Taitiann took one end of the table cloth and Selene the other. The former stared out the window as they folded the cloth together.

"What are you thinking about, Taitiann?" Selene asked.

"Warm weather," Taitiann answered. "I'm tired of the cold."

"I don't think the weather has much to do with the chill we feel here," Selene said.

"What do you mean?" Taitiann asked.

"I mean Jessop St. Cloud," Selene said. "His mother spent the whole night crying. It must have been something he said."

"I didn't want to give up on him," Taitiann said. "But it seems even Annie Mount-Helens has. Did you know that Ira St. Cloud is planning to propose to her?"

"No," Selene gasped then laughed. "She's settling for the younger brother."

Taitiann nodded. "But I think she really likes him." She put the folded table cloth over the back of the sofa. "I just really didn't want to give up on him."

"Why?" Selene asked as she put the chairs back in their places.

"Well..." Taitiann started. "He...it sounds foolish when I say it, but he reminds me of Miriam." Both sisters looked to the door as if Miriam would come breezing in at that second. "So cold...like a heart of stone. Miriam wasn't always that way."

"She used to be fun." Selene pushed the negative thoughts out of her head.

"Still no news of Astrid and the girls," Taitiann said. "I'm starting to worry. I wish they were here. Hannah would love the Wendy house."

"Hannah would tear that house apart," Selene said and both sisters laughed. "Maybe I should take Miriam some breakfast. She hasn't been eating much." Selene took the tray and walked the short ways down the hall. "Miriam," she said then knocked. "I've brought you some breakfast."

When Miriam opened the door she was dressed in her usual dull creams and grays. "Thank you," she said stiffly. When she didn't close the door Selene stepped through it after her.

"It's dark in here," she pointed out. "Maybe you should open the curtains.

"Looking at snow only makes me colder," Miriam said. She took a seat on the bed and looked over the tray.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Selene asked and when Miriam gave a shallow nod so she took a seat on the opposite bed. The eldest sister ate in silence. Selene almost regretted asking to stay. The woman that sat before her was a shell of the sister she once knew.

/

"Why do you have to be contrary?" Jessop challenged his brother over breakfast.

"He's not," Natty said. "Jess, try to understand."

Jessop stirred his oatmeal. "All I can understand is how ungrateful my brother is."

"How is deciding my own future ungrateful?" Ira fired back.

"I've pulled strings for," Jessop said, "got you a seat with the best that others would kill for. We already have everything laid out for you. You'll get your degree then come work for my firm in Louisiana."

"I don't want to be a lawyer," Ira said. "I want to be an architect. Like cousin Jethro." He nodded to his cousin who like his parents chose to stay out of the argument. "I can already draw...and that's what I want to do. Tell him, Pa."

"Ira, your brother has a point. You become an architect you may not get any work. But if you chose to practice law—"

"And what, work for him the rest of my life?" Ira scoffed. "You couldn't pay me. He's impossible to live with I can't imagine what it is to work for him."

"I treat my staff very well," Jessop said.

"Yeah, according to whom?" Ira glared across the table. "Father, may I be excused?" He was already standing before Marion could say yes.

"And where do you have to be this early?" Jessop asked.

Ira cleaned his hands and mouth then fixed his collar. "If you must know, Mr. St. Cloud esquire, Mrs. Mount-Helens is taking Annie shopping and they've asked me to come along.

Jessop snorted. "Have fun picking out petticoats and other woman's clothing."

"At least I have the decency to speak to her."

"Boys, you're upsetting your mother and you aunt," Marion cut in.

A knock at the door made them all look to the front end of the house.

Ira checked his watch. "That couldn't be them already."

The hurried feet of a maid was heard before she appeared in the wide dining room doorway. "Mr. St. Cloud. You'd best come quick." Marion his brother and sons all hurried after the maid.

"Is it Annie?" Ira asked as she led them into the front sitting room.

"No, sir," the maid said. "I don't recognize this child at all."

Marion was the first to enter the room. He looked down at the girl laid out on the sofa shivering in her torn dress.

Harold pushed between Ira and Jessop and his eyes filled with recognition when he saw the girl. "Astrid?" The astonishment brought him to his knees. He took her icy hands in his and rubbed them. "Kitty!" he called for his wife. "Kitty, come quickly!"

When Kitty St. Cloud entered the room with Natty she rushed over to Astrid. "You poor dear." She grabbed the throw off the back of the sofa and put it over her. "You're all right now."

"Should I get her sisters?" Ira asked and his father nodded.

"Bring something warm from the kitchen," Marion ordered the maid. He then faced his brother. "Is she really a sister to the others?"

Harold nodded. "The forth of Fairchild's daughters," he said somberly. "There are three others."

Two maids returned in addition to the first brining blankets with them. Astrid ate slowly surrounded by the warm blankets and at last familiar faces.

Taitiann was the first of the sisters to come through the door followed by Selene and then Miriam. The younger two fell upon their sister and embraced her but Miriam held back.

"Where's Heloise?" she asked and the room fell silent. "Where are Alifair and Hannah?"

Astrid opened her mouth and struggled for words. She couldn't look her three sisters in the eyes with the bad news. "Dead."

"No!" Selene screamed and turned to Jethro who embraced her.

Miriam blinked. She hadn't realized they were so close. She suddenly felt like she had missed out on the world. "How?"

"I don't know," Astrid wept. "I got sick and Mrs. Murphy sent me to a doctor then these men came; one of them was the officer who took Mama and Papa. They came and they took me too. He left me with another man and he made me lie in the snow." She squeezed Taitiann's hands.

"Who would do this to a child?" Natty wept. "You poor thing."

"That's not all," Astrid went on. "It was Mrs. Murphy, Miriam. She betrayed us. She knew the man who did this to me."

Miriam shook her head. "No, no I trusted her that can't be true."

Astrid nodded in return. "I wouldn't lie. I took this scroll." She handed the paper to Taitiann nearest her. "He couldn't read it and he wasn't too happy about that. But I think it has something to do with all that has happened to us." The scroll circled the room and all heads shook at the strange letters for no one was able to read it.

"Do we know the man that did this to you, Astrid?" Selene asked. "Was he also from our town?"

Astrid shook her head and sniffled. "No, I would have remembered his face. His hair is red like fire and his eyes are cold and blue."

"Did you hear his name?" Harold asked.

Astrid dug into her memories. "I'm sorry I can't remember, but..." Everyone seemed to step closer. "He said something to me the day I escaped. He had me roll in the snow for half an hour. He said to me...when they...ask...who killed you...tell them it was wendigo."

"No." The word escaped from Jessop's lips but it wasn't heard for the gasp that came from Miriam. She backed all the way into the wall, her eyes locked in a far off terror as if some monstrous creature that only she could see had entered the room.

Selene turned to her sister. "Are you all right, Miriam?"

Miriam reined in her emotions and stood tall again. "Yes. I am fine. Excuse me." She walked calmly out of the room then fled as quickly as she could up the hall.

/

Jessop closed his room door and leaned against it. He shook his head and gasped for air. Suddenly he felt like the room had filled with smoke and was robbing him of his breath. He took of his jacket and undid the first few buttons of his shirt before finally just tearing it away from his body. He collapsed across his bed and twisted in the blankets. The room seemed to be closing in around him. He could see his face, hear his voice. Pushing back his thick auburn hair he clawed at the wall above his head pulling down the shelf and confederate flag that had been nailed there.

He wadded the flag into a ball against his chest and rolling over he fell out of the bed onto the cold hard floor. He lied there with the side of his face pressed into the wood grain trying to stop himself from what he refused to admit was a panic.

Tap Tap Tap

He recognized his mother familiar light knock and sat up. "Yes?"

"Are you all right, I heard a thud?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine," Jessop said quickly. He smoothed his hair back into place and picked out a different shirt. "I'll be down in a minute." He watched the gap below the door until her shadow went away then he sat exhausted back on the bed. He lived to haunt. After six years of success the ghost had at last returned.

/

The next morning when Miriam awoke, she put on the appearance of being refreshed. She sat with her sisters though she didn't have much to say to them as Astrid told the story of her escape. Taking the mysterious scroll with her, Miriam inquired the whereabouts of Ira St. Cloud. One of the maids had seen him going out to the stable so Miriam put on her coat and took a walk outside.

She found the stable doors ajar and held up her skirt as she stepped over the muddy threshold. She quickly stopped herself when she saw Ira kissing Annie. Neither seemed to notice she had come in. She quickly stepped out of the stable and hid around the door. She was already nervous for what she was about to do and now she felt a twinge of embarrassment. Feigning a cough she stepped back up to the stable door. This time when she entered Ira was fixing the collar of his shirt and Annie was smoothing her hair.

"I'm sorry if I took you by surprise," Miriam said.

"Not at all," Ira said breathlessly. "I was just showing Miss Mount-Helens here how to saddle a horse."

Miriam laughed inside at the ridiculous excuse. "Well, sir, I was hoping you could spare a moment of your time." She expected him to say something sarcastic but he obliged. She contributed his sudden burst of manners to Annie's presence.

"I know you are well known around town," Miriam began. "And I was wondering if you might know anyone skilled in reading codes."

Ira leaned against a stall. "This is about that scroll?" He waved his hand. "It's no language I've ever seen."

"But have you looked at many languages, Ira?" Annie inquired.

Both women had their eyes on him and Ira felt trapped. "Look." He addressed Miriam. "My brother has strongly asked me not to get involved with this."

"And why must you do what he says?" Annie demanded.

Ira groaned in frustration. "You know what he's like, Annie."

"What who's like?"

They all spun to the door to see Jessop himself coming in, dressed for riding.

Ira bit his lip and Miriam looked away but Georgia native Annie wasn't so easily submitted. "This old stud," she said gaily bouncing over to the stallion's stall. "Just look at him!" She smiled at Jessop." He's so big and strong and handsome but stubborn as a stone. In fact it would have been better for him had he been born a mule."

Ira's eyes went big and Miriam covered her mouth. Annie simply tossed a banana curl over her shoulder and flounced out the stable. Jessop watched her go then turned again to his brother.

"What's this all about?" He nodded slightly to Miriam but wouldn't look at her.

"We were just talking," Ira said as his brother walked over to the stall that held his horse.

"'bout what?" Jessop asked as he stroked the horse's Roman nose.

Ira glanced at Miriam. "Just...stuff."

Jessop snorted. "You really think I'm that dim, Ira. I know you were talking about something you shan't just like I know Miss Mount-Helens just called me stubborn."

Ira scratched his throat. "If the shoe fits."

"What?" Jessop spun around.

"Mr. St. Cloud, sir," Miriam stepped forward. "Your brother was simply telling me that he cannot help with a favor I asked for he respects you too much and does not desire to disobey your wishes."

Jessop looked at her and then at Ira. "Good then." He opened the stall and led the horse out by the halter. As he passed Miriam he stopped. "And I advise you not get yourself in any trouble of it either."

                Miriam bobbed and Jessop walked away taking his horse with him. As soon as he was gone Miriam turned back to Ira. It was hopeless. She simply gathered her skirts and stepped back over the threshold.