That Silent Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

heart-wrenching questions.”
    â€œIt was a long time ago,” she said, a forced smile on her face. “Would you care for more cake?”
    *   *   *
    â€œDr. Holton.” I had repeated the name three times, but Colin refused to comment. “You know him by reputation, I am sure.” Davis had brought our after-dinner coffee into the library where we had retired to read. Or rather, he had brought Colin’s coffee, as I despised the beverage and was having chocolate chaud instead, with a large dollop of whipped cream, to remind me of Vienna.
    My husband closed his book. “I do, but I do not agree with you that it is of any consequence to us.”
    â€œMr. Leighton—“
    â€œReminded his wife of an appointment, yes, I heard the first six times you told me.”
    â€œIt was not six.”
    â€œMr. Leighton is wrong about her having a nervous disorder,” I said.
    â€œI did not realize you had qualified as a physician,” Colin said. “You ought to have told me. We could have celebrated your degree.”
    â€œDon’t tease,” I said. “She must have seen the same woman I did—and given the close resemblance, she must have thought it to be her mother’s ghost. Don’t you agree?”
    â€œI am afraid not.”
    â€œI have seen the same woman—“
    â€œAnd you admit she is not a ghost?” he asked.
    I paused.
    â€œJust as I thought,” he said. “Mrs. Leighton’s condition is none of our business—“
    â€œHer husband mentioned it to me. I am not meddling.”
    â€œI do not believe he did so in the hope that you might offer a competing diagnosis. You have no reason to suspect she saw the woman anymore than I did. And, to be clear, I did not see her. If I had, however, I would not believe for even the briefest of instances that she was a ghost.”
    â€œIt is odd, don’t you think, that she left no footprints?” I asked.
    â€œNo footprints that you saw in the midst of a snowstorm that included significant winds,” Colin said. “They may have been covered or blown away by the time you reached them.”
    â€œOr I may have seen something else. I cannot be certain, and yet you do not think I suffer from a nervous disorder.”
    â€œI think, my dear, that I may begin to suffer from a nervous disorder if we do not abandon this line of conversation.”
    â€œDo you trust Mr. Leighton?”
    â€œI hardly know the man, but he seems in every way a decent chap, as I have already told you. I do not believe that he is trying to convince his wife she is of unsound mind.”
    â€œYou need not put it so harshly,” I said.
    â€œEmily, my love, you must admit that Mrs. Leighton is rather … odd. Her behavior at dinner here demonstrated that. Her husband, who dotes on her, should be lauded for getting her whatever help she may need.”
    â€œHe did take her to Switzerland in search of a cure,” I said, drawing my eyebrows together. “And she has no fortune he could be trying to control.”
    â€œNo, she does not.” Colin crossed his arms.
    â€œI do believe his motives to be pure.”
    â€œYou are generosity itself.”
    â€œYet if part of this perceived disorder stems from her seeing something I, too, see—“
    â€œYou are not going to mention what you have seen to the Leightons or I shall summon Dr. Holton here to examine you. In lieu of his presence, however, I shall take matters into my own hands.” He moved next to me on the divan, but Davis entering the room stopped any further action he had planned.
    â€œMr. Hargreaves, Mr. Leighton to see you.”
    â€œBring him here, Davis.”
    â€œHe communicated that the matter about which he needs to speak to you is both urgent and delicate. I put him in the red drawing room.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “And you will not let me follow, will you,