The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall by Sebastian Nothwell

Author:Sebastian Nothwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gothic, historical romance, lesbian romance, gothic romance, victorian romance, ff romance, romance 1800s, romance 1890s, lesbian gothic, wlw romance
Publisher: Sebastian Nothwell

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Chapter Fourteen

The swift pace set by Alexandra brought the two ladies back home to the Cranbrook estate within hours. Though Kit’s legs were longer, given she stood nearly a head taller than her sister-in-law, she struggled to match Alexandra’s furiously swift strides. Such a pace kept Kit short of breath, which damped down any attempt at conversation on her part.

Heatherhurst Hall, when the high crags of the roof came into view at last, appeared at first unchanged from when they’d left it that morning. The distant tower, eaves, and gables reminded Kit of a doll’s house. Step by step, the house grew, until new details, previously hidden, became exposed. Details such as a matchstick-doll man scampering to and fro across the lawn between great iron lumps of machinery. At length, the machines began producing cotton-wad clouds of steam, to the great excitement of the little matchstick man. And it became undeniable to Kit that this little matchstick-doll man was, in fact, her six-foot-tall husband, rendered miniature by distance. In the hours the ladies had spent in the village, he had harvested mechanical abundance from the barren fields; bushels of cogs, grease, and steam.

“Vivian!” Kit called, waving to catch his eye.

It took longer than she expected—long enough for her to wonder if waving across a field would be considered appropriate behavior for a baronet’s wife—but he noticed her at last, and took a break from fiddling with his machines to return her gesture.

Kit trotted up to him, glad for the sight of a friendly face after her day in the dreary village accompanied by her dour sister-in-law. As she approached, he gestured widely to the mechanical maze around himself.

“This is my engineering!” Vivian expostulated, beaming with delight.

Kit hadn’t seen him so happy since he’d shown her the boiler-keepers in the belly of the steamship. She strove to match his enthusiasm. “How wonderful! It looks dashed clever.”

“Spent all day hauling it up out of the cellar,” Vivian continued. “To make room for your photography, you know.”

Kit, genuinely touched by his efforts, felt also a pang of remorse for demanding he go through such trouble to find space for her darkroom. She opened her mouth to apologize.

“All day?” Alexandra interrupted in skeptical tones.

Kit hadn’t noticed her following along behind to meet Vivian, and jumped a little at this announcement of her presence. Turning towards her, she saw her sister-in-law was seething. Kit wracked her mind to think of what she’d done, what she’d said, to upset Alexandra so. But Alexandra wasn’t looking at her. She was too busy glaring daggers at her brother.

“Yes,” Vivian replied affably, as if his sister weren’t practically breathing fire. “All day.”

“Then I suppose,” Alexandra continued, her voice tightly controlled, “you could find no time in which to hire tradesmen to fix the house.”

Vivian looked at her blankly. “I rather thought you’d see to that while you were in the village.”

Alexandra’s jaw clenched.

Alarmed at the conversation’s turn, Kit drew upon her courage and stepped between them. “How silly of me to forget! Please forgive me, Vivian, for being so absent-minded.

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