The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis

Author:Bella Ellis [Ellis, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

27

Anne

There was something that Charlotte wasn’t telling them—that much was clear to Anne from the moment they arrived home. Anne found her sister skittish and excitable, unable to settle in one place or, what was more, to listen to what Agnes Fielding had told them. That Charlotte was keeping her interview with Lady Hartley to herself was highly irregular. Under normal circumstances she would have regaled them with every detail of the meeting at once, whether they wished for them or not. But even as Emily was describing with great dramatic emphasis the look on Agnes Fielding’s face as she had spoken of the evil she had seen, Charlotte’s thoughts were clearly elsewhere.

Charlotte was, as Aunt Branwell used to say, “quite taken” with Lady Hartley or, as Tabby would have said, she had had her head turned. Anne could only hope it wouldn’t be turned away from the matter in hand for very long, for Charlotte so distracted was of use to neither beast nor man.

In any event, their conversation with Agnes Fielding had left them none the wiser exactly, though her refusal to discuss her master was intriguing. At least she had given them another path to follow, and one that had taken them a little further in their detecting, even if she was unable or unwilling clearly to point the way. It was frustrating that she wouldn’t say what she had seen that summer night, but Anne understood why perfectly well, and so did Emily, which was why neither had sought to press her further.

Haworth and all the countryside around it were places where superstition had purpose and meaning. It was an armour against ill fortune, which no one who grew up there ever believed was down to something as arbitrary as luck. The belief held firm that speaking of darkness was enough to bring it down upon your head, and heaven knew, Anne felt the very same way. Though she had been brought up under the protection of a Christian god whom she loved dearly, she would always bid good day to a magpie, and you would never find her leaving a new pair of shoes on the table (even though she could not remember the last time she had had a new pair of shoes). Heaven forbid she should accidentally look at a crescent moon through glass, for that would result in throwing salt over her left shoulder and a good deal of spitting. So, though Anne was well-read, educated, informed and as devoted to her faith as any Christian woman should be, she understood how the old ways were still ever present, living alongside the good people of the village, even walking with them on their way to Sunday service. It was, as Tabby said, a belt-and-braces approach, and one that served them well.

“And how did you fare with Lady Hartley?” Anne asked the moment she could find a way in between Emily’s words.

“Well.” Charlotte’s smile was guarded, just as it had been when she was a child protecting a new book from her sisters’ grasp.

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