Page 17 of The Christmas Invitation
‘Fair enough,’ said Henry.
‘Going back to my place as soon as I’ve stacked the dishwasher,’ Den added. ‘Got something on the telly to watch, ’aven’t I?’
‘There’s a TV in the morning room, but Den has the only decent-sized one on the premises,’ Clara told me. ‘He’s addicted to football, darts and the soaps.’
‘He can get the telly because of the masts growing on the highest hills,’ Teddy explained to me. ‘They grow there so they can make invisible waves bounce.’
‘Satellites can bounce them too, and the masts didn’tgrowthere, people put them there for communication purposes,’ Tottie said instructively.
‘Like the Starstone?’ Teddy asked.
‘I suppose so, in a way, though whether people wanted to communicate with each other, or with something beyond their knowledge, is a moot point,’ said Henry, interested, then explained to me: ‘The legend about the stone on the hill says that if on the Winter Solstice you can see the brightest star, Sirius, through the inverted V of the stones – there are actually two stones, leaning together – good fortune will bless the valley. Of course, you’d have been seeing it from Starstone village, so you can’t view it from that angle any more.’
‘Unless you’re a fish,’ said Teddy helpfully.
‘Very true, Teddy,’ said Henry. Then he continued, ‘The stone is directly on an ancient ley line – do you know about ley lines, my dear?’
‘Yes, River’s very keen on them.’
I’d read the classic book on them too,The Old Straight Track.
‘Then you know a ley line connects a lot of ancient sites, monuments, or geographical features in a straight line – too many for coincidence. The Starstone originally lined up with a carved monolith in the graveyard in the drowned village – it’s now in the grounds of Underhill – then the church at Great Mumming, which has ancient foundations, and then on to thewhite horse carved out of the hill above Little Mumming too, though there’s much debate about the age of that. It could be relatively recent.’
‘I’ve always found ley lines fascinating,’ I said. ‘There’s something magical about all these invisible threads crisscrossing and connecting the landscape.’
There was a pause while we all drank delicious soup and Teddy was admonished by Tottie for spreading butter as thick as mortar across his bread roll.
‘Den says butter’s good for you, and he lets me sprinkle sugar on top too when I eat it in the kitchen,’ he said hopefully.
‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that tooth-rotting revelation,’ said Clara.
Henry polished the bottom of his soup bowl with the last of his bread and then resumed his lecture on the history of the Starstone.
‘The ceremony that takes place on the night of the Winter Solstice has very ancient roots.’
‘It’s not much of a ceremony, darling,’ Clara said. ‘Just five men from old local families, going up to the stone, circling round it and … well, saying a few words.’
‘Rhyming doggerel – and now it’s four men and one woman, since I took over as the last of the Gillyflowers,’ said Tottie.
‘True, the Gillyflowers started to take part when an older local family died out,’ agreed Henry.
‘There’s a bit of a bonfire on the ledge below the stones, where the onlookers gather,’ said Clara.
‘Yes, and don’t forget the sixth performer, Old Winter,’ said Tottie. ‘He’s waiting in a cleft in the rocks at the back of the ledge, Meg, and when the others go up to the Stonehe suddenly appears and walks round the fire, until they come down again. Then the Green Man, who I suppose represents the New Year, or the spring, or something, banishes him.’
‘It’s all about renewal, rebirth, fertility and that kind of thing,’ Clara said. ‘The whole village used to turn out for it, but very few of the original inhabitants are left and so it’s mostly just those taking part and their families. Everyone goes to Underhill afterwards for the Gathering and has hot toddy and treacle cake.’
‘Sybil’s kept that up since George died, but will Mark follow the custom?’ Tottie asked. ‘And he should be the Green Man instead of Henry, now he’s home.’
‘Good point, Tottie,’ Henry said. ‘I must speak to him about it, because although I haven’t minded filling in for him it would be good to just watch the proceedings this year.’
‘Ididask him and he said he wasn’t interested in all that old rubbish,’ said Clara.
‘George wasn’t really, either,’ said Henry, ‘but he was superstitious, so he did it anyway. And Mark might come round to the idea. I’ll talk to the boy.’
‘He certainly should, because going up there in the dark and the freezing cold dressed in robes and a lot of green frondy stuff isn’t going to do you a lot of good at your age, Henry,’ said Clara.
‘If I have to do it, then I’ll wear my thermals underneath.’
