Elfreda

“ In spite of this handicap, Elfreda, however, was fully determined to make the most of herself for that evening, and took considerable pains with her toilette. [Pg 117] The best she could muster was a black silk skirt, a semi-décolleté blouse of black chiffon and a pair of velvet slippers. Elfreda was much too matter of fact to paint extravagant pictures of her own appearance, but when she looked in the glass and beheld the prim result of her labors it needed all the humor she possessed to save her from laughing on the wrong side of her mouth. ”

“ If exceptions there were to the rule they were furnished by the Deputy and Lord Duckingfield. Yet Lady Elfreda’s suitor was too much a man of the world to mind particularly; he may even have been rather flattered than otherwise to find himself so famous; while, as for Girlie, having been through so much and having so much more to go through, she feasted and laughed bravely, so that when the time came to retire to the drawing room with the other ladies she felt that she simply didn’t care what happened. ”

“ Baroness Elfreda made herself more agreeable on that occasion, and a plump little German girl of the name of Fräulein Schott took my fancy by her blunt, good-humoured, pleasant manner. There were also some Dutch girls and a French girl, who all crowded into our sitting-room to congratulate me, to chatter to one another, to flock to the window and gaze longingly at the balcony.
“You are what is called of the lucky,” said Elfreda presently. ”

“ Elfreda went to her chill nest very well content with her evening’s work. She had made the discovery already that but for the presence in the house of General Norris, life at The Laurels as nursery governess would be quite insupportable. However, he was a very interesting young man and the fact lent piquancy to the situation. And the manner in which the other ladies had chosen to bear themselves in it had roused Elfreda’s fighting spirit to a perilous pitch. More than ever was she determined to “ride off” the fair Dolores ”

“ Upon the hostess devolved the task of making Lady Elfreda known to those who might be said to be her victims. It was performed heroically. One and all might be sharing a mild sense of outrage, they might be fuming inwardly at the arrogance of this chit who was hardly out of her teens, but it was hard not to admire her sang-froid in the presence of the enemy.
Really she was as unconcerned as if nothing had [Pg 295] happened. She partook of some excellent tea and some cake equally excellent with a zest that atoned for a decidedly scratch luncheon at The Laurels. ”

“ First and foremost, there is Elfreda, who might be described as “the Woman in the Case”; then there is Mrs. Melrood with her attendant vestal, Sarah; Mrs. Judd of Rosemary Lane; a Policeman; a frightened Bus Conductor; a Stout Gentleman; and, of course, Mr. Gudgeon himself, with whose mysterious and extraordinary fate the story is primarily concerned. Nor must we forget the Twenty Ragamuffins. These may be regarded as a sort of Greek Chorus, though unlike most Greek Choruses their comments will be noted for simplicity and directness. To describe each individually would be tiresome. ”

“ She had come through a grim ordeal quite brilliantly. No one had appeared to suspect her, and incredible as the fact might seem, she had almost enjoyed herself! The morrow, it was [Pg 87] true, was dark indeed, but already her life had known one unforgettable moment.
“Now mind you sleep well, Lady Elfreda.” The hostess took an effusive leave of her on the threshold of King Edward’s bedroom. “And no one is expected to show at breakfast unless they particularly wish to do so. So we shall not feel offended if you stay in bed all morning and study your part.” ”

“ Melrood commented. “You haven't been feeding it properly. You shouldn't run away with other people's children. You don't understand them. Its mother'll be fretting herself to death.”
People were always talking about Elfreda's mother.
“She ain't got no mother,” Mr. Gudgeon blazed up. “No one she's got. Only me. They beat 'er. I sees 'er arms—black and blue they was—and I couldn't stand it—I wouldn't stand it. A man goes on and on—like an old bus 'orse—puttin' up with things, seein' 'em 'appen day in, day out—and then all of a suddint 'e can't stand no more. ”

“ Their black coats and white waistcoats seemed to add a subtle quality to the mise-en-scène; somehow they appeared to humanize the atmosphere of the drawing room. Girlie found them much the easier to get on with. For one thing the new peer who was on several Boards with her distinguished parent, the marquis, quite took her under his wing. It seemed he had promised Lady Elfreda’s father that he would look after her. And from the outset it was [Pg 84] clear that the hostess at any rate was anxious that Lord Duckingfield should be as good as his word. ”

“ But Elfrida, who, like Drida of old, concealed, under the form of an angel, the evil passions of a fiend, rebuked her husband sternly for having stepped in, and prevented her from ascending the throne, and for having himself snatched up that beauty which might have raised her to the rank of queen. All, however, was not yet lost; and never before had Elfrida bestowed such pains in decorating her person as she did on the day of the king's arrival. She was resolved upon captivating him; and as nature had done so much, she called in the charms of art to give a finish to her unequalled beauty. ”

“ Shall I not be merry, when steel, and nobility, and a wife are put upon my shoulders?”
“My lord groweth complimentary,” said Elfrida, hardly able to speak for laughter. “I do feel afraid that the air of Kennet Hold, and the drink it affords, have somewhat unsettled his brains!”
“Beautiful Elfrida,” said the bridegroom, “true it is that the brains of Sir Reginald had a terrible knock this day, and thy brother knows whence it came; but we will forget these quarrelsome topics, and give up the evening to merriment. My brains are as firm as thine own. Marry, the wine is marvellous good!” ”

“ It is always difficult to remember exactly where one is when one happens to get into a century that is not one's own.
Edred would have liked to stay all day watching the busyness of every one and the beautifulness of the horses, but Elfrida dragged him away.
They had to find the witch, she reminded him; and in a dreadful tumble-down cottage, with big holes in its roof of rotten thatch, they did find her.
She was exactly like the pictures of witches in story books, only she had not a broomstick or a high-pointed hat. ”

“ And as the children ran towards the house they knew that every man in that crowd would now be ready to risk his life to save from the sea those Frenchies whom they had sat up all night to kill with swords and scythes and bills and meat-choppers. Men are queer creatures!
To get out of it—back to the safe quiet of a life without shipwrecks and witches—that was all Elfrida wanted. Holding the mole in one hand and dragging Edred by the other, she got back to the castle and in at the open front door, up the stairs, and straight to a door—she knew it would be the right one, and it was. ”

“ Downstairs, during this dialogue, Lady Silthirsk had been talking to her niece. “Elfrida, dear, in a few minutes they’ll all be here for the midnight séance; and I have something that I want to tell you first.”
“Why, what is it, auntie?” asked Elfrida: “you look terribly serious.”
“I am serious, darling girl. Let me be frank. I think it is time that you were married—not only, understand, because of your poor parents, but also for your own happiness. And when I see a man who can make you both rich and happy, well——”
“But who?” interrupted Elfrida.
“Who? My dear girl, are you blind! Why, Bobby!” ”

“ Edred asked next morning, through his egg and toast.
"I suppose it's like when people fall in love," said Elfrida, through hers. "You see the door and you know at once that it is the only princess in the world for you—I mean door, of course," she added.
And then, when breakfast was over, they stood up and looked at each other.
"Now," they said together.
"We'll look at every single door. Perhaps there'll be magic writing on the door come out in the night, like mushrooms," said the girl.
"More likely that mole was kidding us," said the boy. ”

“ Elfrida whispered. So she must have had more of that like-shepherds-telling-the-time-of-night feeling than even her brother.
“I wish I could remember what was happening in history in 1807,” said Elfrida, “but we never get past Edward IV. We always have to go back to the Saxons because of the new girls.”
“But we’re not in history. We’re at Arden,” Edred said.
“We are in history. It’ll be awful not even knowing who’s king,” said Elfrida ”

“ Elfrida, wife of Athelwold, the King’s favourite, and daughter and heiress to Olgar Earl of Devonshire, was a beauty of the true Helena complexion. To see her, for most men, was to covet; to possess her, for the one, was to wear a crown of exquisite thorns. The orchard needs most watching when the fruit is ripe, and Elfrida hung at perpetual ripeness, maddening to parched lips without. The keeper of this garden of sweet things might hardly enjoy it for his fear of robbers. ”

“ I can only speak for myself. As I take it, Elfrida's noble birth and her father's wealth, which will come to [Pg 38] her as sole heiress, have had their share in painting this rose. The woman may have beauty enough for a countess; hardly enough for a queen."
"Then you should have wooed and won her yourself," said Edgar, laughing. "Such a faintly-praised charmer is not for me. I leave her for a lower-born lover."
Several days passed. Athelwold had succeeded in his purpose; the king had evidently been cured of his fancy for Elfrida. ”

“ Elfrida rose ecstatic, clasping her hands.
“’Tis he himself!” she cried, and advancing, as the curtain parted, almost ran into the arms of her husband Athelwold.
He was tall, sinewy, pale-haired and lashed. His tunic of fine cramasie was torn, his gold garters trailed; he looked like a man in the last extreme of haste and agitation. He took the wondering beauty in his arms, and gazed into her face, searchingly, passionately. ”

“ Elfrida reminded him, "and it's lower, and you get bigger as you go down, so it prickles more of me than yours does you."
"Let's go back to the attic and try and get back into our own time. I expect we just got in to the wrong door, don't you? Let's go now."
"Oh, no," said Elfrida. "How dreadfully dull! Why, we shall see all sorts of things, and be top in history for the rest of our lives. Let's go through with it."
"Do you remember which door it was—the attic, I mean?" Edred suddenly asked. ”

“ It is very annoying to have our thoughts read. Elfrida said swiftly, “Not often you can’t,” and then stopped short. For a moment the children stood looking at each other with a very peculiar expression. Then a sigh of relief broke from each.
“Fielded!” said Edred.
“Just in time!” said Elfrida. “It wasn’t a quarrel; nobody could say it was a quarrel. Come on, let’s go and look at the cottages, like the witch told us to.” ”

“ Elfrida shuddered. “What was that?” she cried.
“What’s what?” asked her aunt; while her uncle said “Banana,” and fell to his dessert again.
“No—something cold: it made me shudder, just as if something had gone by.”
The Blue Lady, ambushed behind a vast tooled-leather screen, gloated over her success.
“Oh, that!” said Lady Silthirsk: “that’s one of the fixtures—a spook. We rather like her—it’s so picturesque and old-world, ain’t it? Some people can see her—I always can. She’s blue—quite an inoffensive mauvy blue. Oh, I distinctly like her. ”

“ Elfric continued, “our own hall of Æscendune, rising from its ashes, I picture to myself how you will marry some day and be happy there; how our dear mother will see your children growing up around her knee, and teach them as she taught you and me; how, perhaps, you will name one after me, and there shall be another Elfric, gay and happy as the old one, but, I hope, ten times as good; and you will not let him go to court, I am sure, Alfred.” ”

“ And the dead face was like marble; but the wide-open eyes that had never wholly lost their brilliance and the beautiful lungwort blue colour were like living eyes—living and gazing through the crystal-clear running water at the group of nuns staring down with horror-struck faces at her.
Thus ended Elfrida's darkened life; nor did it seem an unfit end; for it was as if she had fallen into the arms of the maiden who had in her thoughts become one with the stream—the saintly Editha through whose sacrifice and intercession she had been saved from death everlasting. ”

“ He was coachman at the castle when it all happened, so, of course, he knew everything there was to know, my mother having been the housekeeper and gone through it all with the family. There was a Miss Elfrida then, same as there is now, only she was older’n what you are, missy. And the gentlemen lads from far and near they come a-courting her, for she was a fine girl—a real beauty—with hair as black as a coal and eyes like the sea when it’s beating up for a storm, before the white horses comes along. ”

“ And when we got back, and I'd changed and everything, there was that bit of plaster in my own shoe. If we can take plaster we can take photographs—cameras, I mean." This close and intelligent reasoning commanded Elfrida's respect, and she wished she had thought of it herself. But then she had not had any plaster in her shoe. So she said—
"You're getting quite clever, aren't you?"
"Aha," said Edred, "you'd like to have thought of that yourself, wouldn't you? I can be clever sometimes same as you can."
It is very annoying to have our thoughts read. Elfrida said swiftly. ”