Gossamer Cord

I was on a path which I had seen before. I came to a clearing and pulled up sharply. A group of men were standing together. There was a cottage close to a hedge and they were looking at something there. I would have turned and gone back, but one of the men had started to come toward me. I saw at once that it was Jowan Jermyn.

I felt overcome with embarrassment. I was caught trespassing again.

He called: “Hello there.”

He came toward me.

“Why!” he said. “It’s Miss…er…Denver.”

I was surprised and rather pleased that he had remembered my name.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m trespassing again.”

“No, no. Friends are always welcome.”

“Thank you. I was trying to find that Smithy Inn. Am I near it?”

“Very close. Give me a moment and I’ll join you.”

He went over to the men while I waited. He very soon returned.

“We’re doing some repairs to that cottage,” he said. “It’s becoming derelict. It hasn’t been occupied for some time. Now, you are looking for Smithy’s…not the blacksmith’s but the inn. No more lost shoes, I hope?”

“Oh, no. I thought I should find it more easily. I am very sorry to have trespassed again.”

“I’m glad you did. I was getting a little bored with that cottage. They can manage very well without me. What have you been doing since I last saw you?”

“We had a wedding, you know.”

“Of course. We all knew about that. And Dermot Tregarland returned with his fair bride. We are kept well informed, you know.”

“Well, apart from the wedding, I have done very little. My mother has not been very well this winter and I have been helping to look after her.”

“I hope she has now recovered?”

“She wasn’t really ill. And thanks, she is quite well now. As a matter of fact, she is here in Cornwall with me.”

“Good. Look. Here we are. Now you are here, you must try a glass of their very special cider.”

“That sounds rather a good idea.”

“I assure you it is. Let’s take the mare to the stables. She’ll be all right there.”

We did so. I thought she must have been there before because the man in charge seemed to know her. Everyone here seemed to know everyone else.

The inn looked just as it had last time I had seen it—the fireplace with the glistening brasses, the cosy atmosphere. Mrs. Brodie came out to serve us. She recognized me immediately.

“Well, Miss, so you be back with us then? That be nice. Come back to see your sister, ’ave ’ee?”

I was amazed at her memory and told her so.

“That be part of the business, Miss. We do remember our customers.”

“I told her she must try some of your excellent cider,” said Jowan Jermyn.

“That be nice of ’ee, sir.”

“The best in Cornwall,” he added.

“And who am I to say nay to that? I’ll get two tankards right away. That right?”

“Absolutely.”

He smiled at me when she had gone. “She’s a dear old soul,” he said. “She has a mind like the Records Office. She knows what happens to every one of us from the time we were born.”

“Isn’t that rather uncomfortable?”

“It has its drawbacks, naturally, unless, of course, you are living a blameless life. That isn’t much use to Mrs. Brodie. She likes a bit of excitement. But there are advantages. A visit to the inn and you can come out knowing more about your neighbors than you did when you went in.”

“I think I would prefer anonymity.”

“Does that mean…?” He raised his eyebrows. “But, no, I am impertinent.”

“Not in the least,” I retorted. “I merely mean that I should not like to have my actions put on record. I suppose she will tell people that I, coming from Tregarland’s, took a tankard of cider with the enemy across the boundary.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Which cannot be of great interest to anyone.”

“I disagree. But it does depend on what news is going around at the time. The system has to be kept going and any scrap of news is better than no news at all. Besides, you have forgotten the feud.”

“But I am not really involved. I am not one of the enemy.”

“That,” he said, “is a nice thought.”

Mrs. Brodie appeared with the tankards.

When she had gone, he said: “How long shall you be here?”

“It isn’t decided yet, but it won’t be a long visit. Though my mother and I will be here for the birth…and before that, I daresay.”

“Oh, the baby.”

“My sister is going to have one. But I expect your excellent news service has told you that already?”

“It has indeed. I am very interested and delighted that you will be a frequent visitor.”

“My sister likes to have her family around.”

“Naturally.”

“And as she and I are twins…”

“Of course. Well, let us hope it all goes well.”

“But of course it will,” I replied with conviction.

“Of course. The cider is good, isn’t it?”

“Very.”

“The West Country is famous for it, you know—Devon and Cornwall.”

“So I have heard.”

“You did tell me last time we met that you had left school last summer. Shall you stay at home or take up some career?”

“Because of my sister’s sudden marriage, I have not thought of anything but that. Until the baby is born I think we shall be quite preoccupied with that.”

“And you will be here often, so that we shall be neighbors. I am sure they are very happy at Tregarland’s about the child.”