Page 38 of Bane Bloom

Choosing to believe he was being kind, I replied, “I’d like that. Maybe I could visit Annie. And I’ve been wanting to see the bluebells again before they fade. On the way back, perhaps you could let me off in the woods so I can sketch. It’s not far to walk back from there.”

His brow clouded. “I wouldn’t like to leave you in the woods alone, Miss Gray.”

I studied him, puzzled by this. “Surely there’s no cause for concern. There’s the other farm nearby, and I’d be back well before dark.”

“Even so.”

His face had gone blank again, and I found I’d reached the end of my patience with his vague warnings. “Can you please just tell me what it is that you’re afraid of, Thomas?”

Inquiry

For a moment he seemed to consider, and like a fool, I took this for a hopeful sign.

“Not any one thing,” he said. “But there’d be no one to help you should you get lost or injured.”

He was turning to go, and I laid a hand on his arm. His eyes followed the movement and then rose to my face, causing my heart to skip. “Thomas,” I said, letting go of him, “you’ve as good as accused me of childishness twice since I arrived here. Please have the courtesy to not treat me like a child. Annie came to the house alone just yesterday morning. Did you have words with her over it?”

He frowned. “What Mrs. Foss does is none of my business.”

My brows lifted. “And what I do is?”

His gaze locked with mine. “Maybe you’ll recall that the last person who came to Pine Cottage from London went missing and hasn’t been seen since.”

I winced and looked down. “I do indeed,” I said soberly. “And I’ve already required rescuing once.”

After a moment, he said in a gentler tone, “You bring your drawing things. I’ll mend my net while you work and then drive you home when you’ve finished.”

While I preferred to sketch without someone watching me, I found myself not exactly hating this idea. Still, I said, “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your responsibilities.”

“I can mend a net as well there as here.”

With that he turned and walked back the way we’d come, picking up a bucket of gardening implements along the way.

My mood had almost completely turned around since last night. Thomas was found, and there was the prospect of seeing Annie again, and of just being around people generally.

I dipped water into the kettle and then found a coffee bean grinder in the pantry. Once I’d eaten a lazy breakfast of toast and coffee, I filled a cup with water for my paintbrushes and carried it up to my room.

I dug my box of watercolor cakes from a trunk and set it on the desk next to my drawing of the Bane Bloom.

The morning was overcast but brighter than yesterday—perfect lighting for this project. Though I wasn’t sure how I would do this flower justice with its relatively muted color palette of gray, black, and silver. One had to see it glowing under the moonlight to truly get a sense of how compelling it was. I did the best I could through the use of contrast and white space.

I set the finished painting aside to dry and went back to my trunk for a pen, inkpot, and stationery. I sat for some moments staring out at the lake, organizing my thoughts while I watched a man fishing from the shallows near the woods we’d driven through.

Finally, I began my letter.

Dear Mr. Harding,

I have arrived at Pine Cottage and am settling in well. The work, too, is well underway.

I wished to send you a line or two about a very interesting specimen I encountered in the glasshouse. I have enclosed a painting, as I fear my words won’t really do it justice. This specimen has caused me some consternation, as it appears capable of disguising itself as a common water lily. One evening when it appeared in the moonlight, I managed to capture its alternate form with some detail, as you see here. I’m writing with the hope that you have knowledge of this plant that you might share with me, or, if you do not, to perhaps introduce you to something yet undiscovered.

I set down this last line like Thomas set his net. How could a curator of the Physic Garden not have his interest piqued? I closed with:

At present this plant has only one large bloom and, as far as I can tell, no buds. So I am also writing for your direction before taking a sample, in case someone from the Society might wish to examine it fully intact.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine Gray