19 The Blue Castle - Read By Stephanie Poppins

Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in her daydreams of the Blue Castle. This is the place she can be who she truly wants to be. After getting shocking news from a doctor about her state of ill health, Valancy decides to rebel against her family in true heroine style and live the life she was always meant to have.

In this new episode, Barney Snaith comes to the rescue.

Performed by Stephanie Poppins
Music by Jean-Miles Carter
Published by Neworld Books

Transcript

Welcome to sleep stories with Steph. It is time to relax and fully let go. There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go. Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you and let all the worries of the day drift away. This is your time and your space. Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out with a long sigh. There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go. Happy listening. Chapter 20 When Able Gay paid Valancy for her first month's wages, Which she did promptly in bills reeking with the odour of tobacco and whiskey, Valancy went into Deerwood and spent every cent. She got a pretty green crepe dress with a girdle of crimson beads at a bargain sale, A pair of silk stockings to match and a little crinkled green hat with a crimson rose in it. She even bought a little be-ribboned and be-laced nightgown. She passed the house on Elm Street twice. Valancy never even thought about it as home, But saw no one. No doubt her mother was sitting in the room this lovely June evening playing solitaire and cheating. Valancy knew Mrs Frederick always cheated. She never lost a game. Most of the people Valancy met looked at her seriously and passed her with a cool nod. But nobody stopped to speak to her. When she got home, Valancy put on her green dress. Then she took it off again. She felt so miserably undressed in its low neck and short-sleeved, And that low crimson girdle round the hips seemed positively indecent. She hung it up in the closet, Feeling flatly she'd wasted her money. She would never have the courage to wear that dress. John Foster's arrangement of fear had no power to stiffen her against this. In this one thing, Habit and custom were still all-powerful. Yet Valancy sighed as she went down to meet Barney Snaith in her old snuff-brown silk. That green thing had been very becoming. She'd seen so much in her one ashamed glance. Above it, Her eyes had looked like odd brown jewels, And the girdle had given her flat figure an entirely different appearance. She wished she could have left the green dress on. But there were still some things John Foster did not know. Every Sunday evening, Valancy went to the Little Three Methodist Church in a valley on the edge of Up Back. It was a spireless little grey building among the pines, With a few sunken graves and mossy gravestones in the small, Paling-encircled, Grass-grown square beside it. She liked the minister who preached there. He was so simple and sincere. An old man who lived in Port Lawrence and came out by the lake in a little disappearing propeller-boat to give a free service to the people of the small, Stony farms, Who would otherwise never have heard any gospel message. Valancy liked the simple service and the fervent singing. She liked to sit by the open window and look out into the pine woods. The congregation in this church was always small. But Valancy loved those Sunday evenings, For the first time in her life she liked going to church. The rumour reached Dearwood quickly. She had turned free Methodist. That sent Mrs Frederick to bed for a day. But Valancy had not turned anything. She just went to the church because she liked it. Old Mr Towers believed exactly what he preached, And somehow it made a difference. Valancy could not quite explain even to herself just why she wanted to go of the party that she had heard about. It was a dance-up back at Chidley Corners, And dancers at Chidley Corners were not as a rule the sort of assemblies where brought-up young ladies were found. But the idea of going to a party had never occurred to her until Roaring Abel himself broached it at supper. You'll come with me to the dance, He ordered. It'll do you good and put some colour in your face. You look piqued. You want something to liven you up. Valancy knew nothing at all of what dancers at Chidley Corners were apt to be like. But she went to her room to dress anyway. A rage against the snuff-brown silk seized her. Wear that to a party, She thought. Never. She pulled her green crepe from its hanger and put it on feverishly. It seemed nonsense to feel so naked just because her neck and arms were bare. That was just her old maidishness. She would not be ridden by it now. On went the dress and then the slippers. It was the first time Valancy had worn a pretty dress since the organdies of her early teens. They had never made her look like this. If only she had a necklace or something. She wouldn't feel so bare then. She ran down to the garden. There were clovers there, Great crimson things growing in the long grass. Valancy gathered handfuls of them and strung them on a cord. Fastened above her neck, They gave her the comfortable sensation of a collar and were oddly becoming. You look so nice and different, Dear, Said Sissy. Like a green moonbeam with a gleam of red in it. If there could be such a thing. Valancy stopped to kiss her. I don't feel right about leaving you alone, Sissy, She said. Oh, I'll be all right. I feel better tonight than I've done for a long while, Said Sissy. I've been feeling badly to see you sticking here so closely on my account. I hope you'll have a nice time. I never was at a party at the Corners, But I used to go sometimes long ago to dances up back. We always had good times. And you needn't be afraid of Father being drunk tonight. He never drinks when he engages to play for a party. But there might be liquor, Valancy. What will you do if it gets rough? Nobody would molest me. Not seriously, I suppose. Father would see to that. But it might be noisy and unpleasant. I won't mind. I'm only going as a looker on. I don't expect to dance. I just want to see what a party up back's like. I've never seen anything except decorous deerwood. Sissy smiled rather dubiously. She knew much better than Valancy what a party up back might be like if there should be liquor. But again, There mightn't be. I hope you enjoy it, Dear, She repeated. Valancy enjoyed the drive there. They went early for it was twelve miles to Chidley Corners and they had to go in Abel's old raggedy top buggy. The road was rough and rocky, But there was an austere charm about the northern woods. Roaring Abel was excellent company too. He knew all the stories and legends of the wild, Beautiful up back and told them to Valancy as they drove along. Valancy had several fits of inward laughter over what Uncle Benjamin and Aunt Wellington would say they saw her driving with Roaring Abel in the terrible buggy to a dance at night. At first the dance was quiet enough and Valancy was amused and entertained. She even danced twice herself with a couple of nice up back boys who danced beautifully and told her she did too. Then another compliment came her way. "'Know who that girl in the green is? ' a voice said behind her. "'Nope, Guess she's from out front, ' another one answered. "'Got a stylish look to her, She has. ' "'Cute looking, I'd say. "'D'you ever see such eyes? ' The big room was decorated with pine and fir boughs and lighted by Chinese lanterns. The floor was waxed and Roaring Abel's fiddle purring under his skilled touch worked magic. The up back girls were pretty and prettily dressed. Valancy thought it was the nicest party she had ever attended. By eleven o'clock she had changed her mind. A new crowd had arrived, A crowd unmistakably drunk. Whiskey began to circulate freely. Very soon almost all the men were drunk and those in the porch and outside began howling. The room grew noisy and quarrels started up here and there. Bad language and obscene songs were heard. The girls swung rudely in the dances, Became dishevelled and tawdry. Alone in her corner, Valancy felt disgusted and repentant. Why has she ever come to such a place? She might have known what it would be like. She might have taken warning from Sissy's guarded sentences. The new influx of boys had left the girls far in the minority and partners were now scarce. Valancy was pestered with invitations to dance but she refused them all. There were muttered oaths and sullen looks. Across the room she saw a group of the strangers talking together and glancing meaningly at her. What were they plotting? Then all of a sudden she saw Barney Snaith looking in over the heads of the crowd at the doorway. Valancy now had two distinct convictions. One was that she was quite safe and the other was this was why she'd wanted to come to the dance. It had been such an absurd hope she had not recognised it before but now she knew she had come because of the possibility Barney Snaith might be there. She thought perhaps she ought to be ashamed but she wasn't. After her feeling of relief her next feeling was one of annoyance. He came there unshaved. Surely he might have had enough self-respect to groom himself. There he was bareheaded, Bristly chinned in his old trousers and blue homespun shirt, Not even a coat. But Valancy was not afraid any longer. One of the whispering group left his comrades and came across the room to her. He was a tall, Broad-shouldered fellow and asked Valancy to dance. But Valancy declined. Barney Snaith was there and she felt safe. Then suddenly the man pulled her to him, His hot, Whiskey breath burning her face. We won't have fine lady airs in here, My girl. If you ain't too good to come here, You ain't too good to dance. Me and my pals will be watching you. You've got to give us each a turn and kiss to boot. Valancy tried desperately and vainly to free herself. She was being dragged out into the maze of shouting, Stamping, Yelling dancers. The next moment the man who held her went staggering across the room from a neatly planted blow on the jaw, Knocking down whirling couples as he went. This way, Quick, Said Barney Snaith, Grabbing her arm. And he swung her out through the open window behind them, Vaulted lightly over the sill and caught her hand. We must run for it. They'll be after us, He said. Valancy ran as she had never ran before, Clinging tight to Barney Snaith's hand, Wondering why she did not drop dead in such a mad scamper. They finally reached a quiet corner in the pine woods. The pursuit had taken a different direction and the whoops and yells behind them were growing faint. Valancy was now out of breath. With a crazily beating heart, She collapsed on the trunk of a fallen pine. Thanks, She gasped. What a goose you were to come to such a place, Said Barney. I didn't know it'd be like this, She said. You should have known. It was just a name to me, Chiddly corners. Valancy knew Barney could not realise how ignorant she was. She had lived in Deerwood all her life and of course he supposed she knew, But he had no idea how she had been brought up. The first half of the way home, Neither of them said anything. It would not have been much use. Lady Jane, His car, Made so much noise they could not have heard each other. Anyway, Valancy did not feel conversationally inclined. She was ashamed of the whole affair, Ashamed of her folly in going, Ashamed of being found in such a place by Barney Snaith, Reputed jailbreaker, Infidel, Forger and defaulter. Valancy's lips twitched in the darkness as she thought of it. She was ashamed. And yet, She was enjoying herself. Bumping over that rough road beside Barney Snaith, The big trees shot by. The tall mullins stood along the road in stiff orderly ranks, Like companies of soldiers. Their thistles looked like drunken fairies or tipsy elves. This was the first time Valancy had even been in a car. Then all at once, Just when the pine woods frayed out to the scrub barrens, Lady Jane became quiet. Too quiet. She slowed down quietly and stopped. Barney uttered an aghast exclamation. Out of gas, I knew I was short when I left home, But I meant to fill up in Deerwood. I forgot all about it in my hurry to get to the corners. What can we do? Asked Valancy coolly. I don't know. There's no gas nearer than Deerwood. Nine miles away. I don't dare leave you here alone. There's always tramps on this road, And some of those crazy fools back at the corners may come straggling along. There were boys there from the port. As far as I can see, The best thing to do is for us to sit patiently until some car comes along and lends us enough gas to get to Roaring Ables. What's the matter with that? Said Valancy. We might have to sit here all night, Said Barney. I don't mind, Said Valancy. Barney gave a short laugh. If you don't mind, I needn't. I haven't got any reputation to lose. Nor have I, Said Valancy comfortably. .