Haunting of Hill House by Jackson Shirley

Author:Jackson, Shirley [Jackson, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781598530728
Amazon: 1598530720
Publisher: Library of America
Published: 2010-05-27T05:00:00+00:00

Shirley Jackson - The Haunting Of Hill House

Chapter 5

Looking at herself in the mirror, with the bright morning sunlight freshening even the blue room of Hill House, Eleanor thought, It is my second morning in Hill House, and I am unbelievably happy. Journeys end in lovers meeting; I have spent an all but sleepless night, I have told lies and made a fool of myself, and the very air tastes like wine. I have been frightened half out of my foolish wits, but I have somehow earned this joy; I have been waiting for it for so long. Abandoning a lifelong belief that to name happiness is to dissipate it, she smiled at herself in the mirror and told herself silently, You are happy, Eleanor, you have finally been given a part of your measure of happiness. Looking away from her own face in the mirror, she thought blindly, Journeys end in lovers meeting, lovers meeting.

“Luke?” It was Theodora, calling outside in the hall. “You carried off one of my stockings last night, and you are a thieving cad, and I hope Mrs Dudley can hear me.”

Eleanor could hear Luke, faintly, answering; he protested that a gentleman had a right to keep the favors bestowed upon him by a lady, and he was absolutely certain that Mrs Dudley could hear every word.

“Eleanor?” Now Theodora pounded on the connecting door.

“Are you awake? May I come in?”

“Come, of course,” Eleanor said, looking at her own face in the mirror. You deserve it, she told herself, you have spent your life earning it. Theodora opened the door and said happily, “How pretty you look this morning, my Nell. This curious life agrees with you.”

Eleanor smiled at her; the life clearly agreed with Theodora too.

“We ought by rights to be walking around with dark circles under our eyes and a look of wild despair,” Theodora said, putting an arm around Eleanor and looking into the mirror beside her, “and look at us-two blooming, fresh young lovelies.”

“I’m thirty-four years old,” Eleanor said, and wondered what obscure defiance made her add two years.

“And you look about fourteen,” Theodora said. “Come along; we’ve earned our breakfast.”

Laughing, they raced down the great staircase and found their way through the game room and into the dining room. “Good morning,” Luke said brightly. “And how did everyone sleep?”

“Delightfully, thank you,” Eleanor said. “Like a baby.”

“There may have been a little noise,” Theodora said, “but one has to expect that in these old houses. Doctor, what do we do this morning?”

“Hmm?” said the doctor, looking up. He alone looked tired, but his eyes were lighted with the same brightness they found, all, in one another; it is excitement, Eleanor thought; we are all enjoying ourselves.

“Ballechin House,” the doctor said, savoring his words. “Borley Rectory. Glamis Castle. It is incredible to find oneself experiencing it, absolutely incredible. I could not have believed it. I begin to understand, dimly, the remote delight of your true medium. I think I shall have the marmalade, if you would be so kind.

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