Page 43 of Mirrors of the Past

Chapter Sixteen

1911

Laurie was hanging on to Viola by a handful of frilly material, his other hand on the handrail. He wasn’t sure how he could get out of this one. Let go of Viola and she would fall down the stairs, let go of the handrail and they would both overbalance and fall down the stairs.

‘Evie — could you help, please?’ He shouted for her over his shoulder. Oddly, he felt Viola stiffen under his hand, but he couldn’t wonder why right at this moment.

‘I’m fine. I don’t need any help!’ Viola muttered. She began to wriggle, trying to get herself into a better position . . .

But then . . . a ripping sound, a gasp, and the sound of a body bouncing down the stairs and landing in a heap on the floor. Laurie was left grasping a piece of cloth as he watched in horror as the crumpled form of Viola Arthur lay motionless at the bottom of the Grand Staircase.

‘Viola!’ he yelled and raced down the stairs towards her, jumping the last two or three.

‘Oh, God!’ Elsie was running towards them from the door of the morning room, quickly pursued by Pearl and Holly.

‘Viola!’ Pearl’s face was white as she threw herself down next to her sister and touched her shoulder.

Medora howled. ‘Oh, nooooo! She’s like the duchess. She’s dead! Dead on Halloween, at the bottom of our staircase! She’ll haunt Pencradoc forever! But she won’t haunt the rose garden, she’ll haunt here!’

‘Don’t be so stupid.’ Isolde pushed her overly-dramatic younger sister out of the way and knelt down beside Viola, on the opposite side to Pearl. She leaned down and checked her breathing, checked her pulse. ‘Rose died on the Tower staircase and not at Halloween, and Viola isn’t dead,’ she continued. Then, in a softer voice, ‘Viola. Vi — can you hear me?’

Laurie, by this time, was there as well, kneeling beside her.

‘Shall I get Sam?’ asked Clara.

‘No — no. Keep the rest of the boys out of this for now,’ said Holly, looking concerned. ‘We don’t need everyone crowding around her. They’re in the smoking room now anyway — they’ll not even know this has happened.’

The girls took the hint and moved back a couple of steps. Laurie touched Viola’s cheek. It was cold, but he could see her chest moving up and down, so he knew, thank God, that Isolde was right and Viola was breathing. There was also blood on her face from a nasty scrape where she must have caught her chin and forehead on the way down.

‘We need to move her if we can,’ he said shortly, frowning as he said it, because oddly he couldn’t let anyone see how upset he was. She was an annoying American girl he’d crossed swords with on a couple of occasions under less-than-ideal circumstances, but the idea of her not being there anymore was awful. It was hard seeing her so helpless — it wasn’t what he was used to. ‘We need to get her somewhere more comfortable than the floor.’

Suddenly, there was a little moan from Viola and he leaned over, moving her hair from her face, gently lifting the strands that were stuck to the blood from the scrapes. Her eyes flickered open and for a moment fixed on his. He hadn’t realised how green they were before and they looked almost otherworldly right now, with the candlelight from the hallway flickering in them.

‘What happened? Why are you so close?’ Viola asked.

‘You slipped on the stairs,’ said Laurie, as his heart hardened a little more, as was usual when he was near Viola. He sat back on his heels. If she didn’t want him close, he wouldn’t get close. Well. It was good to see some things hadn’t changed, he thought ironically.

‘Can you move everything?’ asked Pearl gently, ignoring the atmosphere that had started to fizz and bubble between Laurie and Viola.

Viola turned her attention to her sister and wiggled her fingers and toes. ‘Yes. Everything seems to be working,’ she said, and then tried to sit up, blinking like a baby owl. She rubbed the side of her face and looked a little shocked when her hand came away with blood.

‘See, Medora. I said she was alive.’ Isolde produced a lace handkerchief from somewhere and efficiently handed it to Viola. However, in a rare display of emotion, she leaned across, put her arms around Viola and hugged her. ‘Medora was worried you’d die on Halloween and haunt Pencradoc for ever.’

‘Why was I . . . ? Oh. Oh!’ Viola had clearly remembered something about her exploits. ‘The mirror. I was walking backwards up the stairs, wasn’t I?’

‘Why on earth would anyone do that?’ Now the danger was past, Laurie could not see the logic in that at all.

‘Did the mirror break?’ asked Viola, apparently looking around for it and ignoring the question. She did flush a dark pink, though, as if the answer was not going to be looked upon favourably by him. ‘That’s seven years bad luck and I sure don’t need that!’ A touch of her usual sparkiness was back, Laurie noticed.

‘It’s to see who you would marry, isn’t it?’ Evie came downstairs fully and smiled at Viola. ‘Don’t worry, the mirror looks fine. I’m Evelyn Griffiths.’ She held her hand out to Viola. ‘But I always get called Evie. I’m sorry if we startled you.’

‘Evie. Right.’ Viola looked stunned. ‘You’re Evie.’ It was almost as if she was fitting a puzzle together in her head.

‘I am. That was a beautiful poem you were saying. My mother was an actress and I can imagine her saying it too, on stage. My brothers are already here, but Laurie collected me from the station because I had a piano examination.’ Viola’s eyes flicked up to Evie’s bright-red hair and another piece of the puzzle seemed to click into place. Viola’s cheeks reddened again. ‘So my parents put me on the train in London,’ Evie continued blithely, ‘and Laurie met me at the station here so I wouldn’t have to travel alone.’

‘Oh.’ Viola blinked. ‘Yes. Quite. Um — nice to meet you, then, Evie.’

Evie kept hold of the hand Viola offered in return and gently helped her to her feet. ‘Do you feel a little swimmy?’ asked Evie. ‘Or are you all right? I think you bumped your head a little. Laurie was going to carry you to a sofa or something — quite romantic.’ Evie smiled as Viola looked horrified. ‘Perhaps he might have fled on a horse to get the doctor to you after that. He saved you, you know. You would have plummeted to your death had he not been so quick to react. He was a true hero. You — bounced — rather than — plummeted. So that’s very good, actually.’