He was standing in the doorway. She came toward him and stopped a little way away. She smiled.
“But no one has been harmed yet?” she said. “I don’t believe it would happen. Those passions were ofanother time and belong now in another dimension.They cannot hurt the living.”
Damn! She really was not afraid.
She set her head to one side. “Why are you worried about me?” she asked.
He felt almost as if she could see through his eyes to the truth. He smiled and reached out to touch hercheeks with the fingertips of both hands. “All Hallows’ Eve is approaching,” he said. “The time when all souls are reputed to return to their earthly homes.An old house like Malvern might get decidedlycrowded on that night. I don’t want you in a placewhere they might cut up nasty for old times’ sake.Promise me?”
She smiled slowly. “But you do not believe in ghosts,” she said. “Do you? You have been trying tofrighten me, but your eyes are too expressive. Theyhave been laughing.”
“I can see,” he observed, “that I should have turned Mrs. Knole loose on you. She would soon haveyou shivering in your slippers.”
“I have never even met the famous Mrs. Knole,” Dinah said.
“You cannot say you have lived until you have done so,” he said. “I shall see that it happens soon, Dinah.May I call you Dinah? You are, after all, a step-cousin,if there is such a relationship.”
She smiled at him again.
“You must call me Edgar,” he said. “A good medieval name, you will note. I am named for a thousand ancestors.”
“I like it,” she said. “Edgar.”
He lowered his hands hastily when he realized that for no reason whatsoever he had been about to leanforward and kiss her smiling mouth. He offered hisarm.
“Tea in the drawing room?” he said. “My mother will be relieved to see that you have not been spiritedaway by ghosts. Besides, it will be warmer downthere.”
“Yes,” she said. “And thank you for introducing me to all your ghosts.”
“Oh, not all, by any means,” he said, drawing her hand within his arm again. “These are only the indoorones. I shall leave Mrs. Knole to tell you about theoutdoor ones.”
“Oh,” she said, looking up at him brightly, “are there some?”
Mrs. Knole would be sent to conduct her down to breakfast the following morning, Dinah had been told.It was quite unnecessary to send an escort since shehad now memorized the route from her room to thegrand staircase and was unlikely to get lost again.But she was looking forward to meeting the famoushousekeeper.
Dinah stood absently brushing her curls before retiring to bed. She thought of the children and wondered if they all had the measles yet and were feeling very sick. She thought of Lady Asquith, who had madeher feel so welcome at Malvern. Dinah had been verymuch afraid she would be imposing on a lady who wasnot really any relation of hers. And she thought ofLord Asquith—Edgar. The brush paused against herhead. He was wonderful. She had always believed inlove at first sight and now she knew that it really didhappen. Even if, alas, it was sometimes one-sided.Edgar, she feared, saw her as a younger relative—step-cousin he had called her—to be treated withcourtesy and even friendliness but also with someamusement. He had definitely been trying to scare herwith the ghosts.
She sighed. For one moment in the gold bedchamber she had thought he was going to kiss her. He hadnot, of course. He had turned away and suggested going down for tea. But Dinah had been disappointed. She had been kissed three times, by three differentgentlemen, and not one of those kisses had been inany way unpleasant. But there had very definitely beensomething missing from them.
Edgar had not told her about the ghost in her room, she thought, setting down her brush. There was certainly one there, though the feeling was very faint. Perhaps it was just that her little turret room was quiteclose to the white tower, she had thought at first. Perhaps the very strong presence there had spilled over. Butno, it was not that. This was no frightening ghost. Onlya rather sad one. And the feeling was very faint.
Dinah climbed into the high four-poster bed and blew out the single candle on the table beside her. Shewould ask Mrs. Knole about it in the morning, shedecided. And about the outdoor ghosts too. Edgar hadsaid there were some. She had not felt them herselfbecause she had not been outside since her arrival.The rain had stopped, she realized when she listenedclosely for the sound of it against the window.
Dinah woke up at some time during the night. She was not aware that anything had woken her—there wasno remembered sound. And yet, she thought, she hadnot floated to the surface of sleep as she sometimesdid in the night only to realize that it was not morningyet and that she could allow herself to float back offagain. She had come suddenly and totally awake. Hereyes had opened.
Whatever it was, she thought, it was outside the house and not in. She lay very still and listened.
Nothing.
The bed was warm and cozy. She was sleepy. Butshe was also curious, and curiosity was never to be denied for long, she knew from experience. She liftedaway the bedclothes, swung her legs over the side ofthe bed, and crossed the room to the window. Shedrew back one side of the heavy curtains.
He was directly below her room. A man wearing a long, dark cloak and hat. He was standing very stilland looking away to one side—in the direction of thesea. And then he looked up intently at the white towerand held his gaze there for a long while.
It was impossible to see who he was, though she guessed that it was Lord Asquith. What was he doing?she wondered. And what time was it? Had he heard anoise and was investigating? Or was he merely unableto sleep and was out walking? But he was not walking.He was standing still.
Whatever he was doing, she decided, it was none of her business. And at any moment he was going to shifthis gaze to her window and see her spying on him.She let the curtain fall over the window again and returned to the bed. She lay down and covered herselfgratefully with the blankets. The room was chilly.
But she knew as soon as she closed her eyes that she was not going to sleep. Her brain was racing and herheart thumping with something very like excitement.And she knew, though she lay there determinedly forseveral minutes, that she was going to get up againand peep out of the window once more. Would he stillbe there? Surely he would have gone by now and shecould return to bed satisfied.
