Page 9 of The Book of Lost Stories
Sir Ralph could not understand illness: he thought his wife could be better if she would, and was quite cross with her for not being so.
‘The doctor has advised a reducing diet, but has also suggested that the waters of Harrogate might prove beneficial,’ Alys told Miss Grimshaw after one visit.
‘I believe some of the waters have medicinal properties,’ Letty said. ‘I am sure I have heard of many people having been made better by taking them.’
‘I dare say, but I expect the change of scene may be enough to make the invalid feel better in most cases; I am sure it would do so in Lady Basset’s. Let us hope Sir Ralph will agree to the scheme.’
‘Perhaps James will help persuade his father, when he returns from his visit to friends near Halifax,’ suggested Letty.
‘He may do so, for he is always kind to his stepmother in his way. Indeed, his kindness is one of his more attractive traits, although it would be more attractive were it not frequently coupled with a belief that he knows what is best for everyone to do, which he most manifestly does not.’
‘But, dear Alys, men must know so much more … they are so much wiser, don’t you think?’
‘No, I do not! And it often seems to me that James’s benevolent impulses would be better directed if he askedmyopinion first.’
‘But he has persuaded his father to perform several charitable acts,’ Letty protested. ‘Only think of the new almshouses on the Green, for example.’
‘Yes, indeed, and do you recall when he had the tenantsforcibly removed from their old cottages? Poor old Boswell said to me that day, “Young mastermeanswell, but my family’s lived in that there cottage for generations and I never thought to die nowhere else.”’
‘But James did it for the best.’
‘I am sure he did, but Boswell was dead within a fortnight.Thatis what comes of misdirected good nature. I could have told him how it would be, if he would but have listened.’
4
Stygian Depths
Resolutely Malvina took up the candle, descended into the lower chamber and looked about her carefully. Though bare except for a tattered arras depicting in faded colours some long-past battle, faint marks of footsteps in the thick dust led from the stair …
The Travails of Lady MalvinabyORLANDO BROWNE
Her inspiration kindled afresh and her resolution strengthened by the hope of possible remuneration, Alys threw herself into her writing at every conceivable moment.
Thus it was that she carried a near-completed novel with her in her valise as she embarked on her first visit to the nearby watering place of Harrogate in the company of Lady Basset, when the squire, having a dislike of all such places, refused to go.
How Lady Basset had managed to persuade Major Westonto let his daughter accompany her, leaving only Miss Grimshaw to minister to him in her place, Alys could not imagine.
Perhaps the fact that he owed to the squire’s generosity the very roof over their heads and, if not precisely the food on the table, most certainly the bottles in the cellar, may have had something to do with it.
However it was, Major Weston, fixing his daughter with a sunken and glittering eye as he reluctantly informed her of the treat, added dampeningly, ‘But you need not be in too great an excitement over it, miss! The rector gives me to understand that Harrogate is a place of decorum and taste, inhabited mainly by aged valetudinarians in search of a cure for rheumatic disorders.’
That it sounded unlikely in the extreme that she would be in much danger of being carried off by a young suitor seemed to cheer him a little. Still, he forbade Alys to do anything more adventurous than attend on her aunt while she took the waters, went to church, or engaged in any other similarly innocuous pastimes. She was not to dance, or go to balls, but that would have been impossible in any case, since she did not have any suitable gowns, and Lady Basset was clearly in no fit case to keep late nights.
‘Oh, thank you, Papa! Indeed, I will do just as Lady Basset wishes,’ she promised, quite dizzy with delight, for even this, compared to the daily round that had continued with monotonous regularity for as long as she could recall, was the height of dissipation.
‘You had better, for Mrs Franby has friends there, so I am bound to hear if you misbehave.’ He looked at her doubtfully, then added reluctantly, ‘Go to the corner cupboard and bring me the small wooden box on the middle shelf, for I supposeyou had best have your mother’s trinkets: trumpery stuff, but she wanted you to have them.’
*
‘And it was the firstIhad heard of it,’ Alys said, showing the little box inlaid with strange figures to Letty as soon as she had quitted her papa’s chamber. ‘You know how he will never talk of Mama, except to complain that my grandfather would not give her her portion once they were married, and did not even reply when informed of her death.’
Letty exclaimed over it. ‘It is a very fine box. From the East, you know. I saw another such a one as a girl.’
‘It is pretty, and since it was my mama’s I must value it, since it is the only memento of her that I have, although I am very sure that once she must have had more jewels than these strings of glass and carnelian beads, and that Papa has sold them.’
‘Perhaps there are more in theothercompartment?’ Letty suggested and, with a dextrous twist and a light pressure, she revealed a hidden cavity.
‘Good heavens, Letty. I would never have known that was there.’
