Fettigrew Hall - The Biography of a House

FETTIGREW HALL - Chapter 31

That night MacTavish came to her and jumped with her front feet on the side of the bed, shaking Megan out of her sleep. At first she did not know what had awakened her, but the dog then put her feet up and her face next to Megan. She whined. "What is it? Do you need to go out?"

Then Megan heard a creaking sound, which she didn't recognize. There were lots of sounds in the house, and she had gotten used to them. This almost sounded like foot steps coming up the stairs just outside her room. Her first thought was of Gray returning to her. She smiled at the thought. Then the sound stopped. Listening hard she waited in the darkness. It sounded again, but this time it was louder as though someone was coming closer and reaching the top of the stairs. She had left her bedroom door open, which she often did so that Tav could go out if she wanted to.

Straining her ears, she waited. At first she had been excited at the thought of Gray returning to her, but then she realized that he would not want to scare her by sneaking around. He would have called out to her by now or even phoned her before coming over. Now she began to be afraid.

Then the floor creaked directly outside her bedroom door. Now Tavy began to whine piteously and cower near the bed, trying to back herself under and between the bed and small chest, which stood next to the bed. Megan wanted to hear and reached down to hold Tavy's mouth with her hand. "Shhhhh." She whispered to the dog. It responded and was quiet.

Next she heard more foot steps going away from her and down the hall towards the back of the house. Eventually she heard distantly the closing of a door, which she thought was the back bedroom. Then she heard no more sounds.

With her heart pounding she turned on her bedside light and then the hall lights. She thought she could find the courage to investigate if all the lights were on. As she peered down the hallway, she saw nothing. She wanted to continue but her courage failed her. She also realized that she had gotten into enough scary trouble alone and should call Gray. Going back to her room, she found her cell phone and called him.

"Hello?"

"Gray, there is something in the house or someone. I heard foot steps, and so did Tavy."

"I'm coming. Wait for me in your room."

Taking the dog with her, Megan crept down the stairs and to the kitchen, turning on every light available. Gray had thrown on some sweats and arrived within a minute after she had gotten to the kitchen. She had flipped on the switch for the tea pot, while waiting and sat down at the table.

She explained to him what had happened. He insisted they go back upstairs because it could be an intruder. When they got to the top hall, they began turning on the few lights that had been fixed by the electrician. They could not see all the way down the hall to the back bedroom because of the bathroom, which stood in the center of the hall. As the hallway split and went around it, they decided to each take one side and meet on the opposite side. This took Megan past the two bedrooms, where she shown her flashlight in each room, and Gray past the library, where he was able to turn on the dim lights. Meeting on the other side they then faced the back bedroom. The door was closed.

"Gray I know that door was open when Andrew and I were in the library. I know it was because I remember thinking about it when I noticed and being annoyed with it."

Gray tried the door and it opened easily. There was no one there. He went to the priest hole to open it but saw nothing as he shined his torch down the steps. "You stay here; I'm going down to check the chapel."

He went down, but Megan, not wanting to be alone, followed him.

In the chapel they could smell tallow, as if a candle had just been snuffed out. Gray shown his torch around the altar and found a wisp of black smoke above the candle there. Megan grabbed at his sleeve. "Someone really was here," she said. The room was extremely cold, and they both shivered.

"Let's go back to the kitchen and get something warm to drink." Going out through the linen area, they took the back steps to the kitchen. As they did so, they could hear Tavy barking furiously in the back garden.

Megan called to Tavy; she did not come but continued to bark. Taking her torch, they both went through the stone passage and looked for the dog. "We need to get more light in the back as soon as we can. It is dangerous walking around out here," Gray said. They found Tavy around the side of the house near the Morning Room. Gray had to drag her back. They could see nothing that the dog would bark at, but she would not respond to Megan's orders to quiet. Finally Gray picked her up and took her to the kitchen.

"She is definitely upset about something. I thought I had broken her of the barking issue," Megan said. "Do you think this is related to our ghostly intruder or to something else that she saw in the yard?"

As Gray poured tea he said, "I don't know what to make of this. Candles do not light by themselves. Just to be safe, I'm taking the candle out of the chapel tomorrow."

"Please don't leave me tonight."

"Maybe we should go back to my flat."

"Right. Good idea. Come with me and I'll get some clothes for the morning." With that they took their cups and went up the front stairs to her room. She found clean jeans, underwear and a shirt. She put on her shoes. "I'm ready. Let's take Tav, too."

And so, for the second time, Gray and Megan slept together, again in innocence and exhaustion.