Chapter 1:
Chapter 16:
https://open.substack.com/pub/whimsicalwords/p/hauntings-of-claverton-castle-chapter-726?r=5m2is&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Chapter 16 ended with Samantha having the audacity to defend Harriet against her host, Harriet’s stern father. Everyone is staring at Samantha in astonishment.
Hauntings of Claverton Castle, Chapter 17
Samantha’s cheeks warmed, and she lowered her gaze to the keyboard and played another piece, a concerto she had herself composed. She customarily composed her own music but did not talk much about it. Occasionally she thought she might be able to make a living as a composer. That would be far more pleasant than working as a governess, a common option for genteel spinsters in financial straits. It was far better than marrying for money.
The family listened in silence for some time. Though embarrassed from speaking bluntly to her host, Samantha lost herself in her music. After she played for an hour, Mr. Prendregast gruffly bid his good-nights and stomped out of the drawing room.
Reginald sprang from his chair and galloped to the pianoforte. He leaned over it. “Bravo, Miss Ponsonby!”
“Odd’s bodkin!” Harriet dropped her embroidery. “Truly, Samantha, I do not know whether to thank you or chastise you! I cannot believe how you spoke to my father.”
“I am sorry, Harriet, but someone must. I know it was rash—”
“No matter!” Reginald rubbed his hands together gleefully. “I must say, I find your rash behavior most gratifying, Miss Ponsonby.”
“Thank you, I suppose.”
Reginald glanced toward the door. “Depend upon it, our father can be quite the rampallian, as ignorant as dirt! Harriet cannot admit it.”
“Really, Reginald!” Harriet shook her finger at him.
Reginald bit his thumb at the door. “Nay, he is a flap-eared knave!”
Harriet lost control of her laughter and, clutching her torso, threw her head back. Reginald pointed at her and guffawed, amused by her laughter. Samantha smiled and shook her head. Once the laughter died down, Samantha rose and bid her friends good night. She hoped to read before falling asleep.
Harriet sat up and cleared her throat. “Good night, dear Sam.”
Reginald lifted his glass of port. “Do not let the ghosts bite!”
Harriet giggled but shook a finger at him. “La, do not listen to my brother!”
Samantha knit her brow. “Perhaps I should. Though I have never known ghosts to bite.”
Reginald chuckled. “La, you are a clever one!”
Samantha blinked at him and realized he assumed she spoke in jest. Perhaps I am too serious. Smiling and shaking her head again, Samantha retired from the drawing room. Carrying a candelabra, she glided along the dark hallway and up the staircase.
As soon as she reached the topmost step, the temperature dropped, and she espied the brume of ghosts hovering near the hallway ceiling. Samantha gulped. Keeping her eyes on the spirits, she stepped up from the staircase. She drifted slowly down the hallway, toward the cloud of ghosts, and watched them… and listened to them. The specters whispered in frantic, childish voices. She could not understand a word.
One of the apparitions soared down and landed in front of her in the corridor. Staring at the misty gray specter that resembled a tall raincloud, Samantha pressed her hand over her rapidly beating heart and stopped in her tracks.