Lord of the Far Island, Victoria Holt [world of reading TXT] 📗

"You know how to tempt me, Mrs. Pengelly."

"Why don't 'ee sit down and get acquainted with Miss Kellaway and I'll be back so fast you'll hardly known I'm gone."

She left us and Mr. Tregardier smiled at me.

"She's a good soul," he said, "and always ready to look after folk from the Island. She was once employed in the household and her son works for us, you know. Do let us sit down and, as she says, we'll get acquainted. First Mr. Jago wants me to tell you how pleased he is that you decided to visit us. The sea might not have been very hospitable but you will find your family very different. I trust there are no complaints about your reception at the inn."

"Complaints! Indeed I've been spoilt."

"That was what Jago wanted. I didn't doubt it would be so since he had given orders."

"I am longing to see the Island and my family. I'm afraid I know so little about them."

"Did your mother never talk to you?"

"I was only five years old when she died."

He nodded. "Well, Jago is in command of the Island. It's like a large estate. I work under him as chief estate manager, as it were. It's a large property really. It just happens to be an island. Jago's sister and his niece live with him. His sister keeps house. She has done so very many years."

"What relation is Jago to me?"

"He will explain all that. It's a little involved."

"It seems strange that all these years we have not been in touch with each other."

"That happens now and then in families, I believe. But better late than never."

Mrs. Pengelly brought in the wine and cakes and served us.

It must have been half an hour later when we set out for the Island. There was a light breeze blowing—just enough to ruffle the water—and the sun was now shining brilliantly. I felt my excitement rising and it was not long before the Island came into sight.

"There!" said William Tregardier. "That's a good way to see it. It looks fine, doesn't it—fine and fertile."

"It's beautiful!" I cried.

"The Far Island. More often known as Kellaway's Isle here."

A sudden pride took possession of me. After all, I was a Kellaway and it was thrilling to have my name associated with such a beautiful place.

"There's another island," I cried.

"That's the nearest. Known as Blue Rock for obvious reasons. It's not cultivated like the main island. It's more rocky and there's some sort of deposit on the rocks which in some lights gives it a bluish tinge. Now you can see that other island. It's just a hump rising out of the water. There's nothing there at all, but the choughs and sea gulls congregate there."

I turned my gaze back to the main island. The rock on one side rose in a stark cliff face beneath which was a sandy bay. I saw boats moored there.

"Are we going in there?" I asked.

"No," answered William Tregardier, "we land on the other side of the Island. It will look quite different from there. The water is very shallow here and there are certain rocks. One has to be careful. It's dangerous until you learn where the rocks and the currents are."

"How many people live on the Island?"

"I think the last time we counted the population was one hundred. It increases. People marry and have children. Many of them have been living here for generations."

The Island was now showing a different aspect. It was softer from this angle and I could see little houses with whitewashed walls and orange-colored roofs. There was a ridge of low hills running down to the sea—green and beautiful, brightened by purple heather and yellow gorse.

"It's lovely," I cried.

"It's almost subtropical where we are sheltered from the winds. We even have a palm tree or two growing on this side of the Island. Our fruit and vegetables are in advance of the mainland every year. But that's in the valleys where we are sheltered from the gales."

"I shall be so interested to explore and learn about the Island."

"That will please Jago, I'm sure."

We ran onto a sandy beach where two men were waiting—evidently for us—with horses.

"I trust you ride," said William Tregardier. "Jago was certain that you did."

"I wonder how he knew. I do, as a matter of fact. I've always been keen on riding."

"That's excellent. You'll be able to ride about the Island. It's the best way of getting around."

The slight breeze caught my bonnet strings and I was glad I had had the foresight to wear such headgear. Some of the smart hats from my trousseau would have been altogether useless and out of place. My baggage, which had been following in another boat, arrived at the same time as we did, and William Tregardier told one of the oarsmen to take care of it.

"I think you'd better try this little mare, Miss Kellaway," he said. "Later you will be able to select your own horse from the stable. I am sure that is what Jago will want. He keeps a very good stable."

I mounted the mare, which was a docile creature. William Tregardier took one of the other horses and we then rode up from the beach.

"The castle is close by," he said.

"The castle!" I cried. "I had no idea we were going to a castle."

"We always call it that. Kellaway Castle. It's very ancient, so the name must have been given to it when the family first came here."

We rounded a hill and there it was ahead of us.

It was indeed a castle with battlemented towers and thick stone walls. It was a quadrangular edifice, its lofty walls flanked by four circular towers rising above the crenellated parapets of the roof. The stone gatehouse was topped by yet another tower; it looked strongly formidable, as though defying intruders to approach. We passed through it and were in a cobbled courtyard; from here we went under a Norman archway into another courtyard and as we did