Page 61 of The Garden of Forgotten Wishes
‘It’s Elf Price-Jones’s book. I bought it in the village. Her style is a bit dull, but it’s full of fascinating information. I mean, I’ve already found out that a distant Vane ancestor of mine ran off with a son of the Lordly-Graces, which makes me very distantly related to Ned.’
‘Really? But everyone does seem to be distantly related to everyoneelse in these out-of-the-way villages,’ she said. ‘Though not usually, perhaps, the local bigwigs.’
‘I suppose I’m also distantly related to the current Lordly-Graces, too – or Cress, at any rate. But still, it all happenedcenturiesago, so it’s too remote a connection to count. Of course, no one, including Ned, has any idea I’m a Vane and I’m going to keep it that way. The Vanes are very disliked and sound unpleasant, even without the way they treated Mum. The only member of the family I’ve met is Wayne Vane and he was horrible – and possibly light-fingered.’
‘Well, Mum was adamant you shouldn’t approach the Vanes and make yourself known,’ Treena said. ‘Andyourmum didn’t want you to even come here, so I think you’re quite right to keep it quiet.’
Later, as we walked up to the Fairy Falls, I told her about the angels-versus-fairies arguments and how I felt sure, as Mum had done as a child, that there wassomethingpresent up by the falls.
Treena is not at all imaginative and looked sceptical. This being a Sunday and so near Easter, there were quite a lot of visitors about and, although it was beautiful up by the falls, it had none of the magic it so often held.
We went out of the top turnstile and down the village street, pausing for Treena to buy her own copy of Elf’s book. The proprietor of the gift shop, who had been one of the quiz night regulars, greeted me in a friendly way and seemed to know all about me – or everything that was public knowledge, anyway. The whole village presumably does, by now.
He said the book had been selling well, but then his face clouded suddenly and he told us that someone had stolen a copy that morning and he had his suspicions about who it was.
‘It seems an odd thing for anyone to take, really,’ I said, thinking that even in small rural villages, you couldn’t get away from shoplifting. It sounded, oddly, as though this was someone local and known to the shopkeeper …
19
Full House
Outside Toller’s general store, we bumped into the tall, rangy figure of Cressida Lordly-Grace, dressed in what was probably her everyday garb of riding breeches, boots and waxed jacket.
‘Hi, Cress,’ said Treena. ‘Marnie told me you lived in Jericho’s End. I just never happened to bump into you when your mum called me out to see her dogs, so didn’t make the connection.’
Cress looked faintly alarmed. ‘She didn’t mention there was anything wrong with Wu and Wang this morning – but I do keep telling her not to feed them cake and biscuits!’
‘It’s OK, I’m not here on an official call-out this time. I came over with a friend and thought I’d catch up with Marnie – she’s my adopted sister, you know.’
‘Oh, right,’ Cress said, looking relieved, probably because she’d been worried about the expense of Treen’s professional house calls. She looked interestedly at me. ‘I didn’t realize you were sisters. What a coincidence that I should know Treena.’
‘It’s a small world,’ I agreed, though I hadn’t realized quitehowsmall, or how overlapping the coincidences were going to be, before I got the job here.
‘Mummy’s out of sherry, but so are Toller’s, unfortunately,’ Cress said, explaining her presence. ‘I might be able to buy a bottle in the Devil’s Cauldron, though.’
‘We’re on our way there for lunch,’ I said. ‘Treena’s friend Luke is thearchaeologist who’s going to be in charge of the dig at the ruins after Easter and he’s looking over the site, then joining us for lunch.’
‘Would that be Luke Ridgeway?’ Cress exclaimed. ‘He rang me yesterday evening to ask if I could give him a room until they finish in September. Of course, I told him we’re just a B&B and don’t do lunches or evening meals, but he said that wasn’t a problem.’
‘He did mention he was going to look for somewhere to stay in the village,’ Treena said. ‘Risings will be very handy for the site, if you can take him.’
‘I’ve said I will. It’s a regular booking and he’s going to pay weekly, up front,’ she said cheerfully.
‘Why don’t you join us for lunch, too, Cress?’ I suggested. ‘Ned said he might come.’
She looked wistful. ‘I wish I could, but I won’t have time. I’ll need to drop the sherry in for Mummy and then dash off to give an advanced dressage class at the riding school at two. But I have got time for a cup of coffee, first.’
‘Won’t you want anything to eat?’ I asked. ‘A quick sandwich?’
‘No, we’ve got two lots of B&B guests and I find when I’ve cooked all those greasy breakfasts, I don’t feel hungry for hours. Gosh, it’s amazing how much food people can put away when they’ve paid for breakfast. They really want their money’s worth!’ she added. ‘And Mrs Laidlaw, who takes over when I have to go to the riding school, was late … and then, to top it all, Mummy suddenly reminded me about her sherry, which she needs because a friend is coming over later. So it’s all a bit of a scramble today.’
‘Well, have a cup of coffee and chill for half an hour before you rush off,’ Treena suggested.
We found Luke already there and Treena introduced him to me and to Cress, his future hostess.
He was like a taller, older version of Harry Potter, though with hazel eyes, instead of green, and an engagingly boyish smile.
He went to order our lunch and Cress’s coffee, and she and Treena fell into horse talk, as was entirely inevitable.
