Harriet went to the front door and called, ‘Would you like to join me inside?’
‘We’d love to,’ Joseph said at once, then grimaced as he got down from the carriage onto the uneven gravel. ‘Could someone please bring the wheelchair into the house for me? I can’t push it along myself on such loose surfaces.’
‘I’ll do that.’ Mr Lloyd dragged it across and Joseph followed more slowly.
Harriet watched him, seeing the shame in his face at needing to ask for help and wishing she could do something to help him realise what a wonderful man he was.
The coachman came round the corner of the house. ‘I’ve found some water, Mr Lloyd. All right if I take the horses round the back now and see to them? I brought some feed for them.’
‘Yes, of course.’
Frank stood near the carriage. ‘Do you want me to push you round the house, Mr Dalton, or shall I go and help with the horses?’
‘I’ll be happy to assist your master, if he needs it,’ Mr Lloyd said. ‘You help with the horses. Oh, and watch out for the cart bringing your luggage. They’ve been told to take it round to the back.’
Joseph moved towards the house, seeing Harriet waiting for him on the top step, smiling. She never seemed to notice how he walked.
He smiled back involuntarily. ‘Who’d have thought it, you being left such a big house?’ he said as he reached her side. ‘Isn’t it exciting? How did you feel, going inside? What’s it like?’
‘I felt welcome. I’ve only explored upstairs so far, though. I wanted to see the portrait at the top of the stairs.’ She turned and gestured towards it, and was it her imagination or did it brighten as Joseph turned towards it?
Mr Lloyd had lifted the wheelchair up the steps and now he helped Joseph sit in it, looking beyond her as if expecting to see someone else. ‘I saw the front door open for you, Harriet. There aren’t supposed to be any servants here but someone must have done that.’
‘No. It just … opened of its own accord.’
He looked puzzled. ‘But I locked it myself last time I was here.’
‘Perhaps someone else has a key?’ Joseph suggested.
Harriet took a deep breath and risked the lawyer’s scorn. ‘When I went up to the landing, I saw the Lady. Her ghost, anyway. I think she was welcoming me to the house.’
Joseph frowned at her. ‘The Lady?’
‘The owner of this house is always called “the Lady”,’ Mr Lloyd said.
Harriet nodded eagerly. ‘There’s a portrait of her at the top of the stairs and she … materialised next to it. I wasn’t imagining it. I really did see her.’ She looked uncertainly at Mr Lloyd. ‘I know you don’t believe in ghosts, but I did see her.’
‘I believe you,’ Joseph said.
‘Well, I don’t believe in ghosts when I’m elsewhere,’ Mr Lloyd admitted, ‘but when I’m here they seem all too real. And the Lady always comes to welcome a new owner – if that owner is the one who was meant. It’s a good sign.’
‘I heard a bell too. Three times three.’
He nodded. ‘Yes. That’s what they say is the proof that the right person has taken over. Three times three, as the saying goes.’
‘I wish I’d seen your ghost,’ Joseph said wistfully.
‘Perhaps you will one day. I’ve not been into the rooms on this floor, so let’s look at them together now. Shall we start with this one?’
Mr Lloyd fell back to let them go first.
‘What a lovely room!’ Joseph exclaimed involuntarily as they went through the door on the right.
‘They call this the sitting room,’ Mr Lloyd said.
The room was timeless and comfortable in appearance, not smart and fussy like his mother’s rooms. Two big armchairs took pride of place at either side of the fireplace and a large sofa stood between them. Another smaller armchair was set to one side of the square bay window.
‘Let’s look out of the window,’ Harriet said and began to push him, knowing it was harder for him to move the chair about on carpet.
Joseph let her take him wherever she wanted, feeling very happy for her. His father would throw a fit of rage when he found out his former maid had been left a large house. Joseph wished he could be there to see it. No, he didn’t. He didn’t want to be anywhere but with Harriet.
He and the lawyer would have to find some way to protect her, though. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone hurting her. He glanced down at his body. He couldn’t do much physically, but perhaps he could use his brain to help her. Or hire somebody strong. He’d mention it to Frank.
He watched Harriet sit down at a small desk set invitingly at one side of the bay window. ‘What a lovely place to read or write letters! That view must be beautiful in the summer when everything’s in bloom. It’s very pretty still.’
A path curved through the flowerbeds to an open wooden gate with a stone arch above it. Through it some ruins could be seen.
Joseph managed to roll his chair forward to her side. ‘I wonder if I could get down that path. I’d love to explore the ruins. Wouldn’t you?’
‘I’ll push you, or Frank will. I want to explore every corner of this house and the grounds. Oh, Joseph, isn’t it wonderful? Who would have thought it could be mine?’
‘I’m so glad for you.’
‘I’ll try my best to look after it, to be worthy of the trust placed in me.’
Her voice seemed to echo and something made him add, ‘And I’ll help you in every way I can.’
She came to stand in front of him. ‘Does that mean you’ll stay here?’
‘If you’re sure you want me to.’
‘Of course I do. You’re my only friend, and you know so much more about the world than I do. I shall need your help.’
He laughed then, a laugh tinged with bitterness. He had never wished more fervently that he’d been born normal than since he’d met Harriet.
She smiled back at him serenely. ‘We’ll learn about Greyladies and the world around it together. It’ll be a joy.’
‘A joy,’ he thought. She was the real joy in his life. Every day he was more sure of that.
‘Let’s go round the rest of the ground floor.’ Harriet didn’t wait for his answer, but pushed the wheelchair out into the hall where Mr Lloyd was now sitting, smiling at their eagerness. He waved them on.
Behind the sitting room was a dining room with a massive table. It had a very ugly ornament in the centre that made them grimace. ‘That has to be put away,’ Harriet said. ‘It’s horrible. It’d put me off my food.’
On the other side of the entrance was a library with two of its walls lined by shelves of books, all higgledy-piggledy as if they’d been read many times and replaced rather carelessly.
‘Look at all the books!’ they chorused, then laughed at themselves.
‘Plenty to read here.’ He looked longingly at the shelves, dying to check the titles, but she wasn’t having that. She wanted to see all the rooms on this floor.
There was a small sitting room behind the library, then two doors at the rear of the hall. Harriet left him and peeped through the door on the right. ‘It’s just the kitchen. I can look at that later. Let’s try the other door.’
Unfortunately it was locked.
Mr Lloyd came to join them. ‘How do you like your house, Harriet?’
‘I love it. Do you have a key to this door, Mr Lloyd? I can’t bear to be locked out of part of my own home.’ Oh, how wonderful it was to say the words ‘my own home’!
‘Yes, I do have a key. But this door only leads into the oldest part of the house, the original guest house of the abbey. It’s not used now and it’s kept locked because we’re not sure it’s safe, especially upstairs. You should only go a little way inside and not upstairs until it’s been checked out.’
When he pulled a heavy old key out of his briefcase, she held out her hand. ‘Please let me open it.’
‘There you are. You can lead the way in and I’ll push Mr Dalton.’
‘I can roll my wheelchair myself if the floor continues to be wood, as long as it doesn’t have any rugs.’
Harriet was relieved when Joseph held out one hand to keep the lawyer back. He seemed to know instinctively that she wanted to go in on her own at first. She turned the heavy key in the lock and moved forward.
The room was about twenty foot long and twelve foot wide, with big oak beams meeting at points in the centre. There was an old-fashioned table, narrow but long, its wood dark with age and polish. She stopped when she thought she heard faint sounds of people eating and drinking, chatting, and a tinkling sort of music. She shook her head to clear it and the sounds vanished.
Joseph rolled across to join her. ‘This must have been a medieval hall originally.’ He looked up to the narrow balcony overhanging the far end. ‘Perhaps that was a minstrel’s gallery.’ He frowned.
He turned back to her. ‘I could have sworn I heard music, a happy tune with a jigging, three-beat rhythm.’
‘I heard it too!’
He glanced back at Mr Lloyd. ‘Shhh. Don’t say anything. He’ll think we’ve lost our wits.’
‘Maybe we have.’
‘No. I think we’re both finding ourselves.’
Mr Lloyd came to join them. ‘This part is hardly usable, my dear Miss Latimer. It’s a very primitive type of construction. It’s surprising it’s lasted so long.’
‘I like it.’ There were two closed doors along the left side. Harriet went to open them. ‘Empty rooms,’ she said in disappointment. ‘No furniture at all.’
‘I don’t think any of the old part of the house is properly furnished, apart from bits and pieces. That table has benches to go with it. They’re stacked somewhere.’ The lawyer looked round in disapproval. ‘I’ve never been upstairs, I must admit, and I don’t intend to risk it. Nor should you.’
Harriet was going up there as soon as she could, she decided. Whatever Mr Lloyd, or Joseph, said. But she would do it later. Now wasn’t the time to argue.
‘Shall we go back into the main house, Miss Latimer? Even that is now in need of a thorough cleaning, because it’s several weeks since Miss Agnes died. I can arrange for the cleaning, if you wish, and of course, you must stay with us until it’s done.’
Harriet had been expecting to stay here tonight and she was going to do it, too, she decided. ‘Thank you, but I’d rather move in straight away. After all, our luggage is on its way. We shall need to find bedrooms for myself, Joseph and his manservant. And see if we can buy some food in the village.’
The lawyer looked at her. ‘But you’ll need servants, and the place needs cleaning . I hadn’t realised it was quite so run down. You mustn’t even consider it. When the cart arrives with your luggage, perhaps you could leave some of it here, and just take back what you’ll need for a few nights.’
Harriet felt stubborn. ‘I’m sorry to disagree, Mr Lloyd, but I want to move in tonight. After all, we’ve already agreed that we don’t wish to attract attention to ourselves. Where better to hide than at Greyladies?’
‘It’d increase the risk greatly for me to move back to the hotel,’ Joseph agreed. ‘People do notice the wheelchair, you know.’
‘But it won’t look good if you move in here with two men, Miss Latimer. People will talk.’
‘Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. And I don’t want to get a bad reputation, but oh, I do want to stay here. So very much.’
Even the lawyer’s stern expression softened at her words.
‘Are there any families in the village who might supply maids, even temporarily?’ Joseph asked. ‘In the country, my mother often uses locals to help out at busy times and they’re usually glad of the money. One of them could stay and chaperone Harriet.’
The lawyer was silent for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. ‘I know! We could ask Miss Bowers to stay with you. I’m sure she would. She loves Greyladies.’
‘Who’s Miss Bowers?’
‘She used to be the schoolmistress till she retired and there isn’t anyone more respected in the entire village. If anyone will know how best to manage things, it’ll be her.’
‘Shall we send Frank with a note for her?’
‘I could walk over to the village by the garden path. It’d only take a few minutes. I can call on her and ask her help. Do you mind waiting here, Miss Latimer, Mr Dalton?’
Joseph laughed. ‘Mind waiting in a house filled with books? I should think not.’
‘I love it here,’ Harriet said. She decided she’d do a bit more exploring while the lawyer was gone.
She walked to the front door with him, then turned to Joseph. ‘I’m going to look upstairs at the back.’
‘Mr Lloyd said it wasn’t safe.’
‘I’ll watch where I’m placing my feet, I promise you.’
The words were out before he could stop them. ‘I wish I could come upstairs with you. I’m too tired to try it today, I’m afraid.’
She went to clasp his hand. ‘I’ll just have a quick look round. You go into the library and wait for me there.’
‘You’ll be careful?’
‘Of course I will.’