A/N: I think I completely screwed up posting from chapter 5, because this is chapter 5 and I think I missed this one out. I am going to check the reviews from all you lovely people and then wonder why no one told me.
Chapter Five: The Lights
"I beg your pardon?" I ask, not sure if she is asking if I did or did not believe what Lord d'Narley had told me.
"Did you believe the story Geoffrey told you about the bird?" she asks, a little more plainly and I am much more contented with her questioning. Still, I feel she is going enlighten me with other news, so I decide upon not answering her question directly.
"Am I not to?" I reply. She shakes her head.
"No. I do not know where my husband was the day before Natty died. But I do know where I was. And I was in the Blue Room, practically all day. And the room is clean, if any such bird had been dislodged from the chimney then soot would have covered the entire room, there was no time for anyone to drop dust covers as aside meals I rarely left. I'd been reading Shakespeare's The Tempest and sorely did not want to put the text down."
"You do not trust your husband?" I ask.
"I trust my husband, but I do not trust his word, not on this subject. I know I was in the Blue Room, and I know he was not."
"Do you think he could have left for New York early?" I ask, determined to discover Lord d'Narley's whereabouts. Lady d'Narley shakes her head.
"No, I saw him at dinner," she states. There is another knock on the door.
"Enter," instructs Lady d'Narley. Maisy comes in with coal for the fire, but stops when she sets foot in the room.
"Should I come back, sir?" she asks, tentatively.
"No, Maisy. I am presently leaving Mr. Crane to his studies. Thank you kindly, sir," and she steps out of the room, to the right, and down the hall.
So Geoffrey d'Narley's word is not one I can trust. Unless, of course, Lady d'Narley is lying to me, and with her history I can hardly discard this fact. But I do see method in his false alibi, if a bird had been in the chimney of the Blue Room, then there would indeed be soot. And not only from whence Natty rescued the bird. It would have dislodged soot every time it descended the chimney, and to build a nest would have had to have done so many times, and there was, indeed, no spot of soot or coal anywhere in the room but the fireplace.
I decide to take a closer inspection of the Blue Room before night, but now, I was expected in the billiard room for a game of billiards.
I declined Lord d'Narley's offer of a cigar, and he hands me a billiard cue. Only having a rough idea of billiard rules, I inevitably lost the game; Lady d'Narley consoles me and Lord d'Narley wishes me better luck in the future. Lady d'Narley takes a book from the shelves, another of Shakespeare's works I notice, and bids us goodnight. I, also, ask for my leave and follow her, ascending the stairs.
"Lady d'Narley," I call after her, she pauses at the top of the stair and I catch up with her. "The east wing, it is all living rooms?" I see a shadow flicker across her eyes, nothing too distinguishable, but a distinct flare of knowledge.
"Yes, they are all closed for the winter, the servants covered them some weeks ago, goodnight," she bids me, and leaves for her room. I can hear Lord d'Narley downstairs, and set about to my own room.
After hearing Lord d'Narley follow us upstairs, I put on an overcoat and creep back towards the Blue Room, trying to remember it's location in the large house, having been there only once previously.
In the room, my candle merely illuminates several inches of space, and the circumference of the light is very dim. Firstly, looking over the fireplace and mantelpiece, which are both spotless, Mrs. Catria is a fine housekeeper. Then inspecting separate pieces of furniture, which also, are as clean as new. After spending a few further minutes, dousing the room in the small light I had available, I could see no reason a bird had been taken from the chimney, and come to assume Claire's story true, more truthful than her husbands.
Upon returning to my room, however, I take a wrong turn in the many passageways of the house, and find myself again, in the east wing. I recognize this fact, only when I am maybe fifty yards from the end of the house, in daytime with a full view of the bedroom in the east wing. But by night, I can see a light.
Deciding this might be my only chance of discovering which of the household know the rooms purpose, I extinguish my candle with wetted fingers, and continue towards the light, walking with my back against the furthest wall of the hallway. As I reach the door of the bedroom, I can just see Lord d'Narley, slowly and carefully covering up the furniture, bed and tables, drawing the shutters to. As he turns to face the door as begins to make his exit, holding his candle prominently before him, I feel for the handle of the door behind me, twist it, and disappear into the darkness of the opposite room, pulling the door almost closed.
I hear the Lord walking softly down the hall, and sigh. I feel about the darkness of the room, and can not feel a thing. I set the candle holder down on the floor and strike a match, only to see a pair of feet standing behind my candle.