Shadows at Midnight: Twelve Ghost Stories by L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims

Author:L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781902309040
Publisher: Sarob
Published: 1999-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

THE WINDOW

When he retired early from the Diplomatic Service, after spending twenty years in the Middle East and India, John Derbyshire returned to England to find a quiet corner in which to settle, and to see out the few years he felt he had left. The reasons of health that precipitated his retirement were progressive but terminal.

An adequate pension, coupled with a comfortable private income, meant he could choose a house with grounds, in a not too modest situation. He stayed in rooms at Richmond while he perused the advertisements in Field and Country Life. Several times he visited estates, but on each occasion the property did not quite match what he was looking for. He was, however, prepared to wait for a suitable property. Abroad he had become accustomed to heat, poor sanitation and flies; it was a pleasure to return to the equitable, if unpredictable, climate of his native country. He knew people in town, and he spent his time visiting old friends and acquaintances, many of whom he had not heard from since he had been away.

In October he decided he should increase his search, and he telephoned several agents about houses that took his eye. One sounded exactly what he was after, set in the green Berkshire countryside, flanked on either side by suitable villages, but within sight and earshot of neither of them. He arranged to meet the estate agent at the house, and hired a car for the drive.

A drifting wind ransacked the hilltop as he stopped to search for landmarks. It was a crisp morning with a pinch of frost in the air. He drove on down a winding lane, the purr of the engine disturbing some mallards who swam on a lake, while in front stretched a curved valley whose sides were coated with evergreen trees, and clumps of coloured debris where the last wild flowers of autumn were laid to rest. The lane became narrower, bordered by hedgerows filled with small nests from which rose startled magpies and finches. Eventually the car began to climb slowly, the hill curling round one side of the valley between the trees, revealing fields of tall grass swaying in the sharp wind.

As the incline grew steeper, the silence became stronger. The wind whined amongst the trees but there were no birds to answer its call. The valley side, rich in foliage, was quiet, moving gently. When the car reached the level, Derbyshire stopped, and looked behind at the distance he had travelled. The road was grey amongst the green on either side, the silence unbroken except for the noise of the car.

The countryside as he drove on was hilly, with mounds of earth scarring the forest floor. The road tossed and turned until at the end of a straight half a mile, where the trees met in an archway over the road, the house came into view. Then left off the main road and on down the curved drive, to park next to the estate agent's car, owned by the firm.

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