The pool of St Branok

My mother laughed. "She is quiet and causes no fuss. I don't know what goes on in the kitchen. It's like the case of Miss Prentiss. They are so strict about levels of society that they are a little complicated to follow. She seems to have become quite friendly with Miss Prentiss."

"Perhaps they both feel they can be friendly without upsetting the rules of protocol."

"That must be so. However, she is going off in the morning."

I often wondered about Grace Gilmore. There was an air of mystery about her which intrigued me. I did not mention it to anyone. They would say — or even if they didn't say it they would think it—that I was daydreaming again. I imagined her life with the poor old rector—so feeble and demanding. I was sure she had waited on him, caring for him, living for him and letting her own life slip away.

My mother would say: "You are building up what isn't there, Angel. That imagination of yours ... It's all very fine but don't let it run away with you."

I saw Grace Gilmore going to the station to get the train. There was something purposeful about her. I smiled and wished her a good journey.

I began to wonder whether she would come back. There was a certain unreality about her. It occurred to me that she might suddenly disappear and we would never hear of her again. I was so obsessed by this thought that when I returned to the house I went to her room. Everything was neat and tidy. I looked in the wardrobe. Her clothes were hanging there. Her nightdress lay neatly folded under her pillow. Yes, I was inquisitive enough to look there.

It was the room of someone who intended to return.

In the afternoon I went riding with Ben and all thought of Grace Gil-more departed during such a pleasant time.

He talked about running an estate of his own.

"Like Cador?" I asked.

"Just like Cador only bigger."

I laughed. "Everything about you has to be bigger than everyone else's."

"I admit it."

"Do you realize that this estate has been built up over hundreds of years?"

"I do."

"And you are going to come and start and immediately have something bigger?"

"It is what I should like."

"We don't all get what we like."

"I intend to."

" 'Pride goeth before a fall.' "

"Oh, moral, are we?"

"It's supposed to be true."

"I shall be prouder than ever and not fail ... just to prove it's wrong."

"I should be rather disappointed if it were, when I think of the number of times I have had to write it out for Miss Prentiss."

"It is a great game to prove the moralists wrong. And for every one of these adages there is a contradiction."

" 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' and 'Many hands make light work'?"

"Exactly. So I shall make my own laws. They will be the laws of Reason."

"Oh, Ben, it is nice to have you here."

"Shall I tell you what is the nicest thing about being here?"

"Yes, do."

"Angel is here."

"You always say such wonderful things. Do you mean them?"

"Not always. But on this occasion, yes."

"If you don't mean them, why do you say them?"

He paused for a moment and laughed at me. "Well, it makes people feel good. They like you for it, and it is wise to have people liking you. Never make enemies if you can help it ... even in the smallest way. You never know when the most trivial thing can be turned against you. It is what you call keeping the wheels well oiled."

"Even though it is false?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's harmless. It makes people feel happy. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I suppose, only I like things to be true."

"You are asking too much."

We had come to open country and I started to gallop. He was beside me.

"We're almost on the moor," I shouted.

I pulled up. There it was—miles of moorland with its boulders and little rippling streams and here and there the flowering gorse.

"There's something strange about it," I said. "Do you feel it? I mean strange in a certain way. Uncanny."

"Out of this world."

"Yes."

"You might have strayed onto another planet."

"That's it. Strange things happen here. When I am here I can believe the stories one hears of the piskies and the knackers and the rest."

We walked our horses for a while.

He said: "We could tie our horses to that bush and sit here for a while. I'd like to, would you?"

"Yes," I said.

So we tethered the horses and sat with our backs against a boulder inhaling the fresh air. There was a faint wind which whistled through the grass making a soft moaning noise which was like a human voice.

I was glad he was aware of the spirit of the moors.

"The mine is not far from here."

"Oh yes. It belongs to the Pencarrons, I believe."

"Yes. We'll ride over there one day. They'd like to meet you."

"Profitable concern, the mine, I take it."

"Yes, I think so. It's a great boon to the Poldoreys. Quite a number of the men work there. The population seems to be made up of fishermen and miners ... apart from the farmers and people who work on the land. They are safe."

"Safe?" he asked.