Peril in the Parish by Dorothy Cannell

Author:Dorothy Cannell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448309672
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2022-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

Sophie had been roused from sleep by a barking dog at half past seven that Sunday morning. She hadn’t gone to bed until five, but she didn’t open her eyes and lie wondering where she was, or how she’d got there. The occurrences of the night were too vivid to bear any likeness to a dream. Agnes was laid out in the bedroom at the other end of the landing, the precious legacy – the letters from her mother to her cousin – were on the bedside table. That Agnes had kept them and passed them on to her created a bond between them that would help make up for time lost and she would be forever grateful that fate had brought them together for those few hours. She had no second thoughts about leaving Dovecote Hatch once the funeral was over, firmly squashing the hope that Aiden Fielding might come and see her today. What had faded to the semblance of a dream was the arrival of Mrs Crawley and the children yesterday morning and her fear that Mr Crawley would somehow manage to track her down. Life in Ilford seemed further in the past than her years in Oglesby.

Sophie tried to go back to sleep, but wasn’t tired and something nudged at her mind. It was Marmalade the cat. Miss Gillybud had offered to take him home with her, but she’d said she would be glad of his company. She hadn’t said she needed him because that might have caused Miss Gillybud to again repeat her offer to spend the rest of the night with her and she hadn’t wanted her to do so, because Mr Fielding had left and she had longed to be alone. But a cat was different, he wouldn’t require her to think or talk. She had left her bedroom door ajar, so he could come in if he wished, but he hadn’t taken advantage of the invitation.

She didn’t have anything black to wear; Uncle Henry had said that if she put on mourning for him he would haunt her for the rest of her days, so she had worn navy blue to his funeral. This dress she still had and took from her suitcase and because the day was chill added a matching cardigan. Before going downstairs she went hesitantly to look at Agnes. She was concerned she wouldn’t look peaceful, but she did. And younger than she’d appeared in life. What the room needed was flowers, but with the shops being closed for Sunday that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Feeling like a trespasser in the kitchen she made herself a pot of tea and pouring herself a cup thought about how to fill her day in a productive fashion. Marmalade then emerged out of nowhere to stand at the back door meowing a request to go out. In the few minutes before she let him back in she had found a covered bowl of cat food in the pantry and filled the dish she spotted under the sink and poured a saucer of milk.

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