Page 7 of Beyond the Grave
Yet it was not the outcome I'd hoped for. Not even close. I'd been a fool to expect anything at all from a man such as Lincoln, but that didn't make me feel any better. Hope could turn even a sensible girl into a silly one.
"Charlie?" Seth's voice startled me, even though I'd been staring at the doorway. He inched into the library, Gus and Cook crowding behind him. Their concerned faces left me in no doubt they'd heard at least part of our exchange.
"Fitzroy shouted," Gus said with a glance over his shoulder.
"We ain't never heard him shout before," Cook added. "Usually he don't need to shout to get his point across."
"It would seem I was a little slow in grasping his point," I said wryly. "We had an argument."
"About?"
"A private matter."
"Charlie, be careful." Seth passed me the crutches. "If you push him into a corner, he will fight to get out and not care who is in his path. Even you."
Gus patted my shoulder. "Best to avoid him when he's in a temper. Just get out of his way and take cover, next time."
"I disagree," I said hotly. My own temper was still simmering near the surface, despite the heaviness in my heart. I felt as if I hadn't quite got my point across to Lincoln, and that only frustrated me more. "It's when he's in a temper that he should be confronted. It seems to be the only time he speaks the truth. I prefer it to the cool mask he presents at other times."
Seth shook his head. "I don't know whether that makes you a fool or very brave."
"A brave fool?" I looked down at the books and papers gathered from Andrew Buchanan's rooms.
"Just be careful. I wouldn't put it past him to remove you from Lichfield."
My head almost swiveled off my neck to look at him. "Because I challenge him when he's in a temper?"
"No, because he thinks getting you away from here, from him, would be for your own benefit."
"Or that of the ministry," Gus added with a shrug, as if he were apologizing for placing the ministry alongside me in Lincoln's scale of importance.
I stared at them. "I'll keep that in mind."
Cook kissed my cheek rather sweetly. "I'll bake scones to have with your tea later."
Seth rolled his eyes. "I think this is beyond the work of your scones."
Cook scowled at him and left the library. I asked the other two to stay. "Have you seen these?" I indicated the array on the table.
"No." Gus pulled a book closer to read the title. "Death ain't spoken to us about Buchanan, yet. Maybe he don't want to involve us, seeing as it's a Lady H family matter."
Seth picked up the journal Lincoln had been reading and flipped the pages. "He just left them here with you?"
"Perhaps that wasn't his intention," I said, "but after storming out, he couldn't retrieve them without swallowing a little of his pride."
"We shouldn't touch them then."
"Or perhaps we should look through them."
Seth grinned. He and Gus sat around the table, and I resumed my position on the chair and scooped a stack of slender books toward me. They seemed old, going by their worn hide covers. The spine of one was stitched and the thick pages protected with two blank boards, front and back. It was beautifully illustrated inside, the gold of the initial lettering shining against the yellowing parchment. It smelled earthy too, as if it had been secreted away underground for centuries.
It was written in an old style, but I was able to gather the general meaning. The book was about witches and spells, but I wasn't sure how much of it was real and how much simply stories, made up by non-supernaturals, to explain strange phenomena. Lincoln would probably know.
Lincoln. I hadn't thought about him, or our argument—or kiss—for almost five minutes. Keeping my mind occupied was clearly a good way to blank him out. I must continue to keep busy.
Gus interrupted me to show me some objects he'd found in a small wooden box. The box and its contents were the only things in the collection that weren't books or papers.
"Jewelry," Gus said, holding up a star-shaped pendent hanging from a worn leather strip. "And not quality, neither. Not for a fancy toff like Buchanan."
