliged to read up on the subject and she did her best in a difficult situation. I was fascinatedar more than the others. Sir Ralph discovered this and his interest in me, which began when I discovered the bronze shield, seemed to grow.

Then Sir Edward Travers and his family came to the old Dower House. The Traverses were already friends of the Bodreans; they had visited Keverall Court many times and Sir Edward was behind the plans for Carter Meadow. My find had increased that interest and was probably the reason why, since he was looking for a country house, Sir Edward decided on the Dower House.

Sir Edward was connected with Oxford University in some way but was constantly engaged on expeditions. His name was often in the papers and he was very well known in academic circles, but Sir Edward needed a country residence where he could be quiet to compile his finds and set it all out in book form after he returned from one of his trips, usually in far-off places.

There was a great deal of excitement when we heard they were coming. Hadrian told me that his uncle was delighted and that now nothing could stop them digging up Carter Meadowarson or no parson.

I was sure he was right for the poor Reverend James was not the man to go into battle. His objections were entirely due to the prodding of his more forceful parishioners. All he wanted was to be able to lead a quiet life and the chief duty of Dorcas and Alison was to keep from him anything that might disturb him. I believe he was delighted by the coming of Sir Edward, for even the most militant of his flock would not dare raise issue with such an important gentleman.

So the Traverses arrived and the Dower House became Giza House.

amed after the Pyramids, I believe,said Dorcas, and we confirmed this by looking it up in the encyclopedia.

The dark old Dower House with the overgrown garden which had stood empty for so long was now inhabited. I could no longer so easily scare Theodosia with stories that it was haunted and dare her and Hadrian to run up the path and look through the windows. It lost none of its strangeness though. nce a house is haunted,I told the nervous Theodosia, t haunted forever.

And sure enough it was not long before we began to hear strange rumors of the house which was full of treasures from all over the world. Some of them were very odd indeed, so that the servants didn feel at home with them; and because of these strange things the place was reepy.If it had not been for the fact that Sir Edward was such an important man whose name was often in the papers, they would not have stayed there.