In the Still of the Night

loyalty was entirely to Addie, but Lorna spun a good story. It might be true. It fit with Addie’s personality. Addie took her enthusiasms seriously.
    Anthony Ethridge, apparently a milksop of the first order, might well have let Addie convince him that they were to marry, then got frightened of the consequences. And, as an older man, he might have felt much more attraction to Lorna than to Addie. If Lorna was telling the truth, she would have been a better life-companion to him, sharing his interests more than Addie ever could. Besides, Lorna was a beautiful woman. Addie, unfortunately, wasn’t.
    But the account of how Addie “invited“ Lorna to Grace and Favor was very thin. Lily didn’t believe that for a moment. Addie had been appalled that Lorna had turned up at Grace and Favor and clearly had not intended to invite her. In fact, Ad-die had mentioned, Lily thought, that she hadn’t even spoken to Lorna Ethridge for years even though they lived in the same town. So if Lorna Ethridge was lying about that, as she obviously was, why should Lily believe her other story?
    Lily set her book aside, turned out her light and brooded. She was almost asleep when she heard a scratching noise. She flung off the covers and went to the door, thinking that someone was trying to get her attention in a terribly subtle manner. Nobody was there, but the scratchy noise continued. Why wasn’t Agatha barking her head off about it? It was coming from somewhere in her room.
    Turning the light back on and moving her head this way and that, she traced the sound to the chair by the bathroom door. Was there a creature under the chair? Had she a weapon to fend it off? She backed away a bit, leaned down and took a cautious look. There was nothing under the chair but a little wooden box with a black circle in the middle. She eased forward, picked up the box and listened. It was static she’d heard.
    Mad Henry!
    She threw on a robe and went to hunt him down. It took quite a while, but she eventually located him in the servants’ basement.
    “Henry, what are you doing?“
    “Testing out my invention, of course,“ Mad Henry said in a somewhat patronizing tone.
    “Well, you’re making an irritating noise in my room and probably others as well. Please turn it off and play around with it in the morning.”
    Mad Henry put his hands up. “Five more minutes. That’s all.”
    Lily stomped off and went back upstairs. The second floor had only one light on in the hallway and it appeared that the light bulb had gone out while she was down in the basement talking to Henry. There was no illumination but a shred of moonlight from a window at the end of the hall. She’d have to feel her way to her room. As she moved along blindly, a door along the hall somewhere opened and closed quietly. Who was roaming around? she wondered.

    Entering her room, Lily discovered that the scratchy noise had been replaced with the faint sound of music being played. Henry had apparently hooked his system up to a radio. Suddenly the sound was cut off and there was a blissful silence. Except for the sound of another door somewhere down the hall being opened and closed.

    In the morning, most of the guests turned up for breakfast. Lily had placed little lists on the bedside tables of all the rooms, indicating what time meals were planned and other activities were available. This evening there was another dinner with several people from the town. Dr. Polhemus, Jack Summer and the new police chief would be there, and bridge and pachisi were planned for after dinner. There was to be a walk this morning along the paths that wound between the houses on the hill and the one that led down to Voorburg. It was a beautiful day for a leisurely walk. Spring wild flowers were blooming along the sides of the road and in the forest the paths went through.
    “Are you going on the walk with me?“ she asked as Addie entered the dining room.
    “I’d love that. It’s such nice weather,“ Addie said, looking over the array of breakfast food on the long table on the inside wall. She chose kippered herring, scrambled eggs, one of Mrs. Prinney’s marvelous pastries and orange juice, and sat down between Robert and Lily.
    “How about if I offer to take people to town in the Duesie?“ Robert asked.
    “Is there a dress shop?“ Rachel asked over the oatmeal she was picking through for the raisins.
    “I’m afraid there isn’t,“ Lily said. “There was once, but it’s gone out of