Mistress of Mellyn Read Online Free PDF Page A

rather familiarly at me. ” Oh, Miss,” she said, ” Mrs. Polgrey says that when you’m finished will you go down to the punch room. Miss Nansellock be there and her would like to see you. Miss Alvean have come home. They’d like ‘ee to come down as soon as you can. Tis time Miss Alvean were in her own room.”
    ” I will come when I have finished my dinner,” I said.
    ” Then would you pull the bell when you’m ready. Miss, and me or Daisy’ll show you the way.”
    “Thank you.” I sat down and, in a leisurely fashion, finished my meal.
    I rose and went to the mirror which stood on my dressing table. I saw that I was unusually flushed and that this suited me; it made my eyes look deddedly the colour of amber. It was fifteen minutes since Daisy and Kitty had left me and I imagined that Mrs. Polgrey, Alvean and Miss Nansellock would be impatiently awaiting my coming. But I had no intention of becoming the poor little drudge that so many governesses were. If Alvean was what I believed her to be, she needed to be shown, right at the start, that I was in charge and must be treated with respect.
    I rang the bell and Daisy appeared.
    “They’m waiting for you in the punch room,” she said. ” It’s well past Miss Alvean’s supper time.”
    ” Then it is a pity that she did not return before,” I replied serenely.
    When Daisy giggled, her plump breasts, which seemed to be bursting out of her cotton bodice, shook. Daisy enjoyed laughing, I could see. I judged her to be as lighthearted as her sister.
    She led the way to the punch room through which I had passed with Mrs.
    Polgrey on my way to my own quarters. She drew aside the curtains and with a dramatic gesture cried:
    ” Here be Miss!”
    Mrs. Polgrey was seated in one of the tapestry-backed chairs, and Celestine Nansellock was in another. Alvean was standing, her hands clasped behind her back. She looked, I thought, dangerously demure.
    ” Ah,” said Mrs. Polgrey, rising, ” here is Miss Leigh. Miss Nansellock have been waiting to see you.” There was a faint reproach in her voice. I knew what it meant. I, a mere governess, had kept a lady waiting while I finished my dinner.
    ” How do you do?” I asked.
    They looked surprised. I suppose I should have curtsied or made some gesture to show that I was conscious of my menial position. I was aware of the blue eyes of the child fixed upon me; indeed I was aware of little but Alvean in those first few seconds. Her eyes were startlingly blue. I thought, she will be a beauty when she grows up.
    And I wondered whether she was like her father or mother.
    Celestine Nansellock was standing by Alvean, and she laid a hand on her shoulder.
    ” Miss Alvean came over to see us,” she said. ” We’re great friends.
    I’m Miss Nansellock of Mount Widden. You may have seen the house. “
    ” I did so on my journey from the station.”
    ” I trust you will not be cross with Alvean.”
    I answered, looking straight into those defiant blue eyes:
    ” I could hardly scold for what happened before my arrival, could I?”
    ” She looks on me … on us … as part of her own family,” went on Celestine Nansellock. ” We’ve always lived so close to each other.”
    ” I am sure it is a great comfort to her,” I replied; and for the first time I gave my attention solely to Celestine Nansellock.
    She was taller than I, but by no standards a beauty. Her hair was of a nondescript brown and her eyes were hazel. There was little colour in her face and an air of intense quietness about her. I decided she had little personality, but perhaps she was overshadowed by the defiance of Alvean and the conventional dignity of Mrs.
    Polgrey.
    ” I do hope,” she said, ” that if you need my advice about anything.
    Miss Leigh, you won’t hesitate to call on me. You see, I am quite a near neighbour, and I think I am looked on here as one of the family.
    ”
     
    ” You are very kind.”
    Her mild eyes looked into mine. ” We want