” I have not seen her since my return. We have so few visitors now that we are a house of mourning.”

” Of course. And you are wondering how I hear so much of what goes on at the Revels. Servants make excellent carriers of news. My gatekeeper’s wife has a sister at the Revels.”

” Yes,” I said, ” she is my maid, -a very good girl.”

” I am glad she gives satisfaction. I am pleased with Etty. I see a great deal of her. She is about to have her first child’ and I have always taken an interest in our people. I shall see that she has all that she needs for her confinement. We always send silver spoons to babies born on the Kelly Grange estate.”

” That’s a pleasant custom.”

” Our people are loyal to us because they know they can trust us.”

We were both surprised when Simon arrived to take me back to the Revels. The two hours or so I had spent with Hagar Redvers had been stimulating, and I had enjoyed them.

I think she had too, for when she gave me her hand she was even gracious. She said: “You will come and see me again.” Then her eyes twinkled and she added, ” I hope.” And it was as though she recognised in me one who could not be commanded. I knew she liked me for it.

I said I would come again with pleasure and should look forward to the visit.

When Simon took me home we did not say very much; but I could see he was rather pleased by the way things had gone.

During the next weeks I walked a little, rested a good deal, lying on my bed in the afternoons reading the novels of Mr. Dickens, Mrs.

Henry Wood and the Bronte sisters.

I was becoming more and more absorbed in my child and this consoled me.

Sometimes I would feel afresh the sorrow of Gabriel’s death, and the fact that he would never know his child seemed doubly tragic. And each day, it appeared, there would be something to remind me poignantly of Friday. We had taken so many walks in the grounds about the house, and when I heard the distant bark of a dog, my heart would begin to beat fast with hope. I made myself believe that one day he would come back.

Perhaps this was because I could not bear to believe that—as in the case of Gabriel—I should never see him again.

I tried to take an interest in the life of the neighbourhood. I had tea with the vicarage family; I went to church and sat in the Rockwell pew with Ruth and Luke. I felt that I was settling in as I had not begun to do while Gabriel was with me.

Sometimes I would be taken to the nurseries by Sarah- she never seemed to tire of taking me there. I was introduced to the family cradle which was a beautiful piece of workman ship on rockers and was about two hundred years old. tiarati was making a blue padded coverlet for it, and her needlework was exquisite.

I visited Hagar once more and we seemed to grow even closer; I assured myself that I had found a good friend in her.

We did no entertaining at Kirkland Revels on account of being in mourning, but close friends of the family visited us now and then.

Damaris came, and I was certain that Luke was in love with her, but I was not at all sure of her feelings for him. I wondered idly whether Damaris had any feelings. I had noticed that even with her father she seemed sometimes unresponsive, although she was docile enough. I wondered whether she had any real affection, even for him.

The doctor was often in and out of the house, to keep an eye on Sir Matthew and Sarah, he said; not forgetting Mrs. Rockwell, he would add, smiling at me.

He made out a little schedule for me. I was not to walk too far, I must give up riding. I must rest whenever I felt so inclined; and take hot milk before going to bed.

One day when I had gone for my morning walk, I was about a mile from the house when I heard the sound of carriage wheels behind me and turning saw the doctor’s brougham.

He instructed his man to pull up beside me.

” You’ve tired yourself,” he accused me.

” Indeed I have not. And I am nearly home.”

“Please get in,” he said.

“I’m going to give you a lift back.”

I obeyed, protesting that I was not ,in the least tired. In fact, he looked much more tired than I, and in my somewhat forthright manner I told him so.

” I’ve been up to Worstwhistle,” he said. ” That always tires me.”

Worstwhistle! The mention of that place saddened me. I thought of those people with their poor clouded minds, shut away from the world.

How good he was to give his services to such a place!

” You are very good to go there,” I told him.

” My motives are selfish, Mrs. Rockwell,” he answered.

“These people interest me. Besides they need me. It is a pleasant thing to be needed.”

” That is so, but it is good of you all the same. I have heard from others how you comfort them, not only with youi medical skill but with your kindness.”

“Hal” He laughed suddenly and his white teeth flashed in his brown face. ” I have a great deal to be thankful for. I’ll tell you a secret about myself. Forty years ago I was an orphan … a penniless orphan.

Now it is a sad thing in this world to be an orphan, but to be a penniless orphan, my dear Mrs. Rockwell, that is indeed a tragedy. “

” I can well believe it.”

” I might have been a beggar … standing by the road shivering with cold, driven to frustration by hunger, but life was good to me after all. As I grew up it became the dream of my life to heal the sick. I had no hope of attaining my ambition. But I caught the notice of a rich man and he was good to me. He educated me, he helped me to realise my ambition. But for that rich man, what should I have been?

Whenever I see a beggar by the roadside, or a criminal in his prison, I say to myself: There but for the grace of that rich man go I. Then I give myself to my patients. Do you understand me? “

” I do not know …” I began.

” And now you think a little less of me because I am not quite a gentleman, eh?”

I turned on him fiercely. ” I think you are a very great gentleman,” I said.

We had reached the Revels and he murmured: “Then will you do me a favour?”

” If it is in my power.”

” Take great care of yourself … even greater care.”

I was taking tea with Hagar Redvers, and she was talking-as she loved to—of her childhood and how she had ruled the nursery at the Revels, when suddenly that overcrowded room seemed to close in on me and I could no longer breathe. Something happened to me, and I was not quite sure what it was.

The next thing I remembered was that I was lying on the horsehair couch and smelling salts were being thrust beneath my nose.

” What … happened?” I asked.

“It’s all right, my dear.” That was Hagar’s authoritative voice. “

You fainted.”

“Fainted! I … But…”

“Don’t disturb yourself. I think it is a fairly common’ occurrence at this stage. Now lie still. I have seat for Jessie Dankwait. I have the utmost confidence in her.”

I tried to rise, but those strong old hands sparkling with garnets and diamonds held me down.

” I think, my dear, you walked too far. This journey is becoming too much for you. You must be driven here next time.”

She was sitting in the chair beside the sofa. She was saying:

” I remember how I fainted when my son was on the way. It is such a horrible feeling, is it not. But it is surprising how, as the time progresses, one becomes accustomed to all the little inconveniences.

Do you feel like some refreshment, my dear? I did wonder if a little brandy might be useful. But I think we should wait for Jessie Dankwait. “

It could not have been much more than fifteen minutes later when Jessie Dankwait came into the room. I judged her to be in her middle forties; her face was rosy, her expression pleasant; her black bonnet, trimmed with jet beads which danced in rather a jolly fashion as she moved, was tied under her chin with black ribbons; on her gaberdine cloak jet also glistened. Beneath the cloak she wore a black dress and a very clean white starched apron.

I quickly discovered that she was the midwife who lived on the Kelly Grange estate, and as Hagar ruled over that estate like a queen over her kingdom, the midwife behaved as though she were a subject. I subsequently discovered that if any of the mothers were unable to pay her, Hagar paid for them. Jessie also acted as nurse, for she had received a certain amount of training in all branches of nursing.

She prodded me and questioned me and spoke knowledgeably about my condition. She came to the conclusion that everything was as it should be and that what I had experienced was natural enough considering the time of my pregnancy.

She thought that a cup of hot sweet tea was what I needed; and there was nothing to fear.

When she had left, Hagar ordered that a pot of tea should be made, and while I was drinking a cup of it, she said: ” You could not do better than engage Jessie when your time comes. I know of none so good in the neighbourhood; that is why I employ her. She has more sucessful cases than any other midwife I have ever known. If I had been able to employ her for my daughter-in-law she would have been here today.”

I said I thought it was an excellent idea, for I had been wondering what arrangements I should make. “Then that’s settled,” said Hagar.

“I shall tell Jessie to hold herself in readiness. It would be an excellent idea if you kept her at the Revels for a week or so beforehand. That is always wise.”

It appeared that my affairs were being taken out of my hands, but I did not care. The change in my body seemed to be changing my character. I experienced a certain lassitude as I lay on that horsehair sofa listening to Hagar making plans for my future.