Garth of Tregillis by Henrietta Reid Read Free Book Online Page A

window and I had gazed with admiration at the page she handed me: a delicate pen-and-ink drawing of the house and avenue was placed at the top. I turned over the pages, covered with her straight, incisive handwriting. Each chapter was headed by a marvellously well-executed drawing: one I guessed to be of the cove, each rock outlined and amazingly detailed; another with an equally detailed drawing of the St. Piran that stood on the piers of the entrance gate.
    Although I didn’t know much about art I knew enough to realize that these were not the work of a mere dabbler. ‘Your drawings are beautiful,’ I said enthusiastically.
    She flushed with pleasure. ‘You like them!’
    ‘Oh yes, very much, I think they’re wonderful.’
    ‘As a girl I studied art in France, but ours was the poor branch of the family and I had to give up before I had completed my studies.’
    ‘What a pity,’ I said. ‘You’d have been famous if you had been able to continue. I feel sure of that,’ I had added enthusiastically.
    She had smiled and her plain face was suddenly warm and attractive. ‘Thank you, child,’ she said simply. ‘You’ve done me a world of good.’ And then as she turned over the pages her face had again relapsed into its strange, withdrawn look. ‘I’m bringing it up only to Giles’s time,’ she had said sombrely, ‘because Garth is not the true owner of Tregillis as far as I’m concerned. He is a usurper, as big a pirate in his own way as his ancestors.’
    I had felt my heart beat with excitement. Diana’s suspicions were correct, then! And did Cousin Eunice know the answer to the problem that had tortured her?
    ‘If it hadn’t been for Garth, Giles would still be here, and darling Diana. We were so fond of each other. She was such a sweet and lovely person. But there, I’m wandering on and you don’t even know the people I’m speaking about!’
    I had felt guilty as I realized for the first time the duplicity of my situation. I was in this house under false pretences: my real work was not to teach the unknown French child, but rather to worm out the secret of Giles Seaton’s fate. At least I should have an unknowing ally in Cousin Eunice. On this occasion she had been too wary of me to reveal any more, but perhaps in time when I had gained her confidence she would tell me what lay behind her words.
    I walked down the avenue and turned down a narrow path that wandered down towards the cove. I had the uneasy feeling of being watched; an uncomfortable creeping sense of being in someone’s sights. I glanced back, but it was impossible to tell from the enormous facade with its rows of windows that glittered in the morning sun which particular window held a watching figure.
    Perhaps all old houses gave one that disturbing sensation, as though keeping eternal scrutiny, I thought, and Tregillis, with its centuries of age behind it, was no different from others of its kind.
    The blossoms of the rhododendrons were exquisitely beautiful, like huge crimson and mauve Christmas decorations against the shining deep-green leaves.
    The path narrowed and came to an end quite suddenly and I found myself standing on a rough granite causeway that bounded one side of the cove. The opposite arm of the tiny bay was formed of rocks against which the sea broke gently. The cove itself was bounded by massive boulders and the blue sea lapped with deceptive gentleness on a beach of pebbles. It was a very tiny cove, almost indistinguishable if one were any distance from the land, I surmised, and in bygone days would be an excellent place for smugglers to carry out their activities. I stood for a moment breathing in the salty, exhilarating air. Guillemots soared screaming overhead and I shaded my eyes and glanced up dazzled by the sun and the reflected lights of the dimpling sea.
    When I glanced again at the stony strand I was surprised and startled to see that the figure of a girl had appeared. She was slowly walking along, her