The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor Read Online Free Page A

building, this one round and somewhat smaller than the barn. I remembered this as the carriage house. A wide pathway, probably a century and a half old, led from the front of the carriage house into the woods.
    â€œLucy, the people at Peppernell Manor used to keep their carriages in this building,” Evie stated. “Do you know what a carriage is?”
    â€œYes. My doll has one,” Lucy answered proudly. “But we had to leave it in Chicago.”
    â€œThe horses would be led from the barn to this building and attached to the carriages and then the carriages would go through the woods to the long drive in front of the house. The woods aren’t very wide here.”
    â€œIs the carriage house used for anything now?” I asked.
    â€œMy brother Heath lives here. Did you ever meet him? When he’s not working in Charleston he helps Gran run the farm, even though she likes people to think she still does it all herself.” Evie laughed.
    I vaguely recalled having met one of Evie’s brothers on my previous visit to Peppernell Manor. She had two brothers, twins, and she was the baby of the family.
    â€œYou’ll see Heath and Harlan at some point. They’re both really busy,” Evie noted.
    We followed the old carriage pathway through the woods, which were quite narrow at this point, and emerged a short distance from the main house. The woods curved around the back of the manor toward the banks of the Ashley River. At the edge of the woods stood a small building. Lucy pointed to it.
    â€œHow come there’s a moon on the door?”
    Evie smiled at her. “That’s where the people in Peppernell Manor used to go when they had to use the bathroom. It’s called a privy.”
    Lucy’s eyes widened. I could practically see the wheels in her mind turning. I hastened to add, “Lucy, people don’t use this privy anymore. Remember we used the bathroom in the house last night?”
    â€œGood.” She frowned while Evie and I laughed.
    We circled around and came to the back of the manor. A small two-story building stood next to the house, connected to it by a short, narrow hallway that was open on the side facing the river.
    â€œThat part of the house used to be the kitchen. People would cook the meals in there and then carry the food through that open hallway to the dining room. That was before there was a kitchen in the house,” Evie explained.
    Lucy nodded, probably not terribly interested in what Evie was saying.
    â€œAre you going to want me to work on the dependencies, too?” I asked Evie as we walked back toward the manor.
    â€œYou can confirm it with Gran, but I think she’ll want you to work on the barn. The carriage house was remodeled when Heath moved in and the kitchen dependency was remodeled when Phyllis moved in, so you probably won’t have to touch those.”
    â€œPhyllis lives on the property?” I asked with some surprise.
    â€œYes. She’s a direct descendant of one of the slave families that worked this plantation. She was offered the kitchen dependency when she started working here, but she didn’t want it at first. Eventually she decided that it would be nice to live close to her job, plus she likes that it keeps her connected in some way with her family’s past.”
    I nodded absentmindedly as Lucy pulled me along.
    We skirted a small marshy pond not far from the kitchen dependency. I eyed it nervously. “I hear that every fresh body of water in South Carolina has at least one a-l-l-i-g-a-t-o-r,” I said, spelling the word so I wouldn’t upset Lucy.
    Evie laughed. “That’s nothing but a legend,” she informed me.
    We walked into the entry hall of the manor through the riverside entrance. I was struck again by the beauty of my surroundings and couldn’t wait to get started on the restoration work. Evie said she would drive me into Charleston to show me where I would