Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

come into my bedroom and sit down awhile?”
    She nodded, and I noted that she was trembling.
    ” I am so sorry to have upset you,” I said as I threw open the door of my room. We went in, and I put her gently into a chair.
    ” Shall I ring for brandy?” I asked.
    She shook her head. ” I’m all right now. You did startle me, Miss Leigh. I see now it is the clothes.”
    ” It is a little dark on that landing,” I said.
    She repeated: ” For the moment, I thought….” Then she looked at me again, fearfully, perhaps hopefully. I believed she was thinking that I was an apparition which had assumed the face of Martha Leigh, the governess, and would change at any moment.
    I hastened to reassure her. ” It’s only these clothes,” I said.
    ” Mrs. TreMellyn had a habit exactly like that. I remember the collar and cuff’s so well. We went riding together … only a day or so before … You see, we were great friends, always together, and then..” She turned away and wiped her eyes.
    ” You thought I was Mrs. TreMellyn returned from the dead.” I said. ” I understand.”
    ” It was so foolish of me. It seems so odd that you should have a riding habit … so exactly like hers.”
    ” This was hers,” I said.
    She was startled. She put out a hand and touched the skirt. She held it between thumb and forefinger and her eyes had a hazy look as though she were staring into the past.
    I went on quickly: “I have to give Alvean riding lessons, and I lacked the suitable clothes. The child took me to what I now know to have been her mother’s apartments, and found this for me. I asked Mrs.
    Polgrey if it were in order for me to wear it and she assured me that it was. “
    ” I see,” said Celestine. ” That explains everything. Please don’t mention my folly, Miss Leigh. I’m glad no one else saw it.”
    ” But anyone might have been startled, particularly as” — ” As what?”
    ” As there seems to be this feeling about Alice … about Mrs.
    TreMellyn. “
    ” What feeling?”
    ” Perhaps there isn’t a feeling. Perhaps it is my imagination only, but I did imagine that there was a belief in the house that she was not at rest.”
    ” What an extraordinary thing to say! Why should she not be at rest?
    Who told you this? “
    ” I … I’m not sure,” I floundered. ” Perhaps it is merely my imagination. Perhaps no one suggested anything, and the idea just came to me. I’m sorry that I upset you.”
     
    n ” You must not be sorry. Miss Leigh. You have been kind to me. I feel better now. She stood up. ” Don’t tell anyone I was so silly. So you are giving Alvean riding lessons. I am glad. Tell me, are you getting along with her better now? I fancied, when you arrived, that there was a little antagonism . on her part. “
    ” She is the kind of child who would automatically be antagonistic to authority. Yes, I think we are becoming friends. These riding lessons have helped considerably. By the way, they are secret from her father.”
    Celestine Nansellock looked a little shocked, and I hurried on: ” Oh, it is only her good progress which is a secret. He knows about the lessons. Naturally I asked his permission first. But he does not realise how well she is coming along. It is to be a surprise.”
    ” I see,” said Celestine. ” Miss Leigh, I do hope she is not over-strained by these lessons.”
    ” Strained? But why? She is a normal healthy child.”
    “She is highly strung. I wonder whether she has the temperament to make a rider.”
    ” She is so young that we have a chance of forming her character, which’ will have it’s effect on her temperament. She is enjoying her lessons and is very eager to surprise her father.”
    ” So she is becoming your friend. Miss Leigh. I am glad of that. Now I must go. Thank you again for your kindness. And do remember … not a word to anyone.”
    ” Certainly not, if it is your wish.”
    She smiled and went out.
    I went to the mirror and looked at