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

listened intently; then they talked more of the Island; and the life which I had known with Cousin Agatha seemed as remote as anything could be.

It was half past ten when Jago remarked that I must be tired.

"Jenifry will take you to your room," he said; and Jenifry took a candle from a table and asked me if I was ready.

I thanked Jago for a pleasant evening and said good night.

"In the morning we'll ride round the Island," Jago promised me.

Then Jenifry and I left them.

We made our way back to the hall. At intervals candles burned in the sconces fixed to the walls, making the hall look more medieval than ever.

Jenifry said: "This way to your room." And crossing the hall we mounted the stone staircase. "You will soon get to know your way around," she added, "but for the first few days you may get lost now and then."

"It's a vast place, this castle."

"There is a great deal of room and we are not now a large family. A place like this is meant to be populated by a large family."

We had come to the top of the staircase and we passed through a gallery. When we emerged from it and were mounting another staircase I recognized where we were.

She opened the door. The room looked different from when I had left it. Now there seemed too many dark shadows; it had become an alien room. The curtains had been drawn across the semicircular window, shutting out the stone alcove with its window seat. The four-poster bed from which the curtains had been looped back seemed to dominate the room.

"Just a moment," said Jenifry, and she lit the candles from the flame in the one she carried. There were already two on the dressing table and two more on the mantelpiece. There is something mysterious about candlelight, and feeling overexcited by the day's" events, I thought: I shall not sleep well tonight. A fatal mood when one is about to retire for the night.

Jenifry was smiling at me.

"I hope you'll be comfortable. You have been told, haven't you, to ring if you want anything." She indicated the red-and-gold bell rope. "That will ring directly to the servants' room and one of them will come immediately."

"I'm sure I have everything I want," I said. I was getting used to the candlelight. "You are all so kind."

She smiled at me, her expression benign as though I were a child and she a friend who was determined to look after me.

I glanced in the mirror and saw myself—rather elegant in the trousseau gown and my eyes unnaturally bright, my cheeks flushed. I looked like a stranger.

Then I caught a glimpse of Jenifry through the looking glass. Her expression had changed. Her face had changed; a different woman was standing there. Her eyes had narrowed; her mouth had hardened; it was as though a mask had slipped and revealed what was underneath. It was not pleasant to look at. I turned sharply. But her face had changed again and she was smiling at me.

"Well, if you are sure you have everything I'll say good night."

"Good night," I said.

She turned at the door to smile at me.

"Sleep well."

The door shut. I stared at it blankly for a moment. My heart was beating unnaturally fast. Then I looked back at the mirror and saw that it was a very old one—a little mottled perhaps—though the frame was heavy gilt and beautifully wrought. It had probably stood there for two hundred years. It was a distorting mirror, but how it had changed her face! Had she really looked like that at me? Speculatively, wondering, evil almost, as though she hated me?

I sat down and took the pins out of my hair. I shook it about my shoulders; it was dark and heavy and came to my waist.

The trouble is, I told myself, I am so used to being unwanted that I can't really believe in all this friendship and that was why I had imagined she looked at me as she did. But for the moment it had been quite terrifying. I brushed my hair thoughtfully and plaited it, trying to relax and get ready for sleep. I drew back the curtains and, mounting the steps, sat down on the window seat. The houses of the Island seemed as though they were sleeping, though here and there a light showed in the darkness; the sea was calm and beautiful, the moon's pathway of light shining clearly on the water. A peaceful scene. How different from my thoughts! Of course I must expect to feel wide awake. So much had happened today. I had met Jago Kellaway and had learned that he was not a complete stranger to me; I had expected to come to a humble house on an island and had found myself in a castle of which this Jago was the proud custodian; I had found my long-lost relations and was going to learn about my family. I wished it was daylight, so impatient was I to go on discovering.

The flickering candlelight was eerie; it threw long shadows about the room. I went to the dressing table and looked in the mirror and as I did so I seemed to see Jenifry's face suddenly distorted into an evil smile. It was all fancy, of course. I was overwrought. Tomorrow I would be laughing at myself, but this was tonight and there were several hours of darkness to be lived through before dawn.

As I looked in the mirror I heard a sudden sound behind me. I was so startled I knocked one of the candles over. Hastily I picked it up, splashing hot grease on my hands as I did so, and swung round, holding the candle high as I looked round the room.

No one was there.

I turned to the door. It was shut. Then I heard the sound again and saw that it was coming from the cupboard. I went to it and