S time to appreciate t te-robed figure force toact o the floor.
it ucked inside crap, s a drop of life left in tle puffs of dust t wly back down.
til to collect eggs, o glance in at t seen a dark shape before.
te.
As I transcribed from memory, Miss inter’s voice seemed to fill my room y engraved itself on my memory and t, we,” s .
I ory, and so it took me a moment to re-focus my eye from tor’s ory to toryteller er’s normal pallor o an ugly yelloint, and must be said, seemed at present to be girding itself against some invisible assault. trembling around s of losing truggle to a repressed grimace o he day.
I rose from my c I ougo do.
‘Miss inter,“ I exclaimed ever is it?“
‘My I t to speak ruggle to measure as I of running to find Juditer regained control. t sloremors in ill pale as deat me.
‘Better…“ she said weakly.
Slourned to my chair.
‘I t you said somet a wolf,“ I began.
‘Yes. t black beast t gna my bones ime, because ed te pills on table beside t last forever. It’s nearly t my neck. By eetil one, ablet and o return to ces earlier every day. But I cannot take my tablets five minutes earlier. t stays the same.“
‘But surely tor—“
‘Of course. Once a en days, s te enoug to be to kill me, you see. And so must be t finishes me off.“
S me, very matter-of-fact, ted.
‘ter. If I ed to, I could put an end to it myself. feel sorry for me. I o do.“
I nodded. “All right.”
‘So. Let’s get on and do them, shall we? here were we?“
‘tor’s he violin.“
And inued our work.
C used to dealing h problems.
y of ttic rooms—but didn’t notice ter penetration got too bad closed up a room and started using anoter all. One ively maintained t tion . at .
Still, a doctor’s ly dead in t ignore. If it an outsider. t ter. Someto be done, altion of somet be, and ared, stricken, at tor’s upid, but t. Calamity was coming.
t Joor and in due course tor arrived. And it seemed for a ions of disaster tor’s badly at all, barely even concussed. Sot of brandy, accepted tea and after a s was a woman,” se.”
‘Nonsense,“ said t once reassuring and dismissive. ”te in the house.“
tears glittered in Mrs. Maudsley’s bro s. “Yes, a he piano and rose up and—”
‘Did you see her for long?“ Dr. Maudsley asked.
‘No, it for a moment.“
‘ell t cannot be,“ terrupted ic it e. You must .“
And t time, Jo ted.”
For a moment t t emple, but before anyone ime to respond to topknot and iful, were wild.
‘Could tor asked his wife.
Mrs. Maudsley measured Isabelle against ture in e o t a person’s memory? S match in her memory, decided.
‘Yes. the person.“
the-dig avoided exchanging a glance.
From t moment, forgetting or attended to. ion after question. o ansled, but urns arcient, nonsensical—ened carefully, nodding as es in or’s pad. taking to measure ed s and scars t marked the inside of her forearm.
‘Does shis herself?“
Reluctantly , tor pressed o a worried line.
‘May I urning to C tor took of the room.
In tor’s ed and pretended not to pay any attention to t came from t of voices but of a single voice, calm and measured. stopped, or. time, and ations over and over before tor came out, looking serious and s ence, but tor only he door closed behind him.
‘I’ll make ts old transport to me. ill t?“
Baffled, sor’s o leave.
At to t to a brougted o ttled obediently in t, never even looked out as trotted slooes.
toes in the drive.
Cood on teps c greoy is being taken a quite, not yet—t it is really happening.
From tcing for tion to dawn.
tes and disappeared tinued to stare at tes for three, four, five seconds.
tcrembling, t revealed ongue, t, strings of spittle across a dark cavity. Mesmerized cing for to emerge from t t ready to come. For long seconds it built up, accumulating inside il -up sound. At long last o eps and t tine belloing, but a damp, nasal snort.
toe circles for a moment, turned impassively to tigurned ao do to Ctempted to persuade o t o ed schoolboy.
And t .
t ? tated endnote to ter’s mot Miss inter didn’t ties as a parent; indeed t from andable; from maternal of ions hers?
I closed my book, slid my pencil into tood up.
‘I’ll be ahursday.“
And I left h her wolf.