The Fourth Mistress - Chapter 40

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“This is where you grew up,” said Louise, taking in the woodwork and the walls. The floor was covered in dust. “Doesn’t anyone come to clean this place?”

Like Louise, Graham took in his past home as if he remembered the time he had spent here that had now turned into memories.

“No,” replied Graham, turning to look at Louise. He said, “We took only the important things as my family was looking for a fresh start. And so was I. Truth to be told, it has been long since I last came here. We weren’t going to stay in the manor anymore, which was why there was no point assigning a caretaker. But at the same time, my mother was against the idea of selling it out.”

To drive away from the dark thoughts, Louise asked him, “Will you tour me around the manor?”

Graham offered her a smile, “Of course. Come this way.” While Graham took Louise to show the manor, from the ground to the top floor, she couldn’t help but wonder how magnificent it looked even without any furniture. The rainwater had made its way through the broken windows to fall on the floor.

“How was it to grow up here?” asked Louise as they walked past another room that was for the guests. Even though the family was no longer living here and there was no caretaker, she noticed some objects were covered in plain sheets to avoid the dust from settling on them.

“You mean my childhood?” questioned Graham, and she nodded her head.

“I would love to hear about it,” Louise had a smile on her lips while her eyes looked beyond the railings and fell on the ground floor that they had come across earlier.

“Well, Alison was busy with learning to knit and I was being prepared to take over the family business. Not having many cousins in the family, we didn’t have friends outside the manor,” replied Graham, his footsteps coming to a halt in front of a room. “But I think there was a person whom I had befriended when I was small. We used to play away from the eyes of our family, you know how my mother is.”

“Are you still in touch with that person?” asked Louise, and Graham shook his head.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t remember what happened afterwards. My mother probably sent that one person away from the manor. She used to chase a lot of them away. She has a keen dislike towards people who aren’t of the same status as us,” his last words turned into a murmur. “There are times that it gets to me, but she is my mother and she isn’t bad.”

Louise somewhere pitied the children of the high-status family compared to the ones who belonged to the middle-class family. People like her had more freedom to do and speak.

“Was this your room?” asked Louise as he stared at it.

“Mm,” responded Graham. They climbed up the stairs, making their way to some more rooms before they reached a room that had an inverted V-shaped roof to it. “This is the attic.”

“Do you mind, if I take a look inside?” Louise politely asked.

“Please go ahead,” he said, bringing his hand forward for her to step in.

Louise stepped inside the attic that was dustier compared to the other places in the manor. Covering the lower part of her face, she moved towards the place where there was a wide gap on the floor. This was the place where Lisa had died. She looked up and noticed the circular hangings that were still fixed to the ceiling, untouched.

“Don’t get too close,” informed Graham, “The flooring is weak and it might break.”

Louise nodded her head. Bending down, she knocked on the wood, trying to see if it was hollow. Her footsteps were careful, and she reached near the opening to catch sight of the jagged wood. It didn’t look like someone had purposefully broken it.

Standing up, she walked to the window and opened it to see the sky had turned darkened as if it would be night. Soon it started to drizzle, and the climate turned gloomier.

“Yesterday you mentioned portraits,” reminded Graham, and Louise turned back and saw him walk to one side of the room. “They must be somewhere in here.”

Graham picked out things and pushed them to one side. It seemed like most of the unwanted objects that didn’t fit in the manor had been dumped here. Finding the paintings, he pulled out one of them and said, “This is my paternal grandfather. Nelson Reed and my grandmother Brielle Reed.”

“Why would they leave these behind? They appear to be in good condition,” asked Louise, her eyebrows drawing in question and looking at the other portraits.

“They probably missed it and thought these are the older ones,” replied Graham.

“These look like they belong to the time when you were young and not before that,” murmured Louise, looking at the other paintings that he pulled out. “Maybe the older paintings are somewhere else?”

“Maybe they are in the storage room. Some of the unused things were often stored there,” he said to her while trying to figure out why he hadn’t seen the paintings that were in front of him before. “I don’t think these were ever hung on the walls.”

Louise stood up and helped Graham in lifting the bigger portraits. Bringing one of them forward, she saw this was comparatively old. Robert and Viola looked quite young, and she spotted two young children standing next to each other.

“Here, this must be you and Alison,” said Louise, pointing her finger at the portrait.

Graham turned his head to her, his head tilting to the side to adjust his view, and he said, “This is me, but the other person isn’t Alison.” He pointed at another girl, who stood next to Lady Agatha, “This is my sister.”

Lady Viola and Senior Mr. Reed were not standing in the middle. Instead, they were standing at the side where Graham’s grandparents had taken the centre position.

Graham continued to explain, “I think this was during one of the soiree’s that was held for everyone. The person next to me was a friend. I remember requesting my grandfather to allow non-family members to be added into the portrait. I had forgotten about this.”

While Graham was reminiscing his old memories, Louise picked up another large portrait and this time. She noticed how Graham’s friend was standing in the corner while Graham stood next to his parents. Going through other portraits, she finally said,

“Do you think it would be alright if we carry these portraits with us to Habsburg?”

Graham pursed his lips, “It shouldn’t be a problem, but maybe discuss it with others. Because I don’t know why they didn’t want to carry it when we moved from here.”

Louise nodded her head in agreement. Usually, Lady Viola voiced her distaste over things, and it was the first time she had heard Senior Mr. Reed express his subtle disapproval. Why would any of these paintings bother any person? Be it Robert or the ghost? Right now, Louise had no answer for it. The more she tried to understand, the more the situation became dispersed.

Soon the rain started to pour down, and the sounds outside the manor couldn’t be heard anymore. The clouds crashed against each other, lightning striking down from the sky before they heard the loud sound of thunder that shook the remaining window panes that were still intact with the manor.

Rainwater started to get inside, sprinkling across the wooden floor.

“We should have asked Harvey to come inside, in case he hasn’t,” suggested Louise, not wanting the coachman to be stuck in the carriage all by himself when he could stay inside the manor with them until the rain would slow down.

Leaving the paintings in the attic, they climbed down and walked towards the manor’s ground floor. “Stay here,” said Graham loudly to Louise over the sound of the rain, and she nodded her head, watching him run towards the carriage where it was parked.

The rain didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon, and she saw water drops fall continuously, water sliding collecting itself on the ground. While Louise was waiting for Graham and the coachman to return, she heard the soft creaking sound of the door. Because of the emptiness in the manor with very few objects to deflect the sound, even the slightest sound echoed through the manor.

Louise noticed then that it was the sudden gust of wind that had moved the already open door.

A whole minute had passed, and when Graham didn’t return, she turned slightly anxious. Five minutes later, Graham returned by himself, completely drenched again.

“He must have gone somewhere. He isn’t in the carriage,” said Graham, pushing his wet hairs behind to avoid water dripping down his face.

“Where would he have gone?” asked Louise, slightly worried. She wondered if the coachman had taken a stroll while waiting for them.

“He must be nearby and stuck in the rain. He will probably be here when the rain stops,” assured Graham, looking at the sky. Louise hoped Graham’s words were true, and by the looks of it, it seemed like Father Edward had not come here and had instead gone somewhere else.

Louise had not sensed any strangeness in the manor, and maybe as Father Edward had told her, this place wasn’t haunted.

“Let me see if there are logs of wood in here to get the fireplace started in the drawing room,” said Graham, and she followed him. Helping him carry the logs from one of the rooms, together, they went to one of the rooms. She placed the logs in the fireplace, watching Graham light the fire.

The rain continued to pour, and the temperature dropped down. It took quite some time before the logs caught fire and produced the needed heat.

While Louise was staring at the fire, Graham pulled out his wet shirt and hung it on the old chair so that it could dry. When she turned behind to speak to Graham to come and sit next to her, she noticed him shirtless and stared at his back bare.

“Should I check if there are any clothes in the other rooms? There should be some clothes that must have been left behind,” said Louise, and she stood up before turning to look at him.

“I am fine. It will dry a little before we leave Warlington,” replied Graham. He noticed Louise’s eyes fail to stay on his eyes as it moved to look at the expanse of his broad shoulders and chest.

Living as husband-wife, she had seen him coming out of the bath with a towel wrapped around his waist. But this might have been one of the first few times where he stood in front of her in this state, this closely.

Today was supposed to be a good day, where they were meant to enjoy themselves in each other’s company. Instead, they had found a skeleton, and now they were here. But then again, they were alone again, in an abandoned manor with no one except them.

Her eyes went back to look into his eyes, seeing him watch her where his eyes looked alive than it normally was—hair, wet and dark. There was something in his eyes, a glimmer and a hint of need that made her feet fix on the ground, not able to move an inch. When Graham took one step towards her, Louise felt her heart flip.

She stared back at him with her cheeks that had grown warm by the sight of him and her eyes holding unspoken excitement in them.