Decorum | ONC 2023 Shortlister

Chapter Six

In the morning, Abigail had once again made her way downstairs to the kitchen, but she was surprised to find Hannah not seated at her regular stool, steam already curling up from a thin white mug of tea. Instead, the woman was engaged in polite conversation with Arthur Huxley, the man who had hired Abigail nearly two months ago. The sight of him was so foreign to Abigail that for a moment she fell still in the doorway, struggling to reorient herself amongst the surprise of seeing him and her memories of all that Victor had implied about his cousin. Arthur smiled easily when he saw Abigail, breaking his conversation with Hannah.

"Ms. Thatcher." He said. "I'm glad to see you weathered the storm."

Part of Abigail wanted to confront Arthur about her concerns over Victor's circumstances— the lack of psychologists or psychiatrists, the complete absence of Victor's only doctor since her arrival. Even if Victor's accusations that his family was intent on killing him were based on little more than his own paranoia, Abigail could understand the sentiment. But instead of accosting Arthur about these things, Abigail smiled kindly.

"I don't think I quite knew what I was in for." She laughed.

Arthur chuckled, "Yes, well, I suppose I should have mentioned that earlier. It's such a day to day thing here, so I never think to bring it up to guests. I trust Hannah has been taking care of you though?"

There was no reason to mention the missing library key.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." Abigail said. "She's been absolutely perfect. She even brought a landline up to my room in case I should need anything."

Hannah chimed in, "And an alarm clock too."

The cook smiled warmly, glad to be recognized for her natural hospitality. Arthur nodded, pleased with the half-truths that he took for whole ones.

"Well, I simply wanted to check in." He said. "I only have late meetings today, so I thought I'd stop by. I know it's been some time since we last saw each other, Ms. Thatcher, and I wanted to see how everyone held up through the storm."

"Perfectly well." Abigail smiled.

Hannah's eyes flicked to Arthur, wondering how much the new caretaker intended to keep from her employer, but to her relief, Abigail continued nonchalantly.

"We had a minor incident with Victor, but he calmed down shortly after. He seems to be warming up a bit, actually. He's moved himself to a bedroom to sleep in, and we even nearly went for a walk yesterday afternoon."

Arthur's eyes twitched in surprise, "Really?"

Now Hannah nodded, "It's true. I was a bit shocked myself about the whole thing. I never thought we'd get Mr. Blackwell out of that godawful library, but he goes between there and the bedroom now. It isn't much, but I'd say it's miles from where we started."

Arthur nodded, "Perhaps we ought to call Dr. Whitlock, he likes to know about changes like this."

"Have changes like this occurred before?" Abigail asked.

"No," Arthur said, "but that's precisely why I'd like to let him know. When is the last time you spoke with Dr. Whitlock?"

"I never have." Abigail said coolly. "I tried calling him several times, but I never received an answer. I was hoping to try again after the power was restored."

"Is the power still not back?" Arthur glanced at Hannah who shook her head.

"We had a man come by yesterday morning to let us know they're working on it. Should be back up by tomorrow if everything goes alright."

Arthur nodded before turning to Abigail, "Well, I'm not sure what Victor's incident was, but I'd like to apologize in advance for whatever it was. And let me get in contact with Dr. Whitlock. I know he's had some personal matters to attend to, but I'm afraid I'm paying him a bit too much for him to be so absent."