Chapter Ten
Kitty did not appear for breakfast that morning. Mr Honeyacre, his eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep, came to the table without an appetite, it being apparent that he was only there from a sense of duty to his guests. He apologised profusely for the disturbance, but said that Kitty had awoken in a fright and had required careful soothing. She was calm now and Miss Pet was sitting with her. Dr Hamid, he said, had prescribed a nourishing broth and rest. He bewailed the fact that he was unable to remove his wife from the house but expressed his profound relief that there was a doctor present to attend to her.
Dr Hamid arrived to say that after speaking to Kitty he had been able to reassure her that what had happened was simply a dream occasioned by recent events. ‘Her health is a little delicate but she is in no danger. She has now been able to sleep. Once she is awake and has managed a little nourishment she should make the effort to take gentle exercise and engage in conversation. It would not do for her to be alone, or dwell too much on the events of last night.’
He seemed distracted as he ate breakfast and Mina saw him glance up at the ceiling more than once. She realised that he was examining the light above the table. Whatever he saw, it did not assist his thoughts.
As they prepared to go to church, Mr Malling, who had braved the muddy footpath to make enquiries in the village, came to advise them that Reverend Ashbrook had not arrived from Clayton to conduct the service and it was to be assumed that he had been unable to make the journey due to the inclement weather and bad roads. Mr Honeyacre, looking as if the miseries of the world had fallen upon his shoulders, debated with himself whether they should attend church or hold a prayer meeting at the house.
Mr Hope, who appeared to have as much energy as all the rest of the company put together, was all for attending church, indeed his eyes lit up at the prospect, and Mr Beckler, whom no one expected would disagree, was equally enthusiastic.
‘Very well, we will walk down to the church,’ said Mr Honeyacre. ‘I am sure we will find our prayers comforting and beneficial.’
‘One word of caution,’ said Mr Malling. ‘The steps leading down to the church have become more difficult due to the weather. The ladies will require some assistance if they are to use them. There is the pathway to the rear of the graveyard, the one the villagers use, but that is very muddy indeed and I wouldn’t advise anyone here to attempt it.’
‘Is the path up to Clayton Hill clear?’ asked Mr Hope. ‘We intend to view the windmills this afternoon.’
‘It might be better to visit them on Monday, my Lord, if the rain holds off. Also, the miller will be there to show you the site and answer your questions.’
Mr Hope grunted with impatience, but seemed to accept Mr Malling’s advice.
Sunday morning worship usually started at 10 a.m. and the band of participants began to assemble in their most waterproof boots in the hallway shortly before. Kitty was not amongst them and since Mr Honeyacre had not yet appeared Mina took the opportunity to speak to Dr Hamid about his patient. Nellie arrived, although, like Mina, she was not dressed to brave the outdoors, but rather to contemplate it from within and decline further acquaintance.
‘Mrs Honeyacre has decided to take prayers in her room with Miss Pet,’ said Dr Hamid.
‘I hope she is recovering from her fright,’ said Mina. ‘It so happens that I had a disturbing dream last night and it was only on awakening that I became truly certain that it was indeed a dream, as it felt very real at the time.’
‘She is better, yes, but I think her imagination does not permit her to understand the difference between dream and wake as well as you do. There is one difficult subject I will have to broach with Mr Honeyacre. Mrs Honeyacre is extremely nervous about the portrait of her predecessor. She thinks the eyes follow her as she walks past. I fear I might have to suggest he move it elsewhere.’
‘Have you come to any conclusion as to the origin of the stones that fell on the table at the séance?’ asked Mina.
‘I put some of them in my pocket,’ he said. ‘I mean to look about and see if I can identify something similar.’
‘Mrs Malling was so quick to tidy up I did not have the opportunity of examining them,’ said Mina.
He delved into his pocket and brought out a few stones. They were quite small and rounded and regular. ‘Now where would these be found?’ he asked.
Nellie examined them thoughtfully. ‘Are you a gardener, Dr Hamid?’
‘Er — no, why do you ask?’
‘When you walk down to the church I suggest you look in the ornamental urns on the terrace. I have something of a similar nature in my garden and the soil is protected from weeds with small pebbles like these.’
‘If that is the case then anyone might have picked them up,’ said Mina. ‘What I would like to know is how they came to fall from the ceiling onto the tea table. If it had been a dark séance the answer would have been obvious. Someone would have come to the séance with a pocket full of stones and simply thrown them on the table at the right moment. But we all saw that they cascaded down from above. We even heard them striking the brass fittings and glass shades of the chandelier.’
‘I was looking this morning at breakfast,’ said Dr Hamid, ‘and the only place they could have come from was the chandelier which was directly above the centre of the tea table. But there was nowhere in the chandelier to store the stones unseen and, even if there was, how could their descent be achieved and so well timed with the séance?’
‘Then we must take a close look at the chandelier and consider the possibilities.’
Mr Honeyacre arrived, well cloaked and booted, and Mina went to speak to him.
‘I think it would be advisable for me to remain here and join Mrs Honeyacre for prayers,’ she said.
‘Oh, yes, of course, I quite understand. She will appreciate the company.’
‘And I was wondering if you have such a thing as a plan of the house. It would be of great assistance to me.’
He was surprised at the request, but delved into his study and soon provided her with the plans of the house in three sheets, drawn up floor by floor.
‘And now,’ said Mina to Nellie when the little party had gone, ‘let us take a close look at the chandelier and determine how the stones descended from the ceiling.’
Nellie laughed.
‘I’m not sure I could persuade Dr Hamid to climb up on the table,’ said Mina, ‘and he would have a perfect fit if I was to attempt it, but I am sure you would enjoy the adventure.’
‘I have danced on tables before now,’ said Nellie, ‘but not in such a confining costume.’
In the dining room they laid a cloth on the table and Nellie stepped up on a chair and then to the table top, where she could reach up and touch the glass lampshades.
‘How easy is it to see?’ asked Mina.
‘There is no obvious place to store any stones. I can see one or two small ones that must have fallen into the bottom of the shades when they all came down. If stones had been held up here, attached to the ceiling perhaps, it might have been in a cloth bag, or some paper. I don’t believe either of us examined the ceiling before the séance began.’
‘But how were they released and how was the descent so well-timed?’ asked Mina.
‘That is a good question. The only other possibility is if there was a gap in the place where the chandelier is attached to the ceiling and the stones somehow came down from the floor above, but it is tightly fitted and there is not a space large enough, even for such small pebbles.’
‘But the chandelier did sway,’ said Mina. ‘We all saw it. Can you make it sway now?’
Nellie carefully pushed the fitting but it was firmly fixed and hardly moved at all. ‘Curious,’ she said. ‘If it was possible for it to move last night, perhaps motivated by the hand of a spirit, then it ought to be possible for me to move it now. There is no damage to the ceiling.’
‘Ah, but spirits know nothing of ceilings and walls,’ said M
ina. ‘And there are mediums who claim to fly through the air and make their entrance into houses through brick and plaster without leaving any sign. How strange it is, therefore, that Mr Hope’s wonderful Miss Eustace is still in prison.’
‘Would you not consider that the stones might have been carried into the house by a spirit passing through solid walls before being dropped the table,’ asked Nellie.
‘I will consider that, of course, as I might consider every explanation,’ said Mina. ‘But, unlike Mr Hope, I see it as the last possibility and not the first.’
Nellie descended from the table and the cloth was put away.
‘Now then,’ said Mina, ‘I have here the floor plans of the house and we will use these for our next expedition.’ She laid out the plans on the table top. ‘This sheet shows the ground floor. Here is the dining room and that —’ she pointed — ‘is approximately the location of the chandelier.’ She took the next sheet. ‘This is the first floor of the main house and east wing, showing the bedrooms and other amenities. If I lay it over the first one we will find our match.’ She adjusted the two sheets to reveal as far as possible the position of the first floor rooms in relation to those below. She then examined the arrangement, carefully turning the top paper aside until she saw the location of the chandelier. ‘There it is,’ she said. ‘The room directly above the position of the chandelier is the one marked Socrates. The one occupied by Dr Hamid.’ She paused. ‘Eager as I am to continue this enquiry I feel I ought to ask his permission to examine the room.’
Mina and Nellie made a further tour of the house, but were unable to discover anything that might explain the unusual phenomena. They called on Kitty, who had awoken from her slumber somewhat refreshed and a little ashamed of herself for having disturbed the sleep of her guests. There was a breakfast tray by her bedside, which looked as if she had eaten well and some of the usual fresh colour of her complexion had been restored. Mina, Nellie, Kitty and Miss Pet said prayers for the restless spirits in the house, asking God to grant them peace and content so they could leave the troublesome earthly world and reside in Heaven.
The Hollow House party that had gone to pray at St Mond’s was back within an hour of leaving, cold, damp and much muddied. In the absence of Reverend Ashbrook the church service had passed rather more quickly than was usual and, according to Dr Hamid, mainly consisted of the private prayers of a congregation anxious to return to their homes.
Dr Hamid paid a visit to Kitty and, on finding her much improved, left her to the kindness of Miss Pet and the anxious soothings of Mr Honeyacre. Mr Hope and Mr Beckler were making plans for the afternoon, so it was not hard for Mina and Nellie to engage Dr Hamid in a private conversation.
‘I wonder,’ he said, ‘what the two of you have been doing this morning?’ He glanced at the rolled-up plans in Mina’s hand. ‘It was not all prayers, I think.’
‘We have been exercising our minds on the conundrum of the stones that fell at the séance,’ said Mina. ‘One way they could have been introduced by a living hand is through the ceiling in the place where the chandelier is fitted, but it is impossible to see how it could have been done. However, I obtained the plans of the house, which have been very helpful. I am fairly sure that the precise place where the chandelier is attached to the ceiling is directly below the room you are occupying.’
Dr Hamid gave her a very firm stare.
‘Naturally, we would not intrude without your permission.’
‘Naturally,’ said Dr Hamid, looking a little surprised that they had not already done so.
‘So, the next thing to do, with your permission, is to examine the floor of the Socrates room and see how, if at all, the stones might have been introduced from above.’
‘But by whom?’ he argued. ‘Everyone was in the séance room, as I seem to recall you insisted.’
‘That is a difficulty,’ Mina admitted. ‘I will have to address that question once I have solved the first.’
‘I see. Are you planning to take up carpentry?’
‘Well, that would be amusing. Whyever not?’
He threw up his hands. ‘There are many things I would venture to solve the puzzle, but I am not about to tear up Mr Honeyacre’s floorboards. I fear we would not be invited again if I did.’
‘If it comes to that,’ said Nellie, ‘I think Mr Honeyacre would go much further to ensure Kitty’s comfort and safety.’
Dr Hamid could only agree. ‘Very well,’ he said, with the resigned air of a man who knew that his fate was already determined. ‘Let us take a look and then I suspect we will find that the theory is impossible.’
The first thing Mina noticed in the Socrates chamber was that the floor was not carpeted but covered by a large rug. She consulted the floor plan and calculated where the location of the chandelier fitting could be found. It was necessary only to move one item of furniture, an armchair, before the rug could be rolled back and the floorboards of that area exposed. Even Dr Hamid was obliged to admit that it was not so difficult a task as he had anticipated.
‘Well, there is the floor,’ he said, ‘and the boards should all be nailed down.’
Mina and Nellie said nothing but looked at him.
He sighed and got down on his hands and knees to inspect the floorboards.
After a few moments he glanced up at them with a rueful smile and pointed at one of the boards. ‘I think we have something.’
‘You mean that one is not nailed down?’
‘No, and deliberately I think, as, if your map reading is correct, it should give access to the fastenings of the chandelier. Of course, it makes sense as, if the chandelier needed to be repaired or replaced, one would not want to be tearing up the floor.’ He used a pocketknife to prise at the edge of the board, which was a short one, and was easily able to lift it out. Mina and Nellie crept closer to look.
The fittings of the chandelier protruded though the ceiling joists and were held in place by substantial bolts. A quick inspection by Dr Hamid showed that all was firmly in place, so it should have been impossible for the chandelier to sway as they had seen it do and neither was there any gap through which even small stones could be thrown down into the room below.
‘But this is not logical or sensible,’ said Mina after a long pause.
‘Séances rarely are,’ said Dr Hamid, getting to his feet with a wince and rubbing his knees.
‘Supposing,’ said Mina, ‘I was to concede that the arrival of the stones is an example of psychic activity and they simply passed through the ceiling by some means no one can understand, I still don’t see why a spirit should choose to act in this way.’
‘As to how it is possible, I cannot explain,’ said Dr Hamid. ‘The very nature of these incidents do suggest a principle which is yet to be discovered.’
‘I will consider that, of course,’ said Mina, ‘but the purpose of the activity remains mysterious. It conveys no message, other than to reveal a presence. It is mischievous rather than informative. A prank more appropriate to the schoolroom than some higher location.’
‘The action of a child,’ said Nellie.
Dr Hamid replaced the floorboard and the rug. Mina felt dejected as they made their way back down the corridor. She had hoped to solve the mystery, but was as puzzled as ever. As they reached the stairs leading to the upper floor she paused and gazed up into the shadowy space above. Then, impulsively, she unhooked one end of the obstructing rope, fastened it to the opposite fitting, took a firm hold of the rail, and began to climb.
There were horrified gasps behind her. ‘Miss Scarletti, whatever are you thinking!’ exclaimed Dr Hamid. ‘I beg you, go no further! We have been warned of the dangers and to you it is doubly unwise!’
Mina knew she was being foolish and, just two steps on her way, she stopped. ‘I just feel that somewhere in this house lies the answer. And we have not yet seen the upper floor. The plans show me that there are two attic rooms, both connected. It is the only part of the house that has been fo
rbidden us.’
‘For a very good reason!’ said Dr Hamid, crossly. ‘Come down and I will go.’ He climbed up to Mina and took her hand. She made no protest as he helped her descend. ‘Stay there,’ he said. ‘Mrs Jordan, see to it that she does not move from that spot.’ He began to climb the stairs, cautiously. There were no alarming noises, just the occasional protest of aged wood, and at the top of the staircase he turned the corner and vanished from their sight. Mina and Nellie waited. Mina thought that, had this been one of her stories, the intrepid adventurer would have encountered a monster chained up in the attic. Perhaps it would be a scion of the Redwoodes, the rightful heir to the estate, but locked away because of a morbid taste for human flesh? It had been obliged to subsist only on the bodies of vermin, but at the sight of the valiant doctor, crazed by the prospect of the first proper meal in many years, it would rend its chains and attack. Would her story conclude with a loud scream following which the bold explorer would fail to return? She rather preferred an ending where he stood his ground and ended the creature with a perfectly placed bullet.
Mina listened intently but heard neither screams nor gunshots. Instead, there were only a few shuffling sounds and creaks after which Dr Hamid reappeared. ‘The upper rooms are unfurnished, but there is considerable evidence of water damage and the floorboards are rotted in places. There are no ghosts.’
‘How disappointing,’ said Nellie. ‘I had expected the decaying corpse of a hanged man at the very least.’
Mina realised that she was being jested with, but the comment reminded her of some information she still required. While Nellie and Dr Hamid went to see Kitty with the object of persuading her to come downstairs and make herself comfortable in the parlour, Mina headed in the direction of the library, hoping to discover a reference to the gallows on Clayton Hill. The visitors’ guide she had borrowed had described only the present windmills, while Glimpses of the Supernatural had not proved illuminating and she had decided to return them both.
The Ghost of Hollow House (Mina Scarletti Mystery Book 4) Page 15