The Love Child

“What tune was that?”

“It was just after two o’clock.”

“But she was supposed to be resting then. Sally had sent her to bed.”

“She said she wanted to come with us and I said, ‘You can’t. We’re going to the haunted house.’ She kept saying she wanted to come. So we went off and left her.”

“You don’t think …”I began.

“The house is nearly a mile from here,” Leigh pointed out.

“She knows the way,” said Carl. “We rode past it only the other day. She said she wanted to see a ghost.”

“She’s been listening to gossip,” I said. “That’s where she’s gone. I’m sure of it.

Carl and Benjie were going and she wanted to go with them. Come on. We’re going to Enderby.”

Leigh said we should ride there, for we should get there more quickly that way, so we ran to the stables and in a. short time we were on the road to Enderby.

We tethered the horses and dismounted. The drive was so overgrown that we had to pick our way carefully. I must confess to a little shudder as we passed through the gates. There was something eerie about the place which seemed more than the state of the grounds warranted. The house rose before us-red Tudor brick centre hall with east and west wings; the walls were covered with creeper, which hung over some of the windows.

It was easy to imagine why it had been called haunted.

Eager as I was to search the place I felt a great repugnance about entering it.

“Creepy,” commented Benjie.

“You can get in quite easily,” said Carl. “You just unlatch the door. We didn’t see any ghosts,” he added.

“No,” put in Benjie, “but you felt they were there … watching you.”

“We must go in,” I insisted. “We have to search the place.”

Then I felt my blood run cold, for I saw a light flicker in one of the windows and then disappear.

“Someone’s there!” I gasped.

“I’m going in,” said Leigh.

We unlatched the door and stepped into the hall. The door shut with a bang behind us. Only a little light came through the dirty windows. I looked up at the great, vaulted ceiling; the stone walls were damp; there was a great staircase, which must have been beautiful once, and over which the lady of the household had tried to hang herself.

Yes, it was a haunted house. It repelled me. It was almost as though there was an atmosphere of hostility, something which warned me to keep out.

Then we heard a noise above. The opening and shutting of a door. Someone was there.

There must be. We had seen a light.

“Carlotta,” cried Leigh in a loud voice, “are you there? Come here, Carlotta. We have come for you.”

His voice echoed through the empty house.

“Carlotta! Carlotta!” I cried in anguish.

Could she really have come here alone? I had a terrible premonition that we were going to discover something fearful.

“Listen,” said Leigh.

We distinctly heard the sound of footsteps and they were not those of a child.

“Who’s there?” called Leigh.

There was a movement from above and we saw a face on the balcony … the balcony over which the rope had been thrown.

A man was standing there.

“Have you come to see the house too?” he asked.

He started to descend the stairs. There was nothing ghostly about him. He was by no means young and was quite soberly dressed hi a frogged coat and grey velvet breeches; his clothes were quiet, well cut and of good quality.

“We are looking for a lost child,” said Leigh. “We thought she might be here.”

“A lost child,” he repeated. “I have seen no one.”

I felt ill with disappointment and anxiety.

“We have reason to believe she may have come here,” said Leigh.

“Yes,” went on Carl. He turned to Benjie. “You remember I said I heard something.

You said I thought it was the ghost.”

Benjie nodded slowly.

“We must look for her,” I insisted. “We mustn’t waste any tune. She’ll be frightened.”

“I have been over the house,” said the man. “Some of it is very dark. But I had a lantern which I have left up there.” He pointed upwards. “I haven’t seen a child, but of course there are so many rooms. I doubt I have seen everything.”

“We shall search every corner,” said Leigh.

“I will join with you,” the man replied.

“Let’s all keep together,” suggested Leigh, “and we will search from top to bottom.

She may be shut in somewhere. Come on, we’ll waste no more time.”

We searched the hall and the kitchens. We went into the outhouses, and it was in the washhouse that I found a button lying on the floor. It had come from Carlotta’s coat.

I pounced on it. It was the most hopeful sign we had had. I was sure now that Carlotta was in the house and I was not going to leave it without her.

“This is her coat button. She has been in here,” I cried. “She must be in this house now. She must.”

We went up the stairs-those sad, haunted stairs which creaked protestingly under our feet. There was the balcony where the minstrels had once played hi the days when it had been a happy home with tragedy undreamed of.

There were heavy curtains at either side of it and an alcove in which musical instruments had been kept. There was a door in it. I opened it and there, lying fast asleep, was Carlotta.

I swooped on her.