Chapter 4
The Foyer
The Lundby family stepped into the foyer just as the door slammed shut behind them. The foyer was circular with heavy drapes and a rich green oriental carpet. There was also a rather large fireplace, above which hung a huge oval portrait of a young man.
"Master Gracey," the maid explained. "Oh, I just don't know what he will say about this," she mumbled, pacing the floor.
Scarlet looked at the picture. Was it just her, or did the picture look slightly different? No wait, the picture was different! The young man in his early twenties now looked like he was in his late forties!
"If you don't mind miss –"
"Ella."
"Yes, miss Ella, I would like to have a word with this 'Master Gracey'."
Charley glanced at the picture on the wall. Whoa! The dude was old! He looked ancient! He quickly looked away.
"I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything," he chanted to himself.
"Oh, very well. Who knows? Maybe he will like it. After all, we have so few visitors."
Bobby was getting quite bored of this conversation and had just decided that it might be time for him to cause a little mischief. He looked around for something to fuss about, and his eyes came to rest on the picture. The-the man! He was dead! He was a rotting corpse!
"Mommy!" he screamed and started bawling.
"Oh, my poor baby, did you hurt yourself?" she said picking him up. He buried his face in her hair and quietly sobbed.
"Thees way then", said Ella, leading them through a side door, and into a gallery. "Please drag your wretched bodies to the dead center of the room, and Master Gracey will be with you shortly." They turned around to see what she was talking about, but she had disappeared.
"Well, this is certainly strange," said Noelle.
"Hmm," murmured Scarlet, lost deep in thought. She was thinking because she had glanced at the portrait just before the family had gone into the gallery, and she saw that the young man was now a grizzly white skeleton.