Chapter Twenty Six
Caroline
Nr Manorbier, Wales
Elsa came rushing through the door and threw her arms round me. ‘It’s so lovely to see you, Caroline. I’m sorry the housekeeper can’t be here to welcome you, but she’s busy with my uncle, and anyway, I really wanted to help settle you in on your first night.’
‘Oh, goodness, the last thing I should want is to be any trouble at all. It’s so kind of you to think of me.’
‘You must be very tired too, Caroline,’ said Harry, running his fingers through his hair. ‘Listen, it’s late … I’ll leave you in Elsa’s capable hands to get settled and see you in the morning.’
Watching him dash off into the dark corridor with Randolph at his heels, he merely waved his hand before he disappeared. I was desperately disappointed. I didn’t want him to go - he hadn’t even kissed me, not even a peck on the cheek.
‘He’s so good with my uncle,’ said Elsa as if she were explaining his behaviour. ‘Uncle Geraint prefers to spend the nights awake, and catching up on sleep in the daytime. I think Harry is quite shattered after one night … our uncle can be very demanding.’
‘Oh dear, I didn’t realise … I shouldn’t have come to add to his workload,’ I said feeling ashamed I’d been so selfish. ‘He should be catching up on his sleep during the day.’
‘No, he couldn’t wait to see you, and neither could I.
We’re going to share the nights between us, and catnap during the day when the nurse comes in.
I would have done tonight’s shift, but Uncle Geraint insisted Harry do it, and we’re just trying to keep him happy.
I’m sure everything will settle down as soon as my uncle’s health improves.
Let me show you upstairs, and we can all meet, fresh as daisies in the morning. ’
Following her up the wide wooden staircase, I thought it looked like any other belonging to a grand house, as far as I could tell in the dark. Elsa’s torch illuminated the wooden panelling on the walls; it was quite unlike the stone castle I’d imagined.
‘This part of the castle has all been refurbished,’ she said.
‘Most of it was initially modelled in Victorian times, though my uncle has a good eye for modern furniture in a classic sort of country house style. The oldest parts of the castle are on the other side of the quadrangle, still in ruins, as the money ran out for renovations a long time ago.’
‘I should love to see over it all,’ I said.
‘Well, I’m sure Harry will love showing you round. There are sublime views over the coast, and on a fine day there’s nowhere better to explore.’
We’d climbed several flights of stairs and finally turned into a winding corridor where smaller staircases led off in several directions. I had the feeling we were in an older part of the castle when we stopped.
‘Harry thought you might enjoy being in one of the rooms that’s been less modified by Victorian ancestors,’ Elsa said.
I didn’t quite know what to expect beyond the hinged wooden door set into a stone arch, which looked just how I’d imagined it would, and couldn’t help thinking of Catherine Morland who’d been a little disappointed by her modern furnishings.
I wasn’t let down in the least. The roughly plastered walls were painted a crimson colour glowing in the firelight reflected round the room, and the lanterns and candles glimmering on the mantle above the stone fireplace.
Best of all, was a mahogany four poster bed that looked very ancient, but with the most beautiful bed linen in plain white cotton edged in the most delicate lace, and clearly belonging to a distant era.
There was a tapestry on one wall, a huge landscape painting over the fireplace, and windows on the opposite walls with damask curtains drawn to keep in the heat.
It looked a cosy room at first sight, and I couldn’t wait to get into bed.
‘I hope you’ll find everything you need. There’s a small bathroom just next door, and there should be plenty of hot water. We probably won’t have breakfast until nine tomorrow. I’ll come and knock for you, if you like. It’s easy to get lost in this vast place.’
‘Thank you, Elsa, I’ll look forward to it, but if there is anything I can do to help tonight, please let me know.’
Elsa leaned forward to kiss me on my cheek. ‘You’re so sweet, but I’ll see you in the morning.’
When she’d gone, I suddenly remembered my case, but I needn’t have worried.
It was there by a chair next to my bedside, and I couldn’t help thinking about the supposed ancient retainer struggling up the stairs with it, until I guessed Harry must have left it there for me on the way to see his uncle.
I couldn’t see very well by candlelight in the bathroom, but managed to have a quick wash and brush my teeth.
It was so warm in the bedroom, a combination of the fire and the glowing walls; that I lingered over getting undressed, fetching out my hairbrush, imagining I was a heroine in a novel getting ready for bed.
The only problem was there didn’t seem to be a mirror of any kind, and though I hadn’t seen one in the bathroom I thought there must be one somewhere that I’d overlooked.
I hopped into bed, and found the mattress so wonderfully soft that I might have dropped off there and then, if not for the fact that I saw one or two very interesting books on my bedside table.
The one on top was Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a novel I’d never got round to reading, and I picked it up wondering if Harry had left it especially for me to find.
I was soon engrossed, and it amused me to read that the hero of the novel had made a journey to Dracula’s castle at night, like me, and I loved the description of the Count’s sharp fingernails and hairy palms, but decided I wouldn’t read any more when I got to the part about there being no looking glass.
I know for a fact, after watching several vampire films that there are never mirrors in them because vampires have no reflections.
And then, I found my imagination running wild as I thought over the fact that Elsa said her uncle preferred to sleep in the daytime, as silly as that sounds.
I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that I’d been invited to the castle by Count Dracula himself and that I was never going to see the light of day again.
I was wide-awake, feeling completely spooked, and very hot, as the fire showed no sign of dying down.
Even so, I pulled up the covers on my bed and peeped over the top to look round the room.
At least there were no old chests where dead bodies might be hidden, though in one corner of the room I suddenly noticed a crucifix hewn into the wall, which I told myself had most likely been there for centuries, preserved by monks or whoever had lived in the castle centuries ago.
The heat in the room was becoming oppressive, and even with the covers thrown back I felt hot.
There was nothing for it, but to get up and open the window.
I felt nervous pulling back the curtain, but nothing stirred or leapt out at me, and the leaded casement was easy to open.
I looked out into the blackness of the night, and jumped when rainwater splashed my face.
The sound of a dog howling pierced the quiet lull of the sea, though I scolded my silliness when I realised it was probably just Randolph having dreams or feeling restless.
There weren’t any wolves left in England, were there?
No, the worst was yet to come, as my eyes got used to the light and I could see flitting birds crossing and swooping, diving down and flying up above the castle walls.
Except, I very quickly realised no self-respecting bird would be awake at that time of night, and what I was seeing were a cloud of black bats circling over my head.
Needless to say, I shut the window very firmly, simultaneously managing to blow out the candles on the shelf and even in the lanterns.
I’d never moved so fast as I jumped into bed, my heart beating like a drum, to hide myself under the covers and cower in the dark.
***
When I woke next morning, I couldn’t think where I was at first. The room was quite dark, and I couldn’t decide whether it was very early or because the dark curtains were shutting out the light.
My watch said it was eight o’clock, which was a surprise, and I leapt out of bed to open the curtains.
All the rain of the previous day was gone, and there were wonderful views over a turquoise sea stretching before me.
I couldn’t see anything of the castle itself, except when I opened the window and leaned out, though I didn’t go too far, as there was nothing but a deep drop to the seaweed covered rocks down below me.
I’d never seen such a magnificent view, and with mounting excitement for the day ahead I got myself up, washed and dressed as quickly as I could, discovering a full length mirror behind the door that had been obscured by a dressing gown, and a hand mirror on the high shelf of a Victorian washstand.
Elsa called for me on the way down, just as she said she would, and as we walked back along the corridors and down the many staircases, the castle was filled with light from large windows that I hadn’t noticed from the previous evening.
If I’d felt I was in Dracula’s castle at night, in the daytime there was a completely different atmosphere.
‘I hope you were able to sleep,’ she said, as we came down into the great hall and turned into another corridor. ‘I’m not too good at sleeping in strange places.’
‘I can’t remember when I last slept so well,’ I said, which was true to a certain extent. ‘The bed was so comfy and the room so warm, I soon dropped off.’ Once I’d fallen asleep I hadn’t stirred once in the night, despite all my dreams of being chased by vampires.