Читать книгу Two Queens At the Abbey - Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley - Страница 7

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The station taxi drew up. Littlejan was waiting at the foot of the steps. Len Eraser jumped out and took her in his arms, in front of everybody.

“Gosh!” said Margaret.

Littlejan struggled out of his embrace. “You only said good-bye to me this morning! Don’t be mad, Len!”

“It was a week ago,” Len assured her. “Now I want to see all these kind friends.”

He was big and brown and burly, blue-eyed and fair, and not at all shy. Littlejan led him up the steps. “Lady Joy, this is Len. Len, this is Lady Joy’s house. Sir Ivor Quellyn is in Paris for a concert to-night, but you’ll see him when he comes back. This is Lady Jen; she lives next door. These are Lady Joy’s twins.”

“I know you all,” he assured them. “Littlejan has never stopped telling me stories.”

“You call her that?” Joy shook hands cordially. “We’re delighted to see you, Mr. Fraser.”

“Len!” said Littlejan, in the background.

“But we’re a little stunned, you know.” Jen came to greet him.

“I never call her anything else, except perhaps Marigold,” he said. “When they asked me if I would have Joan for my wife, at our wedding, I almost said no. When am I going to see her dressed as a Queen?”

“That depends on how long you stay——”

“Couldn’t we have a party for him?” Elizabeth put in.

“Hello, Twins!” His eyes rested on them in delight and then went to Joy.

“Yes, they’re mine,” she agreed. “How long can you spare for us?”

“Tell us what you’ve arranged!” Littlejan begged. “I suppose you’ve really got to go away?”

His eyes laughed at her. “You’ve known that all along. I must go very soon. The Adventurer—that’s our ship—is fitting out and is nearly ready. I’m going to have a look at her next week; you can come, if you like.”

“Won’t you have to do a lot of outfitting? Polar clothes and all sorts of things?” Jen asked.

“They want us to do all that in Sydney. We start from there,” he explained. “They know all about fitting out for the Antarctic in Sydney, where half our crowd is to join us. A lot of Australians are going with us. So we’re to pick up our personal outfits there.”

“Then won’t we see your fur coats and things?” Margaret demanded.

“I’m afraid not, Miss Twin. Which are you?”

“She’s Margaret,” Littlejan said. “Len, tell us more! Can I come as far as Sydney on the ship?”

“No, Mrs. Lennox Fraser,” Joy said with emphasis. “You aren’t going to start off again like that.”

“It would be mad, Marigold,” Jen said gently. “You’d have to say good-bye to him in Sydney and you’d be all alone among strangers.”

“I had heaps of friends in Sydney. I expect some of them are still there——”

Len interposed. “It wouldn’t be allowed. This is a business trip and sweethearts and wives aren’t invited. I shall say good-bye to you here. And”—he turned to Joy, his tone deepening suddenly, with strong feeling—“I can’t tell you how glad I shall be to leave her in this beautiful place and with such kind friends. I shall feel very happy about her.”

“Wait till you’ve seen the Abbey!” Jen said. “We’ll take you there after tea.”

“We sail on the fifteenth,” he looked at Littlejan.

“Monday week,” she said, in a small voice.

Joy rose. “Now that we’ve heard these plans and have seen Mr. Fraser and know that he really exists——”

“Len!” said Marigold. “Didn’t you believe in him?”

“Not quite. Now it’s time to tell everybody. I shall ring up Rosamund. Wouldn’t you like to speak to Joan yourself? She’s your godmother.”

“Yes, I’d like that. You come too,” and she looked at Len. “She’s sure to want to hear your voice. What shall you say to the Countess? Tell her I’ll come soon to see her and Chestnut.—My pony, Len!”

“I remember the story,” he nodded.

“I shall just say—‘Littlejan Fraser is home again, plus husband,’ ” Joy told her. “You’d better be somewhere near. Rosamund will want to speak to you.”

“Godmother! Littlejan speaking.” Marigold had been granted first turn at the telephone. “Yes, I’m safely home, and I’ve brought somebody with me. We were married in Ceylon just a month ago, before we sailed.”

“Godmother, this is Len speaking.” Joan’s wild exclamation of surprise was cut short. “Lennox Fraser, Littlejan hasn’t had to change her name. Not a cousin, just another of the clan Fraser. I’m called Len. We’d like to see you. I’ve heard all about you.” He handed the phone to Littlejan.

“Aunt Joan, he’s nice. But he’s going away to the Antarctic; that’s why we got married. Yes, it is sad, but it’s nice to know I belong to him. Mother likes him tremendously and Father thinks no end of him. He’s been Father’s radio officer for four years. We’ll come to see you and tell you all about it. Lady Joy wants the phone now.”

“Tell us one thing!” the twins spoke together.

“Is it to be a secret at school, about her being married? She said something like that. But we want to tell people.”

Joy and Jen looked at Littlejan. “You can’t possibly,” Joy began.

“Besides, it would be mad,” Jen said frankly. “It would leak out. Tell everybody and be done with it. You’ll be ragged, of course, but you’ll have to stand that.”

Littlejan looked at Len. “What do you think?”

“Tell folks. You aren’t frightened for them to know?”

Littlejan’s chin went up in a well-remembered gesture.

“I’m proud. All right, Twins. We won’t make a secret of it.”

“Come on, Twin!” and they raced away.

“What are they going to do?” Littlejan cried.

“They’ve gone into the garden,” said Len.

“They’ve gone to the Abbey. I wonder——?”

“Be ready to come, if I call you,” and Joy went to ring up Rosamund.

“We told everybody!” The twins came rushing back, as Joy turned from the phone.

“What do you mean? Everybody? You haven’t had time!”

“Twins, what did you do?” Littlejan demanded.

“We rang up Phyl, from the Abbey, and asked her to have a party for you and Mr. Len, on Saturday of next week,” Elizabeth said triumphantly. “You can dress up for him, if you like. You know you’ll be glad to have some dancing again!”

“We told Rachel. She was thrilled to bits,” Margaret added. “So was Tessa. We’ll tell everybody at school on Monday. They’ll all come to the party.”

“Do you think Jansy will be home in time?”

“For next Saturday? No, certainly not. She and the President have missed May-Day, of course. The new Queen says she’s going to be unlucky, as so few queens could be at her crowning; Jen and Rosamund couldn’t, nor Jansy and the President.”

“It’s for Phyl to say whether she’s an unlucky queen,” Jen said. “I hope she’ll see to it that she isn’t.”

“It’s like stepping out of a book and finding it has come alive,” Len Fraser said. “I know all these people from Marigold’s stories. I shall be thrilled to see that they are real.”

“Do you think you’ll have forgotten the dances, Littlejan?” Elizabeth asked. “It’s years and years since you did any.”

“Or have you been doing them on the ship, or in Ceylon?”

“No, I haven’t had any dancing for three years. But I’m sure I shan’t have forgotten. You two are little monkeys! Who gave you leave to arrange a party like that?”

“You know you’ll like it!” Elizabeth protested. “We thought it would be marvellous for everybody. They can all say nice things to you at once, and you’ll get it over and done with.”

“There’s something in that,” Marigold admitted. “A sort of cold plunge into the deep end!”

When they went to the Abbey after tea, a deeply-thrilled Rachel grasped Littlejan by the hand. “Marigold, thank you for the most cheerful romance I’ve met for some time! It’s a lovely story and I can see you’re very happy. I am so glad for you and for—Mr. Fraser?” and she turned to laughing Len.

“No, only Len,” he told her. “Everybody’s shy; they will call me ‘Mister.’ I know you, and your Abbey, and your dancer-sister, from Marigold’s yarns, and Benedicta, who has taken on your sister’s garden. I want to see it all.”

“Off you go! You don’t need me to show you round. Marigold is quite as good a guide as I am. Didn’t she put me through an exam before I took on the job?”

“And passed you with honours. But please take us round, Rachel,” Littlejan pleaded. “I know I’ve forgotten a lot in all this time. And I want him to hear it from you.”

“Forgotten the Abbey? Never! You couldn’t forget!”

“I could forget the dates very well. Please, Rachel!”

“One can’t refuse anything to a bride,” and Rachel led them round the ruins, thrilling Len to the limit with her stories of old days and the sight of the tunnels under the Abbey.

As they returned to the Hall, Mary Devine, Joy’s secretary and assistant, met them on the terrace. “Littlejan, my dear! You have given us a surprise! Mr. Fraser, I’m glad to meet you,——”

“Len!” Littlejan insisted.

“She keeps saying that, like the Greek chorus,” Len grinned. “I’m going to leave her with you, Miss Devine. I know you’ll be good to her.”

“We’ll try,” Mary smiled.

“When he goes away, I shall come to your room at night to be cheered up, Mary-Dorothy.”

“I’ll give you coffee and biscuits,” Mary promised.

As they sat on the terrace in the twilight after dinner, Littlejan turned to her husband. “Now, Len! You’ve seen it all and you’ve met, or spoken to, nearly everybody. Will it do?”

“It will do more than well. Shall we tell them our plan?”

Littlejan leaned forward and spoke eagerly.

“Lady Joy, we want a bit of land. Will you sell us a scrap, somewhere near the Abbey?”

“Tell us a little more, Marigold,” Joy begged. “You take my breath away!”

“It’s quite simple and sensible. When Len’s grandfather died the big old family house was sold, for nobody wanted to live in it, and the money was divided among the grandchildren, so that when they were ready to settle down they could each build their own house as they wanted it and where they wanted it. Len’s share has been banked and piling up interest, as he didn’t know what he wanted, except to roam about the world on ships. Now he wants to have a house of his own——”

“I want to build a house for you,” Len corrected her.

“There’s no special place he wants to live, so he asked me. I said there was only one place I wanted to live, and I’d always go on wanting it, and that’s right here. But he had to come to see if he liked it too. He loves it, so——”

“It’s beautiful country, within easy reach of London. And the kindest possible people as friends for my Marigold. So, Lady Joy——”

“So will you sell us a scrap of land somewhere near the Abbey gates? He’ll build a little house and we’ll live here for ever and ever, and when he has to go away I shall be near you people,” Littlejan said breathlessly.

“It sounds like an idea Rachel and Damaris once had,” Mary said thoughtfully, “a little house at the Abbey gates, but that was before Rachel knew she was going to live in the Abbey.”

“I’ve heard about it. I’ve bagged her idea. But she doesn’t want it now. Could you, Lady Joy?”

Joy was looking sober. “We’d have to ask Joan. The Abbey is hers, though the land outside is mine. I like the idea, Littlejan and—Len! It would be nice to feel Marigold was settled close to us for good and all. We’ll go round to-morrow and see if we can find the right spot.”

“The house would have to be tucked away in a corner. We don’t want to spoil the loneliness of the Abbey,” Littlejan said earnestly. “But we could plant things, and we only want a little spot.”

Joy agreed. “I think I know the place. We’ll consult Joan and perhaps Mr. Edwards of the farm. But there’s one condition, Marigold. If ever you want to get rid of the little house or to sell it, Joan and I must have the first offer. We couldn’t have just anybody living there. We might like to lend it to friends. We could buy it back from you.”

“That’s only fair,” Len and Littlejan spoke together.

“We’ll put that in writing. Then you’ll feel secure,” Len said.

“But I know I shall love it and I shan’t ever want to sell it,” Littlejan added.

“If we find the right spot and you decide to go ahead, we’ll ask Jack Raymond or Jock Robertson to vet the plans for you. They know all about building, and drains, and lights and things,” Joy promised.

“I wondered if this was what you had in mind,” Jen said next morning, as Joy led them to her chosen spot. “I’d like to see this corner put to good use.”

“It’s always seemed a forgotten patch. I thought Littlejan and Len might like to give it a new lease of life.”

“It will suit me,” Littlejan said happily.

The dark line of ilex trees, evergreen oaks, which hid the barn from the Abbey garden, ended when it reached the lane but began again on the other side of the low Abbey wall, beyond the carriage gates and the plank bridge across the fish stream. Here it curved round till it met the Abbey walls, and continued behind them as far as the trees of Joy’s gardens, shutting off from the road a strip of waste land, overgrown with nettles and poppies and bushes. It was a sunny spot, as the dark trees at the back made a wall, shutting off north winds; there were big grey bushes below the trees, and a low wall protected it from the road which led to the Hall and the Manor.

“But this is wonderful!” Len exclaimed. “Why has it never been used?”

“It has been used, but not lately,” Joy said. “It must have been some sort of special garden, shut off from the rest of the Abbey ground. But it has been neglected ever since we came to live here.”

“And that’s a good many years,” Jen said. “I drive past it every time I go to the village, and I’ve often thought about it. But I didn’t see how we could make anything of it.”

“There’s been a house in there. They’ll find the foundations when they begin to dig,” Len said. “People have lived there. See those nettles! They always grow where people have lived, I’m told. May we have this patch, Lady Joy? I shall like to think of Littlejan in her own house, with that wall of dark trees protecting her at the back.”

“They’re evergreen oaks; they keep their leaves all winter,” Joy said. “Do you like it, Marigold?”

“I love it. We’ll have rock plants in all the cracks of this wall, like those on the Abbey wall; Benedicta will give us plenty of scraps, and it will be all lovely colours. A low grey stone house; I can see it already.”

“We’ll ask Joan. It’s obviously Abbey land, so it must belong to her. I’ll have a talk with her,” Joy promised.

“You’ll have to think of a name for your house,” Jen remarked “Ilex Cottage?”

“Don’t be funny about it!” Len begged. “I don’t want to think of my wife living at ‘Foundatlast’—all in one word, of course, or ‘Myeholme’—spelt just like that.”

“How ghastly! It would be ‘Ourholme,’ which wouldn’t be half so funny, anyway. I’ll be sensible, Len, and I’ll consult you. I promise.”

“You can’t live here quite alone,” he said.

“I’ll find somebody to share it with me, till you come back. Or I’ll have a dog—a bloodhound from the farm,” and she laughed at a memory of old days. “How frightened the twins were of Bess, till they found she had babies!”

“We’ll beg for one from Mr. Edwards,” Joy said, as they went back to the Hall.