Cursed Once More: The Sequel to With This Curse by Amanda DeWees

Author:Amanda DeWees
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-06-13T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The evening meal, like all of those at Thurnley Hall, was short on cheerful conviviality. The lawyer Durrington was not a merry addition to our company, although in his defense it must be said that we had been forced upon him as much as he on us.

He was a thin gentleman of indeterminate age, with a domed bare pate encircled by a scanty fringe of dark hair. Throughout the meal I noticed his pale eyes taking note of the room’s accoutrements: the handsome sideboard with its elaborate carvings, the silver we ate with, even the two hunting scenes in oil that brightened the dark paneling. Perhaps he was merely noting the presence of items whose existence he had read about in my grandmother’s will, but it was unsettling, and I half expected to find his emotionless gaze resting on me with the same calculation, as if itemizing me for a catalog. One baroness of recent vintage but imperfect provenance, together with an inconveniently vivid imagination and a large degree of stubborn conviction.

A glance at my uncle drove such fancies out of my mind, however. To put it mildly, he did not look well. His jaw was stubbled with several days’ growth of beard, and his linen was dingy at the neck and wrists, as if he had not changed it in days. As he reached for his wine glass his hand trembled, and he gulped the beverage quickly and then jerked his head at Mrs. Furness to pour him more. His eyes were furtive, rarely meeting those of any of us at the table. He looked like a man with a wretched conscience, but whether he was guilty of more than thought was impossible to say. It was entirely plausible that he had wished his ailing mother dead and then been stricken with guilt when her death had seemed to fulfill that wish. That did not explain his having refused to let anyone see her body, however.

Sadly, staring at my uncle across the dinner table would not bring me answers. I let my gaze wander to the rest of the company and found Mr. Lynch watching his guardian with an expression of detached interest. I wondered what conclusions he was drawing, if any, from what he saw.

Now my uncle had begun to describe the proceedings of the funeral the next day. After the church service, the family would accompany the casket to the mausoleum on the Thurnley Hall grounds. The small family burial ground was located on a slight rise, well back from the house and outbuildings but clearly visible from the oldest part of the house. Atticus and I had visited it on one of our daily walks, but we had given it only a glance before continuing on our way.

My mind was called back from my musings when I heard my uncle say, “Of course you may say a few words on your wife’s behalf, Lord Telford.”

“I can speak on my own behalf,” I said, bristling at his high-handed manner.

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.