Виктория Холт - The Captive

When she came, I was surprised rather agreeably, but that was perhaps because I was expecting something worse.

She was very like her mother. Her hair was a little less bright, her eyes a little less green. There was a hint of blue in them but that might have been because she was wearing a blue dress; her lashes and brows were inclined to be sandy and her mother owed a great deal to her dark brows and luxuriant lashes for her arresting good looks. But it was obvious at once that she was her mother’s daughter.

“Kate, my dear,” said Lady Perrivale.

“This is Miss Cranleigh. If you are lucky she may be your new governess.”

The girl looked at me appraisingly.

“I don’t like governesses,” she said.

“I want to go away to school.”

“That’s not very polite, is it?” asked Lady Perrivale mildly.

“No,” said her daughter.

“And shouldn’t we be?”

“Perhaps you should, Mama. I don’t want to be.”

I laughed and said boldly: “I can see you have a great deal to learn.”

“I never learn unless I want to.”

“That’s not very clever, is it?”

“Why not?”

“Because you will remain ignorant.”

“If I want to be ignorant, I’ll be ignorant.”

“It is your choice, of course,” I replied mildly, ‘but I never heard of any wise person wanting to be ignorant. “

I looked at Lady Perrivale and I could see her fear that I would reject her daughter was growing.

“Really, Kate,” she said.

“Miss Cranleigh has come all the way from Trecorn Manor to see you.”

“I know. And it’s not ” all the way”. It’s not really very far.”

“You must assure her that you will try to be a good pupil or she may decide not to come.”

Kate shrugged her shoulders.

I was surprised to find myself feeling almost sorry for Lady Perrivale. I wondered why she, who looked as though she might be the sort of woman to have her own way, could allow a child to behave so.

I fancied Kate felt a certain antagonism to her mother and at the root of her behaviour might be a wish to discountenance her. I wondered why.

I said: “If I am coming to teach Kate, I think we should get to know each other. Perhaps she could show me the schoolroom.”

Kate turned to face me. I could see she was finding me very different from the governesses to whom she was accustomed. I imagined those poor needy women desperately eager for the post and fearing to do anything that might mean losing it.

I felt more alive than I had for a long time. I was actually in Simon’s old home and these were the people who had figured in the drama. Moreover, I was a little stimulated at the prospect of battles to come with this child.

“If you think …” began Lady Perrivale uneasily.

“Yes,” said Kate.

“I’ll show you the schoolroom.”

“That’s good,” I said.

Lady Perrivale rose as if to accompany us.

I turned to her.

“Shall Kate and I get to know each other … alone?” I suggested.

“We shall know better then whether we can get along.”

I was not sure which was greater her relief or her apprehension. She was glad to end this interview but she was afraid of what would ensue when I was alone with Kate.

The girl led me up the stairs, taking two at a time.

“It’s a long way up,” she said over her shoulder.

“Schoolrooms usually are.”

“Miss Evans used to puff and pant coming up the stairs.”

“Miss Evans being the unfortunate lady who tried to teach you before?”

I asked.

She gave a little giggle. Poor Miss Evans! I thought. At the mercy of such a creature.

“It’s not very nice up there,” she went on.

“It’s haunted, you know.

Are you afraid of ghosts? “

“Never having made the acquaintance of any, it is difficult to say.”

Again she giggled.

“You wait,” she said.

“They’re very frightening.

There are always ghosts in old houses like this. They come out in the night when you are asleep . particularly if they don’t like you, and they never like strangers. “

“Oh, don’t they? I should have thought it was members of the family whom they would come back to see.”

“You don’t know anything about ghosts.”

“Do you?”

“Of course. I know they do horrid things … like clanging chains and frightening people in the night.”

“Perhaps you have been listening to gossip.”

“You wait,” she said ominously and with plans in her eyes.

“If you come here, you’ll be frightened out of your wits. I promise you.”

“Thanks for the promise. So this is it?”

“It’s right at the top of the house. You can look right down into the well … because the stairs go round and round. Someone hanged herself once from these banisters. She was a governess.”

“Perhaps she had a pupil rather like you.”

That made her laugh and she looked at me with some appreciation.

“Moreover,” I went on, ‘it would have been rather a difficult operation and she must have been very skilful. So this is the schoolroom. What books have you? “

“A lot of boring old things.”

“You mean they bore you. That’s probably because you don’t understand them.”

“How do you know what I understand?”

“Well, I gathered from you that you never learn anything unless you want to, and I surmise that very often you don’t want to, which would account for your ignorance.”

“You’re a funny sort of governess.”

“How do you know? I haven’t been a governess yet.”

“I’ll give you a piece of advice,” she said conspiratorially.

“That’s good of you. What is it?”

“Don’t come here. I’m not very nice, you know.”

“Oh yes. I had already discovered that.”

“Why … ? How … ?”

“You’ve told me yourself and in any case it’s rather obvious, isn’t it?”

“I’m not so bad really. Only I don’t like to be told what to do.”

“That’s not very unusual, you know. You’re just going along with the common herd. But there are people who want to learn and they do. They are the people who have rewarding lives.”

She stared at me with a puzzled look.

I said: “I have seen the schoolroom. Now I will go back to your mother.”

“You’re going to tell her how awful I am and that you don’t like me and you won’t come here.”

“Is that what you want me to telljier?” She did not answer, which mildly surprised and pleased me. I went on: “Do you often tell people what they are going to do?”

“Well, of course you’re not coming. You’re not poor like Miss Evans. You don’t have to. Nobody would come here unless they had to.”

“If you would like to take me to your mother, I should be pleased. If not, I dare say I can find my own way.”

We surveyed each other like two generals on a battlefield. I could see that in spite of herself she was mildly interested in me. I had not behaved like the ordinary governesses; and she had certainly not acted like a prospective pupil. But I sensed that she had-as I admitted to myself that I had-enjoyed our little bout of sparring. I thought her a spoilt child, but there was another reasonas there usually is-why she behaved as she did. I could not grasp what her attitude towards her mother was, but I felt a growing curiosity and I wanted to find out.

Oddly enough, this difficult child, who had driven governesses away in despair, attracted me in an odd way. I wanted to know more of her. I knew I was coming to the house in any case, but, having met Lady Perrivale and her daughter, I was finding myself intrigued by their personalities.

Kate pushed past me and started to go downstairs: “This is the way,” she said.