The Song of the Siren

I am afraid I embarrass you with my interest. You are a very beautiful young lady, if you will forgive my saying so. I am very susceptible to beauty.”

I flushed a little. Not that I was averse to receiving compliments. I liked to feel I was attracting attention and I was quite accustomed to people taking a second glance.

But there was something in her manner which disturbed me. I had a fleeting thought that she was not interested in the house but had some ulterior motive for coming here. She herself was a very attractive woman and I thought it incumbent on me to return the compliment.

“You are very handsome yourself,” I said.

She laughed, well pleased. “Past my prime, alas. There was a day...”

She struck a dramatic attitude almost as though she were performing for an audience.

I said: “No, no, you are mistaken. That day is now.”

She laughed and said: “I think we shall get along well together. It is good to get along well with one’s neighbors. I know this is quite close to Eversleigh.”

“It is very near. I live at the Dower House with my mother, but my grandparents are at the Court. There are three big houses fairly close together here. Eversleigh, Enderby and Grasslands Manor.”

“That,” she said, “sounds very cosy. Shall we look at the grounds?”

We went out into the misty air and together we walked through the gardens and the shrubberies.

“They are not as extensive as I thought they would be,” she commented.

“Oh, they were bigger. But when my stepfather bought the Manor he took over some of the land which had belonged to Enderby.”

“Interesting. What did he buy? It would be interesting to see what I might have had.”

“He had a wall built round it and it now joins our lands at the Dower House.”

“Is that the wall?” she asked. “Yes. He seemed determined to keep people out.”

“The plan at one time was to use if for growing something.... He has not gone on with the idea yet.”

“It looks rather wild in there.”

“It’s been neglected but it will be cleared up one day, I don’t doubt.”

‘Well, I have to thank you, Mistress Main. I am enchanted with the house. I shall want to see it again.”

‘Certainly. I shall be delighted to show you.”

“I was going to ask a favour. I am spending a week or so with my friends the Elsomers over at Crowhill. Do you know them?”

“Yes, we have met.”

“Then you know you can trust me. Would you allow me to have the key of the house so that I might come over at my leisure in a day or so and look at it in detail?”

“But of course.” I said readily. I could understand her wanting to see the place alone, and although it was furnished, it was only with the things which could not easily be removed. I had no fears of her taking anything. Although she engendered a certain uneasiness in me, I could not imagine her stealing.

Readily I gave her the key. I had another at home so that I could come back when I wished to.

We went out to our horses. She mounted with grace, bade me farewell and rode back to Crowhill.

I heard nothing for three days and one afternoon I was overcome by a longing to be in Enderby, for if I was going to sell it I should not have many more opportunities.

It was a misty afternoon; that morning it had been quite foggy and it seemed certain that the fog would descend again as soon as it was dark. Now the mist hung in swirls; everything was damp, the bushes, the trees, my hair. Christmas will soon be here, I thought. We would go to Harriet’s or she would come to us. I should be with Benjie again. He would certainly ask me once more to marry him. Perhaps I should say yes.

Selling Enderby would be one small step away from the past and Beau; marrying Benjie would be a big one.

I was thinking of Mistress Pilkington and how interested she had been in everything-no less in me and my betrothal to Beau than in the house. She had sharp, lively eyes, tawny eyes I remembered, and they matched that magnificent red hair. She had a well-groomed look about her which suggested she was a woman who knew how to take care of her appearance and spared no pains in doing so. I was sure that she moved in Court circles, and there must have been a great deal of talk about Beau and me before he disappeared.

I daresay there were cruel comments about my being an heiress. He had long ago attempted to abduct an heiress, Harriet told me when she was trying to soothe me, and had been prevented from marrying the girl by her father.

“Poor Beau!” Harriet had said. “He was unlucky in his elopements.” And then Beau’s disappearance must have meant that he would be talked of even more.

So it was only natural that this elegant Mistress Pilkington would have heard of the matter and be interested when she came to see a house which belonged to the heiress in the case.

I opened the door and went into the house. I stood for a moment looking up at the gallery. It was so quiet. I found myself listening.

I should be rid of these fancies when Mistress Pilkington was installed here with her family. I expected I should be asked to call. It would all be so different then.