I opened my mouth to reply, but her question had rung some sort of alarm bell in me, and I realised with a shock that I was thinking of that conversation I’d had with Seeley. I felt a touch of the sick suspicion that had risen in me then. The idea was impossible, grotesque . . . But other grotesque and impossible things had happened, there at Hundreds; and suppose Caroline was somehow to blame for them? Suppose, unconsciously, she had given birth to some violent shadowy creature, that was effectively haunting the house? Ought I to leave Mrs Ayres unprotected there, for even one more night?
And you want to marry her?? Who's the crazy one now?
