Free The Ghost Who Loved Me by Karolyn Cairns Page B

reach her. Her mother promised to write if anything changed.
    Elizabeth peered outside the coach as it came to a stop in the sculpted, circular courtyard. The footmen and driver leapt down to help her and Annie out. They handled the bags with the help of four brawny liveried footmen who arrived. Annie was left to handle her own personal cases.
    Elizabeth took a deep breath as she saw the long line of servants standing outside the castle assembled to greet her. The butler was named Mr. Pettigrew. The man walked towards her, smiling broadly in welcome.
    “Welcome to Westerleigh Castle, Your Grace,” the butler intoned and bowed elegantly.
    “Thank you, Mr. Pettigrew,” Elizabeth said with a regal nod and moved on to receive bows and curtsies from all of the staff, weary of the necessary façade a duchess must adhere to in the face of servants.
    Elizabeth nodded politely to them all, worrying remembering their names in the back of her mind. She followed the butler into the hall, looking about and forcing herself not to gape in outright wonder at the sight that met her eyes within. She felt like she was swept back into another time.
    ~ ~ ~
    “Your Ladyship, are you unwell?” Mr. Pettigrew gazed down at her in concern, seeing her dumbfounded expression as she looked about the great hall.
    Elizabeth smiled apologetically up at him. “I wasn’t prepared at all for this, Mr. Pettigrew. This is the first time I’ve been to Westerleigh Castle. I had no idea the castle was so unchanged inside.” She shook her head incredulously as she looked upward, craning her neck to see the incredible painted scenes on the high cathedral ceiling above. “It’s extraordinary! The restoration is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”
    “Restoration?” The butler looked decidedly confused. “There have been no restorations done to the castle in the time that I’ve been here, Your Ladyship, and that is going on thirty years. I was also born here and can tell you that nothing was ever done in the twenty-some odd years before that.”
    Elizabeth marveled at his words, unable to believe this place showed hardly any sign of decay despite how old she knew it to be. Mr. Pettigrew had to be wrong in what he said. The castle had to have been renovated and restored at some point since 1564. 
    It looked the same as it might have looked centuries ago, with not even one crack in the high stone walls within.
    Elizabeth looked down and marveled at the intricate Italian marble tile work beneath her feet, knowing such craftsmanship went out of style two centuries ago due to how expensive textiles became. The flooring alone looked as bright and as shiny as if just put in recently. She could see her own reflection in its spotless sheen.
    The gleaming double-winding mahogany staircases on each side of the hall led to separate wings where the bedchambers were. It would take forever for her to remember how to find her own room in the maze above stairs.
    Elizabeth stepped further inside the hall and looked about, seeing portraits of the former dukes of Westerleigh and ladies from another time period gracing the walls, wanting desperately to know all she could about the place, infatuated with it from the moment she stepped inside.
    “Would you like some tea, Your Ladyship?” Mr. Pettigrew watched her looking about with the trace of a smile to see her enthusiasm over her surroundings, pleased she obviously approved. “I can have the housekeeper take you on a tour once you are settled in.”
    Elizabeth smiled widely. “I should love that! Thank you, Mr. Pettigrew. I will have some tea, come to think of it. Where do you suggest I take it?” 
    “I think the informal salon the best place, Your Ladyship,” the man said warmly and gestured for her to follow him. “It catches the better part of the sun at this time of the day. You will be most comfortable there until I send Mrs. Gates for you. You need only ring the bell pull at the doorway if you have