TALES FROM MORTIFER HOUSE - Part Four - The Note

 

Eleanor found it very hard to settle after the skeleton in the mirror incident. The house seemed to quieten for a while and things were relatively normal. The girls seemed more at ease and had actually started playing like they used to, their laughter echoed throughout the house once again. This pleased Eleanor greatly.

She found it increasingly hard to have people around for readings, she was always afraid she was going to see unfortunate things in their future and the voices would grow louder and louder until they nearly caused her to cry out. Some days she truly believed she was going mad, which was always what Angus was constantly casting up to her. 

One rainy day Eleanor found herself at a loose end. She sat for a while doing some embroidery in the bedroom and then read a few pages of a book but she really couldn't concentrate. 

Wandering down to the hall she thought about moving the big chest of drawers. It really needed tidying and she was sure there was a ton of dust behind it too. It really was a trial attempting to keep such a huge house clean without a servant of some kind. 

Angus was insistent that they didn't need one, his mother had run the place single handed and brought the children up alone. But then again he didn't see that the place was slowly falling apart and was becoming harder and harder to upkeep. Eleanor could have spent all day cleaning to no real gain. 

With a few hours to kill Eleanor reluctantly set about emptying the crammed drawers. It was stuffed with old keys, newspaper articles, maps, letters and photos. She sifted through the items incredulous at some of the things that had been kept. The bottom drawer was slightly deeper and she knew exactly what was in there as she eased it open, the wood squeaking in protest. 

There was a memorial book for Emma bound with black ribbon. She didn't feel able to look at it just now, Emma may have been a difficult woman but Eleanor missed her presence in the house. Alongside the book were funeral cards and sympathy notes carefully stacked side by side. There was nothing that could be disposed of in this drawer. 

She stood up and eased the chest away from the wall. A spider scuttled to safety as she broke its web. Grasping a lamp and shining it behind the heavy chest she shuddered as she saw even more spider web and so much dust it would surely choke you if you disturbed it. Reluctantly she collected a cloth from the kitchen and began to dislodge the dust and dirt. 

As she wiped she felt something fall from the back of the drawers and slip underneath. Kneeling to look, at first she could see nothing. She reached for the lamp and stood it on the floor in the hopes she would be able to see better. Squinting hard she saw what appeared to be a piece of paper, it would be another one of Angus's wretched newspaper articles no doubt. Nevertheless she moved the heavy chest across the tiled floor as it groaned in protest. 

At last she could reach the paper. She saw immediately that it wasn't newspaper but a note wrapped around a photograph. On looking at the photo Eleanor frowned. She had no idea who the woman and children were in the picture. She had never seen them before. 

She turned her attention to the note which was handwritten and was hard to read, it was dirty and appeared to have also been partially burnt. 

"Is Mortifer cursed?

I have asked myself this question so many times,

and each time I can draw no conclusion.

 Have my actions caused this to happen?

I have always been one who never believed in such nonsense but now I am no longer as sure as I once was.

Lord forgive me for what I have done, my sins lay heavily in my heart.

To think I alone could be responsible for bringing such unrest to the Mortifer name makes me deeply ashamed.

Maybe I am the key to stopping all this, in which case I know what I must surely do."

Eleanor read the note and sat on the bottom of the stairs, she was puzzled. She did not recognise the handwriting, nor the people in the photo. Part of her wanted to ask Angus about it but on reflection it didn't seem wise. This was something she was going to have to investigate by herself. 

It seemed there was more to the rumoured Mortifer curse than meets the eye. 

Sarah Russell 2022