Sorry for the delay! Finally got this done. Sorry for any misspells, bad grammar or layout. I found it particularly hard near the end, because they were all talking at once and speaking so fast! Hope you enjoy all the same. I will get Chapter 4 up soon, but I'm going back to school, which may mean I have less free time... but probably not!

I spent the rest of the day as I normally did – serving customers, talking to my father, tidying the shop – but all the while I was thinking about that strange man. Did I really want to meet him tonight? He was so persistent, I doubt I'll have much choice in the matter, I thought to myself, smiling slightly at the memory of his constant attempts to charm me. He had succeeded, slightly, but I still had my fiancée, and I still had to find out more about him- his name, for example. A sharp 'ring ring' brought me out of my thoughts. The telephone in the hallway had begun to vibrate, nearly falling off the stand. I picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello Gwen, it's me, Jenny."
"Oh Jenny! How are you?"

I was very pleased to hear her. I had been daydreaming all day, and although Father was there, I didn't feel like telling him about it. Besides, I wanted to ask Jenny to come with me tonight.

"Jen," I said, ignoring the fact she had been in the middle of a sentence, "I was meaning to ask you something..."

"It's nice to know you were listening to me instead of daydreaming! I'm only joking, what did you want to ask?"

"Well... a man came into the shop today, very err... eager to make my acquaintance. He seemed determined to come with me to the gypsy camp tonight to get out fortunes told. Would you come with us?"

She laughed slightly, then sighed.

"Oh Gwen, you're so lucky. I wish I could get an eager admirer- and you already have two! Of course I'll come with you. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go some night this week anyway."

"Thank you darling! Be here at 8 or so then. Goodbye."

I put the phone down, my mind much more relaxed than it had been when I picked it up. Still... I wondered whether or not I should call Frank. But why should I? I wasn't doing anything wrong. He would understand and anyway, Jenny was coming with me, so I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to. Which I certainly didn't, no matter how charming or handsome the man was. I checked the clock. It was 6:30, so I had an hour and a half to get ready...

"He should be here soon, if he's coming at all..."

"If he's anything like you said he was, I'm sure he will be."
I looked up at the clock. It was almost 8.

"I'll go outside and check."

I opened the door and stepped out into the mist. It was dark, and I could see the outlines of a few people who had just walked past. I looked up and down the street, but there was no sign of him. I could hear the clock announcing the hour, and felt a little downcast. I had been sure he would come, though I wouldn't admit it to Jenny. I turned to go back inside and gasped. There he was, smiling at me.

"Ooh it's you..."

"Why of course, who did you expect?" he asked, smiling.

"Why nobody, I told you I couldn't go out with you."

"And yet you wore those earrings that I like." He raised his finger and lifted my hair slightly.

My slightly stern expression faded, and I tried to think of an excuse.

"Oh that was just because I-"

"Aw come on. I don't wanna go alone – I'm really afraid of the dark. And you see I wore my cane too."

I couldn't help but smile. His smile, combined with his accent and way of talking- I didn't know what it was, but I wanted to smile more when I was around him.

But he wasn't going to win that easily...

"Jenny," I called, looking towards the other door.

Jenny emerged, smiling at us, and Larry inclined his hat.

"This is Jenny Williams," I said, watching Larry's reaction. "She wants to have her fortune told too."

She smiled widely, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr.?"

I still gazed at him, and wanted to hear the answer just as much as Jenny did.

"Oh... just call me Larry."

"If you don't mind, Larry."

I gave Larry a slightly pleading look, my mouth twitching with restrained giggles. It was quite a cruel surprise for him, but I hoped he would let Jenny come with us anyway.

He sighed slightly, and glanced at me.

"Well..."

He looked down at his cane, and had such a put upon expression, I could barely keep a straight face. Jenny and I decided to put the poor thing at ease, so we both started laughing and linked arms with him, and began walking towards the marsh.

We were nearing the gypsy camp now. We had gradually loosened our grips on Larry, but I still walked close beside him.

"Ooh look, wolf bane!"

Jenny started forward and moved towards the bush of wolf bane

"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

Larry smiled and glanced at me. It was the same poem I had recited to him earlier.

"So you know that one too, huh?"

"Of course," I laughed. "Everyone knows about werewolves..."

He continued smiling, and I wondered briefly if he ever stopped smiling. He touched me lightly on the arm and steered me slightly towards the faint lights of the gypsy camp. We walked off, Jenny behind us, and it suddenly struck me odd at how many times werewolves had been discussed since Larry walked into my life a few hours before. I shivered slightly- the mist, had become slightly thicker, or so it seemed.

The gypsy camp was right up ahead. I could see a man pacing there, illuminated by the crackling firelight and the lamps hung on the caravans. We clambered over a fallen tree trunk, Larry helping me and Jenny. We walked up to the man.

"We've come to have our fortunes told," Jenny said to him. "Can you really read the future?"

"I will not disappoint you, my lady," he said in a low, accented voice. "Will you step inside please?"
He gestured to the tent. Jenny looked at us excitedly.

"Do you mind if I go in first?"

"No no, go right ahead," Larry insisted, but Jenny still looked slightly uncertain.

"Go on silly!" I laughed.

She smiled and went into the tent. I turned to Larry.

"Quite a flat the old boy's got, isn't it?" he said, nodding at the tent. I smiled at his way of talking. It was so different from anyone I knew around here. I'd only heard someone like him in movies before.

"We didn't come down to listen in on Jenny did we?"

"No..."

"Well maybe if you took a little walk with me, I could tell your fortune..."

I looked at him, but I decided not to refuse. I glanced at the tent, then linked arms with him and began to walk into the trees.

"So you're a fortune teller."
"Uh-huh"

I suddenly remembered one of my reasons for coming.

"Is that how you knew about the earrings?"

"Well not exactly. You see a telescope has a mighty sharp eye- it brings the stars so close you feel you can almost touch them."

I frowned slightly, a suspicion growing in the back of my mind.

"A telescope?"

"Sure... and it does the same to people in their rooms."

I was right, and suddenly felt horrible. What kind of man watched girls when they were alone, assuming they were safe in their own rooms? I couldn't believe that he would do something like that.

"Oh you wouldn't..."
"Well now, I was only testing the refractor," he explained. "I didn't know about you and then all of a sudden there you were."
I sensed his sincerity, and relaxed, leaning against a tree.

"From now on I'll be sure to draw the curtains."

"Oh no don't do that- I mean not on account of me-." He laughed as he struggled to make excuses for himself. "I mean- well you know what I mean."

"Yes I'm afraid I do," I laughed too, but I couldn't let him continue anymore. I had to tell him.

"But it's only fair to tell you I'm engaged, I'm going to be married very soon. In fact I really shouldn't be here..."

"Oh but you are here."

I raised my eyes to meet his, and I couldn't think of anything to say. Suddenly a howl broke the silence.

"What was that?" Larry asked, as both our heads snapped towards the direction of the noise.

"I don't know... I've never heard anything like that before..."

Then a scream, a terrible piercing scream, came from the same direction as the howl. Larry started.

"You stay here," he said, as he leapt past me towards the sounds.

I felt so afraid, and worried. Something was terribly wrong...

"Larry!" I called after him. "Wait, Larry!"

I ran through the mist and trees, unsure where I was going or where he was, guided by faint marks in the ground and the sound of growls and thumping. I still couldn't see anyone.

"Larry, where are you?"

I saw a faint outline fall onto the ground, and sped up. Larry was lying there, clutching his chest.

"Oh Larry!" I cried, panic filling me, as I rolled him over. He grimaced with pain.

"Larry what happened? What's the matter?" I asked, smoothing back his hair and stroking his face.

"A wolf..." he managed to say, before his face relaxed and his head lolled back.

I looked around. How was I going to get help for him? I couldn't carry him, of course, but I couldn't leave him. Then I heard horse hooves and the rattle of a cart coming closer.

"Help!" I called, peering around the tree, trying to make out who was coming. "Help! Oh please hurry!"
The cart came into view, a gypsy woman at the reins. She peered down at us.

"Hurry please,"

She put the reins to one side and got down from the cart. I looked down at Larry and stroked his hair again.

"What happened to him?" she asked, in a low voice similar to the gypsy fortune teller's.

"A wolf bit him..." I said, glancing at her. There was a pause as I waited for her to say something.

"Well do something, can't you help him?" I asked, frantically, looking at her with some confusion.

"We must take him home," she said, and bent over to help me lift him up. He was tall and heavy. We got him into the back of the cart, which was filled with straw. Then we got into the front and started off. It suddenly stuck me I wasn't sure were Larry lived.

"I'm sorry," I began, "but I'm not sure where-"

"You do. Don't you know his surname?"

I frowned, puzzled. But then I suddenly remembered.

"John Talbot... he must be his brother."
I felt stupid for not recognising the resemblance before, and the more I thought about it I realised I should've known. Talbot's death had shocked the village, and there had been so much gossip about the return of the 'other son' who had defied the estate so long ago, the instant Larry walked into the shop it should have hit me.

We remained in silence for the rest of the journey, but it wasn't bad. I needed time to calm down. We were almost at the castle, and Larry seemed to be regaining consciousness. I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, a faint sliver of the moon visible behind the clouds.

I held onto Larry's arm, helping through the doorway. He leant on me heavily, but I managed to knock on the door. It swung open, and Larry staggered into the room.

"Sir John," I called to him. He had been sitting with Captain Montford, but had jumped up and ran towards us.

"Master Larry," the servant mumbled, "What's happened?"

"He was bitten by a wolf"

Captain Montford's eyes widened.

"A wolf?"

"Nonsense, there hasn't been wolves round here for years..." Sir John scoffed.

"Where'd all this happen?" Montford barked.

"At the marsh, that woman came to help..."

I glanced over my shoulder at her, then did a double take. She had vanished from the doorway.

"Well where is she?"

"Who?" asked Sir John

"Why the gypsy woman. I'd have never gotten him here without her."

"Yes of course, the old woman who was just in the doorway..."

"Kendal find her."
The servant nodded and rushed out into the hall.

"Was there anyone else with you?"

Montford looked at me, while Sir John bent over Larry.

"Jenny..." he mumbled, "Someone get Jenny..."

My eyes widened. I had completely forgotten about her. Before I had more time to think about it, a man ran into the room.

"Sir John, Captain- by the marsh..."

"By the marsh?"

"Jenny... Jenny Williams..."

My heart started to pound. Surely it couldn't...

"What about her?"

"She's been murdered, sir."
The little man was trembling, twisting his hat in his hands, but I was completely frozen.

"Wolf, gypsy woman, murder, what is this?" Montford asked, exasperated, but Sir John ignored him.

"What makes you say she was murdered?"

"Her throat sir..."

"Come come, let's look into this, show me where it happened."

The Captain picked up his hat and strode over to the door, leading the small man by the arm.

"I'll send Doctor Lloyd, Sir John," he called, and then vanished into the night.

"Fine. Roberts, come and give me a hand with Master Larry, please."

Another servant ran towards us and he and Sir John lifted Larry up.

"Come on Larry... get him up to his room..."

The servant led Larry round me and towards the stairs.

"Gwen, you better run along now, we'll take care of him, don't worry."

He gave me a brief smile, a pat on the arm, then hurried after his son.

I gazed after them, feeling sick. Jenny was dead, and Larry injured... what had happened? I walked out into the cool air, but it only made me feel worse. If I hadn't gone off with Larry while she was in the tent, we would all be happily walking home together by now. If I had just decided not to go out tonight, or that I would be fine on my own with him... Why did I have to bring her into this? It was all my fault...