[Roger the Chapman 03] - The Hanged Man Read Free Page B

I was lying, the aperture was just wide enough to help me make out a shadowy form and the gleam of a lantern, partially obscured by a drape of black cloth. Whoever stood outside was evidently at pains not to advertise his presence as he went about his business through the dark streets. This reticence might simply have been the result of its being after curfew, but somehow I did not think so. Obedience to the bell was no longer as strictly enforced as it had been once upon a time, any more than curfew's original purpose of damping down fires was nowadays regularly observed.
    I caught a low, indistinguishable murmur, then Margaret's voice sounding firm and dear. 'No. I've already told you, I don't want you here. I made my message plain after my father died. You waste your time and mine. Please go.'
    The caller, however, was not so easily put off. Further mutterings followed until his unwilling listener lost her patience. 'No! And again, no! You and your kind have no place in this house any longer. Remove your foot or I shall send my girl for the Watch.' Margaret glanced over her shoulder, 'Lillis!'
    But there was no need for Lillis to risk the night streets, as her mother had probably guessed. The threat of authority was sufficient to frighten her unwelcome visitor and make him withdraw in a hurry. There was something which sounded like a curse, the lantern bobbed and dipped and then the light disappeared. Margaret Walker shut and barred the door for the second time that evening, and returned to her seat by the fire. I expected her to be upset, but when she spoke, she sounded more angry than perturbed.
    'I think they've realized I'm in earnest and won't bother us again. At least, let's hope so. If they do, then they'll have to understand...'
    But what the mysterious 'they' would be made aware of, I was not at that point destined to know. The lettuce powder had done its work and I heard no more. I fell asleep as abruptly as a candle-flame is doused by the snuffers.

    I have said that I had three moments of clarity during those early days of my illness, and of the two I have recounted, I was perfectly certain. They remained fixed in my memory long after I was up and about and taking my first cautious steps about the room. Of the third, however, I retained doubts for some time, until Lillis herself unblushingly assured me that it was true; that I had not dreamt it, that she had indeed crept naked into my bed to warm me when I was in the throes of one of the terrible shivering fits which seized me during the onset of the fever.
    'You were so cold,' she said, propping her elbow on the table and cupping her chin in one hand. She regarded me unblinkingly across the narrow board, her gaze wide and limpid as though what she was admitting to was the most natural thing in the world. And so I might have thought it in this strange elfin creature, half woman, half child, except for a gleam of prurience lurking at the back of the eyes; those enormous dark eyes which seemed at times to be the whole of her face.
    I could feel the hot colour mounting my cheeks, and was thankful that I had not yet found the energy to shave.
    A week's growth of strong, springy, blond hair was sufficient to mask my blushes.
    My companion went on a little breathlessly. 'I only asked if you remembered because you haven't mentioned what happened, and I wasn't sure if you did. Remember, I mean. And if you did, you might blurt it out in front of Mother, and she.., well, she might not understand.' This I could believe. I cleared my throat and answered as steadily as I was able, 'Yes, I do recall... That is, I thought what happened, happened. But I wasn't sure if I had dreamt it or not.'
    Lillis gave her small, secretive smile and flicked me an upwards glance from beneath her long lashes. 'Oh no, you didn't dream it. It was that first night after we brought you home. You were on the mattress on the floor and Mother and I were in bed. She was fast asleep and so were you,