The Dead Among Us by Tracy L. Ward

Author:Tracy L. Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family drama, historical, medical mystery, victorian, mystery detective, historical 1800s, victorian england, historical thriller, gothic mystery, victorian crime, historical 19th century
Publisher: Tracy L. Ward

Chapter 14

Most ineradicable stains, for showing

(Not interfused!)

“Mr. Marshall, your sister asks if you would join her for breakfast.”

Ainsley sat up in bed, startled by the sound of Cutter’s voice in his room. Panicked, he turned to the other side of his bed, sure that the footman would spot Julia.

The bed was empty and Ainsley was alone.

Ainsley ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly in an attempt to settle his rapidly beating heart.

“Are you all right, Mr. Marshall?” Cutter asked as he walked around Ainsley’s bed, gathering discarded clothing from the night before, saying nothing of their odd placement.

Julia’s absence was typical. Not once had Ainsley awoken with a woman still beside him. They often left, either satisfied or ashamed, but either case having no further need of him. Each arrangement was precisely as Ainsley wished it and yet waking up without Julia at his side stirred up regret in his heart.

Shielding his eyes from the morning sun that slipped in through a break in the drapes, Ainsley nodded. “I’m quite all right,” he answered without thought. “Tell my sister I shall be down momentarily.”

Cutter bowed slightly and left. Ainsley never allowed anyone to help him dress and his father’s valet was so accustomed to Ainsley’s constant refusal he scarcely ever asked anymore.

Ainsley dressed quickly, hoping to find Julia before she started the bulk of her daily duties. But before he could button the length of his shirt he heard footsteps at his door. He turned quickly, hoping it was Julia.

No one was there.

Adjusting his collar, he walked to the door and found it partly open. Ainsley peered into the hall, looking the full width of the house from one corridor to the next, and saw no one. Puzzled, Ainsley looked again and that’s when he saw movement heading down the stairs. It was Julia who had come to speak to him, he knew it, only now she retreated.

Tie in hand, Ainsley darted out into the hall and to the top of the stairs. “Juli—”

There was no one there.

He saw something, he knew he had. Waiting for the sound of a door or footsteps on the floor, Ainsley heard the dead quiet of the house and suddenly the air felt heavy. At the railing on the second- storey landing looking over the foyer, Ainsley put on his tie and adjusted his cuffs.

The floor creaked markedly behind him and he turned with fright. No one had been in the hallway a moment ago and the space was empty. Once again, he looked down both corridors and saw nothing. He had sensed something, though. A presence, as if someone were staring at him at that very moment.

He laughed at how suggestible he had become. How easily he was startled by the slightest noise. How easily he jumped to conclusions. Ainsley returned to his room to finish dressing and even as he walked down the stairs to breakfast he smiled thinking over his folly. He knew such things were possible. He had seen the ghost of a child many times over many days during the previous year.

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