Philippa Carr - Witch from the Sea

Senara was watching him with an intentness she rarely displayed.

“When I felt the goodness, the serenity of this household which was unlike anything I ever knew before, I asked if I might stay here in any capacity whatsoever,” went on Dickon.

“You do not teach dancing and singing?”

“Nay, nay. That is over. It is all part of my sinful past life. Such frivolities find no favour in the sight of heaven. I shall never sing and dance again.”

“That’s a pity! You did them so well.”

“Vanities,” he said. “Here I tend the gardens. The vegetables you are eating have been grown by me. I work with my hands for the good of the house.”

“You see,” said Senara, “Dickon has become a good man.”

It came to me to say that although attempting to seduce his master’s daughter might not find favour in the sight of Heaven, I did not believe there was anything wrong in singing and dancing. Did not the angels sing? But I made no comment. We had received excellent hospitality at the hands of this family; and our host had had the courtesy to ride over to us and inform us that Senara was safe with them. I did not wish therefore to say anything which might be hurtful to them.

I could see that they believed firmly in their doctrines and such people could easily be hurt and possibly angered by those who disagreed with them.

When we had eaten, Senara and I prepared to ride back. It was still only one o’clock for they did not sit over their meals as we were inclined to do. I gathered that eating here was not to be regarded as a pleasure but a necessity. Our horses, fresh for the ride back, were brought to us and with many thanks we left them.

Senara and I rode together—two grooms ahead of us and two behind.

“Now,” I said, “I should like an explanation of how that came about.”

Senara opened her eyes very wide and smiled sideways. “I have told you. I was lost in the mist. I came to Leyden Hall and explained my predicament. I was made welcome and as I was not allowed to find my way home alone I stayed here. You know the rest.”

“It seems to me a strange coincidence that you should be lost near the house in which Dickon is a servant.”

“Life,” said Senara demurely, “is full of strange coincidences.”

When we reached the castle the servants looked at Senara with awe. I saw one of them cross herself when she thought we were not looking. This sort of thing disturbed me and filled me with a vague apprehension.

Senara did everything to encourage it which I thought very reckless of her.

“Why,” she cried to one gaping serving-girl, “did you think I’d flown off on my broomstick?” Then she went close to her and narrowed her eyes so that the girl grew pale. “Perhaps next Hallowe’en I might.”

When we were alone in our bedchamber I admonished her, but she laughed at me. She was excited as I had rarely seen her.

“Imagine Dickon a puritan!”

“Is he sincere, do you think?”

“Dickon is always sincere. He believes wholeheartedly in everything he does … at the moment. That is what I like in him. He made me feel that I could be a puritan too.”

“You, Senara! You are a pagan, which is the very opposite.”

“I could change,” she said, “perhaps. He talked to me about it. It is inspiring … in a way.”

“Inspiring to you! I never knew anyone who loved finery as you do. One day you want to be a witch. The next a puritan!”

“Dickon talked to me about the sect. They are very noble. The Deemsters are fond of him. They love converts. You see, when he went there he was such a beautiful young man, with his feet firmly planted on the road to hell. They have saved his soul. You know how attractive anything that you have saved is.”

She had learned something about the puritans. The Deemsters came from Lincolnshire. Master Deemster’s mother had been Dutch and they had ties with Holland. “They believe that life should be simplicity,” she said, “and abhor all papist idols.”

“As we do.”

“For the puritans their religion is the most important event in their lives. They care for nothing but their simple goodness. They do not believe in the riches of this life. They believe we should live humbly, simply, and that all vanity is an offence to God. They would die for their beliefs.”

“I pray God they do not have to. The King is against them and has sworn to harm them.”

“They know that well.”

“He believes that they are as the Scottish Presbytery, of which he has had some experience, and he has said that that agrees as well with a monarchy as God with the Devil.”

Senara laughed as though this pleased her. I think she was enamoured of the puritans because by pursuing their brand of religion they courted danger.

“Moreover,” I went on warningly, “the King has said at the Hampton Court Conference that he will harry the puritans out of land or else do worse. They must either conform or take the consequences.”

“Oh yes, they know this and they care not for his threats. They are planning action. One thing they will never do is give up their religion.”

I could see she was excited by her adventure and that this was in some measure due to the fact that the puritans were in danger.

I was very disturbed indeed when I discovered that she had known Dickon was at Leyden Hall. One of the servants had found out that he was there and told her. She had staged her little adventure for Hallowe’en—what a fearless reckless girl she was!—and had pretended to be lost that she might see Dickon and talk with him.

From then on she talked of him a good deal and often called at Leyden Hall. She began to learn a great deal about the puritans and their beliefs and aims, which was strange considering she was Senara.

IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY, my eighteenth birthday and Senara’s sixteenth. My stepmother had invited people to the castle. She seemed eager to find husbands for us both, and particularly for me perhaps because I was two years older.

During the last weeks Senara liked to go off alone. I believed that she was riding to Leyden Hall. She was becoming more and more interested in the new sect who were called the puritans. It amused me because there could be no one less like a puritan than Senara.

She had taken the feather out of her riding hat and wore it plain. She would put on a demure expression which ill-matched her brilliant long eyes with the mischief in them. Of course I had never been absolutely sure of Senara.

She talked to me about the puritans and often she would become quite earnest.

“They want to make it all as simple as possible, Tamsyn,” she said. “And religion should be simple, shouldn’t it? Do you think God wants all that ceremony? Of course He doesn’t. One should worship Him in the simplest possible way. The church is always ready to persecute those who don’t conform.”

“You are really interested, Senara,” I said. “You’ve changed since you arranged to get lost near Leyden Hall.”

“I arranged it, as you know,” she said. “I couldn’t believe Dickon had become a puritan. I had to go and see.”

“Surely he is not making one of you?”

“Can you imagine me … a puritan!”

“That is something beyond my powers of imagination.”

“No, I should never be a puritan at heart, but I admire them in a way. Think of Dickon.”

“It seems to me you think of him a good deal.”

“He is so beautiful … even now in his plain clothes and his curls pressed out he is still more handsome than any other man … even your Fenn—who has gone away without declaring his feelings—even he looks quite ugly compared with Dickon.”

“You are bewitched by him.”