The Ghost of Christmas Past Read Online Free Page A

kitchen to themselves. He took a seat at the large
table, whilst she boiled water for the coffee. “You must forgive my aunt,” she
started to say.
    “You
have no need to apologise, Miss Dearheart. I have met enough women like your
aunt in the past to know how to deal with difficult personalities.”
    Despite
the fact that his words were true, Elizabeth felt a sudden surge of loyalty to
her aunt. “She has had to contend with much illness,” she said. “Genuine
illness I mean. She had pneumonia at the age of fifteen from which her lungs
have never truly recovered.”
    “And
they never will if she insists on lying in bed all day,” said Liam.
    “I
suppose you suggest vigorous walks, Doctor Doubleday.”
    “I
suggest she at least walks as far as the drawing room and garden every day. I
can hardly understand why she wants an orangery if she is not going to enjoy
the benefit of it.”
    Elizabeth
looked at him sharply. Just how long had he and Doctor Wheston been listening?
They must have entered the house only a few moments after she did.
    “I
must confess, Miss Dearheart,” said Liam, smiling, “that when I saw you walking
towards Bedlington Hall and learned that John Wheston was visiting today, I
asked to accompany him. So that I could see you again.” He looked abashed. “And
now I have offended you. Let’s not talk of your aunt. Let’s talk of Midchester.
Tell me about it. About its people.”
    “There’s
not much to tell, Doctor Doubleday.”
    “Please,
call me Liam.”
    “One
thing I can tell you about Midchester is that one is seldom on first name terms
with someone they only met a couple of days ago.”
    “Oh,
yes, merry old England, where neighbours wait ten years before saying good
morning. But, I must admit, I’m glad to hear it, as I rather like calling you
Miss Dearheart.” He curled the word around his tongue in a way that was very sensual.
    “Would
you like cream in your coffee?” Elizabeth wondered why it seemed she was
offering him so much more.
    “No,
thank you.”
    “Sugar?”
    He
shook his head, murmuring his thanks as she passed a steaming cup of black
coffee to him. “You were telling me about Midchester.”
    “It
is a quiet town. Nothing ever happens here. Or at least it didn’t until the
other day. The trouble with nothing ever happening is that people have plenty
of time to make things up. Reputations have been ruined through gossip, when people
have nothing better to do.”
    “Yes,
I know what you mean,” he said, darkly. “Talk can cost lives.” He appeared to
be lost in some thoughts of his own.
    “But
the people here are good people,” Elizabeth said quickly. She wondered why she
felt the need to defend everything to him. Perhaps, she thought, it was because
Midchester was so much a part of her, and a slight against Midchester felt like
a slight against her. And yet had she not longed to leave it, to seek out
adventure elsewhere?
    “I’m
sure they are, Miss Dearheart.” He took a sip of coffee. “This is wonderful. So
few English people know how to make good coffee.”
    “You’ve
travelled then, Doctor Doubleday?”
    “I
left Ireland as a teenager, and have never returned. Tell me, do you know this
Lucinda of whom the dead man spoke?”
    “No,
as I already told you, there is no one in Midchester of that name.”
    “Are
you sure? In a town where no one uses first names, it’s possible.”
    “But
one knows anyway,” said Elizabeth. “I don’t know how we know, but we do.
Anyway, it now seems that the poor man probably just saw someone who looked
like his dead sister-in-law.”
    “Yet
he was murdered, and he spoke her name as if it were important.”
    “He
was delirious, I should think. They do say that sometimes when one is dying,
they see their life flashing before them.” Elizabeth struggled to convince
herself, for she too thought the name of Lucinda was important in some way. She
could not help wondering why Liam Doubleday was so