I spent the morning dozing in a chair by the fire. There wasn’t much left to burn on it, but it was the warmest spot in the house. With Eliza gone to her job at the mill, and Ma down in the village pleading for credit at the shop, time passed quietly enough.
Then near midday, someone knocked at our door. Thinking it might be the landlord, my stomach dropped. I opened the door just a crack. Will Potter was on the doorstep.
‘You’ve got some neck coming round here,’ I said.
He grinned. ‘And you look peaky. Not working today then?’
It struck me as a daft thing to say. ‘Does it look like it?’ I said.
‘Bit cold out here,’ said Will, pointedly.
I’d no plans to let him in, but he’d already got one foot past the door, so it was hard to protest when he grasped my arms and steered me back inside. I shrugged him off and sat down again. As he settled into the chair opposite, all easy and relaxed, I wondered how I’d ever get rid of him. He started nattering on about his pa’s butcher’s shop, and wasn’t it funny how a dog had run off with a string of sausages.
‘Lucky dog,’ I muttered, thinking of my own sorry breakfast.
Then with a flourish, he pulled something from his pocket and held it towards me on the palm of his hand. It was a snowdrop, looking rather the worse for wear. The petals were crumpled and the flower’s head was almost flat.
‘Is this a joke?’
‘No.’ His face fell. ‘It’s the first one I’ve seen. I thought you might like it.’
I stared at him. ‘Why are you here?’
‘To see how you are,’ he said, and for once he seemed almost serious.
I raised my arms weakly. ‘Well here I am, still alive.’
Will gazed at me for so long I felt myself grow hot. Then he said, ‘You nearly drowned in that lake. I couldn’t reach you though I tried and tried.’
My stomach turned. I preferred it when he larked about.
‘You’re very lucky to be alive, Tilly,’ he said, his eyes still on me. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
A beautiful angel had saved my life. I was lucky. My palms were sweating now and my heart began to thud. Perhaps Will knew more than he was letting on; maybe he’d seen the angel too. I was desperate to share it with someone.
‘Will, at the lake yesterday, did you notice . . . ?’ I trailed off.
‘Did I notice what?’
What would I tell him? That an angel took my hand and guided me to safety? Heck, I’d tried to explain it to my own family and hadn’t got very far. I couldn’t tell Will Potter. As if he’d believe me, when I hardly believed it myself.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ I said.
We stared into the fire.
‘I went back to Frost Hollow Hall this morning to thank them,’ said Will.
‘Thank who? For what?’
‘The kitchen staff, for taking you in.’
I was having trouble keeping up. But in a dark corner of my brain something stirred, and a hazy sort of memory came back to me.
‘We went there yesterday, did we?’ I said, with a shiver.
‘’Course we did. Don’t you remember?’
‘What I mean is . . . did we go inside the house?’
‘I’ve just said so, haven’t I?’
I doubted even a cad like Will Potter could charm his way into Frost Hollow Hall. Not if there were men with dogs and sticks. But he seemed a bit too familiar with the place for my liking. Something didn’t add up.
‘You know the Hall quite well,’ I said.
‘My pa delivers meat up there and sometimes I help him. Why?’
‘So you know the family, then?’
‘No, I never see the Barringtons.’
‘So how come we ended up there? In the kitchens, weren’t it?’
‘Look, I know Cook and she’s a good sort, and the maids are all right too.’
‘They weren’t that friendly,’ I said, remembering that face looming over me.
‘The housekeeper, Mrs Jessop, you mean? Come to think of it, she did take a strange turn when she saw you.’
I stared at him in disbelief. ‘So you do know them, don’t you?’
He shrugged. ‘I know some of the staff a bit, yes.’
I couldn’t hold back any more. I let rip.
‘Some flipping dare that was, then!’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Ooooh, Frost Hollow Hall!’ I cried. ‘The big spooky place what no one goes near?’
Will moved uneasily in his seat. ‘So?’
‘But in fact you do go there, and you know the staff! How the heck does that make it any sort of dare at all?’
‘Easy, Tilly! Calm down!’
‘Calm down?! Why didn’t you just get us an invite to tea? It would’ve been a flip’s sight easier!’
‘But no one goes near that lake. Not since Master Barrington died,’ said Will. ‘And there’s other things too, dark, queer stuff. And now there’s even talk of a ghost. I heard all about it today.’
‘Huh! And I bet no one’s never seen it.’
‘One of the maids says she has. Some plates got broke last night, and she swears they just flew off the shelf at her. But I don’t think the others believed her.’
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly I felt very tired.
‘Will,’ I said. ‘I nearly died up there.’
‘I know,’ he said, looking very shifty indeed. ‘And I feel awful about it, I really do.’
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he got to his feet. ‘I’ll see myself out.’
‘You do that.’
He’d almost got to the door when he stopped and said, ‘But you didn’t die, did you? Someone’s watching over you, Tilly Higgins.’