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romantic novels, but Hy and I both witnessed Chantal freeze in the act of handing back that ball of wool. Her eyes became black ponds, pardon me, pools of horror. Her dark hair formed a mantle about her blanched cheeks. Her fingers crushed the wool. And when at last she spoke, her voice did seem to emanate from every crevice in the room, save her struggling lips. Chantal’s words, dearEllie, were these.” To cushion the blow, Primrose rearranged the one behind my head.
    â€œÂ â€˜I see a house with many turrets, surrounded by water.’ ”
    â€œThe moat at Merlin’s Court! What could be clearer!” Hyacinth supplied.
    Her sister’s papery hands clutched at the pearls around her neck until they chattered like teeth. Her voice became ghostlike. “ ‘I am now inside the house of turrets. The walls are red. And red means anger. The air I breathe is thick with jealousy and fear. An explosion is building, throbbing until—
poof!
A huge cloud masses in turgid blackness above the rooftop. It threatens to destroy the hopes and dreams of all who dwell within. Beware the black cloud!’ ”
    Primrose fell silent. Tobias Cat entered the room like a walking bad omen then turned tail. In the gapped doorway stood Ben. Hand clapped to his brow, he effected a palsied stagger. I was doing a palsied slither off the sofa. Hyacinth repositioned me. Her satin blouse glistened blood red. Did either of these delightful women realize what they were doing to me? My hands moved protectively over the baby.
    Primrose was off again. “Poor Chantal’s breath now fluttered like the wings of a tired bird. ‘That house is built of fire and brimstone and swathed in shadow … Trouble in the North Tower … No place out but up … Writing not on the wall … Pen nastier than the sword … Mrs. Haskell must find the truth within herself.’ ”
    Primrose passed the smelling salts under my nose as well as her own. “My dear Ellie, Chantal’s voice faded to a shiver which had Hyacinth and myself reaching for our shawls. Well may you look shocked. Administering Flowers Detection as we do, we are known for our nerves of steel.”
    My head felt like a gun about to go off. “Merlin’s Court is a house with a past, but it certainly does not seethe with unrest these days.” I raised my voice. “Sometimes Ben and Jonas annoy me, but men will be boys. As for Dorcas, she doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body.”
    The shrill sound of a distant teakettle was in fact Dorcas nervously blowing her whistle. She and Jonas had joined Ben in peeking through the doorway.
    Tobias Cat wasn’t helping my nerves either by circling the sofa.
    â€œI am sure, my dear,” Primrose consoled, “that no one presently in residence could be the primal source of danger. One day I suspect there will come a knock at the door …”
    My left leg jumped convulsively and down came my foot on Tobias’ tail. He leaped three feet in the air and hailed me with meowing curses. “Did Chantal say anything else?” I whispered.
    Hyacinth shook her head, sending the canaries into chirruping spins. “To have taxed her further would have accomplished nothing other than to have resulted in her being in no condition to top and tail the Lavender Bedroom. Prim and I pondered all yesterday as to what was best to do. We retired early to bed still sorely tried in spirit, but arose this morning serene. We drove here in our trusty hearse, at reckless speed, to urge you to fly these portals before Destruction strikes.”
    I would have swooned, had I felt up to it.
    â€œLeave here! What a positively ripping suggestion!” Ben stepped out of the doorway with the startling effect of a portrait come to life. Crossing to the sofa, he seemed to be treading on my mind. The door was now wide open and Jonas and Dorcas were