The girl looked at him and smiled a little hesitantly, very sweetly. “Mama always avoids coming to Malvern,” she said, “though perhaps I should not say so,should I? She is afraid of the ghosts.”
Ah, yes, the ghosts, Lord Asquith thought, making the girl a bow. The ghosts and a timid little wide-eyedslip of a thing. They might make a handy combinationduring the next few days. Though it would be a shameto frighten such a sweet little innocent. Her mouthlooked ten times more kissable when it smiled.
“We have quite a variety of them, Miss Ridding,” he said. “But they will not bother anyone who knowswhat places to avoid and what noises to ignore.”
Her eyes widened.
“Gracious, Edgar,” his mother said, and she set a protective arm about the girl’s shoulders, “you will befrightening poor Dinah away almost before she has setfoot in the house. Have a seat close to the fire, mydear, and take no notice of any silly talk about ghosts.I have never encountered one in thirty years of livinghere. Fresh tea and cakes should be here soon. I daresay you are hungry.”
“Thank you,” the girl said. “But I knew the house was haunted as soon as I set eyes on it.”
Lord Asquith smiled. Partly with genuine amusement—she was such a timid little thing. Partly with relief—she was obviously going to be only too eagerto stay in places where she was supposed to be. Andpartly with an unaccustomed tenderness of feeling. Hehad not had a great deal of time for women in the pastfew years. But if he had, or if he had time now, shewould be just the type he would be drawn to.
“I am sorry I am late,” Dinah said a little breathlessly as she arrived in the breakfast room the following morning, and Lady Asquith looked up at her in some surprise while Lord Asquith got to his feet andcame around the table to draw back a chair for her. “Igot lost.”
“But my dear Dinah,” Lady Asquith said, “I had no idea you would be up so early. I had every intentionof coming to fetch you to breakfast later or at the leastof sending Mrs. Knole for you.”
Dinah seated herself. “I know you told me yesterday that one needs a ball of string to find one’s way about this house,” she said. “But I thought I couldremember the way down. I was wrong.”
“Perhaps it would be as well if you did not move about the house at all when you are alone,” Lord Asquith said. “I know that my mother will be pleased totake you about, and when I am not busy I will behappy to do so. Or there is always Mrs. Knole.”
Dinah looked up at him and smiled a little uncertainly. He had lost none of his good looks or masculine appeal in the light of morning, she saw. He was the type of man she had dreamed of meeting sincebefore she left the schoolroom, the type she had notmet in two Seasons in London, though there had beenseveral gentlemen she had liked and even a few shehad been fond of. But none had that special somethingto make her glow with awareness and happiness andeven perhaps love. By the advanced age of nineteenand with the experience of two Seasons behind her,she might have grown more practical or more cynicaland concluded that there was no such man living inthe real world and no such relationship. But there was.She had only to look at her mother and Sir Anthonyto know that dreams could come true. And so she hadaccepted none of the three marriage offers she had received, even though she had felt liking and respect fortwo of those gentlemen and a great fondness in addition for the third.
Lord Asquith was her dream, or could be if she had a chance to get to know him. And it was not just something she saw through her eyes, though he was excessively handsome. It was something she had felt as soonas she met him the day before. He was tall and ratherthin, though she recalled the latter word as soon as shehad thought it. He was not thin. He was—slender. No,that was an effeminate word. He was lean. Splendidlyand very attractively so. His face was somewhat austere with its hawkish nose and rather thin lips and keendark eyes that seemed to look right through one’s owneyes into one’s soul. Disconcerting eyes. And darkhair, one lock of which fell frequently over his forehead.
Her dream man, about whom she had actually dreamed the night before, she remembered now as thebutler stepped forward to set food on her plate. A manwho was treating her rather like a child, advising hernot to go about unless there was someone with her tohold her hand. The master of the house in which shehad been forced to take refuge because her youngerbrothers and sister had the measles or would have soonand she was too young to be left in the London housealone. It was a little humiliating.
“Thank you,” she said to the butler. And then she leaned forward to speak to her host and hostess. “Imust have taken a wrong turning. I found myself in amaze of narrow and winding corridors. I felt as if therewere someone around each corner, but there neverwas, though I called out twice, feeling remarkablyfoolish.” Actually she had felt prickles up and downher spine as well. She had thought she would never find her way out. There had not been a happy feelabout those corridors.
“You must have stumbled upon the white tower,” Lord Asquith said. “It houses our most disturbedghosts. Mrs. Knole should tell you the story. She doesit very well. Apparently many centuries ago there wasa sword fight to the death in those corridors. One ofmy ancestors ran his point through the heart of hiswife’s lover while she looked on. She pined away anddied and now wanders the corridors endlessly searching for her beloved.”
“Edgar!” Lady Asquith said, exasperated. “You do almost as well as Mrs. Knole. Take no notice, Dinahdear. Those old stories are just so much nonsense. Didyou sleep well? I would hate to think of your nightsbeing sleepless.”
“Most of the servants will not go into the white tower even to clean or to take a shortcut,” Lord Asquith said. “And who the jokester was who called itwhiteI do not know. The avenged husband, perhaps.You would be very wise not to go there again, MissRidding. I should hate to find you there in a vaporishheap one day.”
“You said yesterday that there was a wide variety of ghosts here,” Dinah said, fixing her eyes on the handsome dark ones of her host. “Are there more? Willyou tell me about them?”
“I would strongly advise against it,” Lady Asquith said briskly. “I shall show you about the house afterbreakfast, Dinah. Really it is a pleasant place, youknow. It is unfortunate that you are seeing it at quitethe gloomiest time of the year. The glory of autumnis past and the brightness of winter not yet here. Rather a dead time of year.”
“Very suitable for All Saints’ Day,” Lord Asquith said. “And even better for All Hallows’ Eve-tomorrow night. I shall be free after luncheon, Miss Ridding. I shall give you a tour of the ghosts’ haunts,if you wish. Our ghosts do not wander all about thehouse, you see. Each has a favorite room or part of aroom. Mrs. Knole would doubtless do the honors better than I, but I would not deny myself the pleasure.”Dinah willed herself not to flush with pleasure. Hiswhole manner was faintly amused, she told herself,and not flattering at all. He did not believe in ghosts.He was laughing at her.
“Thank you,” she said. “I would like that.”
“After luncheon, then,” he said, and he got to hisfeet, inclined his head to the two ladies, and excusedhimself.
“He is amused,” Lady Asquith said. “He always likes to try to convince guests that the house really ishaunted. But it is all nonsense, Dinah, and I will nothave you frightened. Let me make it perfectly clearnow, my dear, in case Edgar neglects to tell you solater, that there is not one whisper of one story of aliving person being harmed by the supposed ghosts.”
“I am not afraid of the supernatural,” Dinah saidgravely. “Only interested in it, ma’am.”
Lady Asquith tutted. “Well,” she said, “I do not mind telling you that for the first year I was here as abride I lived in a state of quiet terror. I would hardlylet go my hold of my husband’s sleeve the wholetime. ” She chuckled. “It was in fact a rather romanticfirst year of marriage. But after that I learned moresense—about the mythical haunting, that is. Now, ifyou are finished, my dear, I shall show you some of the house.”
Dinah spent a wonderful hour after that following Lady Asquith about the most splendid apartments ofthe house. There was a great deal more to be seen,she knew, but it would have taken hours to see everything. The oak-paneled dining room with its ornatewooden screen at one end, a relic of medieval days,looked far less gloomy in the light of day. And themassive squared wooden stairway looked quite splendid—it had taken her a great deal of time earlier in themorning to find it. She loved the rooms she was shownwith their variety of architectural styles and furnishings, all somehow and strangely blending into a harmonious whole.
She had never been inside a haunted house before, even though England was reputed to be full of them.She had sensed the spirit world, but she had neverbefore stepped inside it. But Lord Asquith had beenright, she thought. There was a presence in the library,or at least at one end of it, a peaceful and not at allthreatening presence, though it was not a natural one.And there was a feeling in the gold bedchamber withits heavy silver-spangled gold bed-hangings. Not anunpleasant feeling, though not as peaceful a one as inthe library. There was a suggestion of brightness inthe large portrait gallery at the top of the house, thoughits many bay windows let in only the light of a gloomyday, which was trying its best to turn into a rainy day.
‘‘This has always been a happy room,” she said to Lady Asquith, gazing along the length of the gallery.
“It is a cold room,” her hostess said, “and not much used any longer except for viewing the paintings. In previous generations, when people were hardier and less devoted to their creature comforts, Ibelieve it was a playground for the children, especiallyon rainy days, and a lovers’ walk for the young people.”
