AUTHOR: © 2003 *Mists of Time*
DISCLAIMER: The characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are the created property of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All inventive characters as mentioned are the property of this author. Any original characters resembling persons existing or deceased is purely coincidental.
SUMMARY: The famous detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes, must travel with his faithful companion, Dr. Watson, to the sleepy village of Northbourne to investigate the mysterious spirit of a young woman haunting the hillside cliffs, who had died a year earlier, a death believed by some to have been murder.
RATING: PG-13



THE SPIRIT OF THE MISTS
Chapter Four:
Ghostly Tales


"It all began with a young lady by the name of Elena Spencer." It was here that Barclay paused, as his eyes acquired a faraway, dreamy look to them. "She was a beauty, there was no contesting that; a lady of class and integrity."

"Aren't they all," Holmes commented dryly. "It would never seem quite right to describe a deceased woman as horribly ghastly-looking, or find it worthwhile to mention the warts on her nose."

It was hard to tell whether Barclay choose to deliberately ignore Holmes' utterance, or whether he was still thinking about the attractiveness of Elena Spencer. He continued on as if Holmes had never interrupted him.

"Her father was the late George Spencer, a man of considerable wealth and means. The Spencer estate is located near the outskirts of Northbourne, where most of the opulent families reside.

"I assume this Elena Spencer has something to do with the phantom that has been distressing the town?" I asked with raised eyebrows, for I did not see where this story was heading.

"Yes," Barclay nodded. "Miss Spencer has everything to do with the current situation at hand. "If anything, I feel that she is personally responsible for this whole affair."

"Where might one find Elena Spencer?" I requested, as Holmes appeared to be strangely silent on the topic.

"One might try the St. Augustine church graveyard," Barclay responded without expression in his voice. "For you see, Elena Spencer died almost a year ago." He glanced at Holmes and then myself to see our reactions; this proved futile as the dusky shadows now made it almost impossible to see each other's faces. "It is believed that the ghost of Miss Spencer is the one that the village folk have been spotting repeatedly for almost four months now."

There was a gloomy pause of silence. "How did Miss Spencer die?" For once, Holmes seemed to hold some interest in our forlorn spectre.

"The young lady took a heavy fall while riding one day. It must have been a good couple of hours before they found her, unconscious. She might have died within the week, if it had not been for the immediate care of a doctor, who managed to practically single-handedly pull her from Death's door. But she remained in her weakened state for almost two years. A year after her accident, her father passed away from an accidental drowning. Miss Spencer never did recover from the shock; she had lost all will to live, it was said. A year later, she joined him peacefully in the night."

I was secretly disappointed with Barclay's explanation. I had expected drama, such as a jealous lover driven to murder, or a mad guardian forcing the lady to commit suicide, but this was as a standard accident as one could get. Were these not reasons why souls ordinary returned to earth? What reason did Elena Spencer have for coming back? I realized that I was deliberating this situation as if the ghost was real, and chided myself for entertaining such thoughts.

"Sightings of Miss Spencer, or her ghost, I should say, began nearly four months ago," Barclay stated. "There are three primary witnesses that I trust would offer an accurate testimony to the espies. The first is a young lad, who claimed he saw a young woman wandering the woods of the Carrington estate. He only got a glimpse of the damsel's face, and puzzled, for she bore a strong similarity to the late Miss Spencer. His deposition might have been dismissed as an isolated incident, but three days later, John Bowser, while delivering a message to one of the neighbouring homes, also claimed to have seen a lady venturing around the Carrington acreage. Unfortunately, Bowser only saw the back of the woman, but he was almost certain that the female was Miss Spencer, and if given the opportunity, he could readily identify her, or at least her back, anyway. Now John Bowser is an honest man, attends church regularly, and does not drink or abuse his wife. When he says he say Elena Spencer, than one better believe he saw Miss Spencer or someone who resembled the deceased. The third and most unreliable witness was Mr. Nicholas Edmunds, a youth of twenty-one years, although by all accounts, he considers himself man enough to drink at the tavern each evening," Barclay snorted his disapproval. "Edmunds comes from one of the wealthier families in our village; they only stay for the summer and leave before the first leaves of fall began to change colour. I have had the displeasure of meeting him twice, and neither times did he impress me with his character. He is much too arrogant and spoiled for his own good. I see nothing but trouble coming to that boy," Barclay sniffed.

"Trouble aside, what did Edmunds alleged to have seen?" Holmes asked.

"Edmunds, after a particularly late night drinking with friends, walked home and decided to take a short cut through the Carrington property, though for all we know, he could just as well been spying on the lady of the manor. It was a foggy night, as it usually is on that manor because it stands right above the water. Edmunds affirmed that he saw a young woman standing in the haze, albeit he could not clearly see her face. He says that he called out to the woman. She never answered. Instead, he claimed with a feigned shiver for effect, the young woman simply stepped into the mist and vanished right before his very eyes. That was enough to send young Edmunds over the edge. The Vicar found him the next morning, curled up in a little ball on the doorstep of the church." Barclay rested for breath. "The only thing to have come from it? The fool has stopped drinking at the tavern every night!" The constable chuckled with delight.

Holmes and I digested these revelations in silence. Personally, I felt suspicious by all three attestations, but I did not dare state my opinion as of yet. Holmes, on the other hand, felt free to comment:

"How can one be sure that the purported ghost of Miss Spencer was simply mistaken for another woman?"

Barclay merely shrugged. "I have not seen any reported phantasms, Holmes, so I cannot assert my impression upon this matter. I would have dismissed all reports, until the townsfolk got wind of these stories, and panic overset the village overnight. Sightings became frequent, and daily, a new soul had a tale to tell with his close encounter with the ghost of Miss Spencer. Now, most of these people were simply too drunk to tell which direction was home, and the remaining few I would not trust to tell the truth if their life depended on it," Barclay asserted firmly. "Especially since some of these accounts were doubtful. Allegations of Miss Spencer's ghost ranged from her peering into windows embodying sleeping occupants to stealing undergarments hanging from the lines."

"Suitable hobbies for one who is deceased, do you not think?" Holmes remarked sarcastically. "Why haunt graveyards when there are fresh undergarments for the taking?"

"Perhaps that would explain my missing laundry," came the reply from behind. I jumped in my chair, and perceived the figure of Elsie Barclay carrying two oil lamps with her. She sat them upon the porch railing; I could now see the faces of Holmes and Barclay more clearly. "I should have suspected that Miss Spencer would spend her afterlife stealing a pair of Jacob's undershirts," Elsie jested with a broad smile upon her face.

Finding these citations highly amusing, I could not suppress a chuckle from escaping. "You have your work quite cut out for you, Constable," I had to offer praise to the man. "I sincerely doubt I would be able to handle ghosts roaming my town and calmly sit there without batting an eye."

"I told you these allegations could not be trusted," Barclay shook his head. "But the people refuse to listen to reason. One of the local Irish families are convinced the ghost of Miss Spencer is actually a banshee, and that someone is to die a horrid death in the coming weeks. Other households are convinced it is a sign of evil times to come. Once the Porter clan heard about this revelation, they decided the only way to ward off possible evil was to counter it with good. It was suggested a wedding should be hosted, although it is probably just an excuse to consume free beer and take advantage of the buffet. But as of current count, four men and seven young women have volunteered themselves for marriage in the event it proves necessary. And old Mrs. Greyson suggested performing an exorcism to rid the village of the apparition. Thankfully, it will be postponed until the vial of holy water arrives from the Vatican. As of last Tuesday, the Vicar has been on standby to either perform a funeral, one wedding, an exorcism, or all three, if Mrs. Greyson had her way," Barclay said without humour.

"Good heavens," Holmes commented with a frown. "Very distasteful to prepare for a funeral without a body."

"I will enlist myself as their cadaver if these prevarications do not cease," stated the Constable. "Next week shall be the first anniversary of the death of Elena Spencer. That is one of the reasons I requested your arrival at Northbourne. I fear the anniversary will provoke some sort of uprising in the streets."

"That, or they shall bar themselves inside the church and not come out until morning," Elsie spoke up worriedly.

"Let the people hold themselves hostage in the church," Barclay rolled his eyes. "They need religion. It is the Vicar I fear for. To be held poisoner in one's own church is horrid enough, but with those imbeciles?"

"I would not wish to spend the night with these people," Elsie said.

"I believe I speak for everyone when I state that no one in his right mind would care to spend the night with those inhabitants," Barclay declared. "What do you think of all this, gentlemen?"

"Er, I believe I would not care for that sort of thing, either," I said with a frown. "I hardly know these people."

"I meant concerning the ghost sightings," Barclay remedied.

"In that case, what do you surmise, Holmes?" I turned to the detective.

"I think I, too, shall pass on the midnight mass at church, thank you," Holmes replied. "But I am quite willing to investigate your ghost, Constable."

"Perhaps you would care to begin with the source," Elsie suggested quietly. "They say she only comes out at night."

There was a pause of silence as we envisioned the lonely spirit of Elena Spencer walking along the wood, weeping in sorrow for her untimely death, allowing only faint glimpses to human eyes through the fog. I saw Elsie give an involuntary shiver and glance in dread at her husband.

"But surely, these are mere tales of superstitious hysteria," I broke the silence. "After all, ghosts do not exist," I felt the need to point this fact out. Three heads turned to stare in my direction.

"How soon do you think the holy water will arrive from the Vatican?" Holmes inqueried innocently of the Constable.

*~*~*~*~*

Later that night, I confronted Holmes in the hallway, just before we were to part ways to our respective rooms.

"Do you truly believe the idea of Elena Spencer's ghost haunting the countryside?" I demanded, hoping Holmes would reveal a clue as to what was processing through that mind of his.

"You rely on my opinion too much, Watson," Holmes replied in his typical fashion. "Tomorrow, we shall investigate all three reliable witnesses, and then you can make up your own mind as to whether there is a real spirit out there."

"Do you call Edmunds' testimony reliable?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"Alright then, Watson. All plausible sightings." Holmes frowned and a contemplative expression crossed his face. "I say we pay a visit to the Carrington property tomorrow and introduce ourselves to the tenants. But for the meantime, get a good night's rest, for tomorrow, I do believe we shall find ourselves venturing into hidden territories." And with that said, Holmes closed the door to his room, leaving me gaping in the hallway.

"Venturing into hidden territories?" I parroted. "I do not like the sound of that at all," I griped to myself, and went to my room.

If Holmes chose to believe in ghosts, that was his business; I was quite confident that my views would soon be proven to be correct. Ghosts, I thought in disgust as I drew the curtains together, what utter nonsense! But just to be on the safe side, I slept with the windows locked that night.




Nooka- Thank you for your review. :) I updated after a long, dry period, but I will post new chapters every couple of days now if possible.

March Hare- Yes, I can be quite the mean writer when I have to. :P I didn't mean to leave a cliffhanger for too long, but alas, FF.net would not let me update. Suspect it's their wacky servers, or maybe my computer seeking revenge.

Frankie- I would never wish for you to beg, so I promise to update with each chapter as soon as possible. :) I personally think the next chapter will be a little more juicer, and we shall be introduced to some new characters. Lots of new characters.

Estriel- Hey, someone likes my imagery! That's uplifting for an author to hear. Thank you. :) My e-mail is in my profile, too; I will try to e-mail you as soon as possible with any constructive criticism I can offer.

Arctic Squirrel- Okay, no more cliffhangers... until later chapters. I'm evil in that way. ;) But they won't be too big this time.

Brink- Thank you for your view. :) Next chapter, we shall learn more about the ghost and what really happened to her.

Eric- It's good to hear I'm staying in character as much as possible. I don't think I could ever capture Conan Doyle's style of writing, but I don't want the poor man rolling his grave, either. Yes, Barclay is an original, and so will any others that will be introduced in the future, although at least one more canon character will make an appearance in later chapters. And I promise not to use "Elementry" in future chapters, as Holmes has already spoken that line and should not repeat it until next time, when a whole new story is written. Thanks for reviewing. :)