Fool's Sanctuary by Jennifer Johnston

Author:Jennifer Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497646476
Publisher: Open Road Media

‘I heard y-y-y-ou. Are you all …?’

She crouched down gathering pieces of glass ineptly into her hand.

‘It was the thunder. The lightning. Such a flash of lightning. It just …’ She glanced nervously towards the window. ‘I got such a fright. I … thought … I broke a glass. I …’

‘Here. Let me do that. Your hands are shaking. You’ll cut yourself.’

‘I feel so stupid.’

She stood up and placed the fragments on the table. He knelt at her feet searching for the slivers in the carpet.

‘I’m afraid I’ve spilled quite a bit of Father’s brandy.’

He smiled up at her.

‘Saved it from Andrew. I’m sure b-brandy’s good for carpets. I’ve heard that somewhere. There. I think that’s the lot. Lethal little slivers, aren’t they?’

He put the tiny pieces on a plate. ‘Don’t want anyone to cut themselves.’

She looked very pale.

‘You’d better have a drop yourself. You look a bit rattled.’

She shook her head.

‘I’m all right now. Honestly.’

A great crack of lightning lit up the world outside the window for a second, silvered the striking rain against black trees, walls and the far hills; silvered for a moment the white face, the hands holding together the lapels of the coat; long black coat and pale face, the ghost by the gate, the figment, the imagining.

She cried out again and covered her face with her hands and the thunder rattled above the house, the windows stirred in their frames. He threw his arms around her and pulled her tight against him and she stood there, her face against his shoulder, her heart thudding so that he could feel it in his body and didn’t know if it were his heart or hers. The thunder faded, flickered, faded again, and then there was only the sound of the rain lashing against the windows.

‘It’s moving away,’ he whispered.

She didn’t say a thing.

‘You’ll be safe if you stay here in my arms like this … quite, quite safe.’

She disentangled herself from his arms and moved slightly away from him.

‘It wasn’t just the lightning. I thought I saw … out there …’ She glanced towards the window and quickly away again. ‘Out there … a man. Standing out there by the gate. That was what … That really frightened me.’

He went over to the window and peered out at the sheeting rain.

‘You can see nothing,’ he said. ‘N-nothing … No one in their right mind would be out on a night like this.’

‘I thought I saw a man. A long black coat and a …’

‘One of your ghosts?’ he suggested.

She shook her head.

‘A man. You pour out Andrew’s brandy, just in case I drop another glass. Have some yourself.’

‘Maybe just a drop.’

The thunder growled again.

‘Here, give me your hand. Let me hold your hand. Then you will be a-a-bsolutely safe. I am immune to lightning.’

‘Pour out the brandy and don’t be silly.’

She turned her back on the window and perched herself on the table.

‘M-M-M-iranda …’

‘Pour out the brandy, Harry, please.’

He picked up the decanter and a glass and moved slowly towards her.

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