1 A Spirited Manor Read Online Free Page A

hallucinations
and flights of fancy.
    She rolled over so that she did
not have to look at where the girl stood.  Try as she might, though, she was
unable to fall asleep.  The girl's pleas for help rang in her ear almost as
true as when the girl had spoken them.  Clara kept glancing over to check to
see if it was just a trick of the darkness, but the girl did not reappear and
everything seemed as it was.
    Clara knew better, though.

Chapter
Six
    W illard placed the plate before
her, a light breakfast of poached eggs and toast.  Clara fought to keep her
eyes open. The remaining night had been spent wide awake, and she was feeling
the effects of it today.
    "I apologize for waking
you, Willard," she said.
    He gave her a bow and said in
his gruff voice.  "No need to apologize.  A new home oftentimes can create
strange dreams.  I must confess, I was glad it was nothing more.  My ability to
chase off ruffians with a poker has, I am afraid, decreased with my age."
    Clara picked up her tea cup and
took a sip.  "We shall have to get you a pistol then."
    "And my eyesight is even
worse."
    Clara imagined Willard firing
blindly in his dressing gown and chuckled.
    "It is good to see a smile
on your face, ma'am," he said.
    She nodded, suddenly aware that
the corners of her mouth had turned up for a moment.  It was a strange
feeling.  It was no more than a polite chuckle, but even that was something she
had not done for awhile.  "I owe you my thanks again, it seems," she
replied.
    Willard did not say any more. 
Instead he changed the subject.  "Do you have plans for the day,
ma'am?"
    She shook her head.  "Not
really.  I will most likely need to have a lie down this afternoon."
    "Well, we shall have to
have a talk with your dreams and tell them not to wake you this time."
    "Willard?" she asked.
    "Yes, ma'am?"
    "Have you ever seen a
ghost?"
    He became very still and lowered
his tray upon the sideboard.  He did not look at her as he spoke, as if hiding
something he did not feel someone should see.  "I cannot say, ma'am."
    "You have, haven't
you...?" she pressed, not letting him disappear into the falsehood he was
trying to spin.
    "Like I said, my eyesight
is not as it once was, and the mind often plays tricks."
    "Tell me what you saw,
Willard," Clara asked as she spooned her egg.
    He stood stiffly with his hands
clasped behind his back.  He stared straight ahead.  "Once I thought I saw
a girl with brown hair, almost a child-like creature, in the hallway.  I was
hanging a mirror and thought I saw her out of the corner of my eye.  I looked
in the mirror, though, and saw nothing.  I looked again to where I thought she
had been standing and she was gone.  It was probably only a shadow."
    "How strange," said
Clara.  "Nothing else?"
    "No, ma'am.  She
disappeared and I went about my business."
    "Thank you for confiding in
me, Willard."
    Her gratitude seemed to put him
at ease, this shared moment of secrets opening a door of friendship which
perhaps had not been opened before.  He smiled at her.  "Do not worry
about your midnight visitor.  I shall look into the matter and make sure that
it never happens again."
    "How can you swear that I
shall never dream of her again, Willard?  You are a most excellent butler, but
I do not believe anyone is that good."
    "Perhaps it was the dinner
which you ate so close to bedtime.  A bit too much salt or the wrong
combination of dishes.  I shall talk to Nan about adjusting the menu so that
only sweet dreams fill your head."
    Clara finished her egg and
dabbed her lips with her napkin.  "A most excellent suggestion, Willard. 
Will you see to it for me?"
    "Of course, ma'am."
    "You should call me
Clara," she reminded him.
    "Of course... Clara,
ma'am."
    She rose from the table. 
"We shall continue to work on that.  Now, I believe I shall get outside
for my stroll before the day gets before me."
    "That sounds like a most
excellent idea, ma'am."
    He made to follow her to the
door, but she