Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters

alliteration," he said. "And self-pity.
    Excuse me, Ellie."
    "Rain is depressing," Ellie said. "But you usually aren't ... Then you think I should just forget about my ghost?"
    "I'd be tempted to encourage his visits." Ted sat in silence for a few moments, his long fingers drumming lightly on the cover of the book. "I wonder ... "
    He didn't finish the sentence, but Ellie was sure she could follow his train of thought.
    DEVIL-MAY-CARE 45
    "Oh, no, you don't. No seances, Ted. I don't mind my young man, but I don't intend to encourage him."
    "If you say so."
    "No, I mean it," Ellie insisted. "I know that look, Ted. No tricks."
    "Now, sweetheart, would I play tricks on you?"
    Ted stood up. "Don't move, I'll let myself out. You have a phone right by your bed. Call if anything bothers you."
    "Nothing will."
    Yet after he had left, Ellie was aware of a faint uneasiness. Not that she was afraid, nothing like that. She was just not looking forward to going upstairs.
    She put it off longer than she might otherwise have done, sitting up to watch an old Humphrey Bogart movie. The rain stopped during the evening; when she looked out the parlor windows, the sky was bright with stars. It was almost two thirty before she started up the stairs, accompanied by the usual procession of animals. In spite of her resolve, her steps slowed as she neared the top, and her heart was beating faster than usual.
    Nothing happened. Not a sound, not a flicker of movement. Ellie stood on the landing, looking up and down the dimly lighted corridor, and wondering whether the empty sensation she felt was one of relief or disappointment.
    She had scarcely slid down into the bed, wriggling her body between cats, when she heard the sound.
    She knew the normal sounds of the house--if Roger's rustling could be called normal. This sound came from outside. She had opened the windows, to enjoy the sweet, rain-washed air, so she heard it distinctly.
    It was a soft, calling sound, like a human voice raised in wordless song. As Ellie lay staring open-eyed into the darkness, it gradually grew louder--or came nearer.
    She got out of bed, in a sudden abrupt movement, 48 Elizabeth Peters because she knew if she didn't move immediately she would simply pull the sheet up over her head and lie there shivering. Her plunging feet dislodged Jenny, the Siamese, who swore at her in a raucous voice.
    Ellie ignored the complaint. She went straight to the window.
    The ruffled muslin curtains were swaying gently in the breeze. It was a beautiful night. The sound still rose and fell, an inexplicable music.
    Ellie unhooked the screen and leaned out as far as she could. In so doing she extended the area of her vision; from her second-floor room she could see across the entire western lawn. At first there was nothing visible that should not have been there--the twin magnolias, the shapes of shrubbery and flower beds, the sweep of the graveled drive. Could it possibly be a night bird that was emitting that strange, beautiful song? None of the native Virginia birds made such noises. She thought of nightingales, which she had never heard, and wondered whether some imported rarity could have escaped its owner, to serenade the night ... Then she saw it--or rather, she saw them.. There were two figures, indistinct in the starlight, but unquestionably dual. They came out of the trees beyond the lawn, moving quickly, but with uncanny smoothness, as if they were sliding or skating instead of walking.
    One of them was a woman. Colors were bleached by night, shapes were uncertain, but the long, full skirts were unmistakable. They belled out, at the waist, as if they were supported by hoops or panniers.
    The upper part of the body was muffled in a shawllike garment, and the hair caught the starlight with a faint, fair gleam. It might have been silver, or golden blond, or powdered white.
    With the woman was another ... person. The billowing skirts concealed much of his body, but Ellie had a fleeting