Florence and Giles

by John Harding

  It fortuned for the good relations between us that at that moment we heard a carriage upping the drive and, looking out the window, saw Dr Bradley, come to make his daily visit to Mrs Grouse. We went and opened the front door for him. He took one look at Theo, who paled and whose skin was waxy as a plucked chicken’s before it is put in the oven, and grunted.

  ‘Hmmpf! I have come to see one patient and find I have to deal with two. You’re in a bad way, my young friend, and if you keep on refusing my advice you’ll end up in a worse. And I suspect you’re not using your spray enough. I depend upon you, you know, to test its efficacy. Now go and sit down until I have seen Mrs Grouse and then I’ll give you a ride home.’

  He mounted the stairs and Theo and I returned to the drawing room, where he sheepished in a chair and I difficulted to not give him a piece of my mind, so distraught did I feel at his sudden lack of faith in me, but held off because it obvioused he so illed.

  Eventually I heard the sound of downstairsing and went into the hall to find the doctor with Miss Taylor hovering at his side like a fallen angel. Seeing my inquiring face, the doctor said, ‘There has been no improvement in Mrs Grouse’s condition, I’m afraid. Fact is, if anything, she’s worse, which surprises me somewhat. I’m going back to town and I’ll have an ambulance sent out to take her to the hospital. She’ll be better off there.’

  Miss Taylor meeked him a bow of the head. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she insincered, ‘I tried my best…’

  ‘Oh, no, no, no, ma’am,’ replied the doctor. ‘I didn’t mean that…’ His voice died away as if to say he wasn’t entirely sure what he did mean, while he looked at the governess as though something about her puzzled him. I remembered he had treated Miss Whitaker for migraine a couple of times and it struck me that perhaps some spark of memory of her had been kindled by Miss Taylor.

  Theo left with the doctor and for the rest of the afternoon I towered it on my own, reasoning that our new governess was too preoccupied with her patient to concern herself over what I was up to. As far as she was concerned, she had me like a bird in a net, fluttering my wings helplessly. I had chosen the tower over the library a little for old times’ sake, when the discovery of my reading was all I had to worry about, but mainly so that I could watch the drive. As soon as I saw the ambulance, a large wagon pulled by a team of four, up the drive, I downstairsed fast as I could and waited in the hall. I wanted to catch sight of Mrs Grouse and get some idea of the condition she was in. I feared me the fiend might have put a pillow over the poor woman’s face to prevent her going out of her control, where she might yield up her secrets. The two ambulance men carried Mrs Grouse out on a stretcher. She was completely unconscious and looked like a waxwork or an oversized doll, lifelike but lifeless. Just before they slid the stretcher into the vehicle I made a dash for it, giving Miss Taylor no time to stop me, and planted a kiss on the housekeeper’s lips. To my relief they were warm and although she showed no response I drew comfort from the knowledge that she was still alive.

  28

  Although it seemed now that my heart beat faster and that flocks of birds were in my stomach, so that I could scarce eat or sleep, I found myself both dreading and wishing for Friday, for I sured that was when the witch would make her move. Mostly, though, I longed for the day to come, no matter how much the thought of what I must go through terrified me. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted the opportunity at last, after so much subterfuge on both our parts, to join battle with her and overcome.

  And at those times when the fear grew so great that I wanted instead to run away, I could always comfort myself with the knowledge that nothing could happen until the last day, and that even then, when she found the chloroform gone, she would have to come up with a different plan.

  So it was that I near fainted when I came down for lunch on Thursday and found John, Meg and Mary in the hall, all three in their Sunday best and surrounded by baskets and carpet bags. Meg was hugging Giles while Mary was doing her best to suffocate him by kissing.

  ‘What’s happening? Where are you going? You surely can’t be leaving us here alone?’ I stammered.

  There was a rustle of silk behind me and our new governess was by my side. She smirked me one. ‘I thought it would be nice if Mrs Grouse had some visitors. Dr Bradley says that in such cases the sound of familiar voices can help a patient recover her senses.’

  Meg pinched my cheek. ‘And we all want to see Mrs Grouse, too. We’ve known her and worked with her and lived with her all these years, and we can’t bear to think of her alone. I’ve two baskets of goodies I’ve baked for her so she’ll have some home comforts when she comes round.’

  ‘But Giles and I –’

  ‘Will be perfectly all right,’ said Meg, beaming one at Miss Taylor. ‘I’ve left a mountain of food for you and Miss Taylor knows all about it. It’s only for two nights. We’ll be back by noon on Saturday.’

  My heart sank. By then it would be too late. By then it would all be over. I had not reckoned with this in my imaginings of the witch’s scheme. She had outmanoeuvred me quite.

  I followed the trio, who all gratefulled Miss Taylor with a mixture of smiles and curtseys and forelocking, out the front door. John had hitched a horse to the old wagon which he used to haul supplies from town and he helped the two women up into it, which occasioned much laughing, for Meg was so fat she could not manage the climb at all and he had to put his shoulder beneath her derrière to get her over the side. Then he climbed up onto the seat, threw me a wink and shook the reins. The three of us watched the wagon disappear up the drive.

  Miss Taylor turned to me and triumphed me one. ‘Well! So here we are.’

  I defianted her one back, squaring up to her for the battle to come. For I would not let her see in my face the great panic I felt inside. It was lost! The game was up! I had no one to help me now. For all I knew, this might be the moment she made her attack. Who could guess what powers the fiend possessed? What evil tricks had she learned during her short stay in Hell?

  Instead, she held out her hand to Giles. ‘Come, Giles,’ she said, and the two of them walked back into the house. I myself could scarce move. My legs and every other bone in my body shook. I cursed myself for meeking it while the servants were still here. I should have thrown myself upon them and screamed and told them all…except, I knew I would not have been believed. Theo was right. It too fantasticalled for anyone without an imagination.

  Once in the house, I listened, trying to hear where the others might be. I looked here and there and frequently over-my-shouldered, for I did not want to be caught unawares. I sneaked upstairs and heard voices coming from the schoolroom. Miss Taylor fairytaling Giles.

  I walked back along the corridor past the mirror there and then stopped. I went back, lifted the mirror from its hook and, holding it to my bosom, downstairsed as fast as I could. I outed the back door and ran to the lake. I put the mirror on the ground and jumped up and down upon it, until the glass was all in pieces, then hurled the frame into the water.

  During the course of the afternoon I did the same with the mirror in the upper corridor. The one in the entrance hall was fastened on the wall with screws and would anyway have been too heavy for me to lift. So I took a cane from the umbrella stand and smashed the glass, and when it was all in pieces I went around the edges of the frame with the handle of the cane, making sure not a sliver remained in which she would be able to see where I was.

  Afterward I took a broom from Mary’s cupboard and swept up the shards of broken glass, for I did not want Giles to accident upon them. In all the time I was doing this, removing from her the advantage of her spyglasses, she did not appear. At first this surprised me quite, for I expected that when she saw through the mirrors what I was up to, she would descend upon me in a fury. But then it struck me. It was worse that she did not. It meant she considered me powerless; it simply did not matter to her where I was or what I did.

  Now that she could not see me moving about the house,
I needed to sit and think and make plans of my own. I went into the kitchen and took bread and cakes and cookies and filled a stone jar with water and tied it all up in a cloth and made my way along the long corridor and upstairsed it to my tower. It was the one place she would not easily find me; even Giles didn’t know about it and I considered myself to be safe there, but there was another reason to be there too: I needed to be able to watch the drive, for if Theo should put in an appearance I could not afford to miss him. With everyone else gone, he was my last hope.

  It was a long afternoon and although I Robinson Crusoed the drive, squinting to see a friendly sail, there was no sign of Theo. I had to face the grim possibility that after yesterday’s attack his asthma now so serioused that he would not be paying me another visit before I Armageddoned with the governess. When the sun went down it began to cold, and distant dogs barked and the owl hooted. Of course, I could not light my candle for fear Miss Taylor might happen to step outside the house and see the light, but it fortuned I had no need of it, for it near full mooned, filling the tower with a pale, icy light, and I took this for a good sign that something, at least, was on my side.

  That night I slept upon the trapdoor. I reasoned that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a strong man, let alone a normal woman, to lift it from below with my weight upon it. Of course, Miss Taylor was not a normal woman and I had no way of knowing what powers a ghost such as she might have. I knew she could walk on water. I did not know though if ghosts really could walk through walls or if such tales were just so much foolishness. I would have to wait and see and above all hope she would not think of me being in the tower at all.

  I feverished the night away. At some time I must have fallen asleep, for when I opened my eyes the harsh white light of the moon had given way to a grey dawn. A fierce wind howled about the tower and sent ragged clouds scudding across the sky like frightened birds fleeing the oncoming winter. When I moved, my every limb and muscle ached as if my body unwillinged to face the day.

  I shook this silliness out of myself and got to my feet. I found my supplies and, even though my stomach churned, forced myself to chew my way through four or five of Meg’s cookies. I took a good swig of water and used the rest to splash my face, its iciness fulling me awake and ready for the task. As I lay there last night, it had come to me, a way in which I might make all turn out right, a way to save Giles and perhaps banish our governess, new and old, for ever. But for my plan to succeed perfectly, I needed Theo Van Hoosier to show up. I looked out at the drive and saw there was no sign of him, but that was hardly surprising, for it yet earlied and it would be at least an hour or so before he abouted in the visiting kind of way. I walked to another corner of my tower and looked down at the rear of the house, at the outbuildings which I knew it more importanted me to watch, for it was here, if I guessed correctly, that the governess would make her first move.

  I had a long wait. The sun got himself up and proceeded to climb the sky, although I only glimpsed him now and then through holes in the mournful day’s canopy of grey. Meantime, I restlessed back and forth in the tower, now checking the drive, now pacing to the back to check the outbuildings. And at last I had my reward! There was a movement and I saw the governess, holding her cloak about her tight, her head bent against the force of the wind, slip from the back of the house toward the stable. I didn’t waste a moment. I lifted the trapdoor and downstairsed and downbanistered in a trice. I flew along the corridor to the back door and outed. The wind gusted so hard it near knocked me off my feet, but I bent my head into it and ploughed on. The stable door was open and I carefulled an eye around the edge of the lintel and saw her as I had guessed she would be. She had lifted a harness from the wall and was walking toward Bluebird’s stall. I didn’t need to see any more but about-turned and, this time with the wind behind me, tore back into the house, upstairsed two at a time, flew along the corridor and flung open the door of the schoolroom. Giles was sitting looking at a picture book and at my wild entrance jerked his head up in alarm.

  ‘Flo! Where have you been? You missed breakfast and supper and Miss Taylor told me you were ill.’

  ‘Well, I’m not! Come quick, I have something to show you!’

  He doubtfulled. ‘Flo, I’m not sure. Miss Taylor told me to wait here. She – she’s taking me on a little trip.’

  ‘It won’t take but a minute, Giles. It’s something special. A secret place! A really secret place. The best hiding place in all of Blithe. No one will ever find you there.’

  ‘Well, OK, but only for a minute, mind.’ He got up. I noted that he was wearing his best apparel.

  I led him to the end of the corridor and downstairs and then to the tower stairs. ‘OK,’ I said, ‘up you go!’

  He stared at the débris heaped across the bottom steps and then asked me, ‘But how?’

  ‘Ah, that’s the beauty of it. It looks impossible, don’t it? All right, follow me.’

  As I began going up the outside of the banisters, putting my feet in the gaps between, I glanced back at my little brother and saw him wide-eyed with wonder. Without any further prompting he was up and after me, for no boy can resist a climb. I pulled myself over the banisters and then turned and hauled Giles after me. We sat on the stairs laughing, like the good old days. I had no worry, for I knew it would take Miss Taylor considerable time to harness Bluebird and hitch up the trap. There was no danger yet.

  We got to our feet and Giles raced me up the stairs but at the top had not the strength to lift the trapdoor into the tower. I pushed it open for him and a moment later we were in my secret kingdom, lords of all we surveyed.

  ‘Look!’ shouted Giles. ‘There’s Theo!’ and sure enough, halfway up the drive was that familiar heron striding toward the house.

  ‘Where?’ I replied, slipping the bottle from the pocket of my dress.

  ‘There! There! On the drive, can’t you see, Flo?’

  I unscrewed the bottle and tipped some of the liquid onto my handkerchief. ‘Ugh, what’s that smell?’ said Giles, and he began to turn his head, but too late, for I had the cloth over his face and my arm around his head like a vice, gripping him to me, muffling his protests with the cloth until he ceased to struggle. I let him rag-doll slowly to the floor and bent over him to check he was still breathing.

  That certain, I arranged him into a comfortable position, placing a cushion beneath his head, for I did not know how the chloroform worked and I figured that if he were comfortable he would be less likely to wake. Besides, I did not want my little brother awaking stiff or sore – as I had done – from lying in a bad way.

  29

  Once I had comfortabled Giles, I outed the trapdoor, closed it behind me, downstairsed, downbanistered and corridored at breakneck pace. When I reached the front door and looked out the window, Theo was standing staring at the house, puzzling and scratching his head. It obvioused he had rung the bell several times and, having received no reply, was confused as to why. It didn’t matter about him ringing the bell, because Miss Taylor could not have heard it from the stables. I just gratefulled I had got here before Theo walked away.

  I opened the door and stepped through it and his expression relieved to see me. ‘Florence, where is everybody? I thought perhaps you’d all died of the plague.’

  ‘Theo,’ I said, grabbing his hand, ‘there’s no time to waste. I need your help, come quick!’ He stood still, dumbfounded. I tugged him. ‘Come on!’

  We ran along the front of the house and around the side, bringing us to the back of the house, but at the opposite end from the stables where Miss Taylor would be still at work hitching up the horse. By now it well late-afternooned and the sun was already thinking about retiring for the night, not that he had been out much all day anyway. I led Theo past some old glasshouses that had long ago fallen into disrepair, there being no one to tend them, and brought him to the thing that was at the heart of my plan.

  ‘I need your help to get all this stuff off,’ I said, wavi
ng a hand at the old well. Theo stood staring at it, at its low walls and the planks laid across them and then the heavy slabs of stone in turn laid upon them.

  ‘It’s a well,’ said Theo.

  I impatiented. There was no time to lose. ‘Yes, yes, of course it’s a well; what else would it be!’ Seeing his face, I relented. ‘Theo, I’m sorry, but if I am to prevent that witch from taking Giles we need to do this now.’

  ‘But why?’

  I exasperated, hands on hips. I wondered whether I could tell him but deep inside I knew that doing so would result in an argument which I by no means certained of winning. Theo so often scrupled about the littlest thing and he also cowarded over anything that was against the rules. This was very much against the rules! Besides, I needed to hurry. The witch might be finished in the stables at any moment.

  ‘I don’t have time to explain now. Please, please, Theo, help me!’

  He made no reply but just stood there, staring first at the well and then at me.

  ‘Very well!’ I snapped. I strode up to the well, grabbed the top paving stone and began trying to lift it. Puffing and panting, with the greatest effort, I managed to raise one side of it a couple of inches, but then my strength gave out and I had to let it drop. Without looking at Theo, I seized hold of the stone again and began once more grunting and groaning as I struggled with it. That was too much for any Yankee gentleman to stand. Theo rushed to me, seized the other side of the stone and began to lift too, and between us we managed to slide it off the one beneath and place it on the ground. As we let go of it, Theo commenced to coughing, which necessitated the use of his spray, but as soon as the fit subsided, he was ready again for the fray. In this manner, huffing and puffing, grunting and groaning, coughing and spraying, we managed to lift all five slabs and place them in a neat pile upon the ground.