Darkling Cottage
Sunday 17th November

 

Dearest Alfred,

There are fairies in Darkling Wood.

Yes, you did read that last sentence correctly. I have proof at last, so now people should jolly well believe me!

It wasn’t easy to get my hands on Papa’s camera. All morning we sat in the library, Papa reading his magazine on ‘psychic matters’, and me not settling to anything. In the end I got Anna to make up the fire until it was positively roasting, which promptly sent Papa to sleep. At last I was able to sneak away.

A few days ago Papa’s photography things were moved upstairs into Maisie’s room on account of Mama hating the mess. To keep out the light a thick curtain has been hung across the door, and inside an enormous table has been set up, which almost fills the little room. It was on this table that the camera sat, as if waiting for me! I’d seen Papa load it with six or eight glass plates: I took just one. Then tiptoeing back downstairs and past the library, I fetched my coat.

Crikey, it was cold outside. Frost still hung thickly in the trees, and the ground beneath my feet was so hard it sounded almost hollow. At first, I couldn’t set the blasted camera up. It was simply a few buttons and clips but my fingers had gone so numb with cold it took forever, though having watched Papa, I knew how it was done. After a couple more tries, I got the back open and the plate properly into place with the big spring firmly behind it. Once the camera made a whirring sound I knew it was ready.

At first there was nothing to photograph. Putting the camera down, I sat back against the tree, wrapped my arms around my knees and waited. My feet grew cold. I imagined warming pans and woollen socks until it became impossible to think of anything else.

Quite suddenly, the grass to my left quivered. A tiny leg appeared. Then came another, followed by a golden-haired head. Standing before me was that same winged creature, or one just like her. I held my breath in delight.

This time the creature didn’t seem quite solid, almost as if she was made of mist or moonlight. She hovered so close I saw every fold in her clothes. And yet I saw through her too. It was most peculiar. Then she reached out. And, oh, Alfred, she touched my feet!

Instantly my toes tingled and were warm. Then came the strangest sensation – it felt sharper, clearer than the calmness from before. It was as if my head had been swept quite clean. I confess I forgot EVERYTHING. All that mattered was this moment, this pinprick of time, sitting here with a fairy in my sights. What a wonderful photograph it would make!

Moving oh so slowly so as not to scare her, I lifted the camera off the ground and held it in my hand. With the other I moved the lens till the creature wasn’t blurry. It was so hard to keep steady. At last I pressed the button.

Click.

The creature vanished.

It was like waking from a dream I didn’t want to end. Yet I knew this wasn’t a dream; it had really happened. All I had to do now was develop the picture, but until then the glass plate must stay inside the camera, out of the light.

Back at home, Papa was still asleep, so I tiptoed upstairs and got to work. First, I set up trays of solution like I’d seen him do. Then, once the curtain was pulled across and the door shut, I opened the camera. Just as Papa did, I put the plate into the solution. And waited – I had to guess as to how long.

After a while an outline appeared. I’d remembered how Papa had put the red light on – the ‘safe light’, he called it, because it didn’t damage the picture. I did it now, and goodness, how my hands shook!

What can I say? The image came out perfectly. There she was, Alfred. Up against the tree trunk, she looked tiny, like a flower or a fleck of light. I imagined how Mama would say it was dust on the lens, but to me it was clear as day. She was, most definitely, my fairy.

What happened next was an accident. In my excitement I tripped over the table leg, sending trays, bottles and tongs flying. The clatter woke Papa, who appeared in the doorway, demanding to know WHAT THE BLUE BLAZES was going on. Then he saw the negative. And do you know, he laughed out loud!

We did the last bit of developing together. I think perhaps Papa was even more excited than I was. He believed in that picture, Alfred. Like me, he wanted the fairies to be real.

We waited until after tea to show Mama. I was nervous – and with good reason. When I put the picture in her lap, she barely looked at it. Her eyes were drilling into me.

What right did I have to take Papa’s equipment? she asked. Proper young ladies filled their time doing useful, charitable things. They didn’t spend all day in the woods, climbing trees.

I didn’t see what the fuss was about. No one ever died from climbing trees, I said, and was promptly told to hush my mouth. Mama insisted I was too old for all this silliness. And I was certainly too old to be taking pictures of my dolls.

Well!

It wasn’t a doll in my picture, Alfred. On that, Papa and I were in firm agreement.

Papa says he knows a man with a special interest in pictures like mine. He’s going to invite him to Darkling, which has cheered me rather, even if Mama thinks it’s all nonsense. You see everything’s been so bleak of late, and this picture of mine has given us all something else to think about. It feels like a glimmer of hope.

Your ever loving sister.