The Haunting at Hawke's Moor Read Online Free PDF

Lisle said. "And the fire in the
kitchen's out."
    "I'll just go check."
    Anne heard Lisle's door close behind
her and continued down the stairs. The kitchen was dark and empty,
no sign of a fire anywhere. Anne checked the whole house but found
nothing. Even when she returned to her bedroom, the smell of smoke
was completely gone.
    Maybe she had dreamt it, she wondered—a fear
playing with her senses. Feeling disturbed, she crawled back under
her blankets and extinguished the lamp. Even through her
exhaustion, it wasn't easy to return to sleep now. She kept
checking if she could smell smoke, then worried her nose had grown
too accustomed to notice.
     
    The ice lay in moons around the window
panes when she woke, her breath condensing in front of her. Some
coal would be marvelous, but who would drive coal all the way out
to them? Anne missed the comforts of the city and her old life, but
conceded she had to be grateful. London was few on comforts for
anyone without means. Once they had the house sorted, they would be
comfortable here.
    Taking a moment longer in bed, she
thought through the massive list of things that needed doing. First
the cow. She needed to get the milk flowing. Lisle apparently knew
how to make cheese and rennet, which according to her, could be
made from nettles or thistles, neither of which were in short
supply.
    The cold assaulted her as she slid from
under her blankets and she dressed as quickly as she could, her
body getting colder by the second. The thick wool shawl helped and
she was soon getting warm enough again.
     
    When Anne returned to the house after
seeing to the cow, movement caught her eye and she saw a figure
walking along the path leading to the road. Hope flared as she
wondered if it was Harry, but Harry would not be approaching the
house on foot. As far as she knew, Harry wasn't aware walking was a
mode of transport.
    The figure drew closer, a young man
with a sack over his shoulder, brown hair shorn short and with
long, striding steps. Perhaps this was the young man the reverend
had spoken about. He wasn't so young, in fact, he was tall and
broad. Anne had expected someone ten or twelve, but this man was
more a man than a young man. Definitely older the Harry, maybe even
over twenty.
    He stopped when he reached the gravel.
His clothes were worn and his hands were dirty. A patch had been
sown across one of his knees and his shoes looked like they barely
held together. "I have been told there is a position here. Reverend
Whitling sent me."
    "I hope he told you there is only room and
board. That might change in the future, but for right now, we have
no means."
    "He might have mentioned," the man said. He
didn't greet her in any way, probably had no manners at all from
what she guessed.
    "I am Miss Sands, formally Mrs.
Kinelly."
    If her reduction in status meant anything to
him, he didn't show it, and he stood there with a thumb inside his
belt.
    "It is just I and my servant, Lisle,
here. We have just acquired a cow that is pasturing. Have you any
experience with cows?" Anne said hopefully.
    "Aye. Not what you'd call clever
beasts."
    Anne didn't quite know how to take the
statement, or even if she liked this young man. She wasn't
immediately warming to him. "And what is your name?"
    "Alfie," he said. By his accent, she could
tell he had grown up in these parts.
    "Well, we only have one cow. The intention
is to get some chickens as well, but we have nowhere to keep them
just at the moment. Is that something you could contrive?"
    "It is." Not a man of many words then, just
like Mr. Turner.
    "This house has been derelict for many
years, so it needs care, as will a room for you. We can prepare
one."
    "I'll find something," he said.
    "Of course," Anne said, feeling
foolish, but not exactly sure why. "I will leave you to find your
way, then."



Chapter 6:

     
    The clock ticked gently on the mantle.
Somehow she had managed to make it run. It was of ornate wooden
construction with a bell at the