Death Beyond Forbidding Gates by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

Later that night, after we had put Daniel to bed and Mr. Keats had long since gone back to the inn, Mrs. Bell regarded me from her seat by the fire where she had begun knitting a shawl. “If I may say so, madam, you seem to be in much better spirits since speaking with Mr. Keats this morning and then spending the day with him.”

I felt a flush in my cheeks. “I suppose I was pleased to spend time with him. Though I confess I am still troubled by his long stretch of indifference toward me. He has mentioned nothing of it, as if it never happened at all. But I cannot forget it so easily.”

“And yet you said nothing,” Mrs. Bell said, counting her stitches. She had chosen a plum toned wool, which she had very likely dyed herself. “If you were so troubled by it, perhaps you might have addressed the subject today? You had the opportunity.”

I pursed my lips. “I do not know why I avoided it,” I said. “I thought he might broach the matter and apologize, but he said nothing.”

“And you are disappointed?” Mrs. Bell asked.

“Yes, I am disappointed,” I said. “It was not as if our conversations today felt any different than they have in the past, but to ignore the long stretch of silence between us?”

“Is it at all possible that you may have simply thought too much of something that was nothing more than a busy time in his schedule?” Mrs. Bell asked.

I lowered my brows. “You are asking a great many questions this evening, Mrs. Bell,” I said.

“I am always glad to help, madam,” she said, as if it were a compliment.

“Hmmmph,” I grumbled. “Well, I do not know why I am troubled over the situation. Did I imagine that long stretch of silence? The aloofness in his letters? The lack of letters entirely? I asked for his help, and his help never came, and I – ”

“In his defense, he told you he was working on a rather difficult case,” Mrs. Bell said. “It was quite possible he was not even at home to receive the message you sent.”

“Yes, but he would have received it upon returning home,” I said. “Why did he not write and tell me as much? Why did he not do something as simple as that?”

Mrs. Bell shrugged. “Who can say?” she said. “But I did note that he seemed perfectly comfortable with you today, as you did with him.”

I frowned. “Perhaps…”

“You fear that his interest in you has changed,” Mrs. Bell said. “Previously, he appeared to be a friend, and possibly more, and then he lapsed into mysterious silence, as if he had a change of heart. But after today – no, after his appearance here in Whitby – I would say that you have little to worry of in that regard.”

“You may be right,” I said. “Perhaps there is no cause for concern.”

Even so, I could not shake the nagging feeling that he had been purposely dodging any sort of discussion of the weeks during which he had avoided me.

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