“Nothing, Grace.” Nan tried to keep her own voice from seeming worried as she spoke. “Laura’s seeing things in the dark.”
Grace didn’t answer, because she had been seeing things too. In the face of Nan’s quietness and calmness, it did seem silly. With this thought, she felt encouraged and looked more bravely around her. An owl hooted. She jumped. All the girls jumped. It was Dr. Prescott’s voice this time that calmed them down.
“Almost there, girls!” her voice actually sounded cheery in the night.
“Aye, and safely too.” Old James Blake had been particularly silent since they left the carriage. Now, he spoke with a great sense of relief. Already he could see that a door was open and inside there was light and security.
He stepped his foot on the first of the broad stone steps and stood there as the girls walked on up through the door and into the light of the great hall. After watching them disappear, he turned, gave one last penetrating glance into the night, but saw nothing to disturb him further. He listened then for the sound of the horses, heard one whinny. It was a rather pleasant, comforting sound. He was satisfied that they were being properly cared for, so he too walked up the steps, conscious now for the first time that the wound in his forehead ached and that his head hurt.
The pain angered him. Again he turned away from the light. This time, he shook his fist at the unseen forces out there in the dark.
“Ye’ll not do her harm,” he said, “as long as James Blake can fight.” With this, he set his chin firmly and followed the American lassies into the castle.
Already, at Dr. Prescott’s insistence they had found their way to their rooms. She lingered in the apartment until they had undressed and were safely in bed. Then she herself carefully closed their doors before she returned to the Hall where James Blake was sitting before the big open fireplace, puzzling over the whole situation.
“Your head, is it injured badly?” There was a real note of concern in her voice as she spoke. She liked this old Scotsman, even if she couldn’t understand the ways of his household.
“It’s nothing at all,” he waived all consideration of himself. “Are the lassies all right?” He nodded his head in the direction of the stairs.