The changeling

We’re going to eat soon and then you can have an early night.” When she had left me I unpacked, washed and changed my travelling clothes. I went downstairs where the children, freshly washed and combed, were already assembled with the rest of the family for the meal.

Pedrek was at my side. We talked eagerly. He told me how he was progressing at the college and how fortunate it was that it was so near. Being at St Austell enabled him to get to Pencarron for week-ends, and we should be seeing each other frequently while I was at Cador.

It was a very happy evening and I reminded myself it was a prelude. It was wonderful to be at Cador.

I had not been in my room for more than five minutes when there was a knock on the door and my grandmother came in. This was the usual ritual. Whenever we met after a long absence she would come to my room on the first night and we would have what she called a “Catching-up chat.”

“Well,” I said as she sat in one of the armchairs. “What is the news?”

“I’ll tell you the worst first,” she said. “There’s been an accident at Pencarron Mine. It upset Josiah very much. He’s always had such a record for safety, which is due to meticulous and continual checks. So... although it wasn’t so bad as it might have been, it has upset him.”

“That’s terrible. Pedrek did not mention it.”

“We agreed not to ... on your first night, and there wasn’t an opportunity really. It happened six weeks ago. Something caved in. It was possible to get most of the men out, but one was badly hurt, Jack Kellaway. It was ... tragic.”

“How dreadful! Was he married?”

“Yes, with one child. A girl of eight or nine. Mary ... Mary Kellaway ... the poor wife, was distracted. Josiah was in a terrible state. I remember the day the news came through. It was the night shift. It was what happened afterwards which was really so dreadful. Jack Kellaway was so badly hurt that he would never work again. He could just crawl about the cottage. There was no hope for him really. He had always been a good husband and father and it was terrible for him. He could not bear to be a burden. One day when he was in the house alone he set fire to the place and cut his throat. He wanted it to seem as if he had been burned to death. It was something to do with insurance and he thought his wife and child would be better off without him. Some farm laborers happened to be passing and saw the fire and poor Jack’s body was found. It was very sad. The cottage was uninhabitable. His plan had gone wrong.”

“What a terrible story!”

“Josiah is going to see that Mary Kellaway and the girl are all right. The child is Mary too. He’s going to build a cottage for them. In the meantime we had to find somewhere for them to live. There wasn’t anything available except Jenny Stubbs’ old cottage near the pool.”

“So she is there?”

My grandmother nodded.

It was the cottage where Lucie had been born and spent her first years. Once I had been held captive there. I had always felt there was something mysterious about it. It was hardly the place to revive the poor widow’s spirits. I said so to my grandmother. ”I think she was glad to be quiet with a roof over her head and it was the only place. She seems to have settled in there.

Oh, I know, it’s rather eerie. It’s that pool really ... nothing to do with the cottage. It’s quite ordinary ... just like all the others around here. It’s all that talk about the monastery being at the bottom of the water.”

“A lot of people still believe that.”

“Well, the Cornish are notoriously superstitious.”

“My mother always had a strong feeling about the pool.”

“I know.”

We were silent, thinking of her, then I said: “Are they still talking about the bells at the bottom of the pool which are supposed to ring to herald disaster?”

“Of course. They always did. The point is that people remember they heard them after the event.”

“What else has been happening?”

“One of the boats was lost in a gale. The gales were worse than usual this year.”

“A string of disasters.”

“Well, there are always the gales. Mrs. Jones had twins and Flora Grey is expecting a baby.”

“Good work for Mrs. Polhenny. How is she?”

“Doing her duty. Now tell me about yourself. The season went well, didn’t it? And you emerged engaged to be married.”

“That is what all girls are expected to do. But ours is a secret so I don’t get the glory.”

My grandmother laughed. “It is ... wonderful. Our dearest hopes realized.”

“I did not know you were so dedicated to the idea.”

“We didn’t feel we could interfere. A marriage should be arranged between the two chief parties concerned.”

“But it is nice to find approval all round.”

“You haven’t told your stepfather?”

“Why should I?”

“He’s your guardian, I suppose. He’ll have to know.”

“You don’t think he’ll raise objections.”

She was silent and I flushed with indignation. Then I was laughing. “He won’t care,” I said. “He’s not interested. All he thinks about is getting on with his political career.”

“He did give you that expensive season.”