Free The Haunting at Hawke's Moor by Camille Oster Page B

balance."
    The medium closed the door and the carriage
set off. Anne stood with Alfie not far away. "He said we must
cleanse your room to ensure no one harms you," she said. She was
pleased that it wasn't Alfie that was causing all this, because
like her, he probably had few places to go. "We'll sort this."
    Getting her cloak, Anne set off to a
walk, which would let her absorb all that Mr. Harleston had said,
and also to find sage. She was sure she had seen some previously;
she just couldn't remember where. If they had to burn sage day and
night in censers to make all this fade away, then they
would.
    Her mind was racing as she wandered
away. There was something in the house. A shiver of panic set in
and she tried to dismiss it. There was a plan to deal with it and
that was what she had to focus on. According to Mr. Harleston,
there was both dark and light in the house, the light protecting
them from the darkness. She had no idea what to tell Lisle and
Alfie. Obviously, they had the right to know the house they were
living in was haunted. Another spear of panic flared through
her.
    Mr. Harleston had been so calming; he
left the impression there was nothing to worry about as long as
they took the right steps and lived a peaceful life free of
passions. Well, perhaps it was a good thing that Lisle and Alfie's
relationship had waned. Maybe it was the relationship that had
caused so much trouble in the first place.



Chapter 12:

     
    Anne burned sage in every room of the
house and in every space outside, including the stable and all the
outbuildings. On one level, she felt a bit silly doing it. On
another, she would not bypass any advice Mr. Harleston had. There
were just too many strange occurrences in the house to
dismiss.
    "You especially must keep this sage
burning at all times," Anne said to Alfie, feeling self-conscious
being in his private quarters. He stood by and watched her. "It
seems you are affected by the things in this house worse than
either I or Lisle. Perhaps it would be safer for you if you left.
Mr. Harleston recommended it. He said the house was draining your
energies."
    "No," Alfie said a little too sharply and
Anne was taken aback. "I have nowhere to go and if burning greenery
will protect me, then that is enough."
    Anne still felt uncertain, but he seemed too
adamant not to be dismissed. She fully understood the fear of
having nowhere to go. "I can give you good references, enough to
get you employment elsewhere."
    "I don't want to leave." He looked her
straight in the eye as he said it. There was frustration there that
Anne didn't understand, but if he insisted on staying, she would
let him. Their daily life would be infinitely more burdensome
without him. He had become integral to the smooth running of the
house and their minuscule working farm.

    And to her surprise, the sage seemed to
work. There were not more footsteps, whispers or creaks in the
night. She slept right through to dawn. Even Lisle seemed to be
happier. Well, happy might be a stretch—less discontented was
probably more accurate.
    Now it was about time she tackled some of
the spare rooms in the house, eager to remove all remnants of the
house's abandoned past. The decrepit rooms sat like sores hidden
away behind shut doors. Hidden, but not forgotten. Getting them
straightened would make the house feel more homely—free of its
past.
    Mr. Harleston's thoughts on peaceful
happiness rang true with her and that was what she wanted to
achieve. It was enough now, of the fear and worry. Things were
fine. The garden was thriving, the chickens were growing and the
cow gave a good quantity of milk every day. It might not be much in
some people's books, but she was independently managing—something
she'd been taught she could never achieve.
    They spent the morning carting out
unsalvageable furnishings, including heavy draperies, a medieval
tapestry which the moths had ravaged. Dragging these dusty objects
down the stairs and outside created quite