Gates of Dawn (5 page)

“
Yes,
”
the maid admitted,
“
but she
’
ll be down soon.
”
She sounded dour, and she looked dour as she eyed Melanie up and down, reserving to herself the right to form an opinion of what she saw.
“
Will you be staying to tea, Master Richard?
”
— the
“
Master Richard
”
made Melanie smile inwardly, until she reflected that the woman had probably known her present employer when he was much younger than she was herself—
“
The young lady is up in her room, and she wouldn
’
t take any lunch because she fancies herself to be ailing. Or maybe she hasn
’
t got any appetite. She
’
s as thin as two sticks, and what they did to her at that school she went to I don
’
t know.
”

“
That
’
s what Miss Brooks is here to find out,
”
Richard retorted cheerfully, but declined to remain and partake of any tea.
“
I
’
ll ring through some time tomorrow and get you to come along to my flat, and we
’
ll discuss this question of Noel and what
’
s to be done with her as exhaustively as the time I can spare will permit,
”
he told Melanie, and then paused as the sound of a stick tapping decisively along the hall reaching their ears.

Great-Aunt Amelia appeared iii the drawing-room door before he could make his escape. He looked at her with a faintly rueful expression on his face, and she studied him severely. Contrary to the picture Melan
i
e had formed of her in her mind she was tall and exceedingly upright, and undoubtedly still quite vigorous. She leaned heavily on her slender ebony cane, and a fine lace shawl of incredible delicacy and beauty was draped about her shoulders, but her eyes were as keen as a hawk
’
s, and her white hair not only plentiful but handsomely arranged.

“
Bring tea,
”
she said tersely, to the maid, and then waited for Melanie to be presented to her.

CHAPTER
FIVE

AFTERWARDS Melanie looked back upon that strange little tea-party with a certain amount of amusement, for it was immediately obvious to her that Richard Trenchard knew when he was cornered, and how futile it would have been to have persisted in his attempt to escape. But while she was being subjected to the eagle inspection of those old but amazingly bright eyes, and Richard was trying not to look revolted by the straw-colored beverage which was handed out to him, and the fingers of wafer-thin toast, the situation was without humor of any kind.

Great-Aunt Amelia never relaxed, and she sat in her straight-backed Victorian chair as if she had been doing penance on the back-board. She manipulated the heavy silver teapot herself; it was rock-firm in her hands, and so was her loud, hoarse voice when she spoke.

“
This young woman
’
s had a long journey, so she
’
d better get upstairs to her room,
”
she said, when tea was half over.
“
You, Richard, can stay and talk with me for a while. I want to hear what plans you have formed for Andrew
’
s child.
”

“
As a matter of fact, Aunt, I
’
ve a dinner engagement tonight, and a business interview before that, so if you
’
ll forgive me I
’
ll really have to leave you,
”
Richard excused himself with as much smoothness as he could muster.
“
I
’
ve told Miss Brooks that I
’
ll see her tomorrow, and we
’
ll discuss Noel then. In the meantime I thought that you two might like to have a talk.
”

“
We will,
”
his aunt assured him emphatically,
“
as soon as Miss Brooks has got over her journey. I want to hear her views when she
’
s seen Noel—ridiculous name for a girl, anyway! And you can postpone your business arrangement, or put off your dinner engagement—I don
’
t care which!—and listen to me while I feel like talking. Tomorrow I may be in no mood for it at all!
”
She depressed the bell at her elbow almost fiercely, and when the maid came ordered her to take Melanie up to her room.
“
And see that she
’
s got a good fire, Fawkes, and that it
’
s kept going well. This weather
’
s
enough
to fill anyone with rheumatism, and she looks as if a puff of wind would blow her over. But maybe her looks are deceptive. I wasn
’
t much of a strapper myself when I was her age.
”

Richard Trenchard looked at
Melanie
with a rather comical lift of his dark eyebrows when he said good-bye, and there was an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes.

“
Don
’
t let my aunt terrify you altogether, will you, Miss Brooks?
”
he begged.
“
She
’
s not really as fierce as she sounds, but strangers usually find her, alarming. Au revoir until tomorrow! And tell Noel to behave herself!
”

Upstairs on a crimson-carpeted landing Melanie found herself waiting while Fawkes flung open the door of her room. Instantly a bright glow of firelight met her, dancing in the garland-wreathed, highly polished posts of a four-poster bed. There were curtains of rosebud chintz which, she presumed, could be drawn together, if so she wished, once she was in bed, and she inspected them with interest.

“
Where is Miss Noel
’
s room?
”
she asked, before the maid departed, having promised to turn on the bathroom taps for a hot bath for her.

“
In here,
”
Fawkes answered, and tapped on the door of an adjoining room, which had once formed a dressing
-
room to the room she occupied.

A muffled, and definitely sullen voice called out to know what was wanted, and Fawkes looked back at Melanie, plainly asking by her look whether she wished, at this stage, to meet her new charge.

Melanie nodded her head.

“
Yes; I want to see her.
”

When she stood in the room next door she was at first rather appalled because there was no heating except for a diminutive electric fire, which, by the chill of the room, had not been switched on for some time. It was not a very large room, either, and the bed was in a corner, and the tumbled bed-clothes made it look definitely unattractive. The girl in the bed, with an old red ripple-cloth dressing-gown held round her shoulders, looked tiny, and pale, and rather wild-eyed.

“
What do you want?
”
she demanded, glaring at Melanie.

Melanie approached her soothingly, and sat down on the side of the bed. She smiled in a way she reserved for small dumb animals, very young children and the under-privileged. Her brown, soft gold-flecked eyes were miracles of gentleness and she endeavored to straighten the disordered sheets.

“
What a mess you
’
re in!
”
she exclaimed.
“
And this bed doesn
’
t look at all comfortable! You
’
d better come through to my room and sit by the fire while I give the mattress a turn and see what I can do to make it more comfy.
”
She touched the thin hands clutching at the bedclothes.
“
Why, you
’
re half frozen! Why haven
’
t you got the fire on in here?
”

“
The fuse has blown, and I wouldn
’
t ask them to mend it,
”
came the reply, in the husky cracked whisper of the victim of a head cold.
“
And, anyway, I didn
’
t want them in here—I
’
d rather be alone!
”

“
But, why?
”
Melanie asked in gentle amazement
.

“
Because I don
’
t like any of them—particularly the old woman! I think she
’
s detestable.
”

“
And yet I thought she was rather nice.
”
Melanie informed her truthfully, for somehow the austerity of Great-Aunt Amelia had done nothing to frighten her. If she had been Noel she would have disliked very much to be entrusted to the care of Mrs. Duplessis—but not Great-Aunt Amelia!

“
Look here, my
c
hild,
”
she said,
“
I don
’
t think you
’
re at all feverish, but you sound as if you could do with some aspirin and a good hot drink, and while it
’
s being got ready for you you can sit by my fire and get thoroughly warmed up. I
’
m going to transform this room, too, It
’
s the most cheerless place I
’
ve seen.
”

Noel
’
s eyes were large and blue as cornflowers, and they regarded Melanie with a certain amount of wonder as she placed ready slippers for her to step into. She had a cloud of pure golden hair which covered her like a mantle, and made
Melanie
think of the princess in the fairy tale who was always pictured with her mane of just such tresses drifting wildly about her. In a few years, thought Melan
i
e, eyeing the faint, excited pink which was creeping up under her clear skin, Miss Noel Trenchard was going to be a howling beauty—if she was thoroughly fit!

Fawkes, who was hovering, none too pleased, in the background, came forward willingly enough, however, to assist Melan
i
e to re-make the bed. Between them they mended the fuse and got the electric fire going, and Melanie insisted upon a hot water bottle being placed in the bed, and looked out a clean nightdress for Noel because the one she was at present wearing was definitely grubby.

She was shocked by the scanty wardrobe the child possessed, and which two drawers of the unimposing chest-of-drawers were more than sufficient to accommodate. And there seemed to be little or nothing hanging up in the bedroom cupboard, apart from a school uniform. She wondered whether Richard Trenchard knew anything at all about the needs of his niece and ward.

As Great-Aunt Amelia went early to bed,
Melanie
had her own dinner served on a tray before her fire, and Noel sat watching her while she consumed it, herself replete after a bowl of bread and milk and a large plate of biscuits. There was no doubt about it, she had been half-starved, and Melanie thought she looked ten times prettier when she was fed and warmed. But Melanie would not let her stay up and talk as she apparently wished to do, now that the barrier of shyness and mistrust was down, and promised to listen to all her complaints on the morrow, when her cold, she felt, would be much better.

But as she tucked Noel up in bed, and saw her settle down drowsily and fairly happily, she thought:
“
What if I hadn
’
t come today, after all?
...
Would Noel have been left alone as she was when I found her
...
?
”

In the morning Great-Aunt Amelia sent for Melanie to attend her in her room, because she wished, as she explained, to talk to her.

Great-Aunt Amelia was up and dressed, and sitting in an uncomfortable-looking bedside chair, and she fixed Melanie with her shrewd, far-seeing eyes.

“
You
’
re not as young as you seem,
”
she observed, when the morning greetings were passed,
“
and you
’
ve got a great deal of sense in that small head of yours. I suspected it as soon as I laid eyes on you, and from what Fawkes tells me about your method of dealing with that unhappy child Noel you look like proving something of a godsend to her—if you
’
ll stay with her long enough! No wonder Richard made up his mind that Eve would have to do without you.
”