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Much the same as usual, he said. Been to many of these?
No, I said, actually its the first.
Come out of curiosity, did you? I didnt notice you doing any bidding.
No fear, I said. I just wanted to see how it would go.
Well, its the way it runs very often. They just want to see whos interested, you know.
I looked at him inquiringly.
Only three of em in it[18], I should say, said my friend. Whetherby from Helminster. Hes the builder, you know. Then Dakham and Coombe, bidding on behalf of some Liverpool firm, I understand, and a dark horse from London, too, I should say a lawyer. Of course there may be more in it than that, but those seemed the main ones to me. Itll go cheap. Thats what everyone says.
Because of the places reputation? I asked.
Oh, youve heard about Gipsys Acre, have you? Thats only what the country people say. Rural Council ought to have altered that road years ago its a death trap.
But the place has got a bad reputation?
I tell you thats just superstition. Anyway, as I say, the real businessll happen now behind the scenes, you know. Theyll go and make offers. Id say the Liverpool people might get it. I dont think Whetherbyll go high enough. He likes buying cheap. Plenty of properties coming into the market nowadays for development. After all, its not many people who could afford to buy the place, pull that ruined house down and put up another house there, could they?
Doesnt seem to happen very often nowadays, I said.
Too difficult. What with taxation and one thing and another, and you cant get domestic help in the country. No, people would rather pay thousands for a luxury flat in a town nowadays up on the sixteenth floor of a modern building. Big unwieldy country houses are a drag on the market.
But you could build a modern house, I argued. Labour-saving.
You could, but its an expensive business and people arent so fond of living lonely.
Some people might be, I said.
He laughed and we parted. I walked along, frowning, puzzling to myself. My feet took me without my really noticing where I was going along the road between the trees and up, up to the curving road that led between the trees to the moorlands.
And so I came to the spot in the road where I first saw Ellie. As I said, she was standing just by a tall fir tree and she had the look, if I can explain it, of someone who hadnt been there a moment before but had just materialized, as it were, out of the tree. She was wearing a sort of dark green tweed and her hair was the soft brown colour of an autumn leaf and there was something a bit unsubstantial about her. I saw her and I stopped. She was looking at me, her lips just parted, looking slightly startled. I suppose I looked startled too. I wanted to say something and I didnt quite know what to say. Then I said:
Sorry. I I didnt mean to startle you. I didnt know there was anyone here.
She said, and her voice was very soft and gentle, it might have been a little girls voice but not quite. She said:
Its quite all right. I mean, I didnt think anyone would be here either. She looked round her and said, It its a lonely spot. And she shivered just a little.
There was rather a chilly wind that afternoon. But perhaps it wasnt the wind. I dont know. I came a step or two nearer.
It is a sort of scary place rather, isnt it? I said. I mean, the house being a ruin the way it is.
The Towers, she said thoughtfully. That was the name of it, wasnt it only I mean, there dont seem to have been any towers.
I expect that was just a name, I said. People call their houses names like The Towers to make them sound grander than they are.
She laughed just a little. I suppose that was it, she said. This perhaps you know, Im not sure this is the place that theyre selling today or putting up for auction?
Yes, I said. Ive come from the auction now.
Oh. She sounded startled. Were you are you interested?
Im not likely to buy a ruined house with a few hundred acres of woodland land, I said. Im not in that class.
Was it sold? she asked.
No, it didnt come up to reserve[19].
Oh. I see. She sounded relieved.
You didnt want to buy it either, did you? I said.
Oh no, she said, of course not. She sounded nervous about it.
I hesitated and then I blurted out the words that came to my lips.
Im pretending, I said. I cant buy it, of course, because I havent got any money, but Im interested. Id like to buy it. I want to buy it. Open your mouth and laugh at me if you like but thats the way it is.
But isnt it rather too decrepit, too
Oh yes, I said. I dont mean I want it like it is now. I want to pull this down, cart it all away. Its an ugly house and I think it must have been a sad house. But this place isnt sad or ugly. Its beautiful. Look here. Come a little this way, through the trees. Look out at the view that way where it goes to the hills and the moors. Dyou see[20]? Clear away a vista here and then you come this way
I took her by the arm and led her to a second point of the compass. If we were behaving unconventionally she did not notice it. Anyway, it wasnt that kind of way I was holding her. I wanted to show her what I saw.
Here, I said, here you see where it sweeps down to the sea and where the rocks show out there. Theres a town between us and that but we cant see it because of the hills bulging out farther down the slope. And then you can look a third way, to a vague foresty valley. Do you see now if you cut down trees and make big vistas and clear this space round the house, do you see what a beautiful house you could have here? You wouldnt site it where the old one is. Youd go about fifty a hundred yards to the right, here. This is where you could have a house, a wonderful house. А house built by an architect whos a genius.
Do you know any architects who are geniuses? She sounded doubtful.
I know one, I said.
Then I started telling her about Santonix. We sat down side by side on a fallen tree and I talked. Yes, I talked to that slender woodland girl whom Id never seen before and I put all I had into what I was telling her. I told her the dream that one could build up.
It wont happen, I said, I know that. It couldnt happen. But think. Think into it just like Im thinking into it. There wed cut the trees and there wed open up, and wed plant things, rhododendrons and azaleas, and my friend Santonix would come. Hed cough a good deal because I think hes dying of consumption or something but he could do it. He could do it before he died. He could build the most wonderful house. You dont know what his houses are like. He builds them for very rich people and they have to be people who want the right thing. I dont mean the right thing in the conventional sense. Things people who want a dream come true want. Something wonderful.
Id want a house like that, said Ellie. You make me see it, feel it Yes, this would be a lovely place to live. Everything one has dreamed of come true. One could live here and be free, not hampered, not tied round by people pushing you into doing everything you dont want, keeping you from doing anything you do want. Oh I am so sick of my life and the people who are round me and everything!