The Richleighs of Tantamount
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The Richleighs of Tantamount is a British children’s book written by British historical book author Barbara Willard. It was originally published in Willard’s native homeland in 1966 by the publishers, Constable, before being published in the US by Harcourt, Brace & World in June 1967. C. Walter Hodges drew the line illustrations and painted the cover portrait for the original edition.
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| Author | Barbara Willard |
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| Cover artist | C. Walter Hodges |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Constable (UK) Harcourt, Brace & World (USA) |
| Released | 1966 (UK) July 1, 1967 (USA) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 189 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-15-266750-4 (original 1967 US edition) |
[edit] Chapters
- To Be a Richleigh...
- Toy Sunday
- The Travellers
- The Arrival
- Tantamount
- Strangers on the Shore
- The Castaways
- Nancy and Dick
- The Wonderful Day
- Wreckers' Castle
- The Grand Idea
- Pursuit
- Home from the Sea
- An End...
- ...or a Beginning
[edit] Synopsis
The book tells the story of four young siblings—Edwin, Angeline, Sebastian and Maud—who live together in a London mansion in a Victorian-era society (circa the 1870s), along with their wealthy parents. These four children have been longing all their lives for their maiden visit to a place which for ages none of their kind has visited: a castle on England’s Cornish coast, built by their great-great-great-grandfather, called Tantamount. From time to time, the children question of its mysterious past whenever they look at the gigantic painting of the castle that dominates a wall in the drawing room.
Their lives are changed one fateful, unforgettable July when their recovering father announces of their first-time trip to the castle, first by train and then by carriage. Only when they arrive at the site do the four realize that it was built all in the name of vain and later neglect. Despite related risks, they, as family members, decide to stay. Because of this, a friendship with two local children emerges, from whom the foursome starts to learn of the secret that caused people to suffer before this monstrosity of a castle.
[edit] Characters
[edit] The Richleigh four
- Edwin Richleigh, 16: the eldest and most educated of the siblings, and heir to the family’s fortune.
- Angeline Richleigh, 14: rebellious but innocent in appearance.
- Sebastian Richleigh, 11: the big question-asker who always remembers the answers better than his older brother.
- Maud Richleigh, 8: treated by everyone except older Angeline as the baby of the family; she is the prettiest among the four.
[edit] Their parents
- Major Sir Rautboy Richleigh (pronounced Raw-bee), England’s third richest man.
- Lady Daisy, his wife, heiress and earl’s daughter.
[edit] Inside the London house
- Mr. Gaunt, Edwin’s English tutor.
- Miss Venus, the governess; teacher of Angeline, Sebastian and Maud.
- Old Nurse and New Nurse, the caretakers responsible for the house’s upkeep. They both make their first appearances when the book begins.
- Lance, the pageboy, “ready to answer the door if need be”. He also appears at the start of the book.
[edit] Mentioned by the family
- Lady Augusta, Queen Victoria’s cousin, who lives across the square near which the Richleighs live.
- Uncle Charles, Sir Rautboy’s stern, serious, long-faced brother, whom the four children all dread.
[edit] At Tantamount and vicinity
- Mr. Devine, an agent from Exeter who takes to the castle’s upkeep and reports on its conditions annually.
- Mrs. Pengelly, a visitor from England’s southern region who assists in helping the four children and company upon their arrival at Tantamount.
- (Mr.) Pengelly, her husband.
- Betsy Pengelly, the Pengellys' daughter.
- Nancy Treloar and her brother Dick Treloar, two local children whom the Richleighs discover during the first day of their visit.
- Kate Treloar, their aunt, who lives miles away from Tantamount at a place called Penwellow.
- Mr. John Pascoe, a kind man who owns a farm called Treligger.
- Mrs. Pascoe, his sour and unjust wife.
- William Treloar, Nancy and Dick's father.
[edit] Customs
- Wif, short for What would you do if—?, the Richleigh children’s favourite game.
- Toy Sunday, a toy-distribution spree occurring twice yearly; only one of them, the last Sunday in May, is mentioned in the book.
- Councils of Tantamount: Edwin holds meetings for three of them at various times during the siblings’ visit to the ruined castle.
[edit] Plot
(The numbers after each section refer to the accompanying chapter as listed above.)
[edit] At home in London (1)
On a dull Saturday afternoon in April, the four Richleigh children are in the schoolroom of their luxurious home, playing a game of Wif?, while everyone else is enjoying their weekend activities. As Tantamount comes across their minds, they suspend their game and enter the drawing room, in which they come across a gigantic painting of the dreaded castle. In the painting, a light streams out in unspeakable terror from one of its windows. As much as they have wanted to visit Tantamount all their lives, all four can only but wonder—and imagine—what lies within its deep, mysterious realm. For that alone, they sense that a mystery has been hidden inside the castle for years, and that no one has remembered again where it is.
[edit] Toy Sunday (2)
One morning in May, Maud, the youngest one, wakes up in shock to realize that it is the last Sunday of the month. It is Toy Sunday, an event all four Richleighs look forward to twice a year with dread. Their mother, Lady Daisy, and a few other women, through a society called Playthings for the Children of the Needy, organize it. During such sprees, a great collection of toys is made by these ladies to benefit poverty-stricken children in London’s slums.
Angeline, Sebastian and Maud cannot adhere to the misery lying around as such during breakfast. Even Maud cannot help swallowing her food, because, when she and her other fellow siblings enter the nursery, she can do nothing to save her greatest treasure of all—an old rocking horse named Pegasus, Peggy for short. Its fate is sealed upon the parents’ arrival (Sir Rautboy promised Maud a new horse a week ago), both insisting that the toy be given away. In return, Maud’s father will bring her by carriage to the family who will receive the antique.
As duty calls, the family soon head off for church, wherein the Richleigh couple are greatly respected. The family, as a whole, is what their congregation never does without.
[edit] Sir Rautboy’s illness (2)
Some mornings later, Maud wakes up a liver sickness, and Lady Daisy, summoned by New Nurse, tells her that she cannot come along with her father. Meanwhile, the older brother, Edwin, and sister, Angeline, are wondering about Peggy’s fate and its new owners. Moments later, Lady Daisy offers Angeline an invitation via Lady Augusta to a children’s picnic luncheon in Richmond Park, while she attends a ball at the Lady’s home.
Suddenly, Sebastian rushes in and, with shock, announces that Sir Rautboy is ill. The Richleighs’ mom could have never made a better decision, for their father, upon giving Peggy to a new family at the poorest possible place, has been brought down in hours with an infection—a reminder of the malaria ailment he received while with an Indian regiment.
Throughout June, doctors and nurses come to Sir Rautboy’s aid. The four siblings worry about their father’s possible death—this could make Edwin the head of the family at too young an age. They even fear that Uncle Charles could make their lives a dull one afterwards.
Only one day, however, do they realize that the good news from Lance of their dad’s recovery is as cheerful as the weather itself. This, therefore, breaks up their uncertain sadness.
[edit] The announcement (2, 3)
North Grange, situated on the side of the Surrey hills in front of a broad forested valley, is where the Richleighs are spending their summer this year. The problems of Peggy being gone for good, and going to the park, as well as missing out visiting the family villa in Italy, are forgotten by all four in joy.
One Monday in July, Sir Rautboy tells his children that he will undergo a sea voyage until the end of September, on the request of his doctors; Lady Augusta has arranged the use of her late husband’s yacht for the trip. With conditions discussed and everything in place, he announces that, while he and his wife are away, his offspring will spend the time at Tantamount.
At this surprising news, Mamma jumps for joy and Angeline faints happily. However, Old Nurse cannot stand it, even though she helps the family with their luggage; Old Nurse is not going with them. By tomorrow, Tuesday, all should be ready and packed.
By then, the four siblings’ parents have left to embark on the sea voyage, and the children’s governess, tutor and Nurses remain in the country home. From hence, a wave of excitement is felt in those who are left, especially in the children.
[edit] The journey (3, 4)
With the exception of the Nurses, everyone else starts the journey to Cornwall in hired cabs—the siblings in one, governess and tutor in another. Halfway through, they spend the night in a hotel before continuing by train on day two.
By late afternoon, they arrive at a station close to the monstrosity that awaits them all, and continue hence on carriage as it grows dark. On either side of the road on the ride's last stage, worn-out warnings are noticed. Upon arriving, the four children come face to face with the ancestral building--not as a painting, but in real life.
Feelings change as the Richleighs enter the castle, while the rest of the party take care of unloading the luggage. Nothing could prepare the four children for what is to come during their stay...
[edit] At Tantamount: the first morning (4)
The morning after the arrival at Tantamount, Angeline and Maud wake up dreamily from a bed so enormous, the younger one makes a nest in it. After both gaze at a ceiling decorated with clouds, cherubs, stars and nymphs, Angeline opens a moth-infested curtain of crimson velvet, revealing a marvellous view of the sea before her. Soon after, the two sisters struggle to get dressed and are told by Edwin to get ready in a conservatory halfway downstairs for what becomes the inaugural meeting of their first Council.
[edit] The first Council, Part 1 (5)
During this meeting, the four discuss on what to expect as they explore the rest of Tantamount. Edwin, meanwhile, assures his place as head of his family. Closing the door behind them, they soon leave the room, finishing the meeting without asking about the swarm of seagulls from the nearby cliff.
[edit] The tour (5)
They go down the stairs and arrive at the hall, which is as big as their London home. Inside it stand life-size replicas dressed in robes, armour, and draperies of stone. At its far end lies the ballroom, whose three mirrors only show part of the children’s reflections due to dust and dampness.
On the ceiling is an underwater centrepiece depicting Neptune on a chariot, with divers sea creatures such as mermaids and seahorses. The remains of a crashed-down crystal chandelier lie far down below it. The young Richleighs, looking at the decay, wonder why the castle ever went through such neglect from the vanity it was built upon.
A musicians’ gallery lies at the ballroom’s far end, near which stands a bay window. The floor is of rotting wood, as Edwin so proves upon testing its strength in order to save Maud from falling down with it. For the first time, Angeline realizes of his power as leader. From the gallery, the four go on to a little drawing room that leads them to a bigger one, glittered with gold furniture and white surroundings—the only feature of Tantamount all had heard of before their arrival.
Sebastian, sighting a golden harp near a dais at the centre of the room, tries playing notes that turn out to be incoherent before the strings snap deafeningly. Angeline, advised by Sebastian, tries opening the spinet next to it, but to no avail. Reluctant to listen to the ugly noise again, she leaves and the others do so.
Continuing from a small square room at the tower’s central base, the four carefully go up a rusted spiral staircase. Upon reaching the top, all four run over to each and every window to look at different views of the landscape. On his view, Edwin notices footprints on a stretch of sand towards the adjacent shore.
[edit] The strangers (5)
Taking a look along with Edwin, the rest discover that the prints belong to a little boy and girl. Wondering what the two are doing, they go down the stairs, going faster with excitement, but a trap door on the surface stops them. Edwin opens it with all his might, yet as the stairs continue downward, the others silently follow him.
Coming at a wooden door at the bottom stair, Edwin finds a handle and opens it before the fastening falls apart, the door creaking open.
No sooner do they step outside on a slope of rock than all four run down towards the shore, amid seagulls and sunlight. Startled by the foursome, the boy and girl suddenly disappear, and the Richleighs start chasing them. But they stop when the other two become out of their reach, before hearing Mr. Gaunt’s voice from afar.
[edit] The arrangements (5, 6)
As they return to Tantamount, the worried tutor informs the siblings of breakfast in the morning room of the castle. While he impatiently waits, Miss Venus calls them all over for their meal. The tutor, coming in after them, complains of the castle’s terrible nature, deeming it impossible to stay inside it. As a result, he announces that Mr. Pengelly will take them to the next village by cart, but Edwin decides on staying with his brother and sisters.
After breakfast, as high tide approaches at the seaside, the four children discuss about what will happen to them once tutor and governess leave them behind.
[edit] Making friends (6)
After those talks, Edwin sees the local girl once again and interferes by pulling her hair for fun while the others watch, surprised. The girl tries to escape while her brother beats Edwin up, thus releasing her hair from the rich boy’s grasp. Crying loudly, the girl gets caught in the crowd and all six get entangled.
Removing themselves from the sorrowful muddle, the four rich siblings find out that the young locals—Nancy and his sister Dick—were on the shore looking for shrimps. But both run away when Edwin reveals his status as head of Tantamount; as Angeline and Sebastian point out, the name of the castle has made them escape.
Returning to the castle, the Richleighs come across the governess’ room, and Angeline knocks the closed door until forced to open for them. Astonished, she discovers that both Gaunt and Venus have already gone.
Then, for the first time in ages, the castle bells are rung, thanks to Edwin who calls for Mrs. Pengelly. As Pengelly and her daughter Betsy arrive, she asks the four siblings if they are staying at Tantamount; Edwin replies with a yes.
Later, the stout old lady tells them that she, coming from the south, was misled by Mr. Devine, along with her daughter and husband, to the old place that the agent described as “well-cared-for”. A brief discussion ensues with Edwin on her role in Tantamount’s upkeep before she leaves the room.
[edit] Evening (7)
For their supper, the Richleighs are served with ham, carrots, beans and parsley sauce. Mrs. Pengelly carves the ham, while Betsy gives out the plates; they both only stay for some short time. The four children are also given raspberry jam tart for the occasion.
But after their meal is finished, and Pengelly (Betsy’s father) lights the nearby lamps with a taper, they begin to worry about how to check the time. Edwin hence comes to their rescue: he shows them the watch Lady Daisy had given him as his 16th birthday present. Instead of depending on nature, all four will know of the exact time through it.
Upon trying to get to bed, the four of them find all of their room doors locked for some mysterious reason. Maud fears that Tantamount could be haunted.
[edit] Nighttime (7)
With only a half-moon for light, Angeline wakes up from the large bed in the room that she and Maud slept in last night. Noticing a cart way down, she then sees all three Pengellys carrying bundles into it in three stages before they leave for good.
[edit] At Tantamount: the second day
[edit] The First Council: Part 2 (7)
As dawn approaches, Angeline informs Edwin that the Pengellys have gone; however, someone else could help them nearby. All disagree on the plan, and Edwin decides that a second meeting be held and all should attend.
Inside the morning room are the leftovers of last night’s dinner; Maud questions on the subject of breakfast, and Edwin tells her that they will do well getting it themselves.
In the midst of preparing for breakfast, Edwin suddenly finds himself in a fit of laughter. The others join in, until Sebastian dances on the kitchen table to subdue them.
During their first self-made meal, using what they can only afford, all realize they are so much like castaways, far from those they know and love.
[edit] The conversation (8)
As Edwin figures out how to make the food stock last, Angeline takes some time frolicking upon the shore near the castle. Meanwhile, Nancy and Dick are playing a game with a stick and ball, approaching faster towards the girl. She then tries to catch a ball from up in the air, running for it, but it hits her hands so hard that she begins crying, out of breath. Nancy pulls her shoulders to take the ball away from Angeline, who returns to normal.
During the conversation that follows, the Richleighs discover that the boy and girl are friendlier now than they were when met by the foursome. Such talking leaves them hungry by noontime, though they find it hard to leave the locals, and they return to the castle to get some more food.
[edit] The Tamsin Treloar (8, 9)
A cellar door, with a big padlock whose key is missing, is one part of Tantamount that the Richleighs have not explored yet. To remedy the lack, Edwin goes outside for an iron bar as a substitute. Then Sebastian opens the cellar door, all four go down the creepy, narrow staircase, and Edwin opens the entrance forcibly.
Then they discover, among barrels and casks, a small boat with the name of "Tamsin Treloar" on it. They quickly deduce that someone took it away from Nancy and Dick. This is when Edwin decides to hold the second Council in the dark cavern.
[edit] The Second Council (9)
As the children settle down and agree to keep the council’s details secret, Edwin announces that word of the "Treloar" will not pass outside Tantamount, and only the four of them therein can talk about it. Not even their local friends, for fear they should be lost, are supposed to know about the discovery.
All four agree on those conditions, and Edwin questions on the purpose of the boat in cavern, yet it is anyone’s guess as to whether Mr. Devine is involved. They ponder on his role as smuggler, of which Cornwall has so many.
After the Council, the children spend a wonderful afternoon on the rocky shore along with Nancy and Dick. The local boy joins them after coming in by boat with the farmer, Mr. Pascoe.
At dinner, all six children feast on a lot of mackerel that Mr. Pascoe prepared earlier on that afternoon.
[edit] Mr. Devine’s plan (10)
A month has passed since the Richleighs first arrived at Tantamount, and one misty morning, the same carter who took them here comes by to drop a letter for Mr. Gaunt. As Dick announces his arrival after feeding some chickens, Edwin comes to the door to meet him. When told about the recipient and the addressee, Mr. Devine, Edwin persuades the carter to give him the letter. Refusing at first, he then does as asked and is told by Edwin to ride off quickly before anything worse happens.
With Edwin opening the letter, the six children find out that Mr. Devine is recovering from sickness, and he is intent on going to Tantamount very soon.
[edit] A secret is exposed (10)
Right now, all are worried on whether the agent will ever come at all; Nancy suspects he is a bad man. The ongoing smuggling spree around the area is why people never come that close to the place, Dick tells the rest, and Edwin infers that Devine is a part of it. But even worse has happened at sea, Nancy informs them—and the many wrecks, resulting from stormy weather and the intentions of wicked men, has led many to call the place Wreckers’ Castle.
Finally, the four visitors understand why the painting in their London home showed the light up in the tallest tower.
[edit] At St. Ermite’s (10)
At midday, all settle down for bread and blackberry jam; around that time, the mist dissipates thanks to some wind and a little sunlight. At the table, Nancy tells everyone about how Mr. Pascoe’s son, Tim, got killed by mantraps in the woods while hunting for smugglers.
After getting some stew ready, the six children go across the headland enclosing the Tantamount bay, passing a couple of coves before approaching a narrow flight of steps. Travelling upon it, they arrive at a half-ruined chapel, built one thousand years ago by St. Ermite.
The place, as they see it, is surprisingly tidy and in order. All come across a rough slab on a stone pedestal; Dick has written a big M on it in honour of his late mother (this was supposed to be her burial place).
[edit] Tantamount's destiny (11)
That night, as the mist returns, Angeline contemplates how the family should make Tantamount better in the wake of its troubled past. But she reminds herself that it will take more than just family members to cure the place.
Back at the castle, the four Richleighs are discussing what will become of them all come the end of September, when their parents return from their sea voyage.
[edit] Picking blackberries (11)
After doing their chores on a mist-free morning, the six children set off near Tantamount to pick blackberries that they will use to make some jam, the following overcast afternoon. When Edwin invites Nancy and Dick to come with his siblings to London soon, everyone stops gathering. Dick refuses to speak about it, and Nancy declines the offer. As a storm persists, growing larger, the four Richleighs run for home, into the kitchen, but they get soaked so much before entering; Nancy and Dick shelter inside the cottage.
[edit] Runaways? (11, 12)
Next morning, Edwin goes for the local twosome while Angeline is setting up the table for breakfast, but returns to the castle without them. Angeline realises something has gone wrong: the invitation, Edwin's "grand idea", has made Nancy and Dick disappear from sight all too soon.
With all four discussing on the whereabouts of the two, Angeline and Maud decide on putting this matter to rest once they ask the Pascoes up at Treligger.
Paying a visit to the farm, they both learn that they are the first in the family to see the couple. But John Pascoe has seen neither brother nor sister for a time.
In exchange for lost friends, the girls return to Tantamount with a honeycomb and words of apology from Mrs. Pascoe. But it is not enough for Edwin as he plans to go and look for the locals. The other three silently watch him leave via the roadway.
Some hours later, these three worry about the fate of their leader. Most worried of all is a lonely Angeline, who senses the presence of a stranger inside the building.
[edit] Farewell to friends (13)
Once Sebastian and Maud meet the escapees' father, William Treloar, who has returned from far away at sea, Angeline forgets everything about possible intruders at Tantamount as she meets the three of them at the camping ground in the kitchen. Yet such thoughts creep back into her mind as she hears her sister and brother tell Mr. Treloar all that has recently happened to his children. Worse still, she wonders how well Edwin is faring on his search for the locals.
As the end of the afternoon approaches, and the winds and tide grow stronger, the four of them sail on the Tamsin Treloar towards St. Ermite's, amid rough seas and bad weather. There, they find Edwin and Nancy tending to a rid-injured Dick, who, during a fight with the eldest Richleigh, fell off a nearby cliff some time before.
Taking his two children into the Tamsin, William sails away to Penwellow, where Nancy and Dick's Aunt Kate lives. The Richleighs, because of Edwin's grand idea and Nancy's boycottal of such plans, have been punished by this departure—the greatest and most terrible loss in all their lives. Never will they see the two young Treloars again.
[edit] The end of Tantamount (14)
A strange light from Tantamount greets the four children as they head for home from St. Ermite's. That light itself signals a fire spreading all through the building, thus creating the castle's most glorious event ever.
As the fire burns on, Edwin figures out they all four should have left Tantamount ages ago, just like the Pengellys left them alone for good. He also figures that Mr. Devine invaded the property without once thinking of their defiance of Gaunt and Venus. For all of its many years of wickedness, Edwin loudly praises the destruction of his inheritance. But, as Sebastian and Angeline warn him, he is in serious danger with no boat to save himself; yet he runs in a fit of rage towards Mr. Devine for stealing their only chance of escape.
While the eldest Richleigh comes closer to Devine, John Pascoe fires a pistol at the Exeter agent, but it misses him and so he gets into a fight with Devine. Hitting his enemy so hard, Pascoe almost splashes to his death along with Devine, thanks to Edwin saving him.
Coming up from the rocky shore, the children and the farmer meet a larger crowd of villagers than any Richlegh ever expected; Pascoe's wife is among the fifty who have come to see Tantamount in its last moments. Along with her, the group of five journey to Treligger, just as the last standing part of the castle falls down completely.
At the farm, the Pascoes and Richleighs are glad that Wreckers' Castle was ever meant to be destroyed, putting an end to all the sins of its past.
[edit] The Third Council (15)
Days after the Tantamount inferno, Edwin holds the Third and final Council of Tantamount at the St. Ermite's chapel. They swear during this meeting to remember Tantamount through "symbols" they have collected among the barren, charred ruins: a scallop shell for Edwin; a flat stone for Angeline; a forked stick for Maud; and a charred ball of twine for Sebastian.
Edwin and the others end the Council by hiding these symbols under the slab in the chapel, burying them with bits of stone and rock. Then Ediwn, on the slab, completes the word "Mother" as his brother and sisters wait for him.
[edit] Going home (15)
As they notice their parents walking through what is left of Wreckers' Castle, the young Richleighs, barefoot with torn-up clothes, run up to them; Lance, the coachman and the footman are there too. Sir Rautboy and Lady Daisy, returning from their voyage, have searched in despair for their children among the ruins, but both are shocked that they ever survived Tantamount's horror.
Surprising for the family is how Governess Venus and tutor Gaunt are planning to get married soon.
Sir Rautboy insists his children go back to London as soon as they put on new clothes, but Angeline tells him that their remaining outfits were lost to the fire. What matters, she also reminds her father, is that she and the others are still his children, however much changed.
In spite of the young Richleighs' plans to visit the site in future, their father decrees they shall never again return there. With this in mind, everyone in the family rides home by carriage to London, returning to the life they once knew.
