Liverpool & Belfast

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

~ Lesley P. Hartley

The library was one of the most interesting places Gwendolyn had ever been. It seemed to go on forever, book cases lining the walls from floor to ceiling, filled with every kind of book.

A very little woman met them with a cheerful hello and a wink for Colin.

"Carla," Aravis said, sweeping into the room, "We were wondering if you knew of some books about the history of this castle."

"I think I might," Carla said, "Just what sort of history? There's the history of plumbing, the history of roofing, the history of wine making, the history of-"

"We were thinking of a history of the residents of the past two hundred years," Aravis said.

Gwendolyn wandered. She was an absent minded sort of person and she liked to see things. Glass cases at the other end of the room drew her attention and she found herself looking at full sized manikins wearing peculiar clothes. Arranged around their bases were an assortment of things; a battered, silver cased pocket watch – she recognized that – a small, rectangular box with the words 'The Diamond Match Co. Ltd. Wax Vestas London. Liverpool & Belfast'. Beside the box was a ball of string and a small dog-eared tome with a red cover that said 'Shakespeare's Sonnets'. There was a small blue-green tin that depicted the head of a man in the middle of a circular white thing: 'Player's Navy Cut' it said in large red letters. There was a very brown cube of sugar, a brier wood pipe, a peculiar knife that seemed to fold within itself and a battered bit of brown metal that said: 'Cadbury's Chocolate. Delicious & Wholesome.'

But the thing that really caught her eye was the piece of browned paper depicting a woman in strange clothes energetically pumping a lever that seemed to be attached to a cylinder.

'The Regina Company' it announced, 'New Idea In…'

"Princess Aravis?" Gwendolyn looked over her shoulder, "What's a 'vacuum cleaner'?"

Aravis looked up, "Oh, you've seen the display then? It's on loan from Narnia."

"But what's a 'vacuum cleaner'?" Gwendolyn asked, then continued to read the pamphlet, "There are many vacuum cleaning machines on the market. They are all alike in principle except the Regina. That's different. Don't confuse it with ordinary vacuum machines having only single suction power. Regina cleaners have two suction compartments. One fills itself while the other empties itself. This gives constant unremitting suction. There is no loss of power, no waiting period between puffs of the bellows. The suction draft is a continuous, unbroken stream."

"Is it for starting fires?" Gwendolyn asked as Aravis and Colin came to stand next to her.

Aravis looked puzzled, "Queen Susan said they used them for cleaning their carpets."

"Who?"

"Oh, these things are all relics of the deep past. These are the clothes King Frank and Queen Helen were wearing when they first came to this world out of their own."

"Oh," Gwendolyn said, her face clearing, "was it magic?"

"It might have been," Aravis said.

"It looks too much like a butter churn to be magical," Colin commented.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Carla's voice broke in on their thoughts and they turned to see the tiny woman bowed precariously under a pile of ancient tomes. Colin took them from her at once, shaking his finger.

"How many times has Father told you not to carry heavy books around?" he asked. "What have you got for us?"

"Oh histories of this and that…what I meant to ask was this: are you trying to find out more about the skeleton?"

"You should have been a detective, Carla," Colin said with a grin, "that's exactly what we were trying to find out. Do you know anything?"

"I'm not sure how much you were listening in your history lessons, but you must know about the insane king?"

"The insane king?"

"The one who shook hands with oak trees and labeled everything in the castle."

"Shaking hands with oak trees is hardly odd around here," Aravis pointed out.

"Yes, but there's the rub, these were trees, not Trees."

"Oh dear."

"Quite so," Carla continued, "he walked up to an oak tree, not a Tree, just a tree, and shook hands with it, declaring to everyone that he was shaking hands with the Queen of Narnia."

"The Queen of Narnia?" Aravis asked, "Would that be Swanwhite?"

"No, Jadis," Carla said with the air of someone telling a ghost story. She liked the way they all shivered. "He was a bit of a hoarder," she continued, "As I already said, he labeled everything in the castle. He wrote what it was, what year it was acquired, what it was worth and its serial number. About two years before he died, things started disappearing, then one day he disappeared."

"And never reappeared?" Colin asked.

"Exactly." Carla took a hand from behind her back and held up a heavy gold ring engraved with a lily.

"It's the Great Seal of Archenland!" Colin exclaimed, taking it.

"It disappeared with the insane king," Carla said. "I found it today on the finger of the skeleton."

"Has everybody been trooping down there today?"

"I'm afraid so," Carla said, then winked at him, "I'm quite surprised Prince Corin wasn't selling admission tickets."

"Oh, well…" Colin grinned, "I think he was a bit busy. Which king was this?...I…um….vaguely remember him from history class."

"He was King Jeorg, the brother of the grandfather of King Lune."

"Oh!" Colin smacked his head, "I remember him!"

"I should hope you do," Carla said with half a smile.

"Well," Aravis said, "that explains it. For a moment I thought we were on a real mystery."

"It depends on your definition of 'mystery'," Carla said, "What might be a mystery to you might not be a mystery to someone else. At least one person has known the answer to every human mystery in history. I think this has been a very nice little mystery."

"I was hoping for bloody finger prints, magnifying glasses and strange footsteps in the dark," Aravis explained with half a smile. "Well, at least there was a body, albeit an old one."

Colin grinned, "Just make sure he doesn't get up in the middle of the night and come into your room…Ow!"

For Aravis spun around and jabbed him in the stomach. "Don't even begin."

"You almost made me drop the books," Colin said, hurt.

"Well, should we get back to the ball?" Aravis asked, smiling.

"The ball?" Colin glanced over his shoulder, "If you'd like; but it will be over by now. According to King Frank's watch it's almost midnight."

"Almost midnight!" Aravis exclaimed, "And we're going riding in the morning! We'll have to go straight to bed!"

"Of course," Colin cleared his throat, "I very much doubt King Frank's watch has been wound and ticking in five hundred years or so…"

Aravis stared and Gwendolyn grinned.

~o*o~

Gianna was strangely quiet as Gwendolyn helped her out of her finery that night. The pink dress was laid over the back of a chair and Gwendolyn took the necklace and earring into her own room to put them away. When she returned, Gianna was in her night shift, her arms around her drawn up legs, staring into space.

"What's wrong?" Gwendolyn asked, dropping down on the bed. Gianna did not answer, "Cat got your tongue?"

"Gwendolyn?" Gianna said in a small voice, "I hope you're very happy."

"Happy?" Gwendolyn asked, "What do you mean?"

"With Prince Corin when you marry him," Gianna said softly.

Gwendolyn looked at her and saw pain in her big blue eyes, "Gianna? You love him, don't you?"

"Yes," Gianna whispered.

"I'm not going to spoil your happiness, Gianna," Gwendolyn said, taking her friend's hands, "If he returns your feelings then it is you who will marry him, not me. Do not feel an obligation to me…but don't you think it's a little early to tell?"

Gianna shook her head, "He told me he loved me in the garden tonight, under the moon."

"He did?" Gwendolyn asked, "Do you think he really meant it?"

"Yes."

"Then tell him who you really are, Gianna; with my blessing." Gwendolyn stroked the little white hand in her tanned ones.

"What if…what if he decides he doesn't like me then?" Gianna asked.

"Then he's not worth having," Gwendolyn said with finality. "If you're going to marry someone, it's got to be someone who will take you simply as you are. I'm not going to tell you to follow your destiny and all that rot…how can you follow something that hasn't happened yet, anyway?...but I will tell you to find what Aslan has in store for you."

"You think so?"

"I know so," Gwendolyn kissed her on the forehead, "Sweet dreams, Princess Gwendolyn."

Hannah Skipper: I'm so glad you liked the chapter. I've been a little afraid that my readers will get everyone hopelessly mixed up. I hope that their personalities are distinct enough that you know without a name who it is.

I love Emma (I assume you are referring to the 2009 BBC version) that Mr. Knightly rivals Mr. Darcy in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen era dancing looks really fascinating.

Aye, the Hound of the Baskervilles. We watched the Grenada TV show starring Jeremy Brett when I was little and it scared me to death for years. Gwendolyn's 'haunts' are my own. The grey man with purple spots lived behind the oil tank in our basement with the spider's webs *shivers*.

I hope Isaac treats you well. I have relatives in that area, so I've been keeping tabs on the storm. Thankfully it looks like it's been calming down, but looks can be deceiving

James Birdsong: I'm so glad you liked the first five, I hope the others won't disappoint. Thanks a million times for your review!