Филиппа Карр - The Song of the Siren

“I thought you said something like Bow,” she said.

“You were mistaken,” I told her quickly. “I said: ‘Who’s there?’ “

“But...”

“You imagined the rest,” I went on sharply. I had risen from the bed and gripped her none too gently by the shoulder so that she winced a little. I was glad. I wanted to hurt her. “You have no right to come here,” I said. “This is my house and I came to see that it was all right.”

“Were you testing the bed?”

I looked at her intently. No, there was no ulterior motive in the remark. No suggestions.

No probing. One thing about my little sister, she was completely innocent. She was only ten years old in any case.

I pondered. Should I try to give her some explanation? No, it was best to leave things as they were. We went out of the house together.

”How did you get here?” I asked.

“I walked.”

I mounted my horse. “Then you can walk back,” I said.

It was two days later and a Saturday. I was in the garden of the Dower House when a man appeared on horseback. He dismounted and bowed to me.

“Am I mistaken or is this the Dower House Eversleigh and does Captain Leigh Main live here?”

“You are right. He is not here at the moment but will be back very soon, I believe.

Do come in. I’ll show you where you can tether your horse.”

“Thank you. You must be his daughter.”

“His stepdaughter.”

“I’m Gervaise Langdon. We were in the army together.”

“General Langdon!” I cried. “I have heard him mention your name. General Sir Gervaise Langdon. Is that right?”

“I see you are well informed.”

I took him to the post by the mounting block and as I was directing him towards the house my mother appeared.

“This is General Sir Gervaise Langdon, mother,” I said.

Priscilla cried: “Oh, please come in. My husband should be here very soon.”

“I was passing through the district,” explained Sir Gervaise, “and I remembered my old friend lived here so I thought I would pay him a visit.”

“He will be delighted. He has talked of you a great deal, hasn’t he, Carlotta? This is my daughter Carlotta.”

Sir Gervaise bowed again to me. “It is a great pleasure,” he said.

My mother led the way into the hall.

“I was about to call at the big house,” said Sir Gervaise, “and one of the grooms there told me that you were now at the Dower House.”

“Oh, yes,” said my mother. “My parents are at the Court.”

“Lord Eversleigh too, I believe. Where is Edwin now?”

“He’s abroad on service,” said my mother.

“Ah, yes. I had hoped to see him too.”

‘You know my husband has retired from the army, of course.”

“Yes, indeed I do. Eversleigh stays on.”

”Yes, but I think his wife would like him to do what Leigh has done.”

“A pity,” said the General. “We need men like them.”

“I always think that their families need them too.”

“Ah, the wives’ complaint!” said the General with a smile.

Priscilla took him into the drawing room and sent for wine and cakes.

Damaris appeared and was introduced.

“You have two charming daughters,” said the General.

He talked to us about his travels abroad and how delighted he was to be in England, and while this was going on Leigh arrived. He was delighted to see the General and after a while my mother said she was sure they had a great deal to say to each other and she hoped the General was in no hurry and would stay awhile.

He replied that he was going to visit his old friend Ned Netherby and planned to stay the night at an inn about four miles on and then go to Netherby the following day.

“But you cannot do that,” cried my mother. “You must stay here for the night. We wouldn’t hear of your going to stay at an inn, would we Leigh?”

Leigh said that the General must stay and the latter needed little persuasion.

“Then that is settled,” said my mother. “You will excuse me and I will see that they get your room ready. Carlotta, Damaris, come along and help.”

We went out with her.

“I could see that the General wished to talk to your father,” she said. “They will have memories to share. I know they served together at one time.”

I went to my room and Damaris went to help my mother. I was mildly excited as I always was by visitors; and there was something about the General which made me feel that this was not an idle call. There was something purposeful about him. He was an attractive man. He must have been about six feet tall and a little older than Leigh, I imagine.

He had a very military bearing and there was no doubt that he was a soldier. There was a scar on his right cheek to confirm this. It added to rather than detracted from his rugged good looks.

I had an idea that he might have come to persuade Leigh to come back to the army.

A thought I was sure could not have occurred to my mother or her welcome would not have been so warm.

At dinner there was a great deal of talk about the old army days and Leigh quite clearly enjoyed these reminiscences.

The General talked about the King, whom he clearly did not like. “The Dutchman,” he called him and used the term as one of contempt; and when he mentioned his name his colour deepened and the scar showed up whiter in contrast to the reddish tinge of his skin.

We left them talking together over their wine and my mother said to me: “He is a charming man but I hope he is not reminding Leigh too much of his life in the army.

He talks about it as though it is some sort of paradise.”

My father would never want to leave you again, mother,” said Damaris.

My mother smiled. Then she said: “I wonder why the General came?”

“It is because he was passing on his way to Netherby Hall,” said Damaris. “He said so.”

I smiled at my dear innocent sister. She believed everything everyone said.

The next day was Sunday and we were going to Eversleigh to dine, as we always did on Sundays. Although Leigh and my mother had bought the Dower House, they both regarded Eversleigh as their home. I had lived part of my life there and my mother all her life until recently. Damaris had been born there and it was only within the last year or so that Leigh had bought the Dower House. There was a walk of five minutes between the two houses and my grandparents became indignant if we did not call frequently.

I loved Eversleigh, although perhaps Harriet’s Eyot Abbass was more like home to me.

It was dinnertime and we were all at table in the great hall. My grandmother Arabella Eversleigh loved to have us all together. Damaris was a special favourite of hers, in a way that I could never be but my grandfather Carleton had always had a special feeling for He was a most unconventional man, of fiery temper, arrogant obstinate.

I felt especially drawn towards him and I believe he to me. I think he was rather amused by the fact that I was his daughter’s bastard and there was a grudging admiration in him because my mother had defied conventions and produced me. I liked Grandfather Carleton. I fancied our characters were not dissimilar.

The house had been built in the days of Elizabeth in the E style with a wing on either side of the main great hall. I was attracted by that hall with its rough stone walls and I liked the armoury which adorned it. There was a military tradition in the Eversleigh family. Carleton had only briefly been a soldier; he had stayed home after the Civil War to hold the estates until the Restoration; the part he had played, I had always heard had demanded far more courage than a soldier needed and infinitely more skill; for he had posed as a Roundhead when his sympathies were Royalist in the extreme and so saved Eversleigh for posterity. I could well imagine his doing that. Every time he looked up at the vaulted ceiling with its broad oak beams, every time he glanced at the family tree which had been painted over the great fireplace, he must have reminded himself: If it had not been for my courage and resource during those Commonwealth years all this would have been lost.