Free The Lovegrove Hermit by Rosemary Craddock Page B

you – I must tell someone – this is too much to bear alone.’
    ‘Anything you tell me won’t go further than this room,’ I assured her.
    ‘Have you ever loved anyone? I don’t mean a brother or a father – I mean a man?’
    ‘Oh, yes,’ I twisted the ring on my finger, ‘I was engaged to a young officer who was killed in Spain.’
    ‘Then you know – you really understand?’
    ‘Of course I do.’ I tried not to push her too hard. The shock she had received that morning had broken open the shell she had built around herself.
    ‘I loved him – oh, I did so love him. I think he loved me but he never said so. He was so kind, so gentle, so comforting . He was my only friend.’ She gave way to sobs again and I waited patiently for her to recover.
    We were interrupted briefly by Sophie at the door with the maid and a glass of brandy.
    ‘Is she all right?’ whispered Sophie, genuinely concerned.
    ‘Not really, but I’m staying with her for the time being. If you can find out anything more, come up and tell me.’
    I took the glass from Sophie and carried it over to the table at the side of the bed. When Elinor was sufficiently recovered I persuaded her to take a few sips.
    I wondered how far this friendship with the hermit had progressed.
    ‘You were close friends, then?’ I suggested.
    ‘Oh yes, we talked and talked. I lent him my books.’
    ‘Goldsmith for one. It had a slip of paper in it.’
    ‘Which I wrote. We met nearly every day if only for a fewminutes. He needed solitude yet I think he was lonely at times, as I was. He understood.’
    ‘He never told you who he was?’
    ‘No, and I respected his wish to keep his identity hidden. I thought he might eventually tell me. He must have been in utter despair to do such a dreadful thing – if only I had known – if only I could have helped.’
    ‘Did he strike you as being very unhappy and depressed?’
    ‘He was melancholic – very serious and inclined to look on the dark side of life – but then, so am I. Perhaps that is why we got on so well. I can’t believe I’ll never speak to him again.’
    I appreciated the poor girl’s wish to keep her friendship secret. I suggested she should spend the rest of the day in her room.
    ‘You’ve had a dreadful experience; if you withdraw for a while no one will be surprised or require further explanation . You’ll eventually find the courage to take part in everyday life again.’
    I did not insult her by telling her she would get over it but when she asked me if it would always be an agony I said it would abate.
    ‘At present it’s like a sharp knife – in time the knife blunts. Grief comes in waves like the sea. In between the waves is a period of calm and the waves gradually come further and further apart. You will be able to bear it.’
    ‘You have been very kind. No one else could understand. Thank you.’
    It was a bizarre association, I reflected, between an 18-year-old girl and a man more than twice her age. Young girls are sometimes besotted by a mature man but notusually one as eccentric as Brother Caspar.
    Sophie came up presently to report that the whole house was in uproar. A doctor had been sent for from Ashdale and Colonel Hartley, who was the local magistrate, was riding over from Shelbourne. Frank and Rowland seemed rather excited by the whole business and had gone outside but Lady Denby was making a great scene and calling for laudanum to calm her nerves.
    ‘She’s lying on the sofa, quite overcome,’ she added, ‘but I thought poor Elinor could do with some laudanum too so I‘ve brought some. They seem to have plenty. No one’s asked about Elinor.’
    ‘That doesn’t surprise me.’
    I persuaded Elinor to swallow a small dose of the palliative , enough to calm her nerves and perhaps induce sleep. When she seemed more settled I sent for her maid to sit with her and then went downstairs. Before Sophie and I entered the morning room, we could hear Lady Denby’s booming