Nano 7

‘Art, I presume?’

Art stared up in surprise. It was the elderly man who had taken Mr. Bunbury’s brother-in-law off to the inn last week.

‘Yes,’ he said, standing up and brushing the dirt off his knees.

‘Good morning, boy,’ the man said, holding out a hand. ‘I’m Mr. Sept.’

‘Er, good morning.’ He shook the hand uncertainly, feeling the hard dry skin beneath his own callused fingers.

‘Are your parents in?’

‘Er – they’re not – well – I think they’re in the house. I’ll take you there.’

‘Good good. I’ve something to speak to them, urgent business it is.’

‘Are you from the Big City, Mr. Sept?’ Art said, leading the man down the path and up to the house. Laurel, who had been sitting on the steps teasing the cat, leapt up when she saw them and ran into the house.

‘No, no,’ Mr. Sept chuckled. ‘Never been there in my life. I’ve heard tales of it though, many tales.’

‘So have I.’ Art stepped into the cool main room, where Ellen was teaching the girls needlework. She looked up when he entered with Mr. Sept, and stood up with a welcoming smile.

Laurel grabbed Art’s hand on her way out, and dragged him outside. He followed, though he was as curious as she was to know Mr. Sept’s business here.

‘Who’s the man?’ she hissed, as they glanced through the window. Ellen handed a cup of tea to the man, who politely declined. Art took note of the man’s reluctance to take off his coat, which reached to his ankles.

‘I don’t know!’ he hissed back. Laurel tugged painfully on his sleeve, demanding an answer. ‘I told you, I don’t know!’

‘Should we fetch my father?’ she asked, waving to the fields. Mr. Lefroy had been out there since morning, and he had told them earlier that he would be meeting a few friends for lunch. Art shaded his eyes and tried to spot any moving figure in the fields. There was none.

‘Where is he?’

‘Mr. Wash’s field. I know where there’s a shortcut through to his house.’ Laurel glanced back at the house. Ellen was now deep in conversation with Mr. Sept. ‘Do you want me to go?’

‘All right then. Go, quickly.’

Laurel sprinted off immediately, despite the heat of the afternoon. Art shuffled into the house, catching bits of the conversation as he pretended to busy himself with sweeping the floor. Vivien watched him, wide-eyed and surprised. She was too shy to say anything though, and Art swept as close as he dared to Ellen and the man. Both did not notice or pay any attention to him.

‘Yes, I’m sure my husband can help you out in that area,’ Ellen said thoughtfully. ‘I shall have to ask him first, naturally, but I’m sure something can be arranged.’

‘You’re very kind, Mrs. Lefroy,’ Mr. Sept said, nodding. ‘I’m sure he will not mind too. I thank you for your time, and now, I shall be leaving.’

‘Oh, you can stay till lunch at least!’ Ellen pressed. ‘It won’t be too much trouble.’

‘I’d better be going, Mrs. Lefroy,’ Mr. Sept said, rising from his seat. ‘Good afternoon.’ His bright eyes turned to look at Art intently. ‘Good afternoon to you, boy.’

‘Same to you, sir,’ he said, leaning on the broom. He heard the sound of running feet from outside, and Mr. Lefroy’s voice calling for Laurel to wait for him.

‘I don’t think he means any harm,’ Art said much later in the evening.

Laurel sighed and closed her eyes. They were both in Mr. Wash’s pasture field, where he turned his sheep to graze. Most of the sheep had been taken to town that day for the middlemen to inspect and determine their price. She appeared not to have heard him.

‘I think so, anyway,’ Art insisted. ‘I know you think that he’s got something to hide, but he doesn’t look like he wants to hide anything. I don’t quite know what you have against him,’ he laughed.

‘You’ll thank me when he takes you away,’ Laurel said sleepily. ‘I can tell.’

‘His eyes are odd though, aren’t they?’ Art pulled up blades of grass where the sheep had not nibbled to the roots. He shredded them and tossed the bits onto Laurel’s face. She merely rolled over and sighed again.

‘I don’t mind his eyes,’ she said. ‘But let me sleep!’

Art – in a good mood today – offered to carry her on his back to the house. She agreed.

***

‘I knew it!’

Iris struggled to open her eyes in the bright light. Surely it couldn’t be morning already – she scrambled up in bed hurriedly, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

‘Katya!’ she screamed.

The elder girl was standing beside her bed, dramatically pointing an accusing finger in her face. Iris swung a leg over the edge, attempting to kick her in the shin. Katya side-stepped the kick nimbly and laughed.

‘I knew it!’ she crowed. ‘Aha! Caught you both red-handed!’

‘Caught us both what?’ Iris dropped onto the bed again and shut her eyes. There was a headache developing in there somewhere. That bitch Katya.

‘You and Jonas! In the same room! At night!’

Iris kept her eyes shut but answered all the same. ‘We were helping to watch the younger ones last night, me and Jonas. We must have dozed off during the night.’

‘In the same room?’ Katya said smugly. ‘Yeah right. Do you think I’m stupid or what?’

‘I think you are.’ Iris pulled herself up and sighed. ‘Look, if you don’t believe us, go and ask both our mothers and the other mothers. They’ll tell you. Go on.’

Katya wasn’t stupid, despite her numbskull behavior. She plopped down at the foot of the bed and giggled. Iris sat up and yawned.

‘You could have watched the children on your own, all the same,’ the girl pointed out, plaiting her long red hair idly. ‘You’ve done it so many times before.’

‘Yeah, I could, but I saw some people yesterday, by the creek.’ Iris hugged a pillow and thought over the events in the last afternoon. ‘I saw someone between the trees while we were down with the kids in the water. I don’t think anyone did. And then I sent Jonas to have a look – or pretend that he had to gather sticks for the kids – and he said that he heard someone, or several people, in the wood. I asked my dad, and he agreed that it would be better if both of us watched over the kids last night, since the others were so busy with the repairs and the meeting.’ Iris glanced at the other girl, who had stretched herself out on the bed. ‘Where were you anyway? We tried looking for you, but no one seemed to have seen where you went.’

‘I was busy,’ Katya said shortly.

‘With a young man from the town.’ Iris began picking at stray threads in the blanket nonchalantly. ‘It’s amazing what you can see when you really know where to look.’

‘I was just talking to him!’ Katya swept back her hair angrily, her cheeks flushing. ‘You can’t say that I did anything wrong!’

‘Yes, but, you see, I thought that there was a rule against that,’ Iris said sweetly. ‘Do you remember? Something about not meeting up with strange young men after dark, because we have a reputation to keep, and it wouldn’t be good for the youth to run around without adult supervision in the dark.’

‘Oh shut it.’

Iris beamed, knowing she had won. It was one up to her against Katya then. The red-haired witch was forced to eat her own words, ha!

‘What about the people among the trees?’ Katya said after some silence. ‘You were saying you saw some people?’

‘I definitely saw one.’ Iris pummeled the pillow thoughtfully. ‘I thought I saw movement behind the first man though, but I wasn’t sure. Jonas didn’t find anything suspicious in the wood, but there was a gentleman in there, out on a stroll.’ Iris turned to look at Katya, who waited for her to continue. ‘The thing is, as Jonas cleverly noted when he first told me this, no gentleman would come all the way down to the creek for a nice morning walk. It would be too far from the town, besides, he wasn’t with his friend or dog or anything. And that’s unusual.’

‘Maybe he lost his way,’ Katya suggested.

‘I don’t think so. He didn’t ask for any directions from Jonas.’

‘Maybe he wasn’t even a gentleman in the first place. We’ve met people like this before.’

‘I’ve thought of that too,’ Iris said slowly, ‘but why? Why go to that place? There’s nothing in there, but just dead leaves and wood. Even the trees are stunted and the kids don’t go there because it’s so dark and muddy.’

‘Ha, another mystery for Iris Langdon!’ Katya exclaimed with a sweep of her arm. ‘We shall be waiting with bated breath for further development from the wondrous sleuth!’

Iris threw the pillow at her none too gently. ‘Shut up. I’ve got to think.’