The Observations by Jane Harris

Author:Jane Harris [Harris, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780143112013
Google: f4SA4HnBPZoC
Amazon: 0143112015
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2007-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

I’ll say this much for the two gentlemen, they heard me out without really interrupting my testimony (for that is what it felt like I was giving). There was no exclamations or instant dismissals, no outraged behaviour, no storming about or throwing up of arms. Master James did chew his nails rather a lot whilst I was speaking and he looked quite surprised at a few of the things I revealed but the doctor, true to type, remained the least expressive of men, you could have set fire to his whiskers and he wouldn’t have blinked an eyelid. When I had finished they turned to each other and exchanged a glance. The doctors gaze dropped back to the bowl of his pipe. Master James rose to his feet. He stepped to the fireplace then turned and looked me in the eye.

“That is quite a story, Bessy,” he says. “I am not sure how much of it to believe, just at present, until we have had a chance to investigate further. You certainly give the appearance of speaking honestly, particularly since some of what you say, if true, is likely to result in your immediate dismissal from this house. Most specifically, I cannot see why on earth you would admit to pretending to be a ghost, unless you had indeed done so.” He glanced, perplexed, at the doctor as though expecting his intermission but McGregor-Robertson only continued to smoke placidly with downcast eyes and so master James addressed himself once more to me. As for the rest, for this story of sinister plots and an evil proprietress and of secret experiments and books being written by my wife when I am not at home—at the risk of understatement, might I say that it all sounds a wee bit far-fetched.“

“Believe me, sir,” I says. “It is all true. I wish it weren’t, but it is.”

He nodded. “Perhaps you would leave us for a moment, Bessy. I would like to speak to the doctor alone. Don’t stray too far, we may need you in a little while.”

I made them a curtsey and stepped outside. As soon as the door closed, they began talking in low voices but I did not eavesdrop as I might have done in the past. Instead I wandered about the hall touching the furniture, the hat-stand, letter table, banister, those things that I had dusted many times, I put my hands on their surfaces, it was as though I was saying goodbye to them all. For several minutes the voices in the study rose and fell. Then suddenly the door flew open and the two gentlemen strode out.

Master James approached me and with a glance upstairs spoke quietly. “This book you mentioned. Suppose you tell me where it is kept.”

I hesitated, thinking of missus. Such a long time I had guarded her secret! But then I thought about the mad glint in her eye and all the guff she had come out with.

“It is in her desk, sir,” I says.

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