Page 27 of Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #1)

27

Monday morning brought two arguments. The first was with Immi, who was furious that, once again, she was missing out on something she considered to be exciting.

‘It’s only Mr Tasker teaching the children,’ I said.

‘Exactly! I wanted to meet him, and I wanted to meet John and Robert! Why didn’t you organise the lessons for the weekend so I could have been here?’ she demanded.

‘You’ve got enough to do with your own schooling,’ I said. The last thing I wanted was for her to make friends with John and Robert too. She needed to start hanging out with the kids from her class. Living, breathing kids. ‘Why don’t you invite Ashton over for tea?’

‘Oh!’ She gave a snort of impatience and flounced out of the room, not even finishing her cornflakes.

The second argument was with Lawrie, who didn’t take the news about the lessons very well at all.

‘It’s out of the question,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to send Walter away again. What were you thinking going against my wishes like that? Not to mention overruling Agnes. She’s Florence’s mother and has every right to refuse schooling if?—’

‘For one thing,’ I said, ‘that’s not how it works. Nowadays, children must be educated, whether the parents like it or not. They don’t have to go to school, but they must receive an education, and it’s my duty to make sure the children of this village get theirs. For another,’ I added as he opened his mouth to speak, ‘Agnes isn’t Florrie’s mother. She claims to have adopted her but as far as I’m aware, there are no adoption agencies in the afterlife, so what gives her the right to decide what happens to Florrie anyway?’

‘Callie!’

‘No, I’m sorry, Lawrie. If you’d heard the other ghosts last night, you’d realise how much of a disruption Florrie is to this village. Not to mention the terrible influence she’s having on John and Robert.’ I shook my head. ‘Do you ever actually listen to the other ghosts? Or is it all about Agnes with you?’

‘I can’t believe you’ve just said that to me,’ he snapped. ‘You’ve been here five minutes, and you already think you know better than I do about everything.’

‘It’s not that at all,’ I said huffily, ‘but the way you boss everyone about just to keep that woman happy… Telling me I can’t ask Aubrey and Agnes why they never leave these grounds, for example. Although,’ I added smugly, ‘I think I’ve figured that out.’

He paled. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Silas was here at the gates last night, warning the others not to come into this den of iniquity. Apparently, he’s furious that Agnes and Aubrey are living in sin. They’re not legally married, are they? And that’s no doubt why Agnes won’t go into the village. She’d hardly want Silas yelling that across the street, would she?’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake. That man. He knows nothing.’

‘Or maybe you just don’t know as much as you think. I’m sorry, Lawrie, I don’t want us to fall out about this but I just don’t get it. Why do you always put Agnes ahead of everyone else? Those kids…’ I took a deep breath, remembering my own struggles at school, ‘they deserve an education. The chance to learn. It’s important.’

‘Well,’ Lawrie said abruptly, ‘you’ve obviously made your mind up. Clearly you have no further need of my services, so the sooner I leave here, the better.’

He turned and walked away, leaning heavily on his stick, and I felt sick to my stomach. I really hadn’t wanted an argument, but he’d been so dismissive of my attempts to help the kids that my anger had risen until I couldn’t help but dig my heels in. He was far too old to be arguing like that and I should have known better. Even if I was right.

‘You’re proper mean.’

I jumped, hearing a voice behind me, and turned to find Florrie glaring at me, her arms folded.

‘Fancy talking to Lawrie like that. Agnes’ll ’ave your guts for garters.’

‘Oh, be quiet, Florrie,’ I said, hardly in the mood for her antics today.

‘I’m not going to any stupid classes,’ she informed me. ‘And there’s no way John and Robert will go either. Stupid lessons. Who needs ’em? You’ll never find those lads without me and I’m not gonna help you. You might as well tell that stupid teacher to go ’ome cos he’s wasting ’is time.’

I rubbed my forehead, suddenly feeling so tired, I could happily go back to bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

‘You’re probably right,’ I said.

She surveyed me through narrowed eyes. ‘Eh?’

‘You’re probably right,’ I repeated. ‘He probably would be wasting his time. Your favourite word, judging by your recent outburst, is stupid, and maybe that’s the problem. Maybe you’re too stupid to learn anything, and maybe I’m stupid for thinking you were capable.’

‘I’m not stupid,’ she said angrily. ‘I got nine out of ten in my last spelling test, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it.’

‘That was a long time ago,’ I reminded her. ‘You’ve probably forgotten it all now. Intelligence needs nurturing and it’s been so long since you tried to learn anything, I doubt very much you’re capable any longer. I should imagine even John and Robert would be brighter than you. After all, they’d be starting completely from scratch, which is always easier than having to relearn things.’

‘Is it?’ she asked, clearly surprised.

I shouldn’t think so for a minute.

‘Of course it is. Everyone knows that. Well, most people.’

‘I’ll bet I could learn anything faster than those two,’ she said scornfully. ‘You’re daft if you think I couldn’t.’

‘Well,’ I said with a shrug, ‘we’ll never know, will we? Which is lucky for you, I should think. I’ll go and find Walter. Tell him not to bother.’

‘Scared, are you?’ she demanded as I turned away.

I stopped, a smile hovering on my lips. ‘Scared? Of what?’ I changed my expression to one of disinterest and turned back to her.

‘Of losing the bet.’

‘I wasn’t aware I’d made any bet.’

‘I said I’d bet you I could learn anything faster than those two,’ she reminded me. ‘Are you too chicken to take the bet?’

I pretended to consider it. ‘What do I get if you lose?’ I asked.

‘I won’t lose,’ she said confidently. ‘But if I do, which I won’t, but if I do – what would you want?’

‘Hmm. How about you agree to do lessons with Walter for the rest of this year, even if you’re not very good at them?’

She shrugged. ‘I’ll be good at them. Easy peasy. Now, what are you going to give me when I win the bet?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘what would you like me to give you?’

She tilted her head to the side, thinking about it. Then a slow smile spread across her face. ‘You make that girl of yours call her kitten Brian.’

I laughed. ‘I can’t do that!’

‘Okay. So you are scared then?’

How had she managed to turn this around so successfully? Now I was the one on the backfoot. How could I promise that Immi would name her kitten Brian? He wasn’t my kitten to name, and I couldn’t force her to call him that. Could I? Lord knows I was in her bad books already without adding something else to her long list of reasons to be angry at me.

But if I took the bet, Florence would take her lessons, and John and Robert would join her, and we might actually have a chance of taming the three of them and giving them a better afterlife. I sent a silent apology to Immi and nodded.

‘Okay. You’re on.’

She grinned. ‘She’s gonna hate you,’ she said gleefully.

‘No she won’t, because you’ll lose the bet,’ I said, with far more confidence than I felt.

‘We’ll see,’ she said happily. ‘I’ll go and fetch John and Robert, shall I? Then you’ll find out how smart I am and how stupid they are.’

‘Go ahead,’ I told her. ‘Don’t be long, though, because Walter will be here very soon.’

‘I won’t be!’

As she ran through the front door, I heard a movement behind me and spun round to see Mia pushing open the kitchen door, a look of admiration on her face.

‘Oh, well done!’

‘You heard that?’

‘Some of it, and you played it brilliantly.’ She laughed. ‘Though I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes when Immi finds out what you’ve agreed to.’

I sighed. ‘I know. I’m just hoping it doesn’t come to that. Have you seen Lawrie?’

‘No. Why?’

‘We had a bit of an argument. I shouldn’t have said what I said to him.’

‘What did you say to him?’ she asked worriedly.

‘I basically accused him of only caring about pleasing Agnes and not giving a fig what happened to the rest of the ghosts,’ I said with a sigh.

‘Well…’

‘You agree?’ I asked, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that,’ she said, ‘but there’s no doubt in my mind that her happiness comes before any of the other ghosts’ and I don’t think that’s fair. Maybe it’s time he realised that, and maybe you telling him so will give him pause for thought.’

‘I could have phrased it a bit more kindly, though,’ I said sadly. ‘And I really don’t know what Brodie’s going to say when he hears I’ve been arguing with his grandpa. You know how much he adores him.’

‘Maybe he does, but he’s not completely blind to him either,’ she assured me. ‘Perhaps it’s time things were shaken up around here, and I have a feeling you’re just the woman for the job.’