Armorel of Lyonesse

d looked around him. His room was small and low and simply furnished. He was lying on a feather bed of the old-fashioned kind; the bed

tack, and filled his chamber. Below him, and beyond the garden, the geese waddled on the green, the ducks splashed in the pond, and in the farmya

r in a boat and ask what he was doing there. And suppose he had no better reply than the plain truth-that this young lady had been so good as to invite him. Would a man go down to stay at a country house on the simple invitation of a school-girl? At the same time, this girl appeared to be the mistress of the establishment. There was an ancient lady-too old for superintendence-and there were servants. Well, if no g

he toilette. Apollo, however, must be as jealous about his apparel and adornment as the Graces themselves, who are always represented at the moment before the choice is made. A velvet jacket and a white waistcoat are trifles in themselves, but they become a youthful figure and a face which has finely-cut features and is decorated with a promising silky beard, pointed withal, and the brown shading of a young moustache. Besides, he who is an artist think

had felt it in the evening when Armorel played 'Dissembling Love.' Now he felt it again. And when he stood in the porch he seemed to remember standin

was also a look of kindly solicitude on her face which would have suited a chatelaine of forty years. Had he slept well? Had he really been provided with everythi

t seemed as if she meant him to st

morel c

fresh breeze and a smooth sea. We can go anywhere this morning. I have spoken to Peter, and he wil

In the golden sunshine of September the islets acro

on. 'Everybody,' he said, 'ought to c

om that some girls, fortunate above their sisters, can exhibit when they first appear in the morning: her long tresses were now tied up and confined; she looked as if she had just stepped forth from her chamber, fresh from her sleep. No one certainly could have guessed that she had been up since six; nor that the fish which had been hissing in the frying-pan, and were now lying meekly side by side in a dish on the breakfa

breakfast. First, the table was decorated with the autumn leaves of the bramble-crimson, yellow, purple-few, indeed, know how beautiful a table may be made when decorated with these leaves. There were also a few late flowers from the garden; b

ions, nor did she talk much during the banquet. Perhaps she had an instinctive perception of the great truth that breakfast, which is taken at the beginning of the day-the sacred day, with all its possibilities and its chances of what may happen; the fateful day, which alone and unaided may change the whole course and current of a life-should be approache

completed, 'until Peter is ready? He has got

he said, 'to see your

und. If you were here in February, you would see the fields covered with beautiful flowers-iris, anemone, jonquil, narci

ke to see th

n the ship was on the rocks. And then they were all smugglers: the Scillonians used to run over to France openly, day and night, with no one to stop them. And they used to carry fruit and vegetables out to the homeward-bound ships in the Channel. And then they were pilots as well. Some of the men used to make as much as two hundred pounds a year as pilots. My grandfathers were all pilot

em rough on

me time I do not know how all the people lived. As for the farms, they could never grow enough for the islands. Then a great many of the people went away. They had to go, or they would have starved. Some went to England, and some to America, and some to Australia. All the families went away from Samson, one by one, until at last there were none left but ourselves and Justinian.

said Roland,

ly, 'all get on very well wherever they go.

flower-

be carried to London and sold quite fresh. And then everybody began to plant bulbs. Tha

e separation of Scilly from the mainland and the disappearance

o our farm. We grew things and ate them, I suppose. Perhaps we sold t

lids off. Some of the hedges were of elm, growing thick and close; some of escallonia, with its red flowers; some of veronica, its purple blossom like heads of bulrush; some of the service-tree; and some, but not many, of tamarisk, its pink bunches of blossom all displayed at this time of the year. But the fields we

begins in January, and lasts till May; but February and March are our best months. See-there is Peter, wit

e the young man from Bryher, who looked more than half sailor, with a broad, long-handled spade, was l

form of agricult

will kill a whole field full of blossoms-in spite of all our hedges. That is a terrible loss. When everything goes well, we cut the flowers

tion to the spring flowers. Henceforth they will bring back this glorious view of sea and islands, grey and black rocks, t

had ever called her anything except plain Armorel. And it was quite a new experi

ecay of age. They were twisted and dwarfish; the branches grew in queer angles and elbows, as if they were crouching down out of reach of the north wind; the trunks were bent, and, which completed their resemblance to the

l, to-- Thank you.' He filled and lit his briar-root, and lay back on the warm bank, gazin

, very good it was of you to ask me, Armorel

as a personable young man, even picturesque; when his beard should be a little longer, when his moustache should be a little s

u promised to stay,' s

orel, a dreadful misgiving has possessed me. Does

, 'we never consult her about an

d you ask me here all out of you

body to consult. Why

-you are younger than most ladies

ttle irritation, 'and you said you would come.

not unnatural; but he could not explain. 'I ought to have known,' he said. 'You are the Queen of Samson, as w

and Chessun manage the house. There is no one

s with a tou

relations-cou

the Great War-and became a purser in the Navy. After that he was purveyor for the Fleet, and was made a knig

ery lonely

what it meant. All our misfortunes, my great-great-grandmother says, are due to the wickedness of her husband's father, who took a bag of treasure from the neck of a passenger rescued from a wre

ieve a great deal, but

te alone. Why should I not

el, any reason, except that you

w you and tal

o not ask people into our houses un

that you were

and wicked men in the world. Some of these may come to Scilly. Do not ask another stranger. Believe me, it is dangerous.

rmorel looked ready to cry. 'You have

me to stay an

d Lee? You have got something on y

y, 'to approve. If the Ancestress, or even

thing in the world for me to have someone here to talk to

o delightful here-and so new-and since yo

conscience smote him, but not severely. He would be very careful. And, after all, she was

re Peter is ready, I must leave you for ten minutes, because I have to make a cake for your tea this evening. As for dinner

l not. I would ra

I like to make things. It would be dull here in

dull sometimes, even

at times, even when we have so many blessings as I enjoy.' Armorel was yo

get throug

th Jack after breakfast; we run up the hill and down the other side-round Porth

Roland echoed

d stand on the carn just for J

mes it

have to go over to Hugh Town and buy them. At Hugh Town there are shops where they keep beautiful things-you can buy anything you want at Hugh Town. We cannot make pins and needles at home, can we? Then we have dinner, and Granny is brought in. Sometimes s

ch of jealousy, because it could not matter to him even if all the young men of St. Mary's and Bryher and Tres

used to come, when Granny was still able to talk, in

music for the Ancestress a

o to bed. Generally by nine o'cloc

eliminary or a preparation to something else. It is the overture, pla

d,' she replied. 'Of course, m

lovely skies and sunlit s

wrecks he has seen. Dorcas talks very little now, because she has lost all her teeth. Chessun is a silent woman, because she's always been kept under by her mother. And Peter's not a talkative boy, because he'

ill follow the example of other old people and vanish. Then, A

o-trees, and covered them with long grass and lined them with the skin of goats. He made fire by rubbing two sticks together on his knee. And he lived by catching goats. You mean, Roland Lee,' she said, with great seriousness, 'that some day or other all these old people will die-my grea

girl fresh from the most religious teaching could say such a thing. Yet they go to church a good deal oftener than Armorel, whose chances were only once a week, and then only when the weather was f

'Have you read that good old navigator? It is not of

dore Anson, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook-and more besides. I like Carteret best, because his ship was so small and so crazy, and his men so few and so w

in the world besides v

gs to Scilly. Queen Elizabeth built the Star Fort-you've seen the Star Fort on the Garrison. There is Charles the First's Castle, on Tresco, all in ruins; and, down below it, Cromwell's Castle, which I will sh

was t

Islands-I think on Maiden Bower. How many were saved I cannot tell you; but some were, and among them Don Hernando Mureno himself. He stayed here, and never wanted to go away any more; but married a Scillonian, and lived out his life on Bryher, and is buried at th

el; unless, indeed, you happen t

oks?' she asked him, anxiously. 'If you re

re of her intellect to a young philosopher. It is a moving spectacle, and still novel. It makes a much more beautiful picture than that of Venus handi

,' he said. 'I suppose that th

so much. She could cure all diseases, and the people came over here from all the islands for her advice

shes of his pipe-'I think you want

dvise me, R

ny islands. Perchance we may discover Circe upon one of them-unless you are yourself Circe-and I shall presently find myself transformed; but you are too good to turn me into anything except a prince or a poet. And we may light upon St. B

Stephenson. Why do you say such extravagant things? This is the is