A Magic Place

Frances Barbury, called Frankie, has grown up with the same pride and nerve as her grandmother, Mirabel Rainwood, though she is more tender and imaginative. She had hoped to make her name on the stage, but after realising she lacked the resilience and perhaps the gift needed to succeed, she decided London could wait. Her brother Nicholas, a writer and critic, offered a suitable way out. Mrs Falkland had asked him to find a secretary and companion for her husband, a former literary figure now confined to a wheelchair after years away from the public eye. The household was in a lovely but isolated corner of Wales.

Frankie fell for the countryside at once, and she quickly warmed to Mr Falkland, a gentle man, and to his much younger second wife, Caroline, who seemed delicate. The one unsettling presence was Rolf, Mr Falkland's son from his first marriage. Rolf kept his stepmother at arm's length, and he regarded Frankie with suspicion, asking himself what she really wanted at Riverdale. His moods shifted constantly: sometimes he appeared to trust her and was thankful that his father had found such a suitable companion, and at other times he closed himself off entirely. Frankie felt a strong pull toward him, yet she could not make sense of the wall he kept between himself and the world.

A sharp dismissal seemed to bring the relationship to a painful halt. Even so, Mr Falkland, whom Rolf loved deeply, had not abandoned Frankie. What he left her proved worth far more than money.