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I was bewildered as I read the special delivery letter summoning me to my grandfather’s old office. Since his death the office had been taken over by his friend and partner, Tyler Summerfield. My feeling of bewilderment came from seeing the name Charles Knowles.            As I dressed to keep the appointment I tried to remember if I had ever known anyone by that name. The best that I could do was see a sudden image of a dirty, bearded, old face. I shrugged it off. This was not the face, or the name of anyone that I knew. I had seen this old face in my mind's eye since childhood, the way you will sometimes remember someone you have passed on the street.  I hurried to keep the appointment, and wondered why Uncle Tyler had not just called me on the telephone. A call would have been much friendlier than the cold and formal letter.           

I had not seen Uncle Tyler since my grandfather’s funeral, and he was waiting for me. He took my hand and led me to a chair facing the scarred old desk, and I was glad to see that he looked well.  As I seated myself, he stood at my side and placed a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle pat. He then picked the pen up from the inkstand.   Grandfather had always called this pen his writing stick. When Uncle Tyler picked it up, it cast a shadow on the desk, creating a big knuckled, stick wielding, hand shadow. I felt a shiver that stopped at the back of my neck.   I looked again at Uncle Tyler and my thoughts righted themselves. My conscience nipped at me that I had made no effort to see this good man. I could have found the time to have him out to the house for dinner and a talk over old times. I was ashamed now that the only times I thought of him at all, was when the postman delivered the small check each month. I always found each time I received it, that I was impatient for my twenty third birthday. This would be that wonderful day that the small legacy my grandfather had left me would be handed over to me.            

I lifted my eyes from that ominous shadow, and looked into those gentle brown eyes. Eyes that held a look of love for me that I knew was real. The sunray that sent little dust motes into floating jewels made a halo of his thick silver hair. The red-brown eyebrows were still as red-brown as ever. Time had been kind to Uncle Tyler. 

"I can see that you are wondering what this is all about. I won’t keep you waiting.” He said. “Let’s start at the beginning.” He took his seat behind the scarred old desk, picked up an envelope and removed a picture from it. He looked at it for a few seconds and then handed it to me. I stared at it in fascination. It was a picture of that same bearded old face that had come unbidden to my mind so many times in my life. As I looked at it I knew that somewhere long ago I had seen this face, and that it was the face of someone who had meant a great deal to me. Uncle Tyson was watching me, and irritation caused me to speak in a sharp voice.

“If this is some kind of a joke, I’m not amused. I can’t think why you would get me down here in this way, to show me a picture of someone who is vaguely familiar, and then not put my mind at rest by telling me where I knew him.”

“Just hold your horses young lady. Of course you’ve seen him, but you were little more than a baby at the time.”             

“ Why are you doing this? Grandfather never mentioned this picture or the man to me.”  It was infuriating to sit there and wait for him to answer my questions, and have him do nothing but smile. “You said that we would begin at the beginning. So?”    

“This is the beginning. If you give yourself time, you will put the picture and the man in it together in a certain place, and you will remember. You must remember.”           

I could only stare at him as pressure built inside my head and started it to pounding. “You’re off your trolley. Are you getting senile?” I asked. I immediately regretted that I could speak in such a way to my old and beloved friend. I went to him, and put my arms around him. I was crying as I said, “Forgive me. I didn’t mean that, but I can’t begin to understand what you want me to do.”  

Uncle Tyson pulled me down onto his lap, and I buried my face in his shoulder as I had done the day my grandfather died. He patted my shoulder, and smoothed my hair, while I cried with a grief that I couldn’t name. He held me until I was composed. As I went back to my chair, he said, “Dee, does the name Angelique mean anything to you?”

Again I could feel the pressure building, but the name meant nothing to me. When I said no, he nodded his head and reached for the envelope that had held the picture.  He then brought out several legal-looking documents. He sat looking at them for a moment, his eyes moving back and forth across the pages. He cleared his throat, and looked across the desk at me. 

“You’ve been left a good job, one that will pay you a substantial salary. I can’t tell you why or try to persuade you to take it. If you decide against it, it will end here and now.” 

“What do you mean? Of course I’m not going to take a job.”           

“Hear me out. If you decide not to, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to seek employment elsewhere. You’re at the end of the money your grandfather left in trust for you. I’m afraid that I let you believe there was a good deal more than there was. There could have been, if he hadn’t made some bad investments just before his death. By the conditions of his will, I was powerless to change it.” 

I felt faint. I knew there had not been a real fortune, but I looked forward to the day when I would have enough money to travel, and later start a small dress shop. I heard the words one thousand dollars. Uncle Ty was saying that for some time he had been paying my monthly check from his own pocket. I could have the auditors in, he was saying, but I shook my head numbly.  No, there was no need; he would never cheat me. I knew that he told the truth when he said that he had held back the thousand dollars against this day.My voice sounded strange to my ears when I said that I would take the job. “I don’t suppose I have much choice, do I?” I said in sudden panic. What if I couldn’t do the job? What if it was something that I had to have special training for?           

Uncle Ty was telling me what it was that I had to do. There was a house in Mississippi, just outside of Vicksburg. It had been built before the civil war. I was to restore the house, bring it to the way it was when Angelique was a very small child. 

“Why?” I said, “why me? How can I do this when I have never been in that house, have never seen it?”

“I believe that you can do it, Dee. Surely there will be someone still living in the area that remembers the way it used to be. Perhaps there will be pictures taken of family members inside the rooms. The furniture is stored in the house. Every piece is a priceless antique. Your own good taste, and a feeling of knowing what is right will help you.”

His kind gaze rested on me, and I asked again, “Why me?”

“That is something that I can’t tell you. You will have to take this job on trust, knowing that I would tell you everything if I could.” He rubbed his hand across his chin and gave me a troubled look. “I have told you all that I can. Once you are there, there is a very real possibility that you will remember Charles Knowles. When you remember, you will know everything.”

I reached out and took the pen from him to erase that ominous picture that the hand holding it had created. I wondered if the feeling could be a foreshadowing of things to come.   A terrifying moment of fear swept over me.  I almost screamed that I had to know why I had been singled out to do this thing. To push that feeling of fear away, I tried to speak in a normal voice, “and how many other people have I got to remember?”

“It would be good if you could remember Angelique visiting here as a child,” Uncle Ty said, “but beware, do not mention it to anyone that you will meet there. You are the hired help, and that is all. Do you understand? If you can’t go in as a complete stranger, it would be best to stay here. There are other jobs to be had,” he said and busied himself tidying his desk, but no amount of begging would get him to say another word on the subject.

I shrugged and put the new name from my thought. He gave me a letter of introduction to someone named Sean Wilson and wrote me a check for a thousand dollars. “You will have ample funds when you reach your destination. Remember that you are not to mention anything about the people we just talked about. And never voice their names to anyone down there.” 

I went to the door, opened it and turned back to say, “Uncle Ty, this had better not be a cruelty joke.” I slammed the door hard, and thought that joke or no joke, it would be an impossible task. I made up my mind that I would save the check that Uncle Ty had given me. I may need it to pay my way back! When I arrived home I went to the telephone and called the airport to confirm the reservations.  They were for the next day. I would rather have driven, but with a feeling of sadness, I knew that my old rag of a car would never make it to Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

I thought of the sound of tears in Uncle Ty’s voice as he told me goodbye. He promised to have his housekeeper pack and ship the things that I would need.  He would, he said, see to locking up the house and would keep a check on things for me.

                                                                        * * *

A tall young man, who said he recognized me by the picture that Uncle Ty had sent, met me in the Jackson airport.  Sean had sent him to fetch me, he said. As we walked to the car I found myself stealing side-glances at him. I liked what I saw and wished that I had taken time to comb my red-blonde hair. I knew that I was pretty. I could see that for myself, though I was often told so by the beaus I'd left behind in Seattle.

“I’m Bill Brooks,” the young man said, as he unlocked the car and opened the door for me. 

“Doctor Bill Brooks--Glad to meet you Bill. I’m Deirdre Anderson, but most folks call me Dee.” I smiled and said that I almost never needed a doctor, but it was good to know one in case I ever did. He laughed aloud and told me that he was a doctor all right, a veterinarian. We laughed together, and his blue eyes and black hair set my heart to pounding.           

The drive from Jackson to Vicksburg started out as a disappointment until the hills appeared. The highway is a ribbon cut between vine covered embankments and I felt the enchantment of the old south. As we neared the town itself, Bill told me that we were now in the National Park where much of the battle of Vicksburg had taken place. He said there were guided tours and I promised to take advantage of them as soon as possible. Suddenly and without cause the highway structure seemed vastly changed.  Nostalgia swept over me. It was as though I remembered narrow winding roads and streets of red brick. As we entered the town, those brick streets that had flitted through my mind became a reality. I had a rush of fear that equaled what I had felt in Uncle Ty’s office. 

Reservations had been made for me in a downtown hotel, and Bill told me that Sean Wilson would come for me the next morning. He said that the house I would be taken to was about fifteen miles from town, and that the land went to the water's edge of the Mississippi River.He left me in the hotel lobby saying that I must be tired from the journey and would want to rest and be refreshed for a long day on the morrow. I couldn’t help the keen disappointment when he made no offer to take me out to eat. I thanked him and turned away, thinking that some publicity man must have dreamed up the things that I had heard about southern hospitality. 

I met Sean Wilson in the hotel lobby the next morning. He had sent a call for me to come down, and was standing at the desk as I walked toward him. I took a second to look him over before he saw me. He was a slim, well-built but thoroughly disagreeable looking young man. His brown hair was short, and his eyes were a matching color. As I hesitated, he looked up and saw me. It was the look in those brown eyes that made me hesitate before I reached him.  His look confused me and I stood still. To cover my confusion I opened my purse and took out the letter that Uncle Ty had given me.  As I reached his side I asked if he was Sean Wilson, and he replied that he was; that he had a busy schedule and we had best be on our way. My tenseness left me once we were out of town and driving down a gravel road lined with huge oak trees, with here and there a stand of pines. I was looking at the moss-draped oaks when he finally spoke.           

“Tell me about yourself. You don’t talk much, do you?” 

I laughed. “I was thinking the same about you. There’s not much to tell.  I was orphaned at five, and lived with my grandfather until his death a little over a year ago. I’m a recent high school grad with a weak inclination for college. That’s about it.” 

“That much I know from Tyler. I meant what about boyfriends? Any serious attachments?"           

“Not a one,” I said. I waited for him to say something else but he didn’t, and before I could say anything more the house was before us. When Sean slowed the car to a crawl, I held my breath at the beauty before me. The lawn swept down and met a circle drive that went to the steps. These steps went up to a large gallery that drew attention to the hanging light. The double doors were heavily carved, and to the right was a rounded tower that went past the third floor and broke the sweep of gallery on that side. Six white columns rose to a long balcony that formed a roof for the gallery below. The windows were high and to the floor, opening inward from the middle and was often used, Sean said, instead of the massive front door. 

A young girl came around the house, and seeing the car, stood still and waiting. Sean saw her and raised his hand in greeting as the car moved toward her. As the car came to a stop I stared. She was beautiful, small and dark with the most exquisite face I'd ever seen.  Her eyes were blue with a slight oriental look, and she was dressed in yellow voile with yards of skirt gathered under a belt that couldn’t have been longer than a small dog collar. When we were out of the car, Sean reached and drew her to him as he introduced us.

“Melanie, this is the young lady you’ve been waiting to meet, Miss Dee Anderson. Dee, meet Melanie Nash.”

“I hope you find the room I’ve prepared for you comfortable, Dee. I had such short notice,” she said as she led the way to the porch. We crossed the porch and Melanie threw open the huge doors and stood aside for me to enter. I stood spellbound when I found myself in the enormous hall, looking at the elaborately carved banisters of the stairway that spiraled upward; at the huge chandelier that threw many colored prisms of light from the sun that came through the still open door. But then I felt a chill of apprehension as I realized that our voices were echoing because the rooms were empty of furniture. There were no pictures or coverings for the windows.Even though I knew that it would be this way it still came to me as unexpected.  I turned as Sean pushed himself away from the wall he had leaned on since entering the hall. He lowered his voice to a whisper and said, “Scared? It’s a big job you’ve got. This is enough to frighten the biggest male interior decorator, let alone a slip of a girl like you.” 

“I’m not,” I caught myself. I had almost said that I was not an interior decorator, but I added, “afraid to tackle it.” 

“How did you get be a decorator without the schooling?” he said, looking as if ready to say, “ah hah, I’ve caught you now.”

I was ready with my answer. “I did get an education in interior decorating with Hector Bench, a very good local decorator at home.” I did not add that his brother was a good friend, or that I would call Hector later, just in case Sean should call him. I composed myself under Melanie’s watchful eyes and smiled. “Of course I’m going to have to hire a couple of strong handy men to bring the furniture down, but I’m looking forward to it.” I said and turned to Melanie, “Now, if I may, I would like to see my room, and if Sean will bring my bags in I can begin by putting things away.” 

Sean went for my bags and as Melanie preceded me up the stairs I asked her if she knew of a good woman that wouldn’t mind living in with me until my job was finished.

“I suppose that Sean forgot to tell you that I would be staying here too? I hope that you don’t think me presumptuous, but I hired Sadie Lucas. She lives near here and will come in by the day. She’s a bit of a tyrant, but she is dependable. Many that work as domestics aren’t, you know.”

I didn’t know what she meant by the words, but I said nothing. My bedroom was at the end of the long hall on the second floor. The two tall windows opened out onto the upstairs gallery. Melanie went to them and pulled the shutters open, and I looked around the sparsely furnished room, glad to see the lamp lit on the bedside table. I was happy to see that it was electric, and gave a sigh of relief. I almost giggled then because I had been wondering as we climbed the stairs if we were to use candles and oil lamps, but was afraid to ask because I dreaded the answer. 

I also wondered about bath and kitchen facilities. I looked around me. The room was furnished with a bed, end table, and lamp.  The beautiful cabinet, Melanie said, was an armoire. This was the only furniture in the room, and when I asked Melanie about a place to hang my clothes, she laughed. “This is the clothes closet, “ she said, pulling the doors to the massive armoire open to show me. I smiled, feeling foolish. “Just be thankful that this one has shelves on one side for your dainties.” We heard Sean coming up the stairs with my luggage. "When you’ve put your things away we’ll go down to the kitchen and I’ll make sandwiches and coffee. I’m starving and I’ll bet you are too.” 

"Yes, I am." I had had so many butterflies in my stomach that I dared not eat. I hastened to put my things away and we went down to the kitchen. This room was also bare except for a pine table that looked handmade, some wooden boxes, a hot plate, and stainless steel electric coffeepot. Melanie went to the table and took the things needed for our meal from a cardboard box. She had also brought a supply of paper plates and cups.I found that I was enjoying myself with Melanie, and looking forward to having her around.

Sean entered the kitchen from the hall and when I turned to speak to him I caught a look of veiled hostility that he quickly covered with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. The lunch that had started out in such a gay and festive mood, in spite of the paper plates, ended with a somber feeling that I tried to keep hidden. When lunch was over Sean stood up and turned to me, saying, “we had best get back to town so that you can get to the bank before it closes. You’ve got a good many things to attend to before you can begin your stay here at Angel’s Rest.”           

With those words I felt a chill steal over me and a very real fear. The words Angel’s Rest nagged at my memory and again I saw the face of Charles Knowles. I stared inward at the mental picture that was now vivid and clear colors in my mind. Melanie’s voice broke the spell. 

“I think I hear Bill. He said he would be here about this time.” Then, as an afterthought she added, “they are sending out a stove and refrigerator from Elkin’s furniture store this afternoon.” She turned to me and gave me the same little girl smile I had seen when she had informed me that she had hired Sadie Lucas.

Bill called out from the hall, and Sean shouted at him to come on back to the kitchen. He came into the room, ignoring Melanie and Sean. “I’ve come to take you into town, and you can drive yourself back out here. I’m letting you have the loan of my car.”

“What will you do?” I asked.

“Drive my trusty station wagon. Always do anyway,” he said, “ unless I’ve got a date. In that case I hope that you will say yes when I ask you, and you can pick me up. O.K.?”

Sean’s voice was cold when he spoke. “She’s got business at the bank, and I expect that both girls will stay overnight in town anyway. We’ll see about transportation tomorrow.” 

I was put out at Melanie’s decision making, but I darn sure wasn’t going to let Sean boss me about. I would do as I pleased, and not as Sean Wilson expected me to.  My cheeks were flushed in defiance when I turned to Bill, “I accept the loan, Bill. The bank can wait until tomorrow because I want to go over the house today. How about staying and going over it with me?” I deliberately ignored Sean. 

“I can’t doll, got to get back to my business, but I’ll be free tomorrow afternoon. Why don’t we meet for lunch and then I can come out afterwards?” He turned to Sean and said “if you’re leaving in a little while, how about giving me a lift back to town?”

“In that case, I’m ready to go now,” was the short reply. 

As the two men went down the hall I called to Bill, “do you think you can get me a couple of good stout men to give me a hand here for a couple of weeks?” He waved and shook his head yes.When the two men left, I went out with Melanie, and looked around. The grounds were overgrown but had a natural beauty that was peaceful.  I listened to the song of a cardinal as he made a red flash through the trees.

Melanie turned to go back inside and I followed her in. “I’m glad that you decided to stay tonight. We’ll be comfortable enough, and we can get an early start in the morning. While we’re waiting for Elkins to deliver the kitchen things, we can take a look upstairs if you’d like to.  Maybe you can get some idea as to the furnishings before we begin moving it down.”  

Following her up the stairs to the third floor, I was amazed at the amount of furniture and it was fun poking around and thinking in my mind where to place the different pieces. I left off wanting to stay with the furniture, and asked to be taken on a round of the rooms. This was to me an immediate task. We went together, making jottings on a pad, until the men from Elkins came. We spent the rest of the day arranging things for handy convenience. The day was gone before I knew it and I was so tired that I went to bed with no thought of a bath and fell into sleep. 

However, it seemed that I had only just closed my eyes when I was wide-awake again. I could hear voices and sat up in bed listening. Now and then I heard a swift burst of anger. I heard the words, “No business here,” and “It won’t be for long.” Then the sound of a door closing and all was quiet again and sleep claimed me.

I awoke the next morning to a wet world. I pulled my robe around my shoulders and went to the window. The groaning sounds that the huge trees made as they twisted in the wind made me shiver. I stood looking out at a strange lush green as I looked down at the gallery railing. It seemed that I should see not a railing but a tall fence that my hands had clung to while the rain blew over me in gusts. A deep feeling of grief filled me and I slammed the shutters closed and hurried from the room. I was aware of the aroma of coffee before I realized that I had run headlong down the stairs.

I stopped in the kitchen door as a tall black woman turned away from the sink. Her eyes met mine, and I wanted crazily to run, to close the distance between us and fling myself into her arms, as a child would do. When she spoke, the feeling was gone and I felt as though I had been pushed back; shaken off by a loved one.

“Mornin’. I’m Sadie Lucas and I guess you’d be Miss Dee.” I heard the tinge of contempt in her cold and unfriendly voice. The too curly white hair above the dark face seemed to crackle as she looked at me in dislike. She turned her back on me. 

I got a paper cup from the table, poured myself a cup of coffee, and spoke to her back. “Mrs. Lucas, I want to thank you for helping out here. I’m to redecorate this house. I suppose Melanie told you.” 

“Ain’t Mrs. Lucas, just plain Sadie.” She turned those hard brown eyes to rest on my face and the malice in them was a physical shock when she said, “I ain’t doin’ this for you no-how. It’s for Miss Melie and no other reason.” There was nothing I could say. I remembered the voices of the night before and I now knew that they belonged to Sadie Lucas and Melanie. “How long you be here?”

I drew upon my old habit of lifting my chin.  I pulled my “I don’t give a dad-gummed,” attitude to the fore, as I have always done with people that I knew didn’t like me, and answered her. “As long as it takes to do what I came here to do. Why?”

“Just wondered, that’s all. This house ought to have never been opened up again. It’s got a curse on it and always will have,  ‘til Miss Angelique’s spirit is at rest.” 

Excitement gripped me. I felt questions rushing to get out but I didn’t voice them because just then Melanie came into the kitchen. Sadie smiled for the first time, and I found no opening in the friendly banter to say anything and soon excused myself to go to my room. I gathered the clothing that I wanted to wear for the day and took them into the dressing room off the bath. I took a long and restoring soak that made me feel wonderful in the soft water of the area. 

I dressed and went back downstairs. The rain was stopped as Melanie and I went to the car that Bill had left for my use. I had expected to drive myself, but she got behind the wheel and smiled at me. “I’ll drive, since you’re not used to these roads,” she said. I was put out with her taking over, but what she said was true. “Don’t let Sadie spook you,” she added, as we drove down the drive. “ She’s superstitious. You just have to know how to get along with her, and tune out the things she harps on that you don’t want to hear.”             

I almost asked about Angelique, but something held me back. I sat and admired the country we were driving through as she chatted gaily all the way into town. We went into a small café across the street from the bank and had a late breakfast as we waited for Sean to meet us there. I shrugged off the looks that I got along with my coffee and decided that this was one unfriendly town. Everyone was ready with a smile for Melanie, and when I mentioned the cold stares in my direction, she said that it was because I was a stranger in town. “ The people are swell, once you get to know them and they know you.”

                                                                  Chapter 2  

It was only after I was back at Angel’s Rest, wide-awake in bed, that I let myself think of all that I was involved in. I tried to piece together the things that uncle Ty had told me and other things that Mr. Mims at the bank had said. “No one must be allowed to tell you what you are to do, and you will have to work slowly. When a room looks and feels right, leave it. Speak to no one of Charles Knowles unless it’s something they have mentioned to you. Let no one know that you have seen Charles Knowles' picture.”           

I shivered even though the night was warm as I recalled his answer to my bewildered “Why?”

“You would be in danger if you did. You may be in danger anyway. I hope Tyler told you that?”           

“No,” I said, “He only told me that I was to be given funds to work with and a very good salary.”           

Mr. Mims eyes were kind as he asked if I wanted to withdraw from this job, that if I did that he wouldn’t blame me.           

“Oh yes,” I was going to say, “nothing could make me take this job.” I opened my mouth and the words tumbled across my lips, “I need the job. I couldn’t quit now if I wanted to. I was surprised at my answer and I added, “besides, you’ve made my curiosity get the best of me.”           

“Just as long as you remember what curiosity did to the cat.”            

Little fingers of cold fear climbed my backbone. I did indeed remember that old saying. Curiosity killed the cat. The words repeated themselves in my mind as the little breeze, thick with the perfume of honeysuckle, played over me. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought, “I still haven’t seen Melanie’s room.”           

A knock at my door woke me the next morning. Before I could call out, the door opened and Sadie Lucas was standing in the doorway with a tray. I sat up as she placed it on the bedside table. “There is no need for this,” I told her, “the only time I have a meal in bed is when I’m ill.”           

“Miss Mellie thought to let you lie abed this morning. The men are here to bring the furniture down. You’ll have your hands full later.”

I let her get to the door before calling her back. I got out of bed and stood before her,  pulling myself up to my full height and looking her straight in the eye. I made my voice as cold and commanding, as it was possible for me to do, “Melanie has not got the authority to give orders around here. I am the only one to do that, otherwise I will find someone else to stay with me and replace you both. You have said that the only reason you are here is because of Melanie. You can stay or leave, as you like, but any orders will come from me. Is that understood?”           

“Yes’m,” she said, as she turned to go.           

I don’t know why but I wanted to call her back, put my arms around her and tell her that I had not meant to hurt her feelings, but I could not reason these feeling within myself. Why should I feel this way for someone who obviously disliked me? She hated me if the looks she gave me were an indication. Then with no warning I was crying. The tears that had been near the surface since my arrival were now shaking me with harsh sobs.            

I felt her hand on my head. Without looking I reached up and took hold of that hand, as though I was a little girl again and had done this before. “Oh Sadie, it hurts me to hurt somebody else.” I sobbed.           

“Don’t cry,” she said, “don’t cry. You ain’t hurt Sadie.”           

I pushed myself back and looked into her face, “Thank you Sadie, it’s just that I get to feeling that I don’t know who or where I am anymore since coming here.”           

“Don’t fret. Most folks get that feeling at some time or other in life,” she said as she turned to go.

I reached out and caught her dress, pulled her back a step and said, “please stay. I don’t want you to go.”

She smiled at my words and released her dress from my hand. “Reckon I got to stay. You most likely can’t get nobody else, and you got to have somebody,” she said, as if she had mistaken the meaning of my words, and then she was gone.           

I sat on the side of my bed and ate the breakfast that Sadie had brought me and thought of the rooms downstairs. I tried to picture the furniture that I had seen. Finally, unable to place things in my mind I dressed and took the tray down to the kitchen. If I thought that in those few moments with Sadie Lucas that we were now friends, I found that I was wrong. She was as cold-eyed and stiffly formal as ever. She was civil to me but that was all, and if once in a while she turned a soft and puzzled look on me, it was quick to turn cold and hateful.           

Melanie stood in the doorway of the large room on the right side of the hall. The ornate doors were open and I could see a black marble mantel and fireplace at the end of the room. It was a large room and I thought of some of the massive pieces of furniture that I had seen earlier, but Melanie had instructed the men to carry in some of the fragile French style chairs done in blue velvet. It took all of the courage that I possessed but I gave orders for everything to be brought back into the great hall. I would make the decisions as to its placement. Melanie turned at my words and said, “just trying to help.”           

I thanked her and said that I didn’t think the blue chairs would go in that room. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders but said nothing more. The hall now had the look of a used furniture store. At least one third of the furniture was crowding it, and I asked that the blue chairs be put back upstairs.  I also asked that one of them be placed in my bedroom.

I was standing under the stairwell when I was shoved violently aside, and Melanie was sprawled across my body when I heard the crash. I untangled myself and stood up, looking into her white face.“You could have been killed,” she said in a shaky voice, “someone must have lost their balance with that love seat.” I turned and looked at the loveseat that had almost hit me, and except for Melanie’s selfless act, it would have.

This loveseat belongs in that room, I thought, not the blue. I could see deep red velvet drapes and red carpet. It puzzled my mind that a picture of the room, completely furnished showed behind my closed eyes. Melanie’s voice hurt my ears and destroyed the mental picture as she said, “Are you feeling sick?” 

By the time I was able to get out the small weak yes, a big red-faced man had lumbered down the stairs and was standing before me.  “Good lord ma’am, I told Silas not to tip that piece up like that, it shoved me clean into the railing. I had to turn it loose or go over myself.”

“It’s alright,” I told him. “It was an accident. Don’t worry about it, there was no harm done.” Was it an accident?  I wondered.  Was I in danger? I thought about packing my bags and leaving, but I knew that I wouldn’t. I smiled to myself at the thought that I would finish this job if it killed me.            

If I expected sympathy from Sadie I didn’t get it. That’s why Bill’s voice calling out was welcome.  When he insisted that I leave everything until the next day and go for a drive with him, I went. He drove to a spot that had a parking place at the river's edge. The water was shallow at the bank and I removed my shoes and waded. I was determined to forget Angel’s Rest for a little while at least, and enjoy it. I knew, on my arrival there, that the Mississippi River was nearby, but I was not prepared for its beauty. I stood a the water's edge, cooled by the shade of willows that grew there; feeling the drops that fell from them on my face.            

I forgot that I was not supposed to ask questions but I knew that I could trust Bill. He was the one person I felt that I could talk to about my problems. When I asked him what he knew of Angelique he said, “I never heard of her. Why?”           

“Sadie thinks her spirit is still at Angel’s Rest. She thinks the house should not have been opened.”           

Bill laughed. He explained that most of the old places carried legends, and that superstitions surround them.“I don’t know why, but most of these old southern homes are supposed to harbor ghosts and have deep dark secrets.” He reached out, broke a willow limb and continued,  “I suppose that it’s just the people's way of keeping the romance of the old south alive. God knows why, because these are changing times, and we need change.”           

“Well,” I said, “ No ghost stories are going to run me off. I’ve got a job to do and I need the money it pays. I’ll do what I came here to do and when it’s finished if they want to conjure ghosts let them. I’ll be gone by then.”           

Bill turned to me with that grin that I was getting to like so well and said, “Not if I can help it you won’t.”           

I stood still as he came toward me. I knew that he was going to kiss me and I wanted him to. His blue eyes searched deep into my own and I could feel the pulse in my throat hammering. My knees weakened, and would have let me fall if his arms hadn’t come around me. He kissed me and I felt as if I never wanted him to stop. We got back to Angel’s Rest long before dark, and even though a great deal more of the furniture had been brought into the great hall I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Bill’s eyes and mouth kept getting between my work and me. I knew that I had to get on with it, but the only thing that I could think of was Bill. 

When he drove away Melanie called me into the kitchen, saying that Sadie was gone but that she had left food in the warming oven. She had set places for two and it was when I stopped to look at the table that I thought I should have asked Bill to stay. We had eaten and were doing the dishes when Sean Wilson came in and the three of us walked over the grounds together. It was a pretty place and I found myself thinking aloud.  “This could be a real showplace.”            

Sean stopped at an overgrown hedge with Melanie at his side as usual. His voice was sarcastic when he said, “You’ve got the money to restore it. Why don’t you?”           

I don’t know why I felt flustered at his question. “Maybe I will,” I told him, seething that he could leave me feeling moronic with his words. He rubbed me the wrong way every time I saw him. He removed his arm from Melanie and turned to face me. “I was out in my boat today. That was you I saw on the river with Bill?”           

“More than likely it was. We were there.” I said, anger turning my cheeks red.           

“I just love these willows, they’re so romantic.” Melanie said in the high sweet voice that I was beginning to hate.           

“I don’t know about that, little one. I hear that aspirins are made from some part of them. Now what’s romantic about an aspirin?”

Melanie looked up at him with lips pursed in a pout, and I felt cross at both of them. I turned back to the house and left them lagging behind. I went to my room and heard Sean’s voice float through my window, “see you tomorrow, little one.”           

Later, I was tying the belt to my robe when Melanie knocked at my door. Fresh from my bath, and wanting to get into bed and think about Bill, I didn’t want to see anyone. She knocked again, harder this time and I told her to come in. She opened the door and almost skipped into the room. “I know you’re tired but I feel like talking awhile,” she said, settling on the foot of my bed. “Sadie tells me that you are not exactly happy with me. I only want to help; Sean thinks I can help you a good deal,” she said, spreading her hands and looking as if she would apologize.           

“I don’t mind Melie, but I have to do this house as I think it should be done.” I told her.  Then, because I had thought about it, I asked her if she thought Sadie could remember how the rooms had been furnished in the past.

“I don’t think so. It’s been a long time since she was here, and it’s doubtful if she was ever in most of the house.”           

“What you mean is, that even if she remembered every room in picture perfect detail that she wouldn’t tell me.” 

Melanie giggled and the giggle that had at first seemed girlish and sweet now grated on my nerves. “You’re wrong there. The sooner you are done here the quicker you’ll be gone and her darling Angelique’s spirit can come back to walk the halls.” 

“Well, I don’t believe in spirits that walk,” I said, “I shall stay until my job is done and I am ready to go.” I turned the covers back on the bed and turned to her again. “You can tell her that.”            

Melanie smiled at me with that childlike smile and said, “I don’t want to talk about Sadie. I’m dying to find out about you and Bill.”           

“There’s nothing to find out,” I said, knowing that she could see by the hateful flush that crept into my face the way I really felt. “After all,” I rushed on, knowing that I was giving myself away by saying anything. “We just met. I like him, but I like lots of people." I wished that she would leave my room. I told myself that Sean felt that he had done me a favor by asking her to stay with me. I found myself wishing for an older woman who wasn’t kittenish and cute. One that wouldn’t want long sessions of girl talks. I had to be fair though. I knew that I was feeling this way toward her because I wanted to keep my feelings about Bill a secret. I wanted to change the subject, and since she had spoken of Angelique, I asked her to tell me who Angelique was and what had happened to her.

She sat still and thoughtful for a moment and then said, “there was an accident here, years ago. Angelique’s mother was drowned and the child with her. They never recovered Angelique’s body. They only found a piece of cloth from the dress that she was wearing. It was caught on a limb that had drifted down river. I could never make myself believe that she was gone, even though I was here when it happened. Everyone says I won’t let myself believe it because I loved her so much, and just never would face it. She was my friend.”

Her words excited me and I spoke in a rush of words. “Then you must remember her very well, if you still believe that after all these years.”           

“No,” she said, a saddened look on her face, “but I do know that I loved her more than anyone else in the whole world.”           

“Not more than your parents, of course,” I reminded her.            

“I had no parents. Her parents took me from an orphanage as a companion to Angelique. We were sisters from that first day.”

“What happened after that,” I asked.

“I was sent back to the orphanage until I was eighteen. After I left the orphanage they helped me find a job, and I soon lost it. I worked here and there, never able to settle down to anything until Sean asked me to come here and stay with you. That’s about it.”           

“Your story makes me sad, but if you were here as even a small child, you must remember something about this house. Try to remember.  I’m going to need all the help I can get.”           

“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “Now, I suppose that we had both better get some rest.”           

After she was gone I thought with disgust that I hadn’t asked her what Angelique’s parents names were. As I settled myself for the sleep that I hoped would soon claim me, I wondered if there would ever be a tomorrow that would fall into place the way I had planned it. Mine never had.

Suddenly I was remembering the way that I had gone straight to the bathroom for the bath I had mentioned to Melie on my first night at Angel’s rest. I tried to remember if she had told me where it was. Oh well, I thought, of course she had. Anyway I thought sleepily, I could have found it on my own. I kept on remembering Melie’s words. Angelique’s mother had drowned. I wondered sleepily about the father. I would ask Melie tomorrow. I drifted off as I wondered what bygone year had seen the bathrooms and the antique plumbing installed. Then it was tomorrow, and the sun was bright and hot when I woke up. I bathed and dressed in a hurry and made a mental note to find out if there was two-twenty wiring. The house was fairly cool because of the high ceilings, but I wanted air conditioning in my room at least until my stay was over. If there was no two-twenty, I would settle for a small unit that would run on one-ten, and hope it would cool the room.           

I planned to send the broken loveseat to be repaired if possible and have the men move the heavy dining room furniture into the huge old dining hall today. I was thankful that it needed no restoration. The wood was dark and only needed scrubbing and waxing to bring back the luster and the same help for the rest of the furniture. I knew almost nothing about antique furniture but I knew that these pieces were priceless as well as beautiful. I found myself planning to learn more.           

Melie was waiting for me when I got downstairs, and there were two hefty looking young women waiting with her.  “Dee, these ladies are Martha and Jane Winn. Now don’t jump at me, I haven’t hired anymore help. Martha and Jane came looking for work, and I told them that they would have to talk to you.”           

“That’s right Miss, unless you mean to do all that polishing and scrubbing yourself,” said the woman that Melie had introduced as Martha.           

I gave Melie a grateful look and said they were both hired, feeling foolish that I hadn’t thought of it myself.

“You’ll find us good workers,” said the younger and prettier Jane.

We supplied them with mops, pails and a mountainous pile of old rags and they went to work with a will that sent out the good smell of soap, water and wax.           

I asked Melie to join me for coffee on the gallery. I couldn’t help but smile at the impish look she gave me. “Alright,” I said, “don’t rub it in. This is the first old house that I ever had to do over.”    I was getting that same old soft feeling again that I had between the times of irritation with her, and I had to let it show. “Thanks Melie,” I said, “You are a big help. I don’t suppose that I have been thinking straight lately. I was too anxious to get that darned furniture in the right places to think about the cleaning side of this job.”           

Since there was nothing that I could do until the cleaning was over in the dining room, I decided to walk down to the river and get more of an understanding of the grounds. Melie declined my invitation to join me and I set off alone. Sean had pointed out the path to me and I was surprised that it looked worn as if in constant use.I slapped at mosquitoes that buzzed and bit. They came in swarms and I determined that I would have to leave exploring, and go back the house to find a spray that would keep them away from me. As I turned to go back, I shoved at what I thought was a vine that I had somehow caught around my neck. I put up my hands to pull it free and my blood froze. I saw that this was no vine but a piece of rope that was choking my breath away. I heard heavy breathing as I tried to turn, to fight back. Pain exploded inside my head and there was only a dark well where I couldn’t breath, and I fell into darkness.