Eglantine by Catherine Jinks Page B

we will seek to be happy and healthy without your presence . . .’
    She went on and on, for about ten minutes. Then she chanted one of her sutras, and Mum chanted one of her sutras, and when they finished, they clapped their hands sharply three times, in unison.
    Only at that point did they open their eyes, and struggle to their feet with a great cracking of knee-joints.
    ‘Do you think Eglantine is really worried about the house?’ I began, but Mum shushed me again. She took a handful of sea-salt from a little silver dish beside her and began to scatter it over the floor.
    ‘We’ll leave that there for a day,’ Trish announced.
    ‘Then we’ll sweep it up and scatter some fresh flowers, instead. Perhaps light a few candles.’
    ‘What’s the salt for?’ I inquired.
    ‘Salt is the densest ingredient that we use in everyday cooking,’ Trish replied solemnly. ‘It’s one of the most important elements of life , and therefore stands in direct opposition to the spirit world. We want to encourage the life force in this room.’
    ‘It’s worth trying,’ Mum added. ‘If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to bring in a Feng Shui master, and that’s going to cost money.’
    She left the room, then, and Trish went with her; they were going to refresh themselves with some jasmine tea. I stayed. I looked around at the bright, empty room, and wondered if Eglantine was going to take any notice of a Chinese purification ritual. I worried that she wouldn’t, because she hadn’t been Chinese.
    ‘Eglantine,’ I said aloud, ‘I’m really, really sorry about what happened to you.’ I was, too. I was beginning to feel as if I knew her better, and the fact that she might have choked to death . . . well, I was finding it harder and harder to think about anything so awful. ‘The thing is, though,’ I went on, ‘there’s nothing we can do about it. Can’t you see that? Can’t you please go away and leave us alone? I bet you wouldn’t have liked sharing a room with your little brother.’
    A deep, dense silence answered my request. Dust-motes drifted through a shaft of sunlight.
    If Eglantine had heard me, she wasn’t the least bit interested.
    I went and got my journal, so that I could copy down the twenty-eight new lines that had appeared on the walls the previous night. Count Osric was still relating to Princess Emilie his plan for her escape. I will anchor my ship against the cliff , he said. A red light shall float at the masthead. I will come with a boat and bear thee away. Then, with the strong ship we will go to another land – a summer-land, where we shall be forever happy. Oh, fly with me, lady, or I die! Fly with me, I pray thee by our love. I bid thee from all pains. I proffer thee all delights!
    But Emilie was doubtful. When he implored her, she begged him to command her, rather - for without his command, she would not have the strength. So he commanded her, and she obeyed.
    Then night fell upon the kingdom of the white-bearded king, bleak and dark and cold. The shrubs were heavy with raindrops which lurked in the hollows of the blossoms and the leaves. A cold wind blew. Emilie arrayed herself like a page , and went forth to meet her lover. She left the palace gate. She traversed the crowded streets. She trembled but did not faint. She had just passed the sentries at the city gate, when the story stopped.
    By this time, I have to admit, I was becoming obsessed. I wanted to know what was going to happen. So I wasn’t as pleased as you might expect when, the next morning, I found only one line written on the walls. It said, A wood was at her left .
    ‘Wow,’ said Bethan. ‘Just one line.’
    ‘That’s pretty good,’ said Ray. ‘That’s better than we’ve had since the very beginning.’
    ‘Maybe the purification ceremony was the right thing to do,’ said Mum, sounding a little dazed. We were all standing around in Bethan’s bedroom, staring at the lonely new line. A wood was at her left .
    I