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Why was Gideon acting like this? Nice to me one moment, kind and affectionate, next moment chilly and unapproachable? It was more than anyone could bear. Well, I couldn’t for one. What had happened down here, between him and me, had felt real. And right. And now all he could find to do was expose me to the entire team at the first chance he got? What was his idea?
“Come along,” Mr. George told me again.
“I’ll see you the day after tomorrow, Gwyneth,” said Falk de Villiers. “Your big day.”
“Don’t forget to blindfold her,” said Dr. White, and I heard Gideon laugh briefly as if Dr. White had made a bad joke. Then the heavy door closed behind me and Mr. George, and we were out in the corridor.
“You’d think he didn’t like smokers,” I said quietly, though I felt like bursting into floods of tears.
“Let me put the blindfold on, please,” said Mr. George, and I stood still until he had tied the scarf into a knot behind my head. Then he took my school bag from me and carefully helped me forward. “Gwyneth … you really must be more careful.”
“A couple of cigarettes won’t kill me stone dead this minute, Mr. George.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean, then?”
“I meant you should be careful about showing your feelings.”
“What? What feelings?”
I heard Mr. George sighing. “My dear child, even a blind man could see that you … you really should take care where your feelings for Gideon are concerned.”
“But I—” I stopped. Obviously Mr. George saw more than I’d given him credit for.
“Relationships between two time travelers have never turned out well,” he said. “Nor, come to that, have any relationships at all between the de Villiers and Montrose families. In times like these, we have to keep reminding ourselves that, fundamentally, no one is to be trusted.” Maybe I was only imagining it, but I thought his hand on my back was trembling. “Unfortunately it’s an incontrovertible fact that sound common sense flies out of the window as soon as love comes in through the door. And sound common sense is what you need most of all at this point. Careful, there’s a step coming.”
We made our way up from the chronograph room in silence, and then Mr. George took off the blindfold. He looked at me very seriously. “You can do it, Gwyneth. I firmly believe in you and your abilities.”
His round face was covered with little beads of perspiration again. I saw nothing but concern for me in his bright eyes—it was the same with my mother when she looked at me. A huge wave of affection swept over me.
“Here’s your signet ring,” I said. “How old are you, Mr. George? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Seventy-six,” said Mr. George. “It’s no secret.”
I stared at him. Although I’d never thought of it before, I’d have guessed he was a good ten years younger. “Then in 1956 you were…?”
“Twenty-one. That was the year when I began work as a legal clerk in the chambers here and became a member of the Lodge.”
“Do you know Violet Purpleplum, Mr. George? She’s a friend of my great-aunt’s.”
Mr. George raised one eyebrow. “No, I don’t think I do. Come along, I’ll take you to your car. I’m sure your mother will be anxious to see you.”
“Yes, I think so, too. Mr. George…?”
But Mr. George had already turned to move away. I had no option but to follow him. “You’ll be collected from home tomorrow,” he said. “Madame Rossini needs you for a fitting, and after that Giordano will try teaching you a few things. And after that, you’ll have to elapse.”
“Sounds like a wonderful day,” I said wearily.
* * *
“BUT THAT … that’s not magic!” I whispered, shocked.
Lesley sighed. “Not in the sense of hocus-pocus magical rituals, maybe, but it’s a magical ability. The magic of the raven.”
“More of an eccentricity, if you ask me,” I said. “Something that makes people laugh at me—and anyway no one believes I can do it.”
“Gwenny, it’s not eccentric to have extrasensory perception. It’s a gift. You can see ghosts and talk to them.”
