On the Pottlecombe Cornice by Howard Sturgis

On the Pottlecombe Cornice by Howard Sturgis

Major Mark Hankisson has retired to Pottlecombe, a tiny fishing village on the Devon coast. As the nineteenth century has wound to a close, and he has entered late middle age, the locale has been seeing significant development. Now, in an elegant strip along the brow of the hills which line the coast toward the big town of Twistmouth, there stretches a lovely new white road along which he can walk in all weathers. It recalls the splendours of the Amalfi coast, and has been named in their honour 'the Cornice'.

Whilst walking the new road, he spies a beautiful older woman who seems to enjoy the walk as much as he does. They often pass each other, but, true to the reservations of the times, and to their own retiring natures, they don't speak, and acknowledge each other barely. He is curious though, and makes discreet enquiries through his landlady. He discovers that her name is Agnes Lamb, and that she cares for a bedridden elder sister with whom she lives in seclusion.

As their first winter comes, he misses seeing her out walking, and finds out that the sisters have gone away to warmer climes for the season, and let their house. His feelings intensify in her absence, and when she finally returns after a long five months, he summons sufficient will to make hesitant contact in a few words only, simply in passing, which she reciprocates. But she appears equally shy and uncertain.

With the oncoming of another winter, again Agnes disappears from the Cornice. But this time, it will require a fracturing of the established codes for Mark to find out why. What he discovers breaks his heart.

On the Pottlecombe Cornice was the last fiction written by Howard Sturgis, and has never before been published in book form. This handsome and elegiac novella appeared originally in the Fortnightly Review in March 1908, four years after the publication of his masterpiece Belchamber.