Architects -- Fiction; Castles -- Conservation and restoration -- Fiction; Love stories; Wessex (England) -- Fiction
At ten o’clock they met in the same room, Paula appearing in a straw hat
having a bent-up brim lined with plaited silk, so that it surrounded
her forehead like a nimbus; and Somerset armed with sketch-book,
measuring-rod, and other apparatus of his craft.
‘And Mr. Havill?’ said the young man.
‘I have not decided to employ him: if I do he shall go round with me
independently of you,’ she replied rather brusquely.
Somerset was by no means sorry to hear this. His duty to Havill was
done.
‘And now,’ she said, as they walked on together through the passages, ‘I
must tell you that I am not a mediaevalist myself; and perhaps that’s a
pity.’
‘What are you?’
‘I am Greek--that’s why I don’t wish to influence your design.’
Somerset, as they proceeded, pointed out where roofs had been and
should be again, where gables had been pulled down, and where floors had
vanished, showing her how to reconstruct their details from marks in the
walls, much as a comparative anatomist reconstructs an antediluvian from
fragmentary bones and teeth. She appeared to be interested, listened
attentively, but said little in reply. They were ultimately in a long
narrow passage, indifferently lighted, when Somerset, treading on a
loose stone, felt a twinge of weakness in one knee, and knew in a moment
that it was the result of the twist given by his yesterday’s fall. He
paused, leaning against the wall.
‘What is it?’ said Paula, with a sudden timidity in her voice.
‘I slipped down yesterday,’ he said. ‘It will be right in a moment.’
‘I--can I help you?’ said Paula. But she did not come near him; indeed,
she withdrew a little. She looked up the passage, and down the passage,
and became conscious that it was long and gloomy, and that nobody was
near. A curious coy uneasiness seemed to take possession of her. Whether
she thought, for the first time, that she had made a mistake--that to
wander about the castle alone with him was compromising, or whether
it was the mere shy instinct of maidenhood, nobody knows; but she said
suddenly, ‘I will get something for you, and return in a few minutes.’
‘Pray don’t--it has quite passed!’ he said, stepping out again.
But Paula had vanished. When she came back it was in the rear of
Charlotte De Stancy. Miss De Stancy had a tumbler in one hand, half full
of wine, which she offered him; Paula remaining in the background.
He took the glass, and, to satisfy his companions, drank a mouthful or
two, though there was really nothing whatever the matter with him beyond
the slight ache above mentioned. Charlotte was going to retire, but
Paula said, quite anxiously, ‘You will stay with me, Charlotte, won’t
you? Surely you are interested in what I am doing?’
‘What is it?’ said Miss De Stancy.
‘Planning how to mend and enlarge the castle. Tell Mr. Somerset what I
want done in the quadrangle--you know quite well--and I will walk on.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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