The Lady in Yellow: A Victorian Gothic Paranormal Romance

Sixty-Four

Veronica watched the winter landscape slide past the window of the train. It was a struggle to keep a sense of foreboding at bay. With each lurch of the train, a new wave of anxiety assailed her. The train stopped at so many stations en route that it dragged out the journey from Gloucestershire to three days. Passengers boarded, crowding the car, then got off long before she and Janet reached their destination.

A discarded news tabloid lay on the seat opposite. Hoping to focus her thoughts on something other than her troubles, Veronica picked it up.

Moors Murders Still Unsolved

Veronica glanced at Janet sitting on the opposite seat, gazing out the window, her mouth set in a tight line. Of course the maid knew the werewolves had rampaged again and wasn't about to discuss it.

Veronica skimmed down the page:

Gang of Jack the Rippers Ravages the Yorkshire Countryside.

After six months of sheep mutilations, deer poaching, and the tragic deaths of a farm wife, a herdsman, and three children, Scotland Yard has been summoned to find the Moors Murderers.

The random nature of these attacks has investigators baffled. Such carnage could only be the work of madmen.

Some locals continue to claim that it wasn't men that done the deeds, but an increasingly large pack of white wolves that appears only when the moon is full. The wolves first appeared almost thirteen years ago, they say. Though it has been two and a half years since these wolves were last seen in the area, locals claim the manner of the killing is exactly that same as it was before, indicating that the wolves must have returned.

But since we all know that wolves are extinct, this report suggests peasant superstition and a cover up. Why anyone would protect a gang of homicidal louts is beyond the comprehension of any right-thinking Englishman...

She was going back into it, and it was much worse.

The rocking movement of the train lulled Veronica. By the end of the journey, she was too tired to notice they were being been followed by a bright full moon.

***

Veronica had hoped to arrive in the morning so she could leave before nightfall, but when the coach entered the grounds of Belden House, it was near twilight.

Belden House in the snow was a desolate sight. The wide garden was blasted white, the bare trees frozen with every twig on end as the wind blustered against them. Icicles hung from the gables and gutters, rooks hunched on the frost-encrusted rooftops. Though it was a new year, no joy encompassed Belden House, no cheer could overcome its dreary mournfulness.

Veronica felt strange going back inside. One wasn't meant to go backwards. Life was a series of births, leaving womb after womb behind until one left the womb of the earth for Heaven, or that other place whose fires burned too close by.

"I think this may be bad timing, Janet. I think the moon will be full tonight," Veronica said. "I shall be forced to shoot him, won't I? You've tricked me."

"No, Miss. No. It's the perfect time to help Mr. Rafe and the others as well. If it's any reassurance, I've hidden the guns. After what I saw Mr. Rafe doing with his, I hid all the guns I could get my hands on."

"Well, you've got enough faith for army, haven't you? Too much in me, I'm afraid. Where is he?"

"Perhaps he's in his rooms. Do you want me to announce you?"