Voices in a Haunted Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

Roman remains which had been uncovered along the coast and he wanted to go down to see them at the end of the week.
    “Would you like to come with me?” he asked. “I know you’d be interested.”
    I said enthusiastically that I would.
    “They could be important. You know we are not far from the spot where Julius Caesar landed and the Romans seem to have left quite a lot of evidence of their residence. They used this area for fuelling their ships. The remains of a villa have been unearthed and there are some very well-preserved tiles. I must say I am greatly looking forward to seeing it.”
    He had blue eyes and when they sparkled they looked remarkably like Jonathan’s.
    I questioned him about the discovery and he brought down books to show me what had been found in the past.
    “It must be a most satisfying profession,” he said a little wistfully. “Imagine the satisfaction when great discoveries are made.”
    “Imagine the frustration when after months and perhaps years of work, they find nothing and learn that they have been searching for something which is not there!”
    He laughed. “You’re a realist, Claudine. I always knew that. Is it the French in you?”
    “Perhaps. But I seem to be getting more and more English every day.”
    “I’d agree with that… and when you marry you will be English.”
    “If I marry an Englishman. But my origins will be unaffected. I have never understood why a woman should take her husband’s nationality. Why shouldn’t a husband take his wife’s?”
    He pondered that seriously. That was one of David’s characteristics which I found so comforting; he always gave consideration to my ideas. I suppose that living in a household dominated by men, I had become aware of a certain patronage—certainly from my brother, Charlot, and Louis Charles followed him in all things. While Jonathan, although showing a great interest in me, made me feel that I was entirely female and therefore to be subdued by the male.
    That was why being with David was so refreshing.
    He went on: “I suppose there has to be some ruling about this. For instance, there would be some confusion if a wife did not take her husband’s name. What name should the children be given if she did not? When you look at it that way there is some reason in it.”
    “And to preserve the myth that women are the weaker sex.”
    He smiled at me. “I never thought that.”
    “Well, David, you are different. You don’t accept every argument that is put before you. It has to be logical. That is why it is so reassuring to be with you in this community of men.”
    “I’m so glad you feel like that, Claudine,” he said earnestly. “It’s been so interesting since you came. I remember your arriving with your mother and I have to say that I did not realize in the beginning what a difference it would make—but I soon did. I began to see that you were different… different from all the other girls whom I had ever met.”
    He hesitated and seemed as though he were making up his mind. After a while he continued: “I am afraid it is very wrong of me, but sometimes I am glad of everything that has happened simply because… it has made Eversleigh your home.”
    “You mean the revolution—?”
    He nodded. “Sometimes I think of it at night when I’m alone. The terrible things that are happening over there to people you have lived amongst… and the thought is always there… Yes, but it brought Claudine here.”
    “I daresay I should have come at some time. My mother would certainly have married Dickon sooner or later. I think she only hesitated while my grandfather lived, and when she married Dickon I would naturally have come here with her.”
    “Who knows? But here you are and sometimes I think that is all that matters.”
    “You flatter me, David.”
    “I never flatter… at least not consciously. I mean it, Claudine.” He was silent for a few seconds; then he went on: “Your birthday will soon be here.