The House on Blackstone Moor (The Blackstone Vampires) (15 page)

I smiled for I knew about Mrs. Sternwood having recently cared for them. It was a horrible thought and I nearly shuddered. “What can you tell me about your other tutors?”

Simon spoke up at once. “We had a teacher we quite liked, a friend of Dr. Antor – a nice old chap, quite ancient and very proper.”

“What did he teach you?”

“Grammar and Latin and a great deal about the Black Death.” Simon nodded toward Ada who smiled fixedly at me.

“How long did he teach you?”

“Until we moved away from London.”

“Oh, you lived there too as I have.”

“Do you miss it now?” Ada wanted to know.

“Not really,” I answered. “For my home is here with you. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Ada flew up to hug me. “Oh, Miss!”

“Ada and I are both so happy you’ve come, Miss, truly we are,” Simon smiled. “We should want no one but you.”

*

If the day was joyous the night brought fear for I woke to the heart-rending shrill sound of a scream--one loud scream and then silence. I rushed to the window, thinking it might have been an animal. Perhaps a fox was caught in one of Tom’s traps or some hapless rabbit was caught by a fox. I waited but there was only silence.

Someone knocked on my door and I opened it. It was Mrs. Darton. She looked upset. “Are you alright, Rose? I was worried.”

“I’m fine thank you, but what was that awful scream? Is someone ill?”

“I hope not.” I followed her out into the hall. “Perhaps we shall inquire of the servants. I shall go and ask. Mr. Darton is downstairs checking that everything is alright.”

Suddenly I thought I ought to check the nursery. I did and was relieved to see both children were sound asleep.

So what was it then? I was just walking back to my room when I overheard Mr. Darton speaking to Mrs. Darton. “I hope it won’t happen again…”

I didn’t hear anything else, so I continued to my room. But just before I went in, I turned back to the stairs to find Mrs. Darton walking down them. I watched her cross the hall and walk toward the kitchen. It seemed to me she was in a hurry. Whatever it was I thought it didn’t concern me.

When it happened again later I sat up. Something about it was worse, for it seemed to me it was the extended cry of intense pain or anguish, like a soul in torment.

It took me very long to fall asleep afterward. I was convinced I would have nightmares but I didn’t. Instead, surprisingly enough
,
I began to dream of Mrs. Darton.

If I was about to slip into hell, I had no idea
. When I look back at this time I recall certain things—but as most of it still seems unbelievable, you will please bear with me as I try to explain.

I was feeling better but different... different in a positive way. I found I was feeling more alive. As someone who is nearly always cool if not cold, I now felt warmer, as if my blood had actually turned hot. Dora said I looked flushed and I did. But it was attractive, too. I finally had a glow and color to my pale cheeks.

I always thought myself a pallid individual, and although I have fine features and am said to be pretty, I could easily look washed out, ill even. But I didn’t look that way now. And if my cheeks had new color my eyes glowed with energy. Mrs. Darton and the children remarked upon this too, as Dora did in her own quiet way.

The person I would have wished to notice didn’t seem to. Mr. Darton greeted me kindly as he always did, but now seemed to barely look at me or if he did look at me he seemed sad and distracted.  

I worried about him, for although I knew him to be married and entirely out of my reach in all respects, I still quite fancied him. This troubled me, especially since I’d started dreaming of his wife!

But then I felt there was reason for this. I thought it was the guilt of feeling drawn to him that was making me dream of
her!

If I felt different physically I began to feel different mentally too. I was enjoying food more—looking forward to eating as never before. I even found the children more delightful, my work with them more enjoyable.

The house seemed more exquisite and the moors and garden more beautiful. I was pleased, for it occurred to me I must be healing. How could it be anything else?

Even the horrid memory of my family’s brutal murders and the fury I still felt for my father began to dissipate somewhat. Had I been a religious person I would have thanked God.

And if I was changing, it seemed also that there were changes afoot around me, for instance with regard to Mr. Darton as he was even busier now.

I rarely saw him, which I found disappointing. And despite knowing that nothing could come of my pathetic school girl crush, my adoration did not diminish but continued to grow if anything.

I was always hopeful of seeing him even briefly, of catching just a moment with him in the hall or garden.

It was the nursing of an infatuation, one that would take its toll later on.

*

Days and weeks passed and a routine began to evolve wherein the children had their lessons Monday through Friday, leaving weekends free for leisure time. This, I thought, was admirable and forward thinking of Mrs. Darton.

We generally had a houseguest for the weekend as Dr. Bannion would come up most of the time. His visits were pleasant and I found any doubts I had about him no longer troubled me.

He had also been keeping me abreast of that awful incident when I had been molested at Marsh. “The police are investigating. They have found nothing of any consequence yet, but I shall keep you informed.”

I was grateful and told him I was. It was odd, but I found I was able to put that awful incident aside. It seemed to me I had developed untold inner-strength I never knew I had.

Was this all part of my dramatic recovery? Dr. Antor said he thought it was.

Life seemed to be so much better but then another thing happened.

It was a lovely and warm Sunday and I told the children they could go wading if they wished. There is a small pond on the other side of the house. It is a lovely spot, surrounded by trees and hedges, seemingly apart from the world and yet in it.

“Just like a secret garden,” I told them. 

That so pleased them, they decided they would call it their secret lake. “But you must promise me never to come here alone,” I cautioned.

Ada giggled and Simon too. But they promised. Now standing before me
,
they were both adamant. “Oh please, Miss Baines. We want to go into our secret lake and perhaps you do as well!”

“Oh dear, I don’t know about that. I’ll watch you though.”

“But that will be so boring, won’t it?” Ada asked.

“No go on. I shall enjoy watching you!”

It really was lovely there, surrounded by birdsong and the happy laughter of my two charges.

They soon had their stockings off and their clothes knotted up in such a way they would not get anything wet.

I longed to go in too but didn’t think it proper. So I watched them scream with delight and splash one another. Besides, I had my own thoughts to consider like my foolish crush on Mr. Darton!

I was thinking about him when it happened, a piercingly loud scream that tore the world apart, or so it seemed to me. I shot to my feet, trying to figure out where it came from, for I was certain someone was in dire need of help.

Suddenly Mr. Darton appeared.

“Mr. Darton! That scream! Where do you think—”

He was standing very still, motionless in fact, with what can only be described as a blank look upon his face. When he saw how upset I must have looked, he spoke. “Scream? Oh that! It must have been a bird. Some of them make the most frightful noise…” He went on to explain about sometimes hearing the strangest bird calls. “Just don’t be frightened, Miss Baines. There is no need.”

No need, indeed I thought.

I felt soured by this incident, for I had begun to idolize him and did now feel that he had passed off my observation as something silly and inconsequential, something not worth bothering about. Was it because it came from a former madhouse inmate?

The children came out laughing but they caught my look. “Are you alright, Miss Baines? You look worried.”

How could a child Ada’s age be so discerning? I had often considered each of them wiser than their years and now was such a moment. I smiled, and Ada smiled too.

“I worry only because I adore you, Miss Baines. That is the only reason.”

“Thank you.”

It was a moment of bliss, for which I was grateful.

We went inside for luncheon and were told the Dartons and Dr. Bannion had gone away for the remainder of the day.

They returned quite late. I had just put the children to bed. I wanted to wish them goodnight but they were talking quietly. “We will sleep, we promise for we…”

“So like to dream,” I finished for them.

“Yes, we do,” Ada agreed. “Our dreams are almost as much fun as other things we get up to.”

“Well, as long as they aren’t naughty things!” I said as I bade them good night.

I met Mrs. Darton in the hall. She smiled at me. “Oh, you are still up then, and the children are tucked in? Thank you. Are they alright?”

I thought her drunk truthfully, for her words were slightly slurred and I did detect the aroma of brandy.

“Rose, you are a treasure. I don’t know what we should do without you!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Darton.”

As I turned toward my room, she stared and smiled at me in the oddest way. She then bade me goodnight and slipped into her room.

*

I was surprised to see that Dora had left the pitcher outside my door the next morning as she always greeted me with it.

Perhaps she was busy, I thought. As I bent down to take it I heard someone call my name. It was Mrs. Darton.

Mrs. Darton’s boudoir was just down the hall from mine. I went to see what she wanted. “Oh Rose, I thought I heard you.”  She was still wearing her dressing gown. “The children are having their breakfast with their father. I alas have never been an early riser.” She was watching me in her mirror. “Did you sleep
well, Rose?” Suddenly, I detected that vile odor of the herbal tea they all drank. My stomach nearly turned over. I did my best to hide the fact.

“Yes, Mrs. Darton, thank you.”

She nodded. “That’s good. I am glad. Would you open the curtains for me? After you do that, I should like you to brush my hair. I love having my hair brushed. It is such a luxury, I think.”

This was the first time she had ever asked me to do something personal for her. But I did as requested.

Suddenly I noticed the paintings that lined her wall.

“Do you like my paintings?”

I went to look at them and gasped, for they were outrageous in the extreme. They depicted lovemaking between naked men and women. Some just depicted women with women in all sorts of embraces and others only men in all sorts of embraces. I had never seen anything like it.

“You look shocked,” she smiled. “Don’t be.
Amour
is
amour
. No matter who loves another. It is a mere preference, nothing else. Tell me, do you like to read, my dear?”

I said I did. “Well, I shall encourage you to read any book of mine that you like. I have quite a collection.” She made a sweeping gesture toward the book case. “They are quite rare some of them, classics you see, and beautifully illustrated.”

I thanked her. “That is most kind. I am sure I will sometime.”

She handed me the brush.

I noticed she was still watching me from the mirror and smiling. “You do look very well
,
Rose, so much better than when you first arrived. You are truly a very, very beautiful young woman.”

“Thank you, I feel better.”

She smiled and took a sip of that foul tea. “You must try our tea some time. It really is a wonder.”

I thanked her, knowing I would never take the stuff. We then spoke of the children and discussed what lessons they were good at and what I had in mind to teach them.

I was just about to leave when she called me back. She was holding a book. “I do insist. This is excellent; I want you to have it!” As she made a gesture to hand it to me, she dropped it and as she bent to pick it up, her dressing gown opened. Before she could close it I saw her naked breast just for a moment.

“
Excusez-moi
!
” she giggled.

I smiled, but I caught a look on her face, a look of desire or perhaps of something even more as she handed me the book.

I looked at the cover.
My Passion
.

“It is a tale of passion and of discovery—a journey a girl makes when she finds untold pleasures she never thought possible. I think you will like it. After all, life is full of discoveries. You have but to look.”

Before I could say or do anything she reached out and touched my breast. “I can make you happy, Rose, happier than you ever thought possible.”