10 - The Advent of Stickleback Hollow by Woolley C S

Author:Woolley, C S [Woolley, C S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995147201
Google: G8YzzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Mightier Than the Sword UK
Published: 2021-01-31T16:25:58+00:00

Chapter 12

Derwyn had asked the driver of the coach to head to Grangeback after they dropped Miss DeVille at the gate to the police house. He intended to take Lee and Stanley Baker back to the manor before he went to fetch Mr Hunter, but the two boys had other plans.

They pleaded and moaned until Derwyn relented and wearily agreed that they could come to the lodge too. The driver chuckled to himself at how the two Baker boys had the ability to get whatever they wanted out of most of the residents of Stickleback Hollow.

The road did not go as far as the lodge. When the house had first been built, the road had gone right past the lodge, but as the forest and gardens had been shaped and changed over the years, the lodge was now surrounded by trees and often difficult to find for those who had not visited the estate before.

The driver pulled up on the road and bid the trio goodnight. The lodge was walking distance from Grangeback Manor, and there was no need to keep the driver or the horses from their beds.

Derwyn made sure that the two Baker boys were sensible enough to know not to run off ahead of him before they set off into the trees. As they began to make their way through the woods to the lodge, they heard the faint sound of the Reverend Percy Butterfield’s voice drifting through the trees.

“Please, Alexander, open the door,” the vicar begged as he shouted at the door.

"Reverend, what's going on?" Derwyn frowned as he, Stanley and Lee, approached.

"Mr Hunter has locked his door and is refusing to leave the lodge. I was asked to come and speak with him by Constable Evans. There is a great deal of sorrow and darkness in his heart, but if he does not open this door, there is not much any of us can do to help!" Percy directed the last comment towards the door. It was clear to Derwyn that the clergyman was close to losing his temper.

There were several things that Derwyn had learned about the reverend during his time in Stickleback Hollow. 1) He had a love of cricket and steam engines that was unrivalled by any man that Derwyn had ever met. 2) He was a man that could be counted on to provide comfort and support in a time for need. 3) His Sunday sermons were often fifteen minutes too long. 4) He was more patient than anyone Derwyn had known.

To see the vicar so close to losing his temper with Mr Hunter told Derwyn that Alex was in a far worse place than the Welshman had originally thought. To not visit Lady Sarah and to avoid the company of the occupants of Grangeback had been easy to dismiss as the behaviours of a man dealing with his own grief, but to frustrate Percy Butterfield, man of God, was a sign of a desperate situation.

Derwyn looked down at the Baker boys and wished that he had taken them back to Grangeback before he had come.

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