“Molly, my dear,” Gus said, running toward me, arms open. “I am so glad to see you.”
“We came as soon as we got the telegram.” Sid was one pace behind her. “We thought you wouldn’t want to be alone at such a difficult time. How is Daniel? Are we too late?”
“Over the worst, thank God,” I said. “He survived the crisis last night and I think he’s going to be all right.” To my own surprise these last words came out as a great hiccupping sob and tears welled up in my eyes.
Gus extended her hands to me through the bars of the gate and I took hold of them. “Oh, that’s wonderful news,” she said. “We were so worried all the way here. The wretched train moved at a snail’s pace.”
“Molly, can you please let us in?” Sid said. “I’d like to give you a hug and there are bars in the way. I feel like a prison visitor.”
I swallowed back the tears. “Wait a second.” I turned back. “Martha, come and give me a hand with this gate.”
Together we raised the peg that locked it and dragged it open.
“For some reason the gate is always locked at nightfall here,” I said. “But come in, do. You don’t know how happy I am that you’re here.”
“Molly, dearest. As if we’d stay away in your hour of need.” First Sid then Gus enveloped me in a big hug.
“I’ll be off home then, Mrs. Sullivan,” Martha said. “Seeing as how these are friends of yours.”
“Oh, right. Yes. Thank you, Martha,” I said. Together we shut the gate behind her.
“So everyone is imprisoned for the night?” Sid asked.
“There is another door, apparently, but I haven’t been shown where it is,” I said. “Come inside, do, before the rain picks up again.”
“Oh, we got good and soaked getting into the cab and then walking up to the house, didn’t we, Sid,” Gus said. “But there’s no harm in a little rain. We didn’t wear our best hats.”
And she laughed.
“We’re not staying in the big house,” I said, steering them away from the main gravel drive to a small flagstone path.
They stared up at the massive dark shape beyond us. “Oh, I remember this, don’t you, Sid?” Gus said. “We laughed about it. We called it the Evil Castle.”
“And we wondered why anybody would choose to build a new house to look so old and uncomfortable.”
“It was to remind Brian Hannan of his homeland, I understand. And to remind everybody else that he’d come from a peasant cottage and could now afford a castle.” I turned back to them. “So you’ve seen it before? I remember that you stayed in Newport last summer.”
“Of course we’ve seen it. We could hardly miss it, could we, Sid?” Gus said. “My cousin’s estate is next door and our windows looked straight at the monstrosity.”
“Wait—your cousin’s house is next door? You don’t mean the house built like a Roman temple, do you?”
“Exactly.” They laughed.
“What a coincidence.” I led them up to the cottage door. “Here we are. Cozy but cramped.”
“How awfully quaint.” Sid laughed again. “Not only does the man build the most uncomfortable-looking castle but he’s added the peasant cottages around it too. Has he imported an Irish bog or two for the peat?”
“We shouldn’t laugh about him,” I said, suddenly remembering. “The poor man was murdered two days ago.”
“Mercy me,” Gus said. “Daniel nearly dies of pneumonia and your host gets murdered. And you thought you were here for a quiet week on the seashore.”
“I know.” I opened the front door. “As I said, it’s rather cramped, so I’m not sure how we’ll manage with sleeping arrangements…”
“Molly, don’t worry about us,” Sid said. “It’s all sorted out. Gus telephoned her cousin the moment we received your telegram, and the upshot is that we are most welcome to camp out in marble luxury next door. The housekeeper there will take care of our needs and we shall be free to look after you and Daniel.”
“That is wonderful,” I said. “Here, let me take those wet coats.”
“How very dinky.” Sid was already poking her head in doorways. “A real Irish cottage. And supper already laid out on the table.”
“I’ll take you up to see Daniel and then we can eat,” I said. “We should go quietly just in case he’s sleeping.”
But he wasn’t. He opened his eyes in surprise as we came in.
“Daniel, dear. Look who has come to be with us,” I said.
“Now I suppose I’m to get no peace from a pack of women,” he replied, but his eyes were smiling.
“I can see you are on the mend, Captain Sullivan,” Sid commented.
As for me, I felt as if a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. My husband was getting better and my dear friends were here to support me. Everything would be all right after all.