There was even no sign of Belinda. I fetched George and took him for a very long
walk. Boynton walked some ten feet behind me. I was grateful to John. Boynton
made me feel safe.
Dinner that evening was a subdued affair. Thomas sighed a lot, Amelia’s parents
had evidently exhausted their supply of otherworldly phenomena stories, because
most of their attention was on their plates. Lawrence was quiet, even thoughtful,
as he picked at his food. As for Miss Gillbank, she smiled a lot, but it wasn’t
meant for us, it was for someone she was thinking about. I wondered if it was
her baronet, Christopher Wilkins. As for Miss Crislock, she talked about the
Christmas gifts she had sewn and needed to send back to her friends in London.
She told me that she had quite a surprise planned for me. Bless her heart, for
as long as she had been with me, nearly ten years, she’d always had the very
best surprises. Last Christmas, she’d had ice skates made for me and had hired
someone to teach me how to perform tricks on the ice. I had nearly broken my
neck when I skated backward into a huge barrel set at the edge of the ice, but
that was neither here nor there. If she’d been sitting next to me, I might have
cried on her neck and blessed her for always being here for me.
John asked her what she had made for him. She just shook her head at him and
said he had to wait, like all the rest of us.
I thought about Napoleon, but kept my mouth shut. Everyone went to bed early.
Belinda wasn’t there. Where was she? My room was empty. I didn’t like it. I held
George until he pulled away from me.
I awoke at ten o’clock the next morning, stretched, and petted George’s topknot
because he’d stuck his face into mine and licked my nose until I laughed and
ducked away. I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The tiny golden key to my
Italianate letter box fell forward outside my nightgown. I had forgotten about
it, and my father’s wretched letter that hadn’t really told me much of anything
except that I should leave Devbridge Manor right away.
Well, I supposed that I should consider it. I wanted to see that letter again. I
carried George over to my writing desk and opened the top drawer. I lifted out
the letter box, lifted the golden chain over my head, and stuck the key in the
box. The lock was broken. I stared at it, unwilling to believe it. Slowly I
opened the box. It was quite empty.
My father’s letter was gone.
George didn’t realize the significance of the empty letter box. He wanted to go
out and relieve himself.
I was shaking even as I dressed quickly to take him for his morning walk.
Boynton weaved in and out of the shadows some twenty feet behind us. I wanted to
ask Boynton to bring two friends the next time.
Amelia’s parents left that day, after Lord Waverleigh had once again paced about
Caroline’s music room. Nothing, he said, there wasn’t anything at all. And I had
to agree with him. No vestiges of
Caroline. Had it indeed been Caroline who had locked Amelia in the music room so
long ago? Or maybe I had imagined the door slamming shut in my face. Maybe all
of it was just madness.
He also visited the Black Chamber once again, and reported to all of us that the
evil was still here and it was quite real. And he had shaken his head when his
dear wife had said, “Now, Hobson, there’s no reason to scare everyone.”
“Yes,” he had said, and he looked over at me, a puzzled look on his face. “Yes,
there is, but you’re quite right, my dear, since I do not begin to understand it,
then I shouldn’t terrify the household.” And he thought that erased what he had
said? I wanted to hit him. He had terrified me and given me no explanation.
His words also killed any hope of conversation. It also hurled me into a well of