The Lady and the Lake by Rosemary Smith Read Free Book Online

took the left-hand corridor as this was the longest side of the house as the front door was not central to the building.
    Opening the door I knew I’d made the right choice for I stepped into a very long room with paintings covering the walls. As my eyes adjusted to the light I could see Thomas halfway down the room. I ran to him, my feet noisy on the polished floorboards beneath, as I neared his silent figure he caught me to him and in that moment I knew he felt the same.
    ‘Oh Thomas!’ I said breathlessly, ‘she can’t keep us apart can she?’ I looked at him for some reassurance.
    ‘I won’t let her, I promise,’ he said freeing the pins at the back of my head, my hair falling over my shoulders. I found myself in a compromising position.
    ‘What if someone comes in?’ I said with some sense of alarm.
    ‘No-one will come here except perhaps Antony.’ As Thomas spoke he ran his hand over my blonde hair.
    ‘Antony!’ I exclaimed, twisting my hair back into a knot and replacing the pins to hold it in place as best I could.
    Thomas laughed, ‘I mean you no harm or dishonour,’ he said.
    ‘Is it right that two people from different walks in life be drawn to each other. Me poor, you wealthy?’ I asked him seriously.
    ‘But you have a rich aunt,’ he teased.
    ‘Indeed I do, my father’s last remaining sister who had no children, she wanted me to go and live with her, but I was intent on finding my own way through life.’ My voice was wistful as I spoke.
    ‘I’m glad you have,’ said Thomas seriously, ‘for I’ve never before met anyone like you.’ His voice was for once serious although his lovely eyes sparkled with mischief.
    ‘May I look at the pictures?’ I asked him. ‘For I am very fond of art.’
    ‘But of course, I’ll guide you round,’ he said with some enthusiasm. I was to learn he was very knowledgeable in his field.
    ‘It is a very long room,’ I observed, for indeed it was.
    ‘Yes, it stretches the whole length of the house from the main door to the tower, and see this here?’ He stopped at a bare piece of the stone wall, bending a little he looked through what appeared to be a slit in the stone. ‘Look through here and tell me what you can see,’ he urged me.
    There was no need for me to bend as Thomas had done, and looking through the tiny gap in the wall I gasped in surprise.
    ‘Goodness, I can see one side of the hall and the main door.’
    For indeed I could, and even as I looked I saw Alice walk across the black and white tiles and then disappear out of the door causing a slant of light to fall on the polished floor. I idly wondered where she was going without Emily. I looked at Thomas. ‘What a novel idea,’ I enthused.
    ‘Hardly novel, Abbey. It’s a squint and has been there for over three hundred years,’ he explained.
    ‘Is the house that old then?’ I said somewhat surprised. ‘It doesn’t look that old.’
    ‘But it is. I’m very interested in antiquities, houses, churches, books and paintings,’ he said. This was obviously the one thing that he was passionate about and I was pleased that I was getting to know about him.
    ***
    We walked together down the row of paintings, some large, some small and also some likeness, of people I’d never know, miniatures painted with care for a loved one. There was a picture of Kerslake Hall, painted in 1750. Looking at it brought to mind my arrival, was it really only three days ago?
    I knew now why the house had seemed so familiar then, for Mr Lang had a copy of the painting hung in his office.
    I stopped in front of a very commanding portrait of a young dark-haired woman, ringlets fell each side of her face, her complexion perfect with rosy cheeks. She wore a cream silk gown adorned with small violet flowers and a prettily-painted fan in one hand.
    ‘Who is this?’ I asked Thomas, too entranced to look at the brass plaque beneath.
    ‘It is Aunt Henry in her younger days,’ he replied, and I was quite taken