Unwept by Laura Hickman Tracy Hickman Read Free Book Online

determined to circle the room and continued to slide her hands across the corner of the room and onto the wall directly to her left, across the room from the cupboard she’d opened. It was smooth under her hands and she had to brush away the memory of her nightmare on the train. The wall ended in a narrow wall set at a forty-five-degree angle attached to the wall she had entered through. Instead of a rectangle, the room was an odd lopsided pentagon.
    She stood back to look at the angled wall. There was a small watercolor of a shipwreck on a rocky shore hanging on it, painted in bright colors in childlike strokes. As she spread her hands to either side of the wall her fingers detected on her left that which she had been hoping for: another hairline crack. With all her might she pushed against the wall. It swung open easily and she fell headlong in a heap at the base of the double doors just beyond the rotunda. She found herself staring back across the parquet compass toward the front door, the grandfather clock and her trunk. She shakily stood up, looking back at the portal to the sewing room: another bookcase. This bookcase had a vase similar to the one she’d moved earlier. She tilted her head to one side and, reaching out, lifted the vase. After a few seconds it swung shut, clicking into place. She replaced the vase.
    She smiled sheepishly with relief. What a strange mechanism, she thought. It’s not safe, really. I’ll have to mention it to my cousin … as soon as I feel comfortable enough to confess my folly.
    Ellis peered cautiously through the large double doors and found an enormous but welcoming room beyond. A salon for entertaining, surely not the parlor. Before her were wide windows overlooking the gardens, and to her left windows overlooked a broad lawn, which disappeared down a gentle slope toward the sea. A large fireplace was the focal point in the far corner of the room. About the fireplace were nestled divans, overstuffed chairs and little tables, each with a scattering of little knickknacks. Ellis might take pleasure in examining them later, but now her eyes were on the garden. Her greatest desire was to find a way outside and perhaps just rest on the porch till her cousin arrived. A door stood open at the far end of the salon and Ellis entered it, finding it to be a formal dining room. Immediately to her right were French doors leading out on to the back porch. Without hesitating, she opened the doors and walked out of the house into the autumn air. The back-porch steps led her down to a flawless bower of pink roses welcoming her. Beyond that was a shallow grassy hill that led downward toward the water’s edge.
    A gentle ocean breeze drifted up the low hill. Ellis found it a pleasure to walk over the perfectly manicured expanse of thick green lawn. Just below the clipped grassy hill was a white picket fence with a small gate in the middle.
    Ellis shaded her eyes from the afternoon sun and looked at the small beach and sparkling water just beyond the gate.
    There at the water’s edge was a young woman with her white muslin skirts tucked up into the wide blue brocade belt at her waist, legs exposed. She was twirling at the water’s edge chasing the tidewater that sprayed up onto her legs.
    Jenny. She knew it was Jenny. Ellis’s heart beat faster.
    â€œJenny! Jenny!” Ellis waved and ran down the hill toward the little fence. The young woman looked up and gestured in return, running up the hill toward the gate and Ellis.
    â€œCousin Ellis!” Jenny clasped Ellis awkwardly across the gate. Ellis returned the embrace and sighed. She didn’t recognize the young woman’s face as she’d hoped, but somehow in touching Jenny she felt happy.
    Ellis opened the gate. Jenny rushed through, her words tumbling out before her.
    â€œDid you just get here? Is the doctor with you? Did you bring lots of party dresses? Do you like lobster? I should have been at the