The Song of the Siren

“I know well her qualities. I am so glad to have restored her to you.”

“If you hadn’t discovered her ...”

“Who knows what would have happened? People hardly ever go to that land. In fact ... there is great trouble because Jacob Rook set a trap there.”

“Which land is it?” asked Elizabeth.

“It’s close to Enderby. It was Enderby land at one time. My father bought it. He has some plans for it but at the moment it is strictly out of bounds. I call it the Forbidden Wood.” I turned to Matt. “Your dog will be able to walk tomorrow, I think.

I’ll bring her back to you then.”

“That’s wonderful. How can we ever thank her?” he asked his mother.

“Damaris doesn’t need to be told how much we appreciate what she has done. She knows it. She would have done the same for any little hedgerow sparrow.”

I rode home in an exalted mood which I realised was not only due to the fact that I had found the dog’s owner and that he should be Matthew Pilkington; it was largely because Matt had come back.

My pleasure was dampened as I went in by the sight of Mary Rook in the kitchen, her eyes swollen with crying. She gave me a reproachful look. I was the one who had discovered the trap and reported where it was found. Had I known what my father’s reaction would have been I should have kept quiet, but it was no use telling Mary that now.

I did not mention the fact that I had found the dog’s owner and who he was at the supper table, for the dog was a subject we did not now discuss in front of my father; he was still in an angry and unrelenting mood; and I believe suffering because of it.

I did say to my mother as we were going upstairs for the night, “By the way, Matthew Pilkington is paying a visit to his mother, and, do you know, the dog is his.”

“How strange,” she said quietly. She did not seem overjoyed.

The next day I took the dog over to Grasslands. There was no mistaking her joy to see her master again. She barked in ecstasy; nuzzled up to him while he knelt and fondled her. I stood watching them. I think I fell in love with him at that moment.

One can fall in love quite deeply at fourteen-and I should soon be fifteen. Mistress Leveret had said to my mother that in some ways I was old for my years. I was serious; and I believe I had an intense desire to be loved. All people have, of course, but I had been so overshadowed by Carlotta, so much aware of her superiority, that I supposed I needed it more than most.

To have someone’s attention directed on me was rare. I revelled in it.

Matthew and I had so much in common. He loved his horses and his dogs even as I did mine. We could talk about them for hours. We loved to ride; I felt I could even take an interest in clothes, which he seemed to care so much about. I had never bothered with them much before. I had always known that however grand my gown, Carlotta would look so much more attractive in the simplest garment.

All that was changed since Carlotta went away. I missed her; I longed sometimes to be with her. And yet I could not have this sense of being a person in my own right, capable of living excitingly, if she were here. Matt made me feel that I was interesting.

He was delighted that I had saved his dog. He was sure the beautiful creature would have died if she had been left in the trap. It had been wonderful for me to have saved her for him, he kept telling me.

Elizabeth joined us and Belle settled down leaning against Matt’s knees and looking at me with an expression of affection in her soulful eyes.

It came out in conversation that my father had discovered who had set the trap and that he was very angry about it. He had forbidden any of them to go to that particular spot.

“It’s very wild and overgrown, is it not?” said Elizabeth. “Why does he shut it off like that?”

“It’s some plan he has for it, I think. He is very annoyed that Jacob Rook should have disobeyed him. In fact he has dismissed the man.”

“Wherever will he go?” asked Elizabeth.

I looked wretched and she said: “Oh, poor man ... I know he did wrong to disobey his master ... and I hate the thought of traps-they’re cruel-but for such a small offence ...”

“It isn’t like my father,” I said. “He has always been so kind to all the people who work for him. He has a reputation for being just and good to them. Even more so than my grandfather, who could often be harsh, but father ... Anyway he is firm about this.”

“Poor Jacob!” said Elizabeth.

A few days later I saw Mary Rook at the pump in the garden. She had changed completely.

She was smiling almost truculently.

I felt very happy, believing that my father had relented. He only wanted to give them a warning, I told myself. He let them think that they were dismissed for a day or two and then had taken them back. He felt so strongly about complete obedience that he had considered it necessary.

“You look pleased with life, Mary,” I said. “Is everything all right now?”

“You might say that, mistress,” she replied.

“I knew my father would forgive you.”

“Master be a hard man,” she said through tight lips.