Gibbous House 60

The ambulatory of the two Cullis' seemed little moved by his brother's fate, as far as I could tell. His cap was rolled tightly in his fists and he worked his jaw energetically, but of his strange dialect he uttered not a word. I did not feel obliged to console the fellow, but I did want the cadaver removed from the pond, so I asked :

'Is he for burial on the parish, then?'

The jaw continued its exercise, until Miss Pardoner used her own to more communicative purpose;

'It may not be a matter for the coroner, but perhaps we might send for the constable at Bamburgh, Mr Moffat?'

'And pray tell, whom would we despatch on such a vital mission?' was my counter.

'I think Maccabi would be pleased to go, if I were to ask him.'

'I shall tell him, Miss Pardoner. I shall tell him.'

Maccabi had departed with no good grace atop an equine specimen quite as poor as the one that had dragged us both round half of Northumberland earlier. Miss Pardoner had escorted Cullis vivendum and I to the rear of the property via the strange windowless wall and the extended arm forming the servant's quarters and blue bedrooms to the servants' entrance on the far side. The other Cullis rested in relative peace among the croaking and quacking. The bereaved fellow was left in the care of Mrs Gonderthwaite in the kitchen, although it still seemed an unlikely a source of provender as before. Miss Pardoner and I had passed through the kitchen into the servants' quarters.

'Perhaps I could show you these appartments, Mr Moffat?' She raised an eyebrow.

'Are you so well acquainted with them?' I raised an eyebrow of my own.

'No more than I care to be, sir.'

I bade her lead on.

There were rooms right and left off a corridor leading to the building's end. The first door on my right I knew was Mrs Gonderthwaite's and I merely put my head around the door to satisfy myself that it contained neither malkin, broomstick or cauldron. We continued to look into the rooms on the right hand: in contrast with the lunatic accumulation of artefacts and furnishing of the rest of the house, these rooms had merely devoted themselves to the accretion of years of dust and dirt. The fifth door down of course was that of Maccabi's but recent habitation; on opening the door I saw the cleanliness of it for myself. This and the meticulous order of the room I had been expecting. What I had not expected was the sight of Miss Pardoner's teal blue skirts of the previous day folded neatly on the cot. Her look was frank and I might easily have been convinced of the truth of her words claiming that Mr Maccabi was quite the hand with a needle and thread, were I as big a dolt as she thought me.

'I wonder he did not offer to tailor my wardrobe himself.' I said.