Eva's Sins.

XLI

„A bottomless swamp is like hell: it stoles your soul, but it doesn't allow you breath"

  „I'd like to have an audience to Miss Emily Davis, if possible," Keen told the old servant who half-opened the door and asked him with half a voice what does he want.

  Instead of a verbal answer, the old woman approved with her head, and from this gesture of her, Keen had to understand that she goes to ask if Miss Davis is free and that he must stay and wait in front of the door.

  Keen disliked this kind of „welcome," but he understood that he had no choice: he must wait if he wanted to talk to Emily Davis and he also answered by bending his head but he was so surprised when the door suddenly closed in front of his nose and forced him to step back.

  „And ... how should I understand this gesture?" he wondered and, shaking his head in reproach, he moved back trying to figure out what to do till the servant will be back. So, he decided to watch the garden.

  Even if it was early fall nature around looked so fresh and beautiful and no trace of yellow or brown was seen on the trees or the bushes and this was something unnatural for this period of time. More than this, the bushes, skilfully cut as if someone had tried to engrave figures in living nature, were making the surroundings have an aristocratic look but at the same time to look so fresh and alive allowing the dreamers to travel in time while looking at this green fairy-like beauty.

  Then, there were the trees: in a number of ten, all towering birches, they probably had more than a century but they still looked young and strong probably because of the thick trunks and of the crowns beautifully woven with old and new thin branches and also due to the squirrel'dens seen above that was something amazing to watch and enjoy when they were moving their red and fluffy tail while jumping from one branch to another.

  However, this beauty of nature was a kind of joy for the people of these times who hadn't that many reasons to smile and to enjoy life. But being surrounded by nature, even that seen in their garden was giving the viewers a kind of freedom to breathe, and why not: to show the world all the love they were hiding in their chest.

  After a short time of watching the awkward, but full of charming play of two red squirrels on the lowest branch of a tree, Vincent took off his pocket the clock and looked at the hour, understanding that it had been more than 15 minutes of waiting and this he considered being unforgivable rudeness.

  When he finally decided to knock once again the door and to show his unsatisfaction this way for letting him wait in front of the door without even one person that lives in that house of respectable people to show up and to say something to him, Keen heard the noise of an approaching carriage and he looked in the distance.

  Even if the carriage was still far away, Keen was sure that was heading toward Lorenne's house, so he decided to wait.

  Ten minutes later, the carriage stopped in front of the house and, before descending from his place, Albert stared unsatisfied at Keen, a sign that the detective showed up at the wrong moment. But even if he was so eager to say something unpleasantly to the uninvited guest and if necessary to punch him to chase him away, eventually Albert decided that it wasn't the right moment so, he jumped off and deeply inhaling air in his chest he approached the door and helped Eva to descend from the carriage.

  The girl's face looked even more pale than usual, and this made Keen watch her with interest because he remembered their first meeting and that he helped her to sit down on the bench when she was about to lose consciousness.

  Eva instead was so surprised to see Keen waiting in front of the closed door. And, even if she wanted to enter the house and to lie on her bed to recover forces, she decided to show her respect to Keen, even if he doesn't deserve this, as she considered, so she approached the detective at a slow step, still supporting herself on Albert's arm.