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

boat the gulls shrieked their melancholy chorus.

He rowed me back in silence and when we entered the castle he said: "Ellen, come to the parlor. There is something I want to give you."

I went with him and from a drawer of his bureau he took out a necklace made of roughly hewn stones strung together on a golden chain.

He held it up. "It's been in the family for three hundred years," he said. "It's the Kellaway Island necklace. Look at these stones—topaz, amethyst, cornelian and agate. They have all been found on the Island. If you go down the shore at the right time you can pick up such stones. Mind you, they have to be looked for."

I took the necklace in my hands.

"It has been worn by Kellaway women through the centuries," he said. "You will give it to our daughter and she will give it to hers, and so it goes on—a link through the ages. And it's significant because it means the wearer belongs to the Island."

"I think it is too soon for me to accept the necklace."

"That's not so." He took it from me and fastened it about my neck. His hands lingered there and when I put up mine to touch the necklace his closed over it. "There. It becomes you. It looks as though that is the rightful place for it. Wear it, Ellen. To please me, wear it."

I hesitated, for I felt it was like a betrothal ring. I couldn't understand myself, for on most matters I made up my mind very quickly. What did I feel about Jago? If I went away I would think of him constantly. I would be sad and there would be a yearning within me for his company. I wanted to be with Jago more than anyone I knew—and yet I was not sure that I really knew Jago.

I left him and went to my room and the first thing I did was to open my mother's sketchbook at the pages on which she had painted his portrait. There were two people there. I had seen the kindly protective Jago often, the guardian who had welcomed me so warmly. What of the other one?

I turned to Silva's picture and I thought: Oh Silva, what a lot you could tell me if you were here!

I turned the pages. The book opened easily at the one I wanted. The room—the homely, pleasant room; and even as I looked at it depicted so accurately there on paper, the feeling of doom which I remembered so well from the dream crept over me.

My eyes went to my reflection in the mirror and I saw about my neck the chain of Island stones.

I knew so little and there was so much to know.

The Ellen Is Found

When I went down to breakfast next morning Gwennol was there alone. She smiled at me in a more friendly fashion than she had done for some time and I hoped that she realized that her jealousy regarding Michael Hydrock was unfounded. She asked me if I had fully recovered from my accident and I told her I thought I had.

"What an ordeal!" she said, helping herself to deviled kidneys and bacon. "It's enough to put you off going to sea for a long time, I should imagine."

"I went for the first time yesterday. Jago rowed me to the Sanctuary Island."

"You felt safe with him, I daresay."

"Perfectly. Oh, I shall get over it. I do wonder what happened to the boat and if it will come in."

"It seems hardly likely now. I expect it's well out in the Atlantic Ocean. It might be washed up on the coast of France though."

"It would be interesting to examine the leak."

"When you consider it, they're frail craft, these boats. I wonder men ever trusted themselves in them."

"They wouldn't have got very far if they hadn't."

"Particularly those on Kellaway Island," she laughed. "I suppose one day you'll be taking a boat out on your own."

"I expect so. It doesn't do to give up just because something like that happens."

"It's a good day today. I noticed how smooth the sea was as soon as I awoke."

I wondered whether she was telling me she was going to Hydrock Manor and that I should, therefore, remain on the Island.

We chatted easily during breakfast and as we came out of the dining room and through the hall, Slack ran across the courtyard. He had a piece of paper in his hand.

Gwennol ran on ahead of me. "It's a message for me, is it, Slack?" she asked eagerly.

He looked uneasy. "No, Miss Gwennol. 'Tain't for you."

She looked bitterly disappointed and Slack stood uncertain for a moment. Then he said: "It be for Miss Ellen."

"For me?"

I took the paper. On it was written my name and then: "Fenwick found. I'll be at the inn this morning to take you to him. M.H."

Fenwick found! I felt the color rise to my cheeks. If Fenwick would talk to me about my father then I really would begin to learn something. I had forgotten Gwennol in the excitement of the news.

I said: "Slack, will you row me over to the mainland this morning?"

"Why yes, Miss Ellen. In half an hour I'll be ready."

"Good." I was about to go to my room to change into riding kit when I remembered Gwennol and hesitated. I wondered whether to tell her what the message contained and while I was pondering she turned and went off.

Perhaps I could explain later that it was not just an ordinary invitation. It was too late to do so now. I went to my room and changed.

Slack was ready with the boat and in a short time we were at sea.

"Slack," I said, "you can go and see your parents at the inn and row me back when I'm ready to go."

Slack was always delighted to have a few hours with his parents and as we rode into the innyard Michael came out to greet me.

"I've already told