Valancy stood in the dim interior of her Blue Castle. Pale moonlight streamed in through the open door behind her and etched out the contours of an assortment of furniture, the silver sheen of a glass cabinet, the dull gleam of a shotgun on the adjacent wall. A breeze swept up through the ferns by the porch and snaked past her ankles, bringing new life to a solitary ember winking in the fireplace grate.
Presently she felt the doorway fill behind her. The door shut with a soft click and Barney treaded past her. A moment later a gas lamp sputtered to life and Valancy saw the interior of her new home for the first time. It was comprised of one large room with log walls and wooden rafter beams angled overhead like the interior of an up-back church. There were four windows looking out from three walls, a fireplace built of rough beach rocks, and a careworn assortment of furniture. Tin cans lined the shelves of the kitchen nook, where Valancy could see a solitary pan resting in the basin. From the lofty ceiling to the scuffed wooden plank floors Valancy thought that she couldn't have imagined a more suitable lair for Barney Snaith. She stepped into the center of the room and peered upwards at the mysterious shadows cast on the ceiling by the rafters, taking stock and ownership of her new home. A warm furry body leaned against her shin and she wasn't the least bit startled. She knelt down to pet the cat as if she had done so every day of her life.
"Good Luck," Barney murmured with a crooked smile. "Banjo doesn't have the breeding to say 'Hello.'" He pointed to a pair of demonic green eyes peering out from under the sofa.
Valancy turned to Barney where he stood by the lamp on the kitchen table. Amber light streamed upward across his face and further accentuated the asymmetry of his brows and the overall mischief of his face. He leaned against the table, tired but attentive, his pressed shirt now wrinkled and his thick hair defiantly windswept from the long drive. Valancy gazed into his unreadable face and reveled in the knowledge that she would, after all, really live before she died. The small part of her heart that had envied Cissy faded.
Barney awkwardly looked away from her smile. "You must be spent." He glanced at the clock. "Well past midnight."
From the main room led four doors. One she had come through, and the other she knew to lead out to the eastern deck overhanging the water. That left the door to Blue Beard's chamber, and, the bedroom.
Barney led the way. He opened the door and showed her in, handed her her valise and set the lamp on the tall boy.
Fear is the original sin, Valancy thought. Emboldened by the liquor of the aphorism that had brought her thus far, Valancy stepped towards Barney and grasped his hands in hers.