Free Heather Song by Michael Phillips

in our midst. The room went dead silent. I looked around at the others. Everyone sat with blank expressions, with wide eyes and white faces, hands holding cups arrested halfway to their mouths. I couldn’t imagine what had caused such a reaction. Gradually they began to glance at one another, full of unspoken question. But no one uttered a peep.
    My suggestion put an even greater damper on the rest of the afternoon. After tea and a little more awkward small talk, gradually the women left.
    When they were gone, I found Alicia in the kitchen cleaning up the tea things.
    “Alicia,” I said, “do you mind if I ask you a question?”
    “Of course not.”
    “When I came into the room after going upstairs to get my harp, you and the others were talking quietly. It’s none of my business, I know, but I heard Adela saying the word beware —”
    “Adela has too free a tongue for her own good,” snapped Alicia with uncharacteristic bluntness. “She’s too prone to tales.”
    “But what did she mean—beware? Beware of what?”
    “It’s nothing, Marie.”
    “Please, Alicia, tell me.”
    Alicia glanced away but still said nothing.
    I waited. Finally, as she realized I wasn’t going away, she drew in a breath of resignation.
    “It’s just one of those things Olivia spread after you came, when all the trouble about Gwendolyn and Alasdair was stirred up.”
    “What did she say?”
    “She said that you were trying to keep her from what she deserved.”
    The reminder of Olivia’s attempt to subvert Alasdair’s reputation and keep Gwendolyn from her father made my blood boil.
    “But beware of what, Alicia?”
    “Of you, Marie.”
    “Me?”
    Alicia nodded reluctantly.
    “Why beware of me? What harm could I possibly have been to anyone?”
    “She said that you were after Alasdair’s money. I’m sorry.”
    “Ahhgh!” I exclaimed in disgust. “I can’t believe it! I mean, I suppose I knew she was saying such things, but—”
    I shook my head in disbelief.
    “What did she say exactly?” I asked after a moment.
    “There was a verse she whispered about town.— Must I tell you, Marie?”
    “Yes, Alicia.”
    “All right,” she sighed, then said:
    “Of this stranger and idler beware.
    Though her music seems soft and sweet,
    and her words and smiles so fair,
    in her heart lies only deceit.”
    “That’s it?” I said.
    Alicia nodded.
    “It’s mean-spirited,” I said, actually relieved, “but it seems harmless enough. I thought it would be something really horrible.”
    “None of Olivia’s verses are harmless,” rejoined Alicia.
    I asked her what she meant. But nothing I could say would induce her to say more on the subject, and at last I gave it up for the day.
    Tavia’s lesson was scheduled three days later, and Cora came on the same day right after Tavia. Whatever had been going on before seemed forgotten by then. As Alicia knew the other women, gradually it became our custom to have tea together between lessons, with Alicia joining us. She seemed to enjoy rekindling her former friendships after so long, despite the specter of Olivia that always seemed lurking not far away.
    It occurred to me once or twice that Olivia might be preparing herself for the time when she would come back to Castle Buchan as a ghost. It almost seemed that she was already haunting the place, if only in the minds of the ladies who had coincidentally all been drawn back to the place they had known as children.
    Being so far inside the castle, I hadn’t heard Alasdair drive up as we were having our tea. I was surprised when he walked into the studio suddenly.
    “Marie, I was thinking, if you were free this afternoon, we—” he began as he walked through the door.
    He stopped abruptly as he saw Alicia, Tavia, and Cora sitting with me, teacups in hand.
    “Oh…sorry—I didn’t realize you had guests,” he said, standing still with an expression on his face I didn’t quite understand. He looked back and forth between the