youthful surprise.
When he saw us he came striding towards us. Kate flew at him. He picked her up in his arms and swung her round. She laughed gleefully, and I thought with pleasure: Here is someone she really cares about. I was glad to see she was capable of affection.
“Hey, young Kate,” he said.
“You’re forgetting your manners. What about an introduction? Don’t tell me. I know, of course …”
“It’s Cranny,” cried Kate.
“Rosetta Cranleigh,” I said.
“Miss Cranleigh. What a delight to meet you. Your fame has spread to the Dower House. My daughter, Lady Perrivale, has already told me of what wonderful work you are doing with our miscreant here. “
“What’s a miscreant?” demanded Kate.
“It’s better for you not to know, don’t you agree, Miss Cranleigh? I am so pleased that you have come to visit me.”
“This,” said Kate, ‘is Major Durrell. Majors are very important, aren’t they, Gramps? “
“If you say so, my dear,” he said, raising one of those pale eyebrows in a conspiratorial manner in my direction.
“Now, come and sit down.
Refreshments? “
“Oh yes, please,” said Kate.
“A little wine, eh?”
“And some of those wine biscuits,” she said.
“But of course. Look, my dear. You go and tell Mrs. Carne that you’re here and tell her what’s required.”
“All right,” said Kate.
As she ran off he turned to me.
“Mrs. Carne comes in every weekday morning to look after me. She also comes two afternoons a week as a special favour. Fortunately this is one of the afternoons. Apart from that, I look after myself. You learn in the Army. I’m quite a handyman … which saves a lot of trouble.
Come and sit down. Miss Cranleigh. Don’t you think this is a delightful spot? “
“Oh, I do indeed. It is so peaceful.”
“That’s what I feel, and peace is a very desirable acquisition when one reaches my age. You can believe that, I’m sure.”
“I think it is desirable at any age.”
“Ah, the young prefer adventure. They want any excitement no matter what they have to pay for it. I have had my share and now … thank Heaven … I can appreciate peace. I am so pleased you have come to teach my grand daughter and are making such a success of it.”
“It is too early to say. I have only been with her a short time.”
“But they are all delighted. There have been so many trials. Poor child, it has not been easy for her. She’s a good little thing … underneath it all, you know. The trouble is you have to find a way to that goodness. She needs understanding.”
I felt drawn to him. He was clearly fond of her and he was confirming what I had thought of Kate.
“Yes,” I said.
“I do agree. One has to find the way to understand her.”
“You know what I mean … uprooted … stepfather. A child has to adjust herself and with one of Kate’s nature that’s not easy.”
There was something so frank about him. He was so much easier to talk to than either Kate’s mother or her stepfather could possibly be.
He went on: “If there are any difficulties at any time … you know, with Kate … I hope you will not hesitate to come to me.”
“That is good of you,” I said.
“It is a great comfort to me.”
He made me feel that we were allies, and it was remarkable that he could have done this in so short a time.
Kate came out. Mrs. Carne would be bringing out the wine and biscuits soon, she said.
“Now come and sit comfortably by the pond. There are some new goldfish, Kate. Can you see them?”
“Oh yes. They’re lovely.”
“Your gardens are well kept,” I commented.
“I’m a keen gardener myself. There’s peace in a garden, I always think.”
How he harped on peace! Well, why not? It was a good state to be in.
Mrs. Carne came out with the refreshment. She was just as I had imagined her plumpish, rosy-cheeked, middleaged and clearly had an affection for her employer, which did not surprise me. She was protective, admiring and authoritative towards him.
“There we are. Major, and the biscuits were baked this morning.”
“Mrs. Came, you are an angel.”
She bridled.
“Well, it’s a pleasure, I’m sure.”
He went on: “This is Miss Cranleigh.”
There seemed to be no need to explain my reason for being with Kate. I expected Mrs. Came was well aware of all that went on at Perrivale Court.
She nodded in my direction, and was gone.
“She’s a good sort,” said the Major.
“Treats me like a babe in arms sometimes, but I confess I like to be spoiled. So you like my garden?
I do a lot of it myself . the designing and planting and all.
There’s a man who comes in every morning and does the mundane jobs.”
“Have you been here long?”
“Since my daughter married. The house was a sort of wedding present.
Unusual, you are thinking, for the father of the bride to be so pampered, but Mirabel couldn’t have her old father living in a little cottage. She made it as though coming to live here was a favour to her. “
“We saw Seashell Cottage only this afternoon.”
“It’s quite charming in a way. Not much garden, of course. Not to be compared with the Dower House.”
“I told Cranny how I took the Seas out of Seashell and made it Hell Cottage.”
“There you see. Miss Cranleigh, what I have to contend with.”
“You thought it was funny, you know you did, Gramps.”
“Well, perhaps I did. What was I saying? Oh, a great improvement on the cottage, and I am very happy to be here.”
“How comforting it must be to be so contented.”
“Yes particularly after a rather cheque red career. Army life is no
bed of roses, believe me. And then I come to this … My daughter happily settled … and my granddaughter now firmly placed on the strait and narrow path with her most excellent governess.”
He raised an eyebrow at me and I could see the gesture was a habit with him.
“Gramps has been all over the world,” Kate informed me.
“He’s been just everywhere.”
“A mild exaggeration, you will understand. Miss Cranleigh.”
I smiled.
“Majors are the most important people in the Army,” went on Kate.
“My dear granddaughter brushes aside all those generals, field marshals, colonels and the rest who are under the impression that they are the ones.”
“Well, you were,” she said.
“Who can be so churlish as to contradict such a loyal supporter? It is true that I have done a bit of travelling. India, Egypt, wherever my duty lay.”
