The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt Read Free Book Online Page A

feeling came the certainty that the riddle of Roma’s disappearance was hidden somewhere in this house.
    This is absurdly whimsical, I admonished myself in a voice which was just like Roma’s. How she would have laughed at such an idea. The romantic, Pietro would have commented, forever in me, peeping out from behind the poise, the air of worldliness.
    Mrs. Lincroft appeared and she looked so comforting that the illusion vanished.
    In fact, I continued to tell myself, I had not come here so much to solve the mystery of Roma’s disappearance as to earn an adequate living, to make sure of a roof over my head. Once I admitted that this was an end of my grand ambitions and looked at this venture as a practical and most sensible move, the more reasonably I should view my situation.
    Mrs. Lincroft led the way under the second gateway over which were the schoolroom windows. I paused to read the inscription.
    “You can scarcely make it out,” she said. “It’s in medieval English. ‘Fear God and honor the King.’”
    “A noble sentiment,” I remarked.
    She smiled and said: “Be careful of the steps. They’re steep and worn in places.”
    There were twelve of them leading to the upper courtyard; this was larger and bounded by tall gray walls. I noticed the similar windows with their leaded panes, the gargoyles and the intricate designs on the head of the water spouts.
    “This way,” said Mrs. Lincroft and pushed open a heavy door.
    We were in an enormous hall about sixty feet long with a vaulted ceiling and four window embrasures. Although the windows were large the panes were small and leaded which meant that there were dark shadows although it was only afternoon. At one end was a dais on which stood a grand piano, at the other a minstrels’ gallery. There was a staircase close to the gallery and two arched openings through which I caught sight of a dark passage. On the limewashed walls were weapons, and a suit of armor stood at the foot of the staircase.
    “The hall is rarely used nowadays,” said Mrs. Lincroft. “Once balls were held there…and there were musical occasions. But since Lady Stacy’s death and since er…Well, since then, Sir William has done little entertaining. An occasional dinner party…but of course we shall be using the hall now there is a young mistress of the house. I daresay we shall have some musical entertainments too.”
    “Shall I be expected to—?”
    “I daresay.”
    I tried to imagine myself seated at the grand piano on the dais. I could hear Pietro’s laugh. “A concert pianist at last. Through the back door, one might say…No, through the castle gates.”
    As Mrs. Lincroft led the way to the staircase, I laid my hand on the carved banister and saw the dragons and the fierce-looking creatures engraved there.
    “I’m sure,” I said, “that no animals ever looked quite like these.” Mrs. Lincroft again smiled her quiet smile, and I went on: “I wonder why they always wanted to frighten people away. People who want to frighten others are very often frightened themselves. That’s the answer. They must have been really afraid…hence these fierce-looking creatures.”
    “Calculated, as they say, to strike terror into the hearts of the invaders.”
    “They would do it most successfully, I’m sure. It’s the long shadows…just as much as those carvings, which are really too fantastic to be true, that give this feeling of…menace.”
    “You are sensitive to atmosphere, Mrs. Verlaine. You will be hoping that there are no ghosts in the house. Are you superstitious?”
    “That’s something we all deny until we are put to the test. Then most of us prove we are.”
    “You mustn’t be here, you know. In a place like this where people have lived for centuries within the same walls stories circulate. A servant sees her own shadow and swears it is a ghost in gray. Easily done, Mrs. Verlaine, in a house like this.”
    “I don’t think I am going to be afraid of my own