Georgina frowned.
“Come, we will go downstairs to dinner before we end up in the same argument all over again. I know that Gus is looking forward to seeing you. Do not be rude to him,” she said pointedly.
Anna slid off the bed and approached Georgina’s dressing table. “I am never rude to Gus, Georgina. You just want me to return affections that he doesn’t even have!”
“Oh, I am quite sure that he does, Anna. If you do not see it, then that is hardly my fault. I think something is holding you back.” She stared up at Anna. “Or someone. A handsome face does not make a man, you know. You cannot compare Crispin to my brother.”
“I’m not comparing them. You are,” Anna said. “I do like Gus. He is a good man, kind and sweet, and very dashing when he wants to be.”
“My brother is a better man than Crispin Crawford, Anna, and you know that. And if you married Gus, then we would be sisters. Don’t you want to be sisters?” Georgina said as they tripped along the corridor and down the grand staircase.
Anna kissed Georgina on the cheek as they reached the hallway.
“We are already sisters, Georgie. At least, I think so.”
She knew what Georgina wanted for her. Mama and Papa would probably rather she allow Gus to call on her, too. But, things weren’t as simple as Georgina made them out to be, and love was not Anna’s only consideration.
They entered the brightly lit dining room, to find everyone already seated before them. Mr Smithwood sat at the head of the table, his wife to his left. Gus sat to his right, with their younger daughter, Lily, beside him. They all stood as the two girls entered the room, and greeted Anna warmly. She smiled and dipped a curtsey to them all. Georgina indicated that Anna should take the seat beside her Mama, and she sat down beside her.
The Smithwoods were a gregarious and happy family, and Anna always enjoyed being invited to supper. Georgina’s father was a large man with an even larger heart. He was happiest tucked away in his library with a decanter full of port and some fine cigars. Eugenia, Georgina’s mother, was his opposite. Tall, thin, elegant and always active, she loved to hunt, and spent most of her time in the stables. However, the affection that they shared was clear.
The contrast to her own home was stark. Her own father, the Earl of Havering, was often absent. Ashamed of their almost derelict ancestral home, he spent most of his time at his club in Bath.
Mama was a nervous woman, who had neither the wit, nor the education required to run the household, and everything seemed to be falling to rack and ruin around them. Anna wished that there was something she could do, but she knew that her only hope to save her family was to marry well – and she had been struggling to even manage a modest betrothal.
As supper came to an end and Mr Smithwood retired to his library to smoke, Anna stood up.
“I should go home. Mama will probably be waiting up for me,” she said, smoothing her gown nervously. She wasn’t sure why, but thought it probable that Georgina would suggest that Gus drive her home in the carriage or some such nonsense.
“We could walk you back, Anna,” Georgina said, pointing between herself and Gus with her slender index finger. “The new flowers Gregory put along the pond look absolutely beautiful in the light of the setting sun and the lamplight.”
“I’d like that.” Anna agreed with a smile.
At least Georgina would be there to act as a chaperone, even if she knew that her friend was intent upon matchmaking. She did not want to be alone with Gus, even if she did believe Georgina’s theory to be nonsense.
Gus was handsome, and sweet, and funny. He had been friends with Anna for as long as Georgina. When they were very young, he would tease her and chase her around.
Those fond memories made her smile. Anna still thought of him as that playful youngster who pulled gently on her hair and laughed when she tripped and fell over and she was certain that he saw her as the hoyden with scraped knees she had been as a girl.
Chapter Four
The walk home from the Smithwoods manor house was quite lovely. The moon was bright, and lit their way, though Gus had brought a lantern, too.
“Do you remember that day I feel in the stream,” Anna said, giggling as they passed the spot. “Mama had a fit when I arrived home, drenched to the skin.”
“I have apologized over, and over,” Gus said with a grin. “Will you never let me forget it?”
“I doubt it. If Papa had been home I would have been beaten, I am sure,” Anna said, piling on the guilt.”
“I truly didn’t see you,” Gus protested.
“Yes, you did,” Georgina said. “You saw her standing there, and then directed the swing purposefully.”
“But, I never meant to hit her so hard that she would fall in,” Gus cried. Anna grinned at him. “And, anyway, the pair of you got your revenge, getting me trapped in that old barn.”
Anna could remember his cries, even now. They had been cruel, indeed, locking him in and then forgetting all about him. It had been one of the stable boys who had finally found him, hours later.
“I am sorry,” she said softly.
“I know you were led astray by my sister, Anna. Don’t you worry, I forgive you,” Gus said, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight.
Anna felt a frisson of sensation flood through her as she held his gaze. She put it down to the coolness of the evening breeze, but it was strangely difficult to avert her eyes from his. She let her attention wander over his features, accentuated in a completely new way by the light of the lantern and the moonlight. His features had sharpened, his boyish good looks had truly become quite compelling. She leaned towards him, as he moved closer to her, their lips almost touching. Anna felt her heart pound, and wondered if Gus could hear it.
“Come on, you two,” Georgina called from up ahead. “We’re nearly there, and I’m getting a little chilly.”
“Yes,” Anna said, pulling away awkwardly and following in Georgina’s footsteps. “We should keep moving. You still have to walk back home again, after all.”
“Yes, that is quite true,” said Gus, his voice a little husky. He coughed to clear his throat and strode on ahead.
Anna was quiet as they made their way through the woodland that bordered the two families’ lands. Georgina and Gus seemed to be content to tease and mock one another, but the moment by the stream had jolted Anna in a way that she had not thought possible. She had never even considered Gus as a potential suitor, but what had just passed between her and her old friend had been powerful enough to take her breath away.
As they approached the house, Anna was relieved. She needed time to think. There were so many thoughts whirling through her brain, so many sensations flooding her body. She embraced Georgina and kissed her on the cheek.
“Good night,” she said.
“Sleep well, Anna,” Georgina said.
“You be safe, as you go back home. Milner said something about putting out some traps tonight. He doesn’t usually put them anywhere near the path, but I would hate for anything to happen to either of you,” Anna said, accepting a brotherly peck on the forehead from Gus.
“Anna, you don’t use that wing, do you?” Georgina said suddenly, pointing to a light in the uppermost window of the east wing.
“No,” Anna said, looking up. Shocked at what she saw, she could not explain it. “Nobody has been up there in quite some time.”
Georgina’s eyes grew wide.
“Then why are there lights on? Do you think Havering House might have ghosts?”
“Ghosts? Now Georgie. You know that there is no such thing. We have talked about this very thing since you were a girl. Do not frighten Anna.” Gus scolded his sister, regarding a subject that had been a disagreement between them for some time.
“It really could be a ghost up there. What do you think, Anna?”
“Oh, I do not know. It does make me wonder why there are lights in that part of the house. Hmm. Ghosts... Maybe?”
“Do you think it mi
ght be one of the servants? Your parents?” Gus asked.
“I doubt it. Papa will still be at his club, he has been staying there most nights. Mama’s room has a light on, so I would guess she is reading. The servants would be in their own rooms, up in the attic at this time of the evening.”
“There has to be an explanation besides ghosts. I know All Hallows’ Eve is on your mind, but that is no reason to let your imagination run wild.”
Gus looked back and forth between the two young women and waited for one of them to agree with him.
Anna realized that she had never told them about what was happening in her family. Now she probably needed to explain as much as she could.
“There are some things you may not know. Papa sold off most of the furniture, and everything else is under dust sheets. I don’t think the maid even goes in there to clean anymore.”
“All the more reason for the house to have ghosts.”
Georgina seemed convinced the house had ghosts and they were the reason lights were on in the empty east wing.
“If ghosts did exist, I do not think they would need lights to move around, Georgie.”
Gus frowned and started to walk towards the house.
“Maybe we should go and investigate,” Georgina said, clearly eager for an adventure. “I think it is a ghost. Maybe two ghosts.”
“You and your wild imagination,” Gus scoffed. “I am sure that there is a perfectly straightforward explanation.”
The trio made their way to the kitchen door and let themselves in. Gus went straight up the back stairs. The girls followed him.
Anna felt strangely nervous, anxiety gnawing in her belly as they climbed. The great house had never been a warm and welcoming home, but she had never felt fear here before. Something did not feel right, but Anna could not explain what it was. She could feel a cold prickling sensation breaking out all over her body, her hands felt like blocks of ice and yet they were slick with sweat.
At the top of the stairs they made their way out onto the main corridor and moved towards the east wing. The house was quiet, with peculiar shadows and odd creaks and groans. Anna grabbed hold of Georgina’s hand and clasped it tightly. Georgina squeezed back, her palms as clammy as Anna’s. Gus looked back at them reassuringly, holding the lantern high.
They jumped at the sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor somewhere up ahead, followed by a strange clanking.
“We should go back,” Anna whispered. “Maybe you could come back in the morning and we can look then.”
Her teeth were chattering as her body quivered with fear.
“I’m going on,” Gus said firmly. “I won’t leave you in this house without knowing what is going on.”
“Me neither,” Georgina said, trying to make her voice sound braver than she felt. Anna could tell Georgina was just as scared as she was.
“Then we go on,” she said.
They tiptoed along the corridor until they reached the room they thought the sounds had come from, and where the light had been when they arrived. Gus tentatively opened the door. The room was pitch black. He held up the lantern.
Inside the room, there was nothing at all. No lantern, no candle, no trunk, nothing. They looked at one another, utterly perplexed.
“Well, maybe we are all too tired, or there was something in the wine,” Georgina said trying to make a joke of their fears.
“Maybe we do have a ghost and nobody told me,” Anna said, forcing her lips into a smile. “I wonder if Papa knows?”
“Or maybe the sound and the light came from somewhere else?” Gus said. “Maybe it was only a reflection.”
“I don’t care,” Anna said. “I think we should go downstairs, I can make us all hot chocolate to soothe us before you head for home – unless you wish to stay here for the night?”
“We should go back,” Georgina said reluctantly. “Mama will worry.” Anna nodded.
“We’ll come back at first light,” Gus assured her. “There will be an explanation for all of this. A logical one – not evidence of a ghost.”
Chapter Five
Georgina looked up at her brother with a teasing grin as they made their way through the brightly lit gardens towards their home. “You like Anna, don’t you, Gus?”
“Of course, I like her. She has been a friend forever,” he said dismissively.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Georgina said. He glared at her. “I don’t mean to pry, but I saw the two of you by the stream.”
“I think you are wrong, Georgie, much as I want it to be true. I fear she only thinks of me as a friend. Or worse, the brother of a friend,” Gus said.
“I think she wants you just as much as you want her. She is just blinded by Crispin Crawford.”
They were quiet for a moment, standing quietly on the verandah looking out over the gardens.
“Has she ever said anything about me? Ever asked about me?” Gus asked his sister.
Georgina shook her head.
“She only speaks of you in passing. Though until today I didn’t realize I should have been noticing the way she spoke of you.”
She grinned at her brother, and put an arm around his waist. He put an arm round her shoulders.
“Do not tease me in such a way,” Gus said, with a rueful grin. “It is unfair. I was thinking about confessing my feelings to her at the Bonfire Ball. But then she said she was going to London, and now I have to compete with that cad, Crawford, for her affections.”
Georgina wished there was more that she could do to ease her brother’s pain. But, she feared that Crispin Crawford had the upper hand, and by the time Anna realized how wrong for her he was, it would be too late.
“Good night, Gus,” she said sadly, reaching up on tip-toe to give him a peck on the cheek.
Georgina slept fitfully, not sure if she was fretting over the mystery at Anna’s house, her brother’s feelings for her best friend, or her own for Duncan Crawford. When dawn broke, she got up, dressed herself and went downstairs, unable to stay in her bed, or in her room, any longer. Gus was already downstairs in the breakfast room. He looked as exhausted as she felt, and stood up to pour her a cup of coffee from the silver pot on the dresser.
“Do you think Anna will be up yet?” he asked her.
“If she had anywhere near as terrible a night’s sleep as I did, I would imagine so. Whatever is going on happened in her house, after all. I’m certain I wouldn’t have been able to sleep there, given what we experienced last night.”
“Of course. Shall we take the carriage, or walk?” Gus asked as Georgina handed him a roll and the butter dish.
“Walk, I think. I doubt that either of us is really capable of driving a pair of horses this morning,” Georgina said with a wry smile.
The fresh air helped to clear Georgina’s head of the foggy feeling she had been left with after so little sleep. She and Gus walked in companionable silence to Anna’s home. Feeling much brighter as they knocked upon the door, Georgina noticed that Gus had a little more color in his cheeks now, too.
Daniels, the butler, opened the door and ushered them inside. The Earl had let most of his servants go, as the family’s fortunes had declined, but Daniels had stayed on. There were rumours that the poor man had not been paid in over three years. Seeing the east wing last night had made Georgina suspect that things were far worse for the Haverings than she had ever considered, though she never dared to ask Anna just how bad things truly were. Anna had her pride.
Anna stood at the bottom of the stairs. She looked so tiny, so fragile, dressed in a white linen gown. Georgina rushed to embrace her.
“Are you ready to go and have a proper look?”
“I am,” Anna said. “I asked Daniels if he knew of anything happening in the east wing last night. He said that he and Cook both retired early, and that Madelaine, the maid, is currently in town visiting her sick mother. It simply makes no sense at all that we saw a light and heard such noises.”
“Come
,” Gus said, leading the way. “We have a mystery to solve.” He smiled at Anna, and Georgina noticed how her friend’s face lit up. She was sure that Anna would come to see that Gus was the man for her, given time. She just had to be patient. But, she knew that had never been a virtue she possessed.
The east wing was silent today. Georgina wondered why they had all been so scared the previous evening, but then she remembered the eeriness of that hazy light coming from the window, and the peculiar sounds that had echoed through the silence. It was as if the house was haunted, some dark and dangerous soul trying to reach out from beyond the grave. The full moon had cast shadows as they made their walk to the house through the woods, and with All Hallows’ Eve just a few days away it was no wonder that their minds had been so easily led to take fright.
Carefully, they investigated all of the rooms. Anna was still visibly shaken, and so they took their time, going from room to room together, exploring every nook and cranny, from the cellars up to the attics. As Anna had said, the rooms were almost totally empty. Dust covered every surface, and motes danced in the shafts of light from the cracks in the drapes.
“It is so sad to see the house like this,” Georgina mused.
“I know. When I was a girl, some of these rooms still had beautiful paintings on the walls and elegant furniture, too,” Anna said. “I used to play here, it was quiet and I was out of everyone’s way. I used to pretend that this was my house, that I had a loving husband and a nursery full of children.”
Georgina smiled sadly.
“Lucky you, having an entire wing to play house with,” she said.
Anna smiled wanly at her teasing tone.
“I always envied you your lovely doll house,” she admitted.
“It was rather wonderful, wasn’t it? Papa found it on one of his travels. Said he couldn’t resist it,” Georgina said, remembering the look of happiness on his face when he had revealed it to her. She had flung her arms around his neck and covered his face with kisses. Poor Anna had never had that kind of Papa.
Love in the Moonlight: A Regency Romance All Hallows' Eve Collection: 7 Delightful Regency Romance All Hallows' Eve Stories (Regency Collections Book 6) Page 29
