Phantom Manor (English version)

Mr. Nutterville's misadventures

Ella turned to Paul with curiosity.

"A motto ?" she said.

"The Ravenswood family has a rather queer motto," Cristobal answered. "I would have taken you to the manor to show it to you, but I doubt that Mr. Frees will let me do, so I will tell you out loud."

He accompanied this sentence with a frozen glance to Paul. The mayor answered by an outraged look. The gravedigger's apprentice had only been there a few months, but his Eastern orignis gave him an uncommon boldness. And it was precisely what made all women fall at his knees. 

"Non Omnis Moriar," Cristobal said. "Here's their motto. It means..."

"I speak fluently several languages, Mr. Harrington, including greek and latin," Ella interrupted coldly. "I know what it means. I won't die completely."

She thought she had heard an appreciative whisper behind her. She turned to Paul, slightly irritated. The mayor immediately raised his hands to defend himself. 

"I didn't do anything !" he protested. "Useless to look at me that way !"

"Yet, you're alone behind me," the Lady answered with a falsely friendly air. 

"Since I say it wasn't me !"

Cristobal suddenly waved them to keep quiet. Ella looked at him without understanding, than heard a noise which was at least incongruous in a graveyard : the slow and regular beating of a heart, amplified to the extreme. This sound seemed to come from the big anonymous grave which rose up in the middle of the cemetery. Ella approached, intrigued, ignoring Paul who begged her not to get too close to the manor. 

"It's behind this tomb they found the Jones," she mumbled. "That would mean there is an exit door..."

She went along the wall which delimited the graveyard and arrived to a spot where the stone met the wood of the manor. 

"Milady," Cristobal called, anxious too. "You shouldn't do this ! Believe me..."

The young girl was about to turn away from the ivy which covered the wall, but she suddenly felt a furious envy to discover what was hiding behind. She felt the soft and reassuring contact of a velvet glove which took her hand to approach it close to the creepers. Without even noticing it, Ella grabbed a handful of rods and pulled them toward her. She unblocked a rotten wooden door struggling to stand on its hinges. Still guided by the invisible hand, she pushed the door, which opened on the cold and humid darkness of the manor. She vaguely heard Paul and Cristobal yelling behind her, without daring to approach. Suddenly, she felt someone grabbed her by her shoulders and was pulling her back. The gloved hand let her go and the young girl regained her senses. She blinked when she saw who had taken her away from this dangerous influence : an old man, dressed in black, still upstanding and robust, who seemed to have already intervened that way several times. 

"Cristobal," he called calmly.

The young man approached, without knowing if he had to fear a reprimand or not. 

"Take care of Lady Ella, in the future," the old man said. "She seems as responsive as her father. Go to the store, I'll join you there. You too, Paul," he added at the mayor's address since he was already slipping away, white as a sheet. 

Cristobal grabbed Ella by her arm, as to make sure she wouldn't go away again, while the old man disappeared behind the door she has opened. 

"Mr. Nutterville is the only one who can enter the manor without fearing anything," he explained to the Lady, taking her to the undertaker's store. "But he prefers to avoid it as much as possible. He says it's extremely dangerous, even for him."