The Black Opal (6 page)

“Yes, my love. Of course, my love.”

“My love’ seemed incongruous. How could Mrs. Marline be anyone’s ‘love’?

The poor doctor was looking gaunt and haggard. 1 understood very well then why it was necessary for Dr. Everest to look after her.

It was a very unhappy household. I was one of the more fortunate ones, because I could keep out of her way.

When Uncle Toby came life brightened. Even Mrs. Marline seemed a little happier, for she was clearly pleased to see him. He sat with her, talking to her and making her smile now and then.

I had a long talk with him. It was in the garden.

“Nice to get out of the house,” he said.

“Poor old doc. Things not too bright for him. And you have to be sorry for Grace. She’s always wanted her own way. She ought to have married someone more like herself, someone who could put a curb on her. Doc’s all for a comfortable life.” He raised his eyes to the sky.

“And he married Grace! Some people do have bad luck. Their own fault, I suppose.

“Not in our stars but in ourselves,” and all that. And what about you, little Carmel? How does all this affect you? “

“She doesn’t take much notice of me … she never did … so I’m lucky.”

“Ah, there’s good in everything, eh? You’re growing up now. How old is it? Eight?”

“Eight in March,” I told him.

He patted my hand.

“Not much fun, is it? I wish it could be better.”

“It’s nice when you come.”

He put his arm round me and held me tightly.

“One day,” he went on, ‘perhaps I’ll take you to sea with me. We’ll sail round the world. How would you like that? “

I clasped my hands together in ecstasy. There was no need for words.

“We’ll sit on the deck in the moonlight,” he said, ‘and we’ll look up at the Southern Cross. “

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s the stars you see on the other side of the world. On hot days we’ll watch for the whales and we’ll see the dolphins jumping out of the sea. We’ll watch the flying fishes skimming across the water ..

”

“And mermaids?” I asked.

“Who knows? We might even produce one of those for you.”

“They sing songs and lure sailors to destruction.”

“We won’t be lured. We’ll go on sailing.”

“When?” I asked.

“One day … perhaps.”

“I’ll pray every night.”

“You do. I believe those up there occasionally answer prayers.”

I thought about those words for a long time afterwards, and I dreamed of the day when Uncle Toby would keep his promise and take me away with him.

Uncle Toby left soon after that and uneasiness settled on the house.

Dr. Marline looked lost and exhausted. Nanny Gilroy and Mrs. Barton had long conversations in the kitchen with the district nurse.

I overheard some of them.

“Nothing pleases Madam,” complained Nanny Gilroy.

“She’s in pain,” said Annie Logan.

“Not all the time … but it’s there, threatening. That’s why she’s got those rather strong pills, for when it’s specially bad. Morphine in them.

It helps her. She wouldn’t be as well as she is without them. “

“She was bad enough before,” said Mrs. Barton.

“Nothing pleased her then, but it’s ten times worse now. There’s no pleasing her.”

The weeks began to pass. My eighth birthday came. It was set on the first of March, though nobody knew the exact day. Tom Yardley had found me on the sixteenth, and they reckoned I was a few weeks old at that time, so the first seemed about right. Everyone else had a birthday, so mine was set for that date. Uncle Toby had given orders that I was to have a fine dress. Sally had bought the material and had given Mrs. Grey, the local seamstress, one of my old dresses to copy for size. It was the finest dress Mrs. Grey had ever made and I was not to see it until the morning of the first. Sally had given me a book of children’s rhymes which I had seen in the bookshop and coveted:

Estella’s gift was a blue sash which she no longer liked, and Adeline’s a bar of chocolate. No one else remembered it, but I did not care because I had my wonderful dress.

Then there occurred that event which was to shape the future for us all at Commonwood House. Mrs. Harley, the vicar’s wife, had a slight stroke and Miss Harley was unable to continue teaching us because she had to look after her mother. Estella was now ten years old and a new governess had to be engaged.

Uncle Toby would expect me to be educated with her and so I should share the new governess.

1 often wondered what would have happened to me with out Uncle Toby. I knew it was solely due to his champion ship that 1 was allowed to partake of the crumbs which fell from the table of the rich.

As a consequence, the governess was engaged to teach us, and so Miss Kitty Carson came to Commonwood House.

When we heard that we were to have a governess, Estella and I shared mixed feelings. There was excitement and apprehension. We discussed her constantly between the time of her appointment and her arrival at Commonwood House.

What would she be like? She would be old and ugly, declared Estella.

She would have hairs on her chin like old Mrs. Cram in the village who, some people said, was a witch.

“She can’t be very old,” I protested.

“If she were, she’d be too old to teach.”

“She’ll give us hard sums and make us sit at the table until we finish them.”

“She might be all right.”

“Governesses never are. Nanny says they’re neither one thing nor the other. They don’t belong anywhere. Think they’re above the servants and they are not good enough for the others. They give themselves airs downstairs and crawl to the family. I’m going to hate her anyway. I shall be so horrid to her that she’ll go away.”

“You might wait and see what she’s like first.”

“I know,” said Estella. She had made up her mind.

On the day of the governess’s arrival, we were at an upstairs window, watching as the station fly brought her to the house. We gazed intently as she stepped out and made her way to the gate and up the path with Tom Fellows, who drove the fly, carrying her bags.

She was tall and slender. I noticed with relief that she was not in the least like old Mrs. Cram. In fact, she looked very pleasant-not exactly handsome, but with such a gentle and attractive expression that I thought she would be easy to get on with. She might have been in her late twenties. In fact, just what I thought a governess ought to be.

As soon as she entered the house, Estella and I left the window and crept to the top of the stairs. We saw that she was taken into Mrs. Marline’s room. The door was shut,

so we could not hear what was said. Then Mrs. Marline’s bell rang and Nanny, who was hovering, went into the room.

She came out with the governess. Nanny was rather tight-lipped. She did not like the idea of a governess in the house. She might have felt she threatened her authority in some way, and I knew that she was preparing to find fault with Miss Kitty Carson.

We dodged back as they came upstairs and we hid in one of the rooms, leaving the door slightly open, so that we could hear.

“It’s this way,” said Nanny coldly; and then suddenly Dr. Marline appeared.

I peeped round the door and saw them as they were just passing.

The doctor smiled very pleasantly and said: “You must be Miss Carson?”

“Yes,” said the governess.

“Welcome to Commonwood House.”

“Thank you.”

“I hope you will be happy here. You haven’t met the girls yet, I suppose?”

“No,” she said.

“Nanny will send for them,” he told her.

Suppressing our giggles, Estella and I remained very quiet until they had passed on to the room which had been prepared for Miss Carson on the second floor. Then we came into the corridor and walked sedately up the stairs.

“Oh, here they are,” said Nanny Gilroy.

“And Adeline?” said the doctor.

“She will be in her room,” replied Nanny.

“Carmel, run up and bring her down.”

“But first. Miss Carson,” put in the doctor, ‘here are your two pupils, Estella and Carmel. “

She had a lovely smile which lighted her face into some thing like beauty.

“Hello,” she said easily.

“I do hope we shall get on well together. I feel sure we shall.” Her eyes rested on me. Estella might have been scowling slightly. I had taken an immediate liking to Miss Carson and I felt sure she had to me.

I went off to get Adeline. She was in her room, looking rather bewildered and frightened. I guessed she had heard Estella giving her version of what the new governess would be like.

I said: “You are to come and meet Miss Carson, Adeline. I think she is very nice. There is nothing frightening about her. I feel sure you are going to like her.”

Adeline was easily influenced one way or another. She brightened and looked relieved.

I was so pleased by the way in which Miss Carson greeted Adeline. She had obviously heard of her disabilities. She took both her hands and smiled warmly.

“I am sure you and I are going to get along very well, Adeline,” she said.

Adeline nodded cheerfully, and I noticed how pleased the doctor was looking.

“Well, we’ll leave you to unpack. Miss Carson,” said Nanny briskly.

“Then, as the doctor says, the girls can show you the schoolroom.”

“Say in half an hour?” said Miss Carson.

“Yes, they can come to you then. Would, you like a cup of tea? I will get Mrs. Barton to send one up to your room.”

“That would be very welcome, thank you,” said Miss Carson, and we left her then.

“I think she’s all right,” I said.

Estella’s eyes narrowed.

“There are such things as wolves in sheep’s clothing,” she said.

“She’s not a wolf,” cried Adeline.

“I like her.”

Estella put on a look of worldly impatience.

“It means she might not be what she seems,” she said darkly.

Estella was determined to resent her. She had not wanted a governess.

She would have liked to go away to school, where girls could have lots of fun. They slept in dormitories and had midnight feasts, and here we were with a silly old governess.

Adeline and I felt differently. Miss Carson knew exactly how to treat Adeline: she was very patient with her and instead of dreading lessons, Adeline looked forward to them. She was developing a slavish devotion to Miss Carson:

she constantly contrived to be where the governess was, and when we went for walks, she insisted on holding Miss Carson’s hand and was happiest when she was near her.

Moreover, Miss Carson was high on my list of favourite people. She was warm-hearted and showed a particular kindness to those who most needed it. Adeline had quite blossomed since her arrival.

I knew the doctor was aware of this and it made him very happy. He now made a habit of coming in to listen to lessons and took far more interest in them than he had when Miss Harley was in control.

On one occasion, when I was in the garden. Miss Carson was there too and we sat together and talked. Miss Carson always seemed so interested in other people that it was easy to talk to her. I was able to explain how I had never felt like a member of the family except when Uncle Toby was there and the reason why was that I did not really belong. I explained how Tom Yardley had found me under the azalea bush.

“You see,” I said, ‘my mother didn’t want me, so she left me there.

Most mothers love their babies. “

“I am sure your mother loved you,” she said.

“I think she probably left you there because she loved you so much and wanted you to have a better life than she could give you. In Commonwood House, there would be people to look after you, to feed you well, to care for you. And there was a doctor in the house too.”

I was surprised that my mother should have left me because she loved me. It was an idea which hadn’t occurred to me before.

“But I always felt they didn’t really want me,” I explained.

“Nanny thought I should have been sent to an orphanage or the workhouse. They might have sent me there, but for the doctor.”

“The doctor is a very good and understanding man.”

“Nanny thought I should go.”

“But the doctor kept you, so it is not important what Nanny thinks.

The point is that he wanted you to stay. “

“Sally told me all about it. She remembers it well. She had just come at that time. She said she was afraid they would send me away, for the doctor didn’t have much say in what was to be done. Mrs. Marline didn’t want me either, and she is the one who counts.”

“Well, the doctor had his way. He wanted you and that was what mattered. Your mother made a great sacrifice because she wanted the best for you, and you must not feel inferior in any way. You are going to show them all that you may have been found under that azalea bush, but you can do as well as any of them.”

“I will, I will,” I said. And I felt as I did when Uncle Toby was there.

And, like Adeline, I loved her.

Nanny did not like the governess, of course. She was prejudiced against her from the start. She did not like governesses in households interfering with the children, and she was not going to change her mind. They gave themselves airs; they had too high an opinion of them selves; they thought themselves ‘a cut above’ the servants. So even the gentle-mannered Miss Carson could do nothing right for her.

And, of course, Mrs. Barton was her staunch ally in this. Governesses were a nuisance. They had to have meals sent up to their rooms.

Couldn’t eat with the servants, and, of course, they were not acceptable in the family. In any case, what was the family now, with Her in her room, demanding this and that, and Him sitting there alone and not a man to take much notice of what was put before him, in any case. It was a funny set-up, if you asked Mrs. Barton and not helped by having a governess in the house.

Then there was always the overpowering presence of Mrs. Marline. The constant clanging of bells and the maids run off their feet.