Page 61 of The Christmas Retreat
‘But I’m sure Toby wants to see the quarry garden, and so do I,’ Pearl said with unexpected firmness and then, no matter what Opal said, dug in her heels, so that finally her sister gave in with an ill grace.
‘That’s all settled, then,’ said Nerys, as if Clash of the Wood Nymphs hadn’t just happened.
Pearl, with an air of defiance, took a fish goujon and nibbled it. Her sister stared at her aghast.
‘That’sfish!’
‘I know, but sometimes I feel I need a bit more protein than beans,’ Pearl said. ‘I think I could eat a little fish sometimes, even though I’ll never be able to face meat.’
‘Quite a lot of people feel like that, I think,’ Evie said. ‘Pescatarians, they call themselves.’
‘I couldn’t possibly eat fish,’ said Opal. ‘And Pearl and I usually agree oneverything! I can’t think what’s come over you since we got here, Pearl.’
I thought I could guess, seeing her exchange tentative smiles with Toby, and I hoped her rebellion continued. Certainly eating more of anything had to be a good idea when the twins both looked like teenage waifs that any strong wind would blow away.
‘Have a vegetable spring roll, Opal,’ Nerys said tactfully, ‘and those jumbo pistachios are good, too. Pass them across, Cariad.’
Stumping over and fixing Opal with her clear, critical gaze, Cariad said, more as a comment than a question:
‘Nuts.’
Arwen
Letter from Arwen Madoc to Milly Vane, Thursday 26 June 1919
My dearest Milly,
You must have written your reply the moment you had read my last letter, for it to get here so quickly! I can’t think what I might have said in that or any of my previous letters to make you think I had fallen in love with Cosmo Caradoc, but I can assure you, you are entirely wrong. I have fallen in love, but with the sea and sky and rocky coast. I am in love with the elements, in fact!
But having thought about it, to be quiet honest, perhaps I was in the first weeks of my stay here a little fascinated, not to say dazzled, by Cosmo’s handsomeness, magnetism and compelling character, and also his seeming to like me and value my work and my opinions on artistic subjects. But that soon wore off when he sought to restrict my movements and with whom I associated, showing his true autocratic colours!
Also, something Bea said when I suggested Mr Jones as asuitor – that she could not think of a man the same age as her papa in that light – made me think, for Cosmo is about the same age as Mama. Of course, Papa was twenty years older than she, but Papa’s outlook on life was always youthful and open to new ideas. For myself, were I to marry, I would like it to be with someone of my own age, with whom I could be on equal terms, companionate friends.
This is not, I fear, something that poor Bea will ever achieve with Mark Prynne!
I have now met the young man. I think Lily must have been talking about me to the family at Castle Newydd, for Maudie and Bea were bidden to take me there to have tea yesterday, where we also found Lily.
I know Mark to be five or six years older than Bea, but found it hard to equate this grave-faced and serious man with the gay and lively, fun-loving companion that Bea describes him as having been. He is brown haired, his eyes the same deep shade, and he would be quite handsome except for the scar that puckers one side of his face, pulling down the corner of his right eye and giving his lips on that side an upward twist. He is also very thin and, one leg being permanently stiff, walks with a stick.
His manner is as easy and pleasant as Mrs Prynne’s, but when he talks to Bea, it is as if he speaks to a pretty but importunate child, kindly, but a little wearied by her prattle of picnics and other unsuitable plans for his amusement.
When Mrs Prynne, after politely condoling with me on the death of my parents and asking me how I liked living in Seren Bach, turned her attention to Bea – I suspect because her son looked weary of her conversation – I moved to sit near him and we had a pleasant talk.
Bea is quite right in that his thoughts are now completelyengrossed in gardening, but clearly this is not some temporary thing and Lily was quite right about his plans.
While I know little of gardening, I do love painting from nature, as you know, having accompanied me to Chelsea Physic Garden and to Kew so many times, to sketch and paint, so I was very interested.
It seems he has been in constant contact with Miss Stretton, the daughter of the lady in whose house in Devon he convalesced, and who inspired this new interest. He hopes she will soon be able to visit and advise him about setting up the rare shrub nursery and the plans for the quarry garden.
He spoke very warmly of her, and although I know that Bea has already dismissed her as a rival, it would not surprise me to find she was quite wrong on the matter.
When, on replenishing my teacup, I said to Lily how delicious the little cakes that had been provided were, we discovered we had a love of cooking in common. Neither of us has been brought up to be a fine lady, but we know how to prepare a good plain dinner.
I have asked for that recipe too, so that by the time I make my escape to Cornwall and can keep house and cook for you, I will have many delicious new ones to try.
Your affectionate and heart-whole friend,
Arwen
