Margo Maguire Read Online Free PDF

his group gathered ’round. They were dressed for the outdoors—for a day of walking, or perhaps hiking among the fells. Lilly was aware that they’d sought her earlier, anxious to discuss the ghosts they’d seen the previous night and their trek to the attic.
    Perhaps it was just as well to get it done now, and banish thoughts of Mr. Temple from her mind.
    “Good morning to you,” she replied. “Did you sleep well?”
    “Hardly,” Mrs. Stanhope said. “Not after seeing that…that—”
    “You mean Sir Emmett,” Lilly interjected. She stepped away from the wall and walked through the gate into her side garden. “Our ghost is quite mild mannered. You needn’t have worried.”
    “Who is, er, who was he?” asked Mr. Payton.
    “He was once a visitor to Ravenwell Cottage—centuries ago, when Ravenwell was a manor house.”
    “And Lady Alice?”
    “The wife of Sir John Bartlett. But she was the paramour of Sir Emmett.” Lilly had practiced well. She knew the story front to back, and there was no one in the village who could discredit it. For all anyone knew, Sir Emmett and Lady Alice truly did haunt Ravenwell Cottage.
    Several of the women gasped as they came to the correct, but shocking, conclusion. “Sir John found his wife with her lover.”
    “And killed them?”
    Lilly nodded. “Sir Emmett was taken completely unawares. He was unarmed and…well, Sir John ran him through with his sword.”
    “A-and Lady Alice?”
    “Tossed her out that window,” Lilly said with quiet drama. She pointed to the attic window. “There.”
    “We found nothing up there when we investigated last night,” Mr. Payton said.
    Lilly shook her head. “They leave no trace,” she stated. “Ever.”
    “This is truly amazing,” Mr. Payton exclaimed. “In all my travels, I have never seen such a display! Has anyone ever tried to photograph these pitiful spirits?”
    “No!” Lilly exclaimed, more forcefully than she intended. She could just imagine the notoriety that would follow publication of such photographs. Journalists, thrill-seekers, debunkers… The unwelcome fame would make life impossible. “I mean to say,” she said more calmly, “those who’ve tried have never been successful.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, since no one had tried. And Lilly planned to keep it that way. Word of mouth, stories that her guests told when they returned home—these were enough to ensure a full house and a good living all year long.
    “That’s a shame,” Mr. Payton said. “It would be so fascinating to capture—”
    “Where is everyone going today?” Lilly asked,clasping her hands together. “Down to the lake? It promises to be wonderfully warm.”
    With the discussion purposely steered from the notion of photographs, the visitors traversed the flag-stone walk and left the garden. Lilly sighed and looked over her rosebushes, which bore only the most feeble greenery and a few paltry buds.
    She did not know what was wrong with them. She tended them as carefully and lovingly as all the other flowers that flourished in her gardens, yet these poor plants had responded to nothing she’d tried.
    And she did not dare use her magic on them. The sudden flourishing of her roses would cause questions that she could not answer, as well as some unplanned disaster. Just this morning, after making improvements to Mrs. Webster’s vegetable garden, she’d witnessed a huge maple become uprooted and crash to the ground. All because she’d ripened a few tomatoes and carrots for the poor old widow!
    Mr. Temple had been suspicious. He’d heard the tree fall, but what could he actually know about that maple tree? Only that it had fallen. Lilly did not have to worry that he would discover her talent. Trees fell every day, their roots rotted, they were weakened by lightning or some other such thing. There was no reason on earth why he should suspect her of causing it.
    But she would die of mortification if he or anyone ever learned of her