Marsh. I was to learn later that all the oldest houses on the Marsh were built on a slight elevation of the land above sea-level in order to escape the dangers of floods and spring tides. The carriage drew up before the house, Axel helped me to dismount, and then even before I could strain my eyes through the gloom to make out the shape of the gray walls, the front door was opened and a woman stood on the threshold with a lamp in her hand.
I knew instinctively that it was Alice. My nerves sharpened.
Ned and the coachman were attending to the baggage as Axel led me forward up the steps to the front door, but I had already forgotten them. My whole being was focused on the meeting which lay immediately ahead of me.
“Good evening, Alice,” said Axel as we reached her. “May I present my wife?” And he turned to me and made the necessary counter-introduction.
Alice smiled. She was still plain even then, I noticed with relief. She had brown hair, soft and wispy, and a broad face with high cheekbones and green eyes. She had a heavy peasant’s build with wide shoulders and an over-large bosom, and I would have thought her exceedingly fat if I had not realized suddenly that she was perhaps four months pregnant. The image of the meticulously efficient housekeeper and superbly conscientious mother receded a little and I was aware of an enormous relief. She was, after all, merely an ordinary country woman and there was no reason why I should feel inferior to her in any way.
“Why, how pretty you be!” she exclaimed softly, and her accent was many shades thicker than Ned’s. “Pray come in and feel welcome ... Vere’s coming, George,” she added to Axel, and it gave me a shock to hear him called by the name his father had given him, even though he had warned me about it earlier. “He just returned from Winchelsea and went to change his clothes to receive you.”
She led us across a long hall and up a curving staircase to the floor above. Within a moment we were in a large suite of rooms where fires burned in the grates and lamps cast a warm glow over oak furniture.
“I thought you should be having your father’s rooms,” she said to Axel. “They’ve not been used since his death, God rest his soul. Your step-mother still has her rooms in the west wing.” She turned to me. “Let me know if there’s anything more you need,” she said. “George mentioned in his letter that you had a maid, and I’ve arranged for her to sleep in the room across the corridor for the time being. If you’d rather she slept in the servants’ wing—”
“No,” I said. “That will suit me very well.”
“Then if there’s nothing more I can do for you at present I’ll leave you to refresh yourselves after your journey. The footmen will be up with the luggage in a minute, I dare say, and I’ve just had the maids bring up some hot water for you—see, over there in the ewers ... Would you like me to send any victuals up to you on a tray? Or some nice hot tea?”
I opened my mouth to accept and then remembered Axel’s presence and was silent.
He glanced at me, raising his eyebrows, and when I nodded my head, he said: “Some tea would be excellent Alice. But please tell the rest of the family that we shall come down to the saloon as soon as possible.”
The tea certainly revived me. Presently Marie-Claire arrived and helped me wash and change, and some time later when I was attired in a fresh gown and with my hair re-arranged, I began to take more notice of my surroundings. They were indeed beautiful rooms. It was true that they had not the light elegance of the London drawing-rooms, but each piece of oak furniture was a work of art of previous centuries, and the long velvet curtains at the windows and around the bed added impressiveness to the setting. I pulled aside one of the curtains to glance outside into the night, but it was too dark for me to see anything although I fancied I saw the lights of Rye and Winchelsea
I knew instinctively that it was Alice. My nerves sharpened.
Ned and the coachman were attending to the baggage as Axel led me forward up the steps to the front door, but I had already forgotten them. My whole being was focused on the meeting which lay immediately ahead of me.
“Good evening, Alice,” said Axel as we reached her. “May I present my wife?” And he turned to me and made the necessary counter-introduction.
Alice smiled. She was still plain even then, I noticed with relief. She had brown hair, soft and wispy, and a broad face with high cheekbones and green eyes. She had a heavy peasant’s build with wide shoulders and an over-large bosom, and I would have thought her exceedingly fat if I had not realized suddenly that she was perhaps four months pregnant. The image of the meticulously efficient housekeeper and superbly conscientious mother receded a little and I was aware of an enormous relief. She was, after all, merely an ordinary country woman and there was no reason why I should feel inferior to her in any way.
“Why, how pretty you be!” she exclaimed softly, and her accent was many shades thicker than Ned’s. “Pray come in and feel welcome ... Vere’s coming, George,” she added to Axel, and it gave me a shock to hear him called by the name his father had given him, even though he had warned me about it earlier. “He just returned from Winchelsea and went to change his clothes to receive you.”
She led us across a long hall and up a curving staircase to the floor above. Within a moment we were in a large suite of rooms where fires burned in the grates and lamps cast a warm glow over oak furniture.
“I thought you should be having your father’s rooms,” she said to Axel. “They’ve not been used since his death, God rest his soul. Your step-mother still has her rooms in the west wing.” She turned to me. “Let me know if there’s anything more you need,” she said. “George mentioned in his letter that you had a maid, and I’ve arranged for her to sleep in the room across the corridor for the time being. If you’d rather she slept in the servants’ wing—”
“No,” I said. “That will suit me very well.”
“Then if there’s nothing more I can do for you at present I’ll leave you to refresh yourselves after your journey. The footmen will be up with the luggage in a minute, I dare say, and I’ve just had the maids bring up some hot water for you—see, over there in the ewers ... Would you like me to send any victuals up to you on a tray? Or some nice hot tea?”
I opened my mouth to accept and then remembered Axel’s presence and was silent.
He glanced at me, raising his eyebrows, and when I nodded my head, he said: “Some tea would be excellent Alice. But please tell the rest of the family that we shall come down to the saloon as soon as possible.”
The tea certainly revived me. Presently Marie-Claire arrived and helped me wash and change, and some time later when I was attired in a fresh gown and with my hair re-arranged, I began to take more notice of my surroundings. They were indeed beautiful rooms. It was true that they had not the light elegance of the London drawing-rooms, but each piece of oak furniture was a work of art of previous centuries, and the long velvet curtains at the windows and around the bed added impressiveness to the setting. I pulled aside one of the curtains to glance outside into the night, but it was too dark for me to see anything although I fancied I saw the lights of Rye and Winchelsea
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