he be bribed, Andy?”
“In an instant,” I said. “He adores crispy bacon. You feed him that, and he is
yours.”
George licked Judith’s hand, and allowed his acolyte to pick him up in her arms.
He had no shame.
Judith laughed, and George licked her face until his tongue must be dry. She
said then, “Why were you standing alone in Mother’s music room, Andy?”
“Like you, I enjoy the prospect from the front window. I’m also considering
making use of it myself. Perhaps I can make it a study, where I can write
letters and such.”
She nodded. She didn’t care one way or the other. To be expected, since her
mother had died shortly after birthing her.
“This is a large room,” I said. “I believe I’ll start on the wall with the
fireplace.”
Judith gently set George back onto the rug that lay in front of the fireplace.
He went back to sleep, and I’d swear that mutt had a grin on his ugly little
face.
Judith took the far wall.
“You’re looking for a hollow sound,” I said as I tapped.
We both began knocking on the walls.
We hadn’t been at it all that long when there was a knock on the door.
I immediately climbed down from the chair I’d been standing on. It was Amelia;
she stepped into my bedchamber and placed her hand on my arm. “Listen, Andy, I
remember more now about what happened yesterday. I was lying on my bed just a
little while ago, taking a nap just as Thomas begged me to do. When I closed my
eyes, I remembered that door slamming shut in your face. I remember you shouting
at me.” She came to an abrupt halt. “Oh, goodness, it’s you, Judith. Whatever
are you doing here? Why are you standing on that chair?”
Judith looked scared. “I’m sorry, Amelia, I found Andy and she?”
“I wanted to hang a painting,” I said easily. “Judith was checking the height I
wanted.” I didn’t want Amelia to know we were sounding the walls for a hollow
space. My new tale would certainly he hoisted on a petard, then.
Judith said nothing, smart girl.
“Judith also wanted to see George. She is second only to John in George’s
affections,” I added. “He just went to sleep again. Judith, don’t you have to go
back to your lessons now?”
“Yes, Andy. May I come back perhaps early this evening? To play with George and
to help hang your painting?”
“Certainly, I would like that very much.”
Amelia didn’t say another word until Judith had quietly closed the bedchamber
door after her.
“Yes, what else do you remember, Amelia?” I led her to a chair in front of the
fireplace. George cocked open an eye, looked at her for a moment, then went back
to a sleep.
She sat down, fretting all the while with a loose thread on her sleeve. “I
remember you calling to me. I remember standing there, just looking at that
closed door, and doing absolutely nothing. I didn’t want to do anything. Then I
set the candle branch on the floor and lay down on my side, my cheek pillowed
against my hands.
“I remember that I felt so very tired, just all of a sudden, I couldn’t keep my
eyes open. Then?”
“For God’s sake, Amelia, spit it out.”
“I’m not mad. I know I’m not mad.”
“Tell me.”
“I felt something very warm, something thickening the air above my head. But it
wasn’t scary, Andy. Then there was this very soft voice, not really a voice, but
I felt her voice deep inside my head, and she said something about how she was
sorry, but I wasn’t the right one. Then I woke up a bit to see Thomas and John
over me.”
I didn’t say a word. I’d never been so afraid in my entire life, even last night
and that dreadful old woman with that knife coming at me, wasn’t as scary as
this.
Because the old woman had been flesh and blood, and this wasn’t. Whatever this
was, it wanted me, not Amelia. I had no doubt of that at all.