Elizabeth: A Novel of the Unnatural by Ken Greenhall & Jessica Hamilton

Author:Ken Greenhall & Jessica Hamilton [Greenhall, Ken & Hamilton, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Published: 2017-04-02T04:00:00+00:00

Mr. Cuttner wasn’t listening. No one was listening. I think we were all wondering whether my grandfather was reasserting his claim on the house. That would not have been wise of him.

He stood up and began to walk slowly around the room. “People change too quickly,” he said. “There is no permanence in them.” He went to the wall and stood before a mirror that was mounted in the hardware of a ship’s porthole. “She would look at herself in this before going in to dinner. Touching her hair.”

I realized that Grandfather was a greedy man. I wondered whether most greed, like his, grew out of the belief that there was a sort of immortality in the ownership of things—things that had more stability than a human life could have. He should have known better than that. He was a Christian, and he must have been taught that the spirit is supreme. He picked up a piece of uncarved, polished jade that decorated a table. He was savoring its permanence. I, too, had held that jade. I had seen two young men, one of them holding a metal-studded leather belt.

Before Grandfather left us, he put the jade in the pocket of his coat.

That night, after James left my room, Miss Barton knocked on my door. She wore the dress she had worn earlier that day. The material at her armpits, which had been pale and stiff at breakfast, was now dark and damp.

“I want to tell you something before you go to sleep,” she said. I thought she would be angry with me for having avoided her all day, but she smiled warmly. I invited her in, and she went to the bed and sat down. “I want to talk about Frances,” she said.

“You’ll never convince me she doesn’t exist.”

“No. I won’t try. I only want to convince you that I know something about her. I wasn’t honest with you last night, but now I think I must be if I am to help you. Come with me.”

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