The Lost Girl by Rosie Goodwin

Author:Rosie Goodwin [Goodwin, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

B

ack at the rectory, Esme was also preparing for bed and trying to ignore the dark shapes in the corner. She’d hoped that if she ignored them, they would stop appearing but in fact, they were coming more frequently. Once again, she wished that she had never inherited ‘the gift’. If anything, Esme considered it to be a curse. After all, who could take pleasure from seeing the spirits of dead people all the time? She had said as much to her father once and he had gently told her that it was an honour to have such a gift and if she developed it, it could earn her a living. Her grandmother Griselda had fed and clothed herself by passing on messages from the spirits to their living relatives, but the thought of that made Esme shudder. She just wanted to be like other girls but she was beginning to realise now that this so-called gift was not something that could be ignored.

After slipping into her nightgown and brushing her hair, she was just getting into bed when a noise made her pause. Glan-cing towards the door, her heart began to thump when she saw the door handle turning. She had jammed the chair beneath it so there was no way anyone could get in but she knew that if it was her grandfather he would not give in easily and very soon she was proved to be right.

‘Esme . . . open this door immediately. There seems to be something blocking it!’ His voice was no more than a hoarse whisper but she heard every word and she started to shake.

‘Wh-what do you want?’ Her voice came out as a croak and the spirits in the corner were growing agitated.

‘I just want to talk about tomorrow’s Bible lesson with you,’ his voice came back cajolingly. ‘You did so well tonight!’

‘Can’t we talk about it in the morning?’ she stammered.

There was silence for a moment and when he spoke again his voice was firmer. ‘Open this door now. Do you hear me, girl? I will have no door in my own home locked against me.’

She pressed her lips together, praying that he would get tired of trying the door. But then he played his trump card.

‘You do know that I could make things very uncomfortable for your brother at his school, don’t you?’

Esme shuddered. Gabriel was having a bad enough time of it already without her grandfather making things worse for him. And so reluctantly she moved the chair to one side.

‘That’s better.’ He gave her an oily smile as he entered, quickly shutting the door behind him. ‘Now, why don’t we sit down and have a nice little chat. I’ve brought you something, look.’ When he opened his palm she was shocked to see a small gold brooch in the shape of a bird with a tiny sapphire for its eye. ‘This was bought for your mother for her fifteenth birthday,’ he told her. ‘And I think you are old enough to look after it now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.