The Blue Castle, Part 16 | Final Part

Please enjoy this continued reading of "The Blue Castle", a delightful 1926 Canadian novel from author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her 1908 book "Anne of Green Gables".

Follow along as we hear how Valancy Stirling's dull life as a 29-year-old "old maid" is transformed by a life-changing medical diagnosis and subsequent foray into the world of romance, in search of the man and "Blue Castle" of her dreams!

Transcript

Hello there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of the final part of the story of the Blue Castle.

Thank you so much if you have accompanied me along the way with this entire story so far.

It's been a joy reading it,

And if you haven't heard the preceding parts,

You can look for them with the Blue Castle playlist.

They're all in order,

But for now,

Let's take a moment here to have a nice exhale,

Get present to this moment,

And leave behind whichever kind of baggage we might be bringing with us from the day.

There's nowhere else we have to be right now,

Nothing else we have to do.

So,

We can just relax,

Get ourselves comfortable,

And enjoy this final installment of the Blue Castle.

Chapter 40.

Valancy paused a moment on the porch of the brick house in Elm Street.

She felt that she ought to knock like a stranger.

Her rosebush,

She idly noticed,

Was loaded with buds.

The rubber plant stood beside the prim door.

A momentary horror overcame her.

A horror of the existence to which she was returning.

Then,

She opened the door and walked in.

I wonder if the prodigal son ever felt really at home again,

She thought.

Mrs.

Frederick and Cousin Stickles were in the sitting room.

Uncle Benjamin was there,

Too.

They looked blankly at Valancy,

Realising at once that something was wrong.

This was not the saucy,

Impudent thing who had laughed at them in this very room last summer.

This was a grey-faced woman with the eyes of a creature who had been stricken by a mortal blow.

Valancy looked indifferently around the room.

She had changed so much,

And it had changed so little.

The same pictures hung on the walls.

The little orphan who knelt at her never-finished prayer,

By the bed whereupon reposed the black kitten that never grew up into a cat.

The grey steel engraving of Croixtrebras,

Where the British regiment forever stood at bay.

The crayon enlargement of the boyish father she had never known.

There they all hung,

In the same places.

The green cascade of wandering dew still tumbled out of the old granite saucepan on the window stand.

The same elaborate,

Never-used picture stood at the same angle on the sideboard shelf.

The blue and gilt vases that had been among her mother's wedding presents still primly adorned the mantelpiece,

Flanking the china clock of berosed and besprayed wear that never went.

The chairs in exactly the same places.

In exactly the same places.

Her mother and cousin Stickles likewise unchanged,

Regarding her with stony unwelcome.

Lancey had to speak first.

I've come home,

Mother,

She said tiredly.

So I see.

Mrs.

Frederick's voice was very icy.

She had resigned herself to Valancy's desertion.

She had almost succeeded in forgetting there was a Valancy.

She had rearranged and organised her systematic life without any reference to an ungrateful,

Rebellious child.

She had taken her place again in a society which ignored the fact that she had ever had a daughter and pitied her,

If it pitied her at all,

Only in discreet whispers and asides.

The plain truth was that,

By this time,

Mrs.

Frederick did not want Valancy to come back,

Did not want ever to see or hear of her again.

And now,

Of course,

She's gone,

And she's gone,

And she's gone,

And she's gone.

And,

Of course,

Valancy was here,

With tragedy and disgrace and scandal trailing after her visibly.

So I see,

Said Mrs.

Frederick.

May I ask why?

Because I'm not going to die,

Said Valancy,

Huskily.

God bless my soul,

Said Uncle Benjamin.

Who said you were going to die?

I suppose,

Said Cousin Stickles,

Shrewishly.

Cousin Stickles did not want Valancy back either.

I suppose you've found out he has another wife,

As we've been sure all along.

No,

I only wish he had,

Said Valancy.

She was not suffering particularly,

But she was very tired.

If only the explanations were all over and she were upstairs in her old,

Ugly room,

Alone,

Just alone.

The rattle of the beads on her mother's sleeves as they swung on the arms of the reed chair almost drove her crazy.

Nothing else was worrying her,

But all at once it seemed that she simply could not endure that thin,

Insistent rattle.

My home,

As I told you,

Is always open to you,

Said Mrs.

Frederick,

Stonily,

But I can never forgive you,

Valancy gave a mirthless laugh.

I'd care very little for that,

If I could only forgive myself,

She said.

Calm,

Calm,

Said Uncle Benjamin,

Testily,

But rather enjoying himself.

He felt he had Valancy under his thumb again.

We've had enough of mystery.

What has happened?

Why have you left that fellow?

No doubt there's reason enough,

But what particular reason is it?

Valancy began to speak mechanically.

She told her tale bluntly and barely.

A year ago,

Dr.

Trent told me I had angina pectoris and could not live long.

I wanted to have some life before I died.

That's why I went away.

Why I married Barney.

And now I've found it is all a mistake.

There is nothing wrong with my heart.

I've got to live.

And Barney only married me out of pity.

So I have to leave him free.

God bless me,

Said Uncle Benjamin.

Cousin Stickles began to cry.

Valancy,

If you'd only had confidence in your own mother.

Yes,

Yes,

I know,

Said Valancy impatiently.

What's the use of going into that now?

I can't undo this year.

God knows I wish I could.

I've tricked Barney into marrying me.

And he's really Bernard Redfern,

Dr.

Redfern's son of Montreal.

And his father wants him to go back to him.

Uncle Benjamin made a queer sound.

Cousin Stickles took her black-bordered handkerchief away from her eyes and stared at Valancy.

A queer gleam suddenly shot into Mrs.

Frederick's stone grey orbs.

Dr.

Redfern?

Not the purple pill man,

She said.

Valancy nodded.

He's John Foster,

Too?

The writer of those nature books?

But,

But,

Mrs.

Frederick was visibly agitated,

Though not over the thought that she was the mother-in-law of John Foster.

Dr.

Redfern is a millionaire!

Uncle Benjamin shut his mouth with a snap.

Ten times over,

He said.

Valancy nodded.

Yes,

Barney left home years ago because of some trouble,

Some disappointment.

Now,

He will likely go back.

So,

You see,

I had to come home.

He doesn't love me.

I can't hold him to a bond he was tricked into.

Uncle Benjamin looked incredibly sly.

Did he say so?

Does he want to get rid of you?

No,

I haven't seen him since I found out,

But I tell you,

He only married me out of pity,

Because I asked him to,

Because he thought it would only be for a little while.

Mrs.

Frederick and cousin Stickles both tried to speak,

But Uncle Benjamin waved a hand at them and frowned portentously.

Let me handle this,

Wave and frown seemed to say.

To Valancy,

Well,

Well,

Dear,

We'll talk it all over later.

You see,

We don't quite understand everything yet.

As cousin Stickles says,

You should have confided in us before.

Later on,

I dare say,

We can find a way out of this.

You think Barney can easily get a divorce,

Don't you?

Said Valancy eagerly.

Uncle Benjamin silenced with another wave the exclamation of horror he knew was trembling on Mrs.

Frederick's lips.

Trust to me,

Valancy,

Everything will arrange itself.

Tell me this,

Dossie,

Have you been happy up back?

Was Mr.

Redfern good to you?

I have been very happy,

And Barney was very good to me,

Said Valancy as if reciting a lesson.

She remembered when she studied grammar at school.

She had disliked the past and perfect tenses.

They had always seemed so pathetic.

I have been.

It was all over and done with.

Then don't worry,

Little girl.

How amazingly paternal Uncle Benjamin was.

Your family will stand behind you.

We'll see what can be done.

Thank you,

Said Valancy dully.

Really,

It was quite decent of Uncle Benjamin.

Can I go and lie down a little while?

I'm tired.

Of course you're tired,

Uncle Benjamin patted her hand gently,

Very gently,

All worn out and nervous.

Go and lie down,

By all means.

You'll see things in quite a different light after you've had a good sleep.

He held the door open.

As she went through,

He whispered,

What is the best way to keep a man's love?

Valancy smiled wanely,

But she had come back to the old life,

The old shackles.

What,

She asked as meekly as of yore.

Not to return it,

Said Uncle Benjamin with a chuckle.

He shut the door and rubbed his hands,

Nodded and smiled mysteriously.

Round the room.

Poor little Doss,

He said pathetically.

Do you really suppose that Snaith can actually be Dr Redfern's son?

Gasped Mrs Frederick.

I see no reason for doubting it.

She says Dr Redfern has been there.

Why,

The man is rich as wedding cake.

Amelia,

I've always believed there was more in Doss than most people thought.

You kept her down too much,

Repressed her.

She never had a chance to show what was in her.

And now she's landed a millionaire for a husband.

But,

Hesitated Mrs Frederick.

He,

He,

They told terrible tales about him.

All gossip and invention.

All gossip and invention.

It's always been a mystery to me why people should be so ready to invent and circulate slanders about other people they know absolutely nothing about.

I can't understand why you paid so much attention to gossip and surmise.

Just because he didn't choose to mix up with everybody,

People resented it.

I was surprised to find what a decent fellow he seemed to be.

That time he came into my store with Valancy.

I discounted all the yarns then and there.

But he was seen dead drunk in Port Lawrence once,

Said Cousin Stickles.

Doubtfully,

Yet as one very willing to be convinced to the contrary.

Who saw him?

Demanded Uncle Benjamin truculently.

Who saw him?

Old Jemmy Strang said he saw him.

I wouldn't take old Jemmy Strang's word on oath.

He's too drunk himself half the time to see straight.

He said he saw him lying drunk on a bench in the park.

Redfern's been asleep there.

Don't worry over that.

But his clothes and that awful old car,

Said Mrs.

Frederick uncertainly.

Eccentricities of genius,

Declared Uncle Benjamin.

You heard Doss say he was John Foster.

I'm not up in literature myself,

But I heard a lecturer from Toronto say that John Foster's books had put Canada on the literary map of the world.

I suppose we must forgive her,

Yielded Mrs.

Frederick.

Forgive her?

Uncle Benjamin snorted.

Really,

Amelia was an incredibly stupid woman.

No wonder poor Doss had gone sick and tired of living with her.

Well,

Yes,

I think you'd better forgive her.

The question is,

Will Snath forgive us?

What if she persists in leaving him?

You've no idea how stubborn she can be,

Said Mrs.

Frederick.

Leave it all to me,

Amelia.

Leave it all to me.

You women have muddled it enough.

This whole affair has been bungled from start to finish.

If you had put yourself to a little trouble years ago,

Amelia,

She would not have bolted over the traces as she did.

Just let her alone.

Don't worry her with advice or questions till she's ready to talk.

She's evidently run away in a panic because she's afraid he'd be angry with her for fooling him.

Most extraordinary thing of Trent to tell her such a yarn.

That's what comes of going to strange doctors.

Well,

Well,

We mustn't blame her too harshly.

Poor child.

Redfern will come after her.

If he doesn't,

I'll hunt him up and talk to him as man to man.

He may be a millionaire,

But Valancy is a sterling.

He can't repudiate her just because she was mistaken about her heart disease.

Not likely he'll want to.

Doss is a little overstrung.

Bless me.

I must get in the habit of calling her Valancy.

She isn't a baby any longer.

Now,

Remember,

Amelia,

Be very kind and sympathetic.

It was something of a large order to expect Mrs.

Frederick to be kind and sympathetic.

But she did her best.

When supper was ready,

She went up and asked Valancy if she wouldn't like a cup of tea.

Valancy,

Lying on her bed,

Declined.

She just wanted to be left alone for a while.

Mrs.

Frederick left her alone.

She did not even remind Valancy that her plight was the outcome of her own lack of daughterly respect and obedience.

One could not exactly say things like that to the daughter-in-law of a millionaire.

Chapter 41.

Valancy looked dully about her old room.

It,

Too,

Was so exactly the same that it seemed almost impossible to believe in the changes that had come to her since she had last slept in it.

It seemed somehow indecent that it should be so much the same.

There was Queen Louise everlastingly coming down the stairway,

And nobody had let the forlorn puppy in out of the rain.

Here was the purple paper blind and the greenish mirror outside the old carriage shop with its blatant advertisements.

Beyond it,

The station with the same derelicts and flirtatious flappers.

Here,

The old life waited for her,

Like some grim ogre that bided his time and licked his chops.

A monstrous horror of it suddenly possessed her.

Suddenly possessed her.

When night fell and she had undressed and got into bed,

The merciful numbness passed away and she lay in anguish and thought of her island under the stars,

The campfires,

All their little household jokes and phrases and catchwords,

Their furry beautiful cats,

The lights agleam on the fairy islands,

Canoes skimming over Misdarwis in the magic of morning,

White birches shining among the dark spruces like beautiful women's bodies,

Winter snows and rose-red sunset fires,

Lakes drunken with moonshine,

All the delights of her lost paradise.

She would not let herself think of Barney,

Only of these lesser things.

She could not endure to think of Barney.

Then she thought of him inescapably.

She ached for him.

She wanted his arms around her,

His face against hers,

His whispers in her ear.

She recalled all his friendly looks and quips and jests,

His little compliments,

His caresses.

She counted them all over as a woman might count her jewels.

Not one did she miss from the first day they had met.

These memories were all she could have now.

She shut her eyes and prayed,

Let me remember every one,

God.

Let me never forget one of them.

Yet it would be better to forget.

This agony of longing and loneliness would not be so terrible if one could forget.

And Ethel Traverse,

That shimmering witch-woman with her white skin and black eyes and shining hair.

The woman Barney had loved.

The woman whom he still loved,

Hadn't he told her he never changed his mind?

Who was waiting for him in Montreal?

Who was the right wife for a rich and famous man?

Barney would marry her,

Of course,

When he got his divorce.

How Valancy hated her and envied her.

Barney had said,

I love you,

To her.

Valancy had wondered what tone Barney would say I love you in.

How his dark blue eyes would look when he said it.

Ethel Traverse knew.

Valancy hated her for the knowledge.

Hated and envied her.

She can never have those hours in the Blue Castle.

They are mine.

Thought Valancy savagely.

Ethel would never make strawberry jam or dance to old Abel's fiddle or fry bacon for Barney over a campfire.

She would never come to the little Misdarwish shack at all.

What was Barney doing,

Thinking,

Feeling now?

Had he come home and found her letter?

Was he still angry with her?

Or a little pitiful?

Was he lying on their bed,

Looking out on stormy Misdarwish and listening to the rain streaming down on the roof?

Or was he still wandering in the wilderness,

Raging at the predicament in which he found himself?

Hating her?

Pain took her and wrung her like some great pitiless giant.

She got up and walked the floor.

Would Morning never come to end this hideous night?

And yet,

What could Morning bring her?

The old life,

Without the old stagnation that was at least bearable.

The old life with the new memories,

The new longings,

The new anguish.

Why can't I die?

Moaned Belancy.

Chapter 42 It was not until early afternoon the next day that a dreadful old car clanked up Elm Street.

And stopped in front of the brick house.

A hatless man sprang from it and rushed up the steps.

The bell was rung as it had never been rung before.

Vehemently,

Intensely.

The ringer was demanding entrance,

Not asking it.

Uncle Benjamin chuckled as he hurried to the door.

Uncle Benjamin had just dropped in to inquire how dear Dos Valancy was.

Dear Dos Valancy,

He had been informed,

Was just the same.

She had come down for breakfast,

Which she didn't eat.

Gone back to her room.

Come down for dinner,

Which she didn't eat.

Gone back to her room.

That was all.

She had not talked.

And she had been let,

Kindly,

Considerably,

Alone.

Very good.

Redfern will be here today,

Said Uncle Benjamin.

And now Uncle Benjamin's reputation as a prophet was made.

Redfern was here.

Unmistakably so.

Is my wife here?

He demanded of Uncle Benjamin without preface.

Uncle Benjamin smiled expressively.

Mr Redfern,

I believe.

Very glad to meet you,

Sir.

Yes,

That naughty little girl of yours is here.

We have been.

.

.

I must see her.

Uncle Benjamin ruthlessly short.

Certainly,

Mr Redfern.

Just step in here.

Valancy will be down in a minute.

He ushered Barney into the parlour and betook himself to the sitting-room and Mrs Frederick.

Go up and tell Valancy to come down.

Her husband is here.

But so dubious was Uncle Benjamin as to whether Valancy could really come down in a minute or at all that he followed Mrs Frederick on tiptoe up the stairs and listened in the hall.

Valancy,

Dear,

Said Mrs Frederick tenderly.

Your husband is in the parlour asking for you.

Oh,

Mother.

Valancy got up from the window and wrung her hands.

I cannot see him.

I cannot tell him to go away.

Ask him to go away.

I can't see him.

Tell her,

Hissed Uncle Benjamin through the keyhole,

That Redfern says he won't go away until he has seen her.

Redfern had not said anything of the kind,

But Uncle Benjamin thought he was that sort of a fellow.

Valancy knew he was.

She understood that she might as well go down first as last.

She did not even look at Uncle Benjamin as she passed him on the landing.

Uncle Benjamin did not mind.

Rubbing his hands and chuckling,

He retreated to the kitchen where he genially demanded of Cousin Stickles,

Why are good husbands like bread?

Cousin Stickles asked,

Why?

Because women need them,

Beamed Uncle Benjamin.

Valancy was looking anything but beautiful when she entered the parlour.

Her white knight had played fearful havoc with her face.

She wore an ugly old brown and blue gingham,

Having left all her pretty dresses in the blue castle.

But Barney dashed across the room and caught her in his arms.

Valancy!

Darling!

Oh,

You darling little idiot!

Whatever possessed you to run away like that?

When I came home last night and found your letter,

I went quite mad.

It was twelve o'clock.

I knew it was too late to come here.

Then I walked the floor all night.

Then this morning Dad came.

I couldn't get away till now.

Valancy,

Whatever got into you?

Divorce?

Forsooth!

Don't you know?

I know you only married me out of pity,

Said Valancy,

Brushing him away feebly.

I know you don't love me.

I know you've been lying awake at three o'clock too long,

Said Barney,

Shaking her.

That's all that's the matter with you.

Love you?

Don't I love you?

My girl,

When I saw that train coming down on you,

I knew whether I loved you or not.

Oh,

I was afraid you would try to make me think you cared,

Cried Valancy passionately.

Don't,

Don't!

I know.

I know all about Ethel Traverse.

Your father told me everything.

Oh,

Barney,

Don't torture me.

I can never go back to you.

Barney released her and looked at her for a moment.

Something in her pallid,

Resolute face spoke more convincingly than words of her determination.

Valancy,

He said quietly,

Father couldn't have told you everything because he didn't know it.

Will you let me tell you everything?

Yes,

Said Valancy,

Wearily.

Oh,

How dear he was.

How she longed to throw herself into his arms as he put her gently down in a chair.

She could have kissed the slender brown hands that touched her arms.

She could not look up as he stood before her.

She dared not meet his eyes.

For his sake,

She must be brave.

She knew him,

Kind,

Unselfish.

Of course he would pretend he did not want his freedom.

She might have known he would pretend that once the first shock of realisation was over.

He was so sorry for her.

He understood her terrible position.

When had he ever failed to understand?

She would never accept his sacrifice.

Never.

You've seen dad.

And you know I'm Bernard Redfern.

And I suppose you've guessed that I'm John Foster since you went into Bluebeard's chamber.

Yes,

But I didn't go in out of curiosity.

I forgot you had told me not to go in.

I forgot.

Never mind.

I'm not going to kill you and hang you up on the wall,

So there's no need to call for Sister Anne.

I'm only going to tell you my story from the beginning.

I came back last night intending to do it.

Yes.

I'm Old Doc Redfern's son,

Of Purple Pills and Bitters fame.

Oh,

Don't I know it.

Wasn't it rubbed into me for years?

Barney laughed bitterly and strode up and down the room a few times.

Uncle Benjamin,

Tiptoeing through the hall,

Heard the laugh and frowned.

Surely,

Doss wasn't going to be a stubborn little fool.

Barney threw himself into a chair before Valancy.

Yes,

As long as I can remember,

I've been a millionaire's son.

But when I was born,

Dad wasn't a millionaire.

He wasn't even a doctor.

Isn't yet.

He was a veterinary and a failure at it.

He and Mother lived in a little village up in Quebec and were abominably poor.

I don't remember Mother.

Haven't even a picture of her.

She died when I was two years old.

She was fifteen years younger than Father,

A little school teacher.

When she died,

Dad moved into Montreal and formed a company to sell his hair tonic.

He'd dreamed the prescription one night,

It seems.

Well,

It caught on.

Money began to flow in.

Dad invented or dreamed the other things too.

Pills,

Bitters,

Liniment and so on.

He was a millionaire by the time I was ten.

With a house so big,

A small chap like myself always felt lost in it.

I had every toy a boy could wish for.

And I was the loneliest little devil in the world.

I remember only one happy day in my childhood,

Valancy.

Only one.

Even you were better off than that.

Dad had gone out to see an old friend in the country and took me along.

I was turned loose in the barnyard and I spent the whole day hammering nails in a block of wood.

I had a glorious day.

When I had to go back to my room full of playthings in the big house in Montreal,

I cried.

But I didn't tell Dad why.

I never told him anything.

It's always been a hard thing for me to tell things,

Valancy.

Anything that went deep.

And most things went deep with me.

I was a sensitive child and I was even more sensitive as a boy.

No one ever knew what I suffered.

Dad never dreamed of it.

When he sent me to a private school,

I was only eleven,

The boys ducked me in the swimming tank until I stood on the table and read aloud all the advertisements of Father's patent abominations.

I did it.

And then Barney clenched his fists.

I was frightened and half drowned and all my world was against me.

But when I went to college and the Soffs tried the same stunt,

I didn't do it.

Barney smiled grimly.

They couldn't make me do it.

But they could and did make my life miserable.

I never heard the last of the pills and the bitters and the hair tonic.

After using was my nickname.

You see,

I'd always such a thick fatch.

My four college years were a nightmare.

You know,

Or you don't know,

What merciless beasts boys can be when they get a victim like me.

I had few friends.

There was always some barrier between me and the kind of people I cared for and the other kind who would have been very willing to be intimate with rich old Doc Redfern's son.

I didn't care for.

But I had one friend,

Or thought I had.

A clever bookish chap.

Bit of a writer.

That was a bond between us.

I had some secret aspirations along that line.

He was older than I was.

I looked up to him and worshipped him.

For a year I was happier than I'd ever been.

Then a burlesque sketch came out in the college magazine.

A mordant thing.

Ridiculing Dad's remedies.

The names were changed,

Of course,

But everybody knew what and who was meant.

Oh,

It was clever.

Damnably so.

And witty.

McGill rocked with laughter over it.

I found out he had written it.

Oh,

Were you sure?

Valancy's dull eyes flamed with indignation.

Yes.

He admitted it when I asked him.

Said a good idea was worth more to him than a friend.

Anytime.

And he added a gratuitous thrust.

You know,

Redfern,

There are some things money won't buy.

For instance,

It won't buy you a grandfather.

Well,

It was a nasty slam.

I was young enough to feel cut up.

And it destroyed a lot of my ideals and illusions.

Which was the worst thing about it.

I was a young misanthrope after that.

Didn't want to be friends with anyone.

And then,

The year after I left college,

I met Ethel Traverse.

Valancy shivered.

Barney,

His hands stuck in his pocket,

Was regarding the floor moodily and didn't notice it.

Dad told you about her,

I suppose?

She was very beautiful.

And I loved her.

Oh yes,

I loved her.

I won't deny it or belittle it now.

It was a lonely,

Romantic boy's first passionate love.

And it was very real.

And I thought she loved me.

I was fool enough to think that.

I was wildly happy when she promised to marry me.

For a few months.

Then,

I found out she didn't.

I was an involuntary eavesdropper,

On a certain occasion,

For a moment.

That moment was enough.

The proverbial fate of the eavesdropper overtook me.

A girlfriend of hers was asking her how she could stomach Doc Redfern's son and the patent medicine background.

His money will gild the pills and sweeten the bitters,

Said Ethel with a laugh.

Mother told me to catch him if I could.

We're on the rocks,

But I smell turpentine whenever he comes near me.

Oh,

Barney,

Cried Valancy,

Rung with pity for him.

She had forgotten all about herself and was filled with compassion for Barney and rage against Ethel Traverse.

How dared she?

Well,

Barney got up and began pacing round the room.

That finished me.

Completely.

I left civilisation and those accursed dopes behind me and went to the Yukon.

For five years,

I knocked about the world in all sorts of outlandish places.

I earned enough to live on.

I wouldn't touch a cent of Dad's money.

Then,

One day,

I woke up to the fact that I no longer cared a hang about Ethel,

One way or another.

She was somebody I'd known in another world.

That was all.

But I had no hankering to go back to the old life.

None of that for me.

I was free and I meant to keep so.

I came to Mistawis,

Saw Tom McMurray's Island.

My first book had been published the year before and made a hit.

I had a bit of money from my royalties.

I bought my island.

But I kept away from people.

I had no faith in anybody.

I didn't believe there was such a thing as real friendship or true love in the world.

Not for me,

Anyhow.

The son of purple pills.

I used to revel in all the wild yarns they told of me.

In fact,

I'm afraid I suggested a few of them myself.

By mysterious remarks which people interpreted in the light of their own prepossessions.

Then,

You came.

I had to believe you loved me.

Really loved me.

Not my father's millions.

There was no other reason why you should want to marry a penniless devil with my supposed record.

And I was sorry for you.

Oh yes,

I don't deny I married you because I was sorry for you.

And then,

I found you the best and jolliest and dearest little pal and chum a fellow ever had.

Witty.

Loyal.

Sweet.

You made me believe again in the reality of friendship and love.

The world seemed good again.

Just because you were in it,

Honey.

I'd have been willing to go on forever just as we were.

I knew that the night I came home and saw my home light shining out from the island for the first time and knew you were there waiting for me.

After being homeless all my life,

It was beautiful to have a home.

To come home hungry at night and know there was a good supper and a cheery fire and you.

But I didn't realise what you actually meant to me till that moment at the switch.

Then it came like a lightning flash.

I knew I couldn't live without you.

That if I couldn't pull you loose in time,

I'd have to die with you.

I admit it bowled me over.

Knocked me silly.

I couldn't get my bearings for a while.

That's why I acted like a mule.

But the thought that drove me to the tall timber was the awful one.

That you were going to die.

I'd always hated the thought of it but I supposed there wasn't any chance for you so I put it out of my mind.

Now I had to face it.

You were under sentence of death and I couldn't live without you.

When I came home last night,

I had made up my mind that I'd take you to all the specialists in the world.

That something surely could be done for you.

I felt sure you couldn't be as bad as Dr Trent thought when those moments on the track hadn't even hurt you.

And I found your note and went mad with happiness and a little terror for fear you didn't care much for me after all and had gone away to get rid of me.

But now it's alright,

Isn't it darling?

Was she Valancy being called darling?

I can't believe you care for me,

She said helplessly.

I know you can't.

What's the use Barney?

Of course you're sorry for me,

Of course you want to do the best you can to straighten out the mess but it can't be straightened out that way.

You couldn't love me.

Me?

She stood up and pointed tragically to the mirror over the mantle.

Certainly not even Alan Tierney could have seen beauty in the woeful,

Haggard little face reflected there.

Barney didn't look at the mirror,

He looked at Valancy as if he would like to snatch her or beat her.

Love you?

Girl,

You're in the very core of my heart.

I hold you there like a jewel.

Didn't I promise you I'd never tell you a lie?

Love you.

I love you with all there is of me to love.

Heart,

Soul,

Brain,

Every fibre of body and spirit thrilling to the sweetness of you.

There's nobody in the world for me but you,

Valancy.

You're a good actor,

Barney,

Said Valancy with a wan little smile.

Barney looked at her.

So you don't believe me yet?

I can't.

Oh,

Damn,

Said Barney violently.

Valancy looked up startled.

She had never seen this.

Barney,

Scowling,

Eyes black with anger,

Sneering lips,

Dead white face.

You don't want to believe it,

Said Barney in the silk smooth voice of ultimate rage.

You're tired of me.

You want to get out of it,

Free from me.

You're ashamed of the pills and the liniment,

Just as she was.

Your sterling pride can't stomach them.

It was all right as long as you thought you hadn't long to live.

A good luck you could put up with me.

But a lifetime with old Doc Redfern's son is a different thing.

Oh,

I understand perfectly.

I've been very dense,

But I understand at last.

Valancy stood up.

She stared into his furious face.

Then she suddenly laughed.

You darling,

She said.

You do mean it.

You do really love me.

You wouldn't be so enraged if you didn't.

Barney stared at her for a moment.

Then he caught her in his arms with the little low laugh of the triumphant lover.

Uncle Benjamin,

Who had been frozen with horror at the keyhole,

Suddenly thawed out and tiptoed back to Mrs.

Frederick and Cousin Stickles.

Everything is all right,

He announced jubilantly.

Dear little Doss.

He would send for his lawyer right away and alter his will again.

Doss should be his sole heiress.

To her that had should certainly be given.

Mrs.

Frederick,

Returning to her comfortable belief in an overruling providence,

Got out the family Bible and made an entry under marriages.

Chapter 43 But Barney,

Protested Valancy after a few minutes,

Your father somehow gave me to understand that you still loved her.

He would.

Dad holds the championship for making blunders.

If there's a thing that's better left unsaid,

You can trust him to say it.

But he isn't a bad old soul,

Valancy.

You'll like him.

I do.

Now.

And his money isn't tainted money.

He made it,

Honestly.

His medicines are quite harmless.

Even his purple pills do people whole heaps of good when they believe in them.

But I'm not fit for your life,

Sighed Valancy.

I'm not clever or well-educated or.

.

.

My life is in Mastawis and all the wild places of the world.

I'm not going to ask you to live the life of a society woman.

Of course,

We must spend a bit of time with Dad.

He's lonely and old,

But not in that big house of his,

Pleaded Valancy.

I can't live in a palace.

Can't come down to that after your blue castle,

Grinned Barney.

Don't worry,

Sweet.

I couldn't live in that house myself.

It has a white marble stairway with gilt banisters.

Looks like a furniture shop with the labels off.

Likewise,

It's the pride of Dad's heart.

We'll get a little house somewhere outside of Montreal,

In the real country.

Near enough to see Dad often.

I think we'll build one for ourselves.

A house you build for yourself is so much nicer than a hand-me-down.

But we'll spend our summers in Mastawis.

And our autumns travelling.

I want you to see the Alhambra.

It's the nearest thing to the blue castle of your dreams,

I can think of.

And there's an old world garden in Italy,

Where I want to show you the moon rising over Rome through the dark cypress trees.

Will that be any lovelier than the moon rising over Mastawis?

Not lovelier,

But a different kind of loveliness.

There are so many kinds of loveliness.

Well,

Nancy,

Before this year,

You've spent all your life in ugliness.

You know nothing of the beauty of the world.

We'll climb mountains,

Hunt for treasures in the bazaars of Samarkand,

Search out the magic of East and West,

Run hand in hand to the rim of the world.

I want to show you it all.

See it again through your eyes.

Girl,

There are a million things I want to show you,

Do with you,

Say to you.

It will take a lifetime.

And we must see about that picture by Tierney,

After all.

Will you promise me one thing?

Asked for Nancy solemnly.

Anything,

Said Barney recklessly.

Only one thing.

You are never,

Under any circumstances or under any provocation,

To cast it up to me that I asked you to marry me.

Chapter 44.

Extract from letter written by Miss Olive Sterling to Mr.

Cecil Bruce.

It's really disgusting that Doss's crazy adventures should have turned out like this.

It makes one feel that there is no use in behaving properly.

I'm sure her mind was unbalanced when she left home.

What she said about a dust pile showed that.

Of course,

I don't think there was ever a thing the matter with her heart.

Or perhaps Snaith,

Or Redfern,

Or whatever his name really is,

Fed purple pills to her back in that Miss Starwy's hut and cured her.

It would make quite a testimonial for the family ads,

Wouldn't it?

He's such an insignificant looking creature.

I mentioned this to Doss,

But all she said was,

I don't like collar ad men.

Well,

He's certainly no collar ad man.

Though,

I must say there is something rather distinguished about him,

Now that he has cut his hair and put on decent clothes.

I really think,

Cecil,

You should exercise more.

It doesn't do to get too fleshy.

He also claims,

I believe,

To be John Foster.

We can believe that or not,

As we like,

I suppose.

Old Doc Redfern has given them two millions for a wedding present.

Evidently the purple pills bring in the bacon.

They're going to spend the fall in Italy and the winter in Egypt and motor through Normandy in apple blossom time.

Not in that dreadful old Lizzie,

Though.

Redfern has got a wonderful new car.

Well,

I think I'll run away too and disgrace myself.

It seems to pay.

Uncle Ben is a scream.

Likewise,

Uncle James.

The fuss they all make over Doss now is absolutely sickening.

To hear Aunt Amelia talking of my son-in-law,

Bernard Redfern,

And my daughter,

Mrs.

Bernard Redfern.

Mother and father are as bad as the rest.

And they can't see that Valancy is just laughing at them all in her sleeve.

Chapter 45 Valancy and Barney turned under the mainland pines in the cool dusk of the September night for a farewell look at the Blue Castle.

Miss Starwess was drowned in sunset lilac light,

Incredibly delicate and elusive.

Nip and Tuck were cawing lazily in the old pines.

Goodluck and Banjo were mewed and mewing in separate baskets in Barney's new dark green car en route to Cousin Georgiana's.

Cousin Georgiana was going to take care of them until Barney and Valancy came back.

Aunt Wellington and Cousin Sarah and Aunt Alberta had also entreated the privilege of looking after them.

But to Cousin Georgiana was it given.

Valancy was in tears.

Don't cry,

Moonlight.

We'll be back next summer.

And now we're off for a real honeymoon.

Valancy smiled through her tears.

She was so happy that her happiness terrified her.

But despite the delights before her,

The glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome,

The allure of the ageless Nile,

Glamour of the Riviera,

Mosque and palace and minaret,

She knew perfectly well that no spot or place or home in the world could ever possess the sorcery of her blue castle.

The End

Reviews

What a fabulous story, and told perfectly. A testament to both how much damage psychological abuse can do to a child and the bright light inspiration of the human heart!
Thank you. I’ll definitely be listening to ALL of your stories! 💕🙏

Wonderful, thank you! I didn’t listen at bedtime because I didn’t want to risk missing a word of this charming story!

Oh Barnie— she really took some convincing! So sweet. What am I going to do now that it’s done!? Thanks so much!❤️🙏🏼

This is an awesome story as it was written but it became magical by the voice in which it was read. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a story as much as I did this one.

A wonderful story, beautifully read. I finally listened to it early enough in the day to stay awake LOL, and I'm so glad I did. You have a lovely voice and clearly also love this story. Thank you for sharing it with us. 🩵🙏💙

What a lovely story with your lean voice. I’ve enjoyed it so much, thank you!

Such a wonderful book - it’s been so nice enjoying each chapter. Many thanks for choosing it