Deborah smiled a little wistfully. ” Petroc liked women in general too much to care very deeply for one in particular. That’s what I always felt, and so I saw how it would be. I warned Barbarina, but she wouldn’t listen of course.”

There was silence, and after a while she went on: “We used to ride on Dartmoor. Our place is on the moor, you know. You must come and see it. The view is wonderful—if you like that kind of view. You can step from our garden right on to the moor. Once we all went riding together and they lost me. The mist came up as it does on the moor, and however well you think you know the place you can easily be hopelessly lost.

You are apt to wander round and round in circles. It was really rather frightening. I found my way back but they didn’t come home until next day. They’d sheltered in some hut they’d discovered, and Petroc had had the fore sight to load up with chocolate. Sometimes I think he arranged the whole thing. “

” Why? I mean, if she was in love with him, couldn’t he have been with her … more comfortably?”

Again that silence. Then she sighed and said: “He was in love with some local girl whom he’d promised to marry. She was a farmer’s daughter. But the family wanted this marriage with the Hysons because our father was well off and money was badly needed at Pendorric.

Barbarina was very unhappy. She’d heard that Petroc was going to marry this girl, and she knew he must be very much in love with her because Pendorrie meant a great deal to him, and it was possible that if he couldn’t bring some money into the family something would have to be done about it. So she knew he must have been deeply in love with the girl to contemplate marrying someone who couldn’t bring a penny into the place. He was fond of Barbarina. It wouldn’t have been any hardship to marry her . if he hadn’t been so besottedly in love with this other woman. Petroc was the sort of man who would get along with any woman . like . Well, you know the type. ” I nodded uneasily.

“Were the Pendorrics very poor then?”

” Not exactly, but the great change had set in. Things weren’t what they had been for their sort of people. The house needed expensive renovations. And Petroc had gambled rather rashly in the hope of recuperating the family fortunes.”

” So he was a gambler.”

She nodded. ” As his father was.”

” And what happened after that night on the moor?”

” I think Petroc had made up his mind that he would have to marry Barbarina. Pendorric was important, so he would fall in with the wishes of his family and Barbarina’s. But he couldn’t tell Barbarina that … bluntly. So they got lost on the moors and Barbarina was seduced and … that made it all easy.”

” She told you this?”

” My dear Favel, Barbarina didn’t have to tell me things. We were as close as two people can be. Don’t forget that during the months of our gestation we had been as one. I knew exactly what had happened and why.”

” And after that she married him and she was happy.”

“What do you expect? Petroc couldn’t be faithful. It wasn’t in his nature to be, any more than it had been in his father’s. He took up with the farmer’s daughter again. It was a notorious scandal. But she wasn’t the only one. Like his father he couldn’t resist a woman nor a chance to gamble. Women couldn’t resist them either. I thought that when Roc and Morwenna were born she would cease to fret for him, and for a while she did. I hoped that she would have more children and make them her life.”

“And you were disappointed?”

” Barbarina was a good mother, don’t mistake me; but she wasn’t one of those women who can ignore her husband’s infidelities and become completely absorbed in her children. Petroc meant too much to her for that.”

” So she was very unhappy?”

” You can imagine it, can’t you. A sensitive woman … in a place like this … and an unfaithful husband who didn’t make a secret of his infidelities; there was nothing secret about Petroc. He never tried to pretend he was other than he was—a reckless gambler and a philanderer. He seemed to take up the attitude: It’s a family characteristic, so there’s nothing can do about it.”p>

” Poor Barbarina,” I murmured.

” I used to come down as often as I could, and then when my father died I almost lived here. It was through me that she became interested in her music again. I believe that in other circumstances she might have been a concert violinist. She was really very good. But she had never practised enough. However, she found great pleasure in it, particularly towards the end. In fact she was very gifted. I remember when we were at school … we must have been about fourteen then … she was in the school play. It was Hamlet and she was Ophelia, a part which suited her absolutely. I was the ghost. That was about the limit of my capabilities. I believe I was a very poor one. But Barbarina was the hit of the show.”

” I can imagine that—from her picture, I mean. Particularly the one in the gallery.”

” Oh, that’s Barbarina as she really was. Sometimes when I look at it I almost imagine she will step out of the frame and speak to me. “

“Yes, there’s a touch of reality about it. The artist must have been a very good one.”

” It was painted about a year before her death. She took great pleasure in riding. In fact I sometimes felt it was a feverish sort of pleasure she was taking in things … her music … riding, and so on. She was lovely in that particular ensemble, and that was why she was painted in it. It was sad that she-like Ophelia—should have died before her time. I wish you could have heard her sing that song from the play. She had a strange voice … a little off-key, which suited the song and Ophelia. I remember at the school show how silent the audience was when she came on the stage in a flowering gown of white and flowers in her hair and in her hands. I can’t sing; but it’s that one that goes something like this:

"How should I your true love know

From another one?

By his cockle hat and staff,

And his sandal shoon.

He is dead and gone, lady,

He is dead and gone;

At his head a grass-green turf,

At his heels a stone."

She quoted the words in a low monotone; then she flashed her smile at me. ” I wish I could make you hear it as she sang it. There was something about it that made one shiver. Afterwards it became one of her favourite songs and there was a verse which she didn’t sing at the school play but she used to sing that later.

"Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,

And duped the chamber door;

Let in the maid, that out a maid

| Never departed more. “

” There would be an odd little smile about her lips as she sang that, and I always felt it had something to do with that night on the moor.”

” Poor Barbarina! I’m afraid she wasn’t very happy.” Deborah clenched her fists as though in sudden anger.

” And she was meant to be happy. I never knew anyone so capable of being happy. If Petroc had been all that she hoped he would be … if But what is the good? When is life ever what you hope it will be; and in any case it is all so long ago. “

” I heard about it; the balustrade was faulty and she fell to the hall.”

” It was unfortunate that it happened in the gallery where Lowella Pendorric hung. That really gave rise to all the talk.”

” It must have revived the legend.”

” Oh, it didn’t take all that reviving. The people round about had always said that Pendorric was haunted by Lowella Pendorric, the Bride of long ago.”

” And now they say that Barbarina has taken her place.” Deborah laughed; then she looked over her shoulder. ” Although I’ve always laughed at such talk, sometimes when I’m in this house I feel a little more inclined to accept it.”

” It’s the atmosphere of old houses. The furniture is often standing in exactly the same place it was in hundreds of years ago. You cant help thinking that this house looked almost exactly the same to that Lowella whom they call the First Bride.”

” I only wish that Barbarina would come back!” said Deborah vehemently. ” I can’t tell you what I’d give to see her again.” She stood up. ” Let’s go for a wa’k. We’re getting morbid sitting here in Barbarina’s room. We’ll have to get mackintoshes. Look at those clouds. The wind’s in the southwest and that means rain’s not far off.”

I said I should enjoy that, and we left the east wing together She came with me to my room while I put on my outdoor things; then I went with her to hers; and when we were ready she led me round to the north wing and we paused on the gallery before the picture of Lowella ” This is where she fell,” explained Deborah. ” Look, you can see where the balustrade has been mended. It was wood worm, I believe. It should have been noticed long before. Actually the place is riddled with worm. It’s inevitable and it’ll cost a fortune to put it right.”

I looked up into Lowella Pendorric’s painted face and I thought exultantly: But Roc is not really like his father and his grandfather, and the gambling, philandering Pendorrics. If he had been in his father’s place he would have married the farmer’s daughter, as he married me—for what had I to bring him? In ten minutes we were strolling along the cliff path, the warm sea-scented wind caressing our faces.

I had no wish to lead an idle life. On the island there had always been so much to do. I had been my father’s housekeeper as well as his saleswoman. I pointed out to Roc that I wanted to do something. ” You might go down to the kitchens and have a little chat with Mrs. Penhalligan. She’d appreciate it. After all, you’re the mistress of the house. “

” I will,” I agreed, ” because Morwenna wont mind in the least if I do make suggestions.”

He put his arm round me and hugged me. ” Aren’t you the mistress of the house, anyway?”

” Roc,” I told him, ” I’m so happy. I wouldn’t have thought it possible so soon after …”

Roc’s kiss prevented me from going on with that. ” Didn’t I tell you?

And talking of having something to do . as Mrs. Pendorric you should take an interest in village activities, you know. It’s expected, as I guess you’ve gathered from the Darks. I tell you, Favel, in a few weeks’ time you’ll not be complaining of having too little to do, but too much. “

” I think I’ll begin by getting to know more of Mrs. Penhalligan and perhaps I’ll call on the Darks. This afternoon, by the way, I’ve promised to have tea with Lord Polhorgan.”

” What, again? You really do like that old man.”

” Yes,” I said almost defiantly, I do. “

“Then enjoy yourself.”

” I believe I shall.”

Roc studied me, smiling as he did so. ” You certainly seem to hit it off.”

” I feel that he’s really rather a lonely old man, and he seems sort of paternal.”

R Roc’s smile faded and he nodded slowly.

“You’re still grieving,” he said.

“It’s so hard to forget. Roc. Oh, I’m so happy here. I love it all; the family are so kind to me, and you . “

He was laughing. ” And I’m kind to you too? What did you expect? A wife-beater?”

Then he put his arms about me and held me close to him. ” Listen, Favel,” he said. ” I want you to be happy. Dt’s what I want more than anything. I understand what you feel about the old man. He’s paternal. That’s what you said; and in a way he makes up for something you miss. He’s lonely. You can bet your life he’s missed a lot. So you like each other. It’s understandable. “

” I wish you liked him more. Roc.”

” Don’t take any notice of what I’ve said. It was mostly said jokingly. When you get to know me better you’ll understand what a joker I am.”

” Don’t you think I know you well then?”

” Not as well as you will twenty years hence, darling. We’ll go on learning. about each other; that’s what makes it all so exciting. It’s like a voyage of discovery.”

He spoke lightly, but I went on thinking of what he had said, and I was still remembering those words when I passed under the great archway on my way out that afternoon, until I heard footsteps behind me and turning saw Rachel Bective, a twin walking sedately on either side of her.

” Hallo,” called Rachel, ” going for a walk?”

” I’m going to tea at Polhorgan.”

They caught up with me and we walked along together. ” Hope you’re prepared,” warned Rachel. ” It’s going to rain.”

” I’ve brought my mac.”

” The wind’s blowing in from the southwest, and once it starts to rain here you begin to wonder whether it’s ever going to stop.” Hyson came to the other side of me so that I was in between her and Rachel; Lowella skipped on ahead.