SHEILA.....For the time being, until we can manage things, we've agreed that we will have to be content with coming to Fiddler's Green Friday nights and stay until Monday mornings. That isn't nearly enough, but it's the best we can do. The oddest thing happened this evening as we arrived. We met, quite by accident at the gate, and so were able to come to the house together, and as we rounded the last bend of the drive, the sun caught and reflected from windows just under the eaves. It was more of a glare on glass than anything and we couldn't make out the actual outline of a window frame, but it certainly looked like a small window.
    We both got out and stared at the house. Neither of us had noticed them before, nor had the others mentioned windows there. I was positive that there had been no windows last weekend, when we moved the furniture. In fact, there had been no evidence that there was any sort of attic. To be sure, we hadn't poked into every nook and cranny, but neither of us had seen any door leading to an attic. I couldn't imagine which of the rooms had held the secret. There were no closets in any of the bedrooms, hence the lovely armoires that we had moved in.
    In an awful hurry, all of a sudden, we grabbed the sleeping bags and food coolers and camping stove from the cars. We had come prepared this time to stay at Fiddler's Green instead of at the B and B in Greyleith. We hurried into the house and dropped the things in the kitchen, and ran up the stairs. There had to be a secret door someplace that lead to the attic. But then, why should it have to be a secret? Attics, generally, were easily accessible so they could be used for storage. If there wasn't a doorway and stairs, then there should be a pull-down ladder in a ceiling.......most probably in the hall.
    There was nothing. No door......no stairs.......no ceiling hatch and ladder......nothing. We stood in the hallway at the top of the staircase and just looked at each other.
    "Maybe we didn't really see windows at all." Jill said after a bit. "Maybe it was just a trick of the light and the way the sun hit the eaves." We went back outside and walked all around the house, looking up and there were no windows on any side under the eaves. We went back in and sat down on our rolled up sleeping bags in the kitchen. We didn't say anything for a bit, both of us trying to remember exactly what we had seen.

JILL.....It was hot by midday on Friday, and I couldn't wait to get out of the city. Personal conflicts at work made it even easier to leave, and I packed what I'd need for two days, left the key with the neighbours so they could check up on the cats, and headed off. My head was full of thoughts the whole of the way there and I didn't even have the usual trouble of staying awake while driving.
    Just as I pulled into the driveway, a car signalled and turned off as well. Sheila waved and got out while I opened the gate. "Hey, great timing. We're both eager,eh?!"
    "Right you are. Wanted to make the most of our first real weekend stay at the house. Can you believe this? It's almost too good to be true. It won't be long before we'll be here full time, and I can't wait."
    "Sounds like your plans are coming to-gether" Sheila said and I hoped that she, too, was making headway with her decision about her work.We hopped in our cars and I paused at the side of the driveway to let her go first. As we approached the house, the sun was near to setting, and suddenly Sheila stopped ahead of me, and jumped out.
    "Did you see that?" she asked excitedly, and pointed at the roof of the house. A light seemed to be reflecting the setting sun, and try as we might we couldn't figure out from what. Hastily we grabbed our stuff and hurried into the house. About fifteen minutes later we sat together in the kitchen. Stumped. No window, no attic, no crawl space in the ceilings, no secret doors, no stairs. Nothing but a disappointing search. And no Annie to greet us either, I thought.
    I leaned back on my sleeping bag, against the kitchen wall, and took stock of the space within the house. The kitchen was certainly big and took up almost the entire back of the house. The living and dining rooms occupied the rest of the ground floor along with the stairway to the second floor. The three bedrooms and the bathroom covered the same footprint as the first. Or did they? The bathroom was smaller than the kitchen and along with the back half of one of the bedrooms was directly above the kitchen. Unless my mental picture was wrong, together they wouldn't use the same space as the kitchen, and that meant one thing. There was space unaccounted for somewhere.
    "Hey" I said to Sheila, beginning to smile. "I think we had better have another look up there. There's only one closet in the whole of the upstairs, and it's in the bathroom. The linen closet. And it's big. Come on."
    We went upstairs again and into the bathroom. It was not a typical modern city bathroom, but rather, one that had probably been made from what was originally a small bedroom. Not unlike the farmhouse we'd grown up in. The sort of bathroom that promoted the feeling of luxury with all its spaciousness. And a linen closet to boot. We opened the door to empty shelves along the back of the closet wall. Nothing there. We'd already checked that out earlier. We tapped the ceiling. Solid. The walls behind and on either side of the shelves seemed the same. We needed to be more thorough.
    "Start at the bottom" I said. "Tap every couple of inches. Something has to be here. It just has to be!" We worked our way up the back wall and then I took the right hand side and Sheila the left. Almost right away I found it.The moulding at the bottom was loose, ever so slightly pulled away from the wallboard. I pushed it in and heard a faint click.
    "Sheila, look!" I said excitedly. The click seemed to be a catch of some sort coming undone, and the whole side wall swung back and in and there right in front of us was a very narrow staircase. And Annie. I gasped in surprise.
    "Wow, we did it. A secret passage." Sheila said and I waited for her to say something about Annie. Nothing. Annie started up the stairs and we followed. The passage was narrow indeed, and turned left onto a tiny landing and then left again to go further up another six steps to open into the attic. The first thing we did was to stand there and look for a window. There was none. That should be no surprise, since we'd seen none from the outside. But there was light coming in somewhere. Vents along the roof line were open to let hot air escape, and some light came in there, but it was light enough to see the whole attic space and it was big. Annie just sat there in the middle of the room, looking very pleased with herself. I almost laughed.
    We walked to the end that would have looked out to the front of the house, had there, indeed, been a window there to look out of. And very distinctly, now that we were right at the same level as the roof, we could see that there actually HAD been a window there. It had been boarded up, with the outside boards made to fit exactly so that it would not be noticed. At least not noticed unless you'd been up on a ladder inspecting closely. There was a small table near the end wall, and a bench under what had been the window. And a book lying on the bench.

SHEILA.....I wondered, abstactedly as we walked about the almost empty attic,exactly how many mysteries this old home was holding. A fountain that ran without plumbing,the absence of anything needing repair,a whole loft of wonderful furniture that obviously belonged to the house, and now, an attic that was not meant to be readily discovered. I leaned over to look at the small book lying on the bench, and saw that it was a journal of some sort. The writing looked feminine and I wondered why a lady should feel the need to hide away to write a journal. The ink had faded to a pale brown, but was still visible. For some reason, I hesitated to pick it up. It would be like sneaking in and reading someone's diary and that wasn't a comfortable thought.
    "Do you think she'd mind us reading it?" I asked Jill."I wonder what happened that she would just leave it here in the middle of a sentence like that." I sat down on the little bench,not wanting to pick the book up, and my foot kicked something under the table at my elbow. Looking under, I saw a small brown trunk, pushed right back against the wall and, being in the shadow of the table, we had not noticed it. The trunk itself was quite plain, but the keyhole was surrounded by a wide medallion with a design on it that seemed familiar. The medallion was tarnished, but we could see glints of silver in the light and knew that it would polish up beautifully. I rubbed it a bit with the hem of my shirt and sure enough, a little patch sparkled.
    Jill bent down to have a closer look, and suddenly made a little sound. "Hey..... I wonder........" and she was off down the hidden stair. I could faintly hear her thumping about and in a few minutes, she came running back up with the little key she had found the day we moved the first of the furniture. Carefully, she fitted it into the key hole and turned and we could hear a tiny click as the lock opened. I stood aside a bit as she gently laid back the lid of the little trunk and looked inside.
    I could see several other books in a pile, similar to the one on the bench, and thought that there must be quite a history written here. I wondered if it would be the history of our new home, or perhaps just the lady's dreams all written down. There were, as well, two silver candlesticks and a bundle of thin candles tied with a blue ribbon. There was an inkwell and a small glass jar that held five or six quill pens. I could see a little earthenware pot that might have been used to hold a handful of flowers. A small lace edged cloth was folded neatly and I could just picture the lady seated at the little table with her things all laid out on the cloth. There was a little, lumpy pouch with a design in embroidery that looked like a small cat. So she , like Jill and I, liked cats too. I picked it up and inside were little cloth mice and balls of different colors filled with what smelled like catnip. I smiled and handed them to Jill.
    "Here's something to save for the kitties when they get here." I said. Maybe it would be a shame to have them all chewed up though. I know Sami would. Perhaps we should just leave them here." She took one of the little mice from me and turning tossed it in the air towards the middle of the room. I laughed and asked if she was practicing. She would miss her kitties on the weekends that we stayed here, as I would miss my Sami. We would have to talk about bringing them the next time. I had awful misgivings about Sami. She was not friendly to other cats and I was desparate that the four should not fight for territory. I wondered if just maybe the house magic might work in this case as well. So far everything else had worked out so very well.

JILL ....We were both rather in awe of what we had discovered in the attic, and then we discovered that the key I'd found earlier fit into the keyhole in the little trunk. We opened it, and in doing so realized that we were opening the past and peering into someone's life. Annie had come to sit beside me on the floor, and seemed also interested in what we had discovered although I was pretty sure she knew all along exactly what was there. She ran out into the middle of the room when I tossed her the catnip mouse and promptly sat down beside it. I wondered if she would have bought it back if we had been alone there, just she and I. We decided to leave the trunk where we'd found it, and let it keep it's secrets for another day. There were other things to be done and Sheila was eager to have a look at the other trunks we'd brought in from the garage.
    One of the trunks contained all sorts of dinnerware and utensils, and Sheila was particularily taken by the designs on both. By the time we'd placed things in what we thought were the cabinets they'd always been in, we were ready to call it a day. After a quick dinner we both headed for bed, and after lying awake for a short time thinking about the day's events, I began to drift off. I could see Annie lying on the window sill and she appeared to be intent on something down in the yard. Night things, I remember thinking, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

SHEILA..... Since there was nothing else in the attic, we decided to go through one of the trunks that we had put behind the fancy screen in the living room. We chose the one that held the china and breakable things. More because we needed something to eat off than anything, but the things we found there were wonderful and it was quite awhile before we got around to eating. There was a complete dinner service with the most wonderful patterns. They looked as though they were hand painted with birds and flowers and scrolled designs in a bright gold. There were flower vases and small china renderings of flower blossoms and animals. There was a rolled up bundle of silverware with beautiful engravings of flowers on the handles, and these were not even tarnished. There were glasses for wine and water with etchings that matched the china, and I wondered if the lady had done the art work herself, or if the whole thing had been commissioned from an independant craftsman.
    We placed the things in the appropriate cupboards and ate our dinner and found that we were too tired to stay up any longer. The thought of being able to wake up to our own birds and spend the whole weekend at our own home was exciting and after cleaning up and sorting out our sleeping bags, we said goodnight and got into bed and I fell asleep thinking about the things we would find in the morning.
    Some noise woke me in the night. As I lay there half asleep, listening,I was sure that I could hear footsteps overhead, and wondered why Jill would be up in the attic in the dark. I fumbled about for the flashlite that I had left by the bed and shuffled into the bathroom to find that the passage way to the attic was open. I called softly but she did not reply and when I got to the attic and shone the light around it was empty. Very strange, for I was sure that I had heard footsteps. I went over to the table and opened the little trunk again. Since I was up, and wide awake by now, I thought I might take a quick look at the other journals and at least get some idea how long a time frame they spanned.
    I opened the one that was still lying on the bench and found it dated June 19--. I took the one from the bottom of the pile in the trunk and the date on this one was September 19--. So; the lady had been keeping track of things for a very long time. Each journal must track more than one year, since there were only eighteen little books. Her writing was very graceful and I regretted that we no longer took penmanship in school. Now everything is typed and generally on a computer, at that. I wondered what she would have thought of the modern technology. I picked up the pile of books and noticed that two did not lie flat together. I tapped the pile on the bench and a smaller booklet fell out onto the floor. It was a different color than the rest and much thinner.
    I set the others back into the trunk and picked up the little one. The booklet was covered in a dark leather and I could see that the front had a painting of birds and flowers that reminded me of the crystal glasses downstairs. I opened it to the first page and felt a little faint as I read the title. In her lovely flowing script were the words " MY BOOK OF SHADOWS". I sat there for a few minutes just looking at them. Until very recently, I would have thought nothing of them, but a short time ago, I had come repeatedly on referrences to these very words. I riffled through the little book and caught glimpses of pages of poems and short passages whose pages were illuminated with more of the flower and animal drawings. With a little shiver, I realized that the lady had practised Wicca, and had been proficient enough in the art to have devised her own poetry and spells. I could no longer think of her as a woman who had once lived in this house. Now she was a person in her own right and a Presence. Now I thought of her as "The Lady". I would have to find out her name. I would also have to do some research on Wicca and the practices and history of the craft. I knew I could not read the journals, least of all this little book, until I knew and understood more. With all these confusing thoughts running through my mind, I heard a noise by the stairs and looked up to see Jill watching me curiously.
    "Oh...I hope you don't mind that I came up here.......I thought I heard you walking around and wondered what you were doing. I guess I should have waited til you were here too, but look at this little book."
    Jill came over and took the book. "What is it? Looks like poems and things."
    "Do you know anything about Wicca? Judging from this and I haven't read anything yet, she was Wiccan and pretty good at it too."

JILL..... When something woke me, it was still dark, and Annie was no longer sitting in the window. I could hear small noises from above, and knew that someone was up in the attic. Surprisingly, I felt only curious, and not frightened, and got out of bed. The hall was dark, and I made my way into the bathroom where I could see a space in the wall where the stairs lead up to the attic.
    I tiptoed up, and found Sheila pouring over the contents of the trunk. More specifically, one of the little books we had found, and she looked up guiltily when she heard me. I walked over to where she was sitting and looked at the book she held out to me. It appeared to contain short passages and drawings. Sheila explained that it was Wiccan, and I knew only that that meant spells and stuff, and smiled. This, Sheila would find intriguing I was sure. It did not interest me particularily, and after leafing through a few pages, I handed it back to her, and yawned.
    " I think that I'll just finish up the night in my bed, and get a fresh start in the morning. To-morrow's a new day, and we've got lots of time to look these things over when it's lighter" I said. "Good night. Again. And don't get too carried away with that" I was at the top of the stairs when I saw Annie sitting half-way down, and she got up and escorted me back to my bedroom. The covers still held heat from when I left , and I crawled into the sleeping bag and hauled it up around my ears. I could feel an ever so slight movement at the foot and wondered if Annie was settling in for the rest of the night as well. If so, she was light as a feather. Not like my three at home, and I drifted off.

SHEILA..... I couldn't sleep much for the rest of last night and after breakfast this morning when we had things cleared away I asked Jill if she needed anything in town. I wanted to go in and have a quick look in the Library to see if there was anything on the subject of Wicca. If not, then it would have to wait til I got home and could look on the computer. She didn't and said that she just wanted to relax and enjoy the yard and the feel of the house and off I went.
    The library was on the main street of Greyleith and I had no trouble finding it. I didn't want to ask at the desk for directions and thought I might be able to find some reference if I just sort of moused about. There were several people browsing already and I wanted to avoid the aisles with people in them if possible. I didn't think there was anything wrong with Wicca, but I really knew nothing about it other than it was a magical sort of thing. I didn't know if the people here would be open to that sort of thing or not. I figured it would be a measure of their tolerance if there were even books about it in the library.
    I found an aisle marked "Mythology" and thought that would be the best place to start. When I was about half way down the line, I noticed someone standing nearby and looking up saw an elderly lady watching me and I gave her a tentative smile.
    "Are you one of the girls who has bought Fiddler's Green?" she asked.
    "Yes, " I replied. "My sister and I bought it. It is a lovely place and we haven't moved in yet but we do want to spend the weekends here."
    "Do you know the history of the house?"
    "No. The elderly gentleman we bought it from didn't seem to have much in the way of history. The whole thing was all very odd, but we love the place and it's just what we always dreamed of. I thought maybe there might be something in the library."
    She glanced up at the sign over the aisle and gave me a wry little smile. "I don't think there is anything here that will help you, Dear. Not yet at any rate. Come home with me and I'll make you a cup of tea. You can look at my albums and then all will be clear. "

JILL..... When next I opened my eyes, it was fully light, and I stretched and gazed around the room. My room. But oh, how I needed my bed or any bed for that matter. I decided that if I couldn't get my bed from home here fast enough, I'd just go and buy anything, or a cot in the interim. This sleeping bag on a foam pad was bad for my back and no way to start a day of adventuring.
    Sheila was heading into town to the library, and it felt good to have the whole house just to myself for a few hours. I think we had discovered all the secret rooms the house had to hide, and after Sheila left, I fixed a mug of tea and sat down on the back steps leading down to the yard. There was much outside work to be done, but I wasn't in the mood for work. Just exploring. I set of toward the barn, and looked back to see if Annie was following. When I turned back to the barn, there she was, sitting in front of the door, expectantly. We went in together and up the stairs to the loft area. There was nothing much left there now and I walked over to the window overlooking the property to the rear of the buildings. The wooded area to the left on the other side of the garden and fountain looked cool and inviting. A retreat almost, and I wandered back outside and over the little bridge to the fountain and garden.
    The grassy area on the other side gave way to the wood, and a somewhat overgrown path lead me on. It was a bit darker here, and the path was crossed with weeds and some small branches. Windfall I suspected, and picked my way along. Annie was right behind me, and I stepped aside to see if she would lead the way. She bounded forward and then daintily stepped along the path turning slightly to look back at me as if to say ask 'Are you still coming? Just follow me.'
    I thought that Greg must have followed this same path the day they were here helping, and I supposed then that it circled around to the road, or just ended at the property boundary. Before I'd gone that far though, there was a tiny clearing and in that space was a rustic bench. It was made of cedar. I could see some of the bark still on the logs, and it looked oddly familiar. I paused to think about it. Yes, it was the same bench that the lady who was in the picture I'd found in the dresser drawer , was leaning back against. It was obiously much older now, and entwined round with vines. Annie went to sit on it, and arched her back against one of the arms before turning and settling into a comfortable position in one corner. I went over to her and lowered myself gently onto the seat. Perhaps after all this time it would not hold my weight, but it hardly gave at all, and even Annie stayed still.
    "What's this about then?" I addressed her, and she just turned and squinted at me the way contented cats do. I breathed in the smells of the woods around me, and looked upwards towards the canopy of leaves. It wasn't that thick, and years ago, it would have been so much younger and a lovely lighted spot for a rest or a tryst. Now where did that thought come from I wondered, and Annie was gazing at me as if she'd somehow read my mind, and was wondering the same thing.
    Quite some time passed, and I felt in no hurry to head back to the house. It was a dreamy sort of feeling that crept over me, and I felt time slipping away. The chirping of birds in the nearby bushes seemed loud and I recognized the semi conscious state one finds oneself in when on the verge of drifing off to sleep. I heard, rather than saw Annie jump down, and I stood up with a start. She was headed back the way we'd come, and I followed. She did not look back even once, and went straight toward the house when we'd crossed the little bridge. My only thought was to follow her, and when she went upstairs, I knew she was going to continue up to the attic.
    Sheila had put the books back in the trunk, and I lifted them out gently. They were in no danger of falling apart from age, but never-the-less, I leafed cautiously through one or two before finding what I knew I'd find. Photographs. They were only slightly browning, and I knew that keeping them closed up for all these years had helped to preserve them. They were held in place with photo corners, some of which had come unglued, and were slipping in their places. But you 'd have to be blind to miss the connection that the subject had with the photographer. It was evident in the drawer picture I'd seen, and I knew there was a story there.
    In all there were about thirty pictures, none any larger than three inches square, and in all of them, the woman Annie was featured. Only one had another person, and under the photo were the names Annie and Bertie. The camera must have been on a timer of some sort, or a long cable release. The woman was laughing up at the man, and he was looking directly into the camera lens with a slightly intense look. I felt he must have been looking to see if the lens had opened and closed. Sure enough, his left hand was down at his side, and if you looked very carefully, you could see a cable leading toward to ground. His right arm was around Annie, and pulling her close.
    I felt like an intruder and closed the little book of photos. They had been a happy couple and I wonder what had happened in their lives. The other books held hand written pages, and I looked more closely at them. The hand-writing was not the same in all of them, and I wondered about that. Did two people share this secret room and write in these diaries? When Sheila came back, we'd sit down and examine them a little more closely.
    At that, I heard a car door close, and after placing the books back in their trunk, I walked across the attic and back down to the main body of the house. There was a knocking on the front door that took me by surprise. As yet, we had hardly used the door at the foot of the stairs, and it felt odd to be rushing downstairs to answer. There was a gentleman standing on the verandah, and he turned toward me when I opened the door.
    "Excuse me, but I thought that this property was for sale" he said.
    "Well, until a few weeks ago, it was, but we've bought it now." I felt almost as if I should be apologizing, as he looked very disappointed. Something about him looked vaguely familiar and I wondered if I'd seen him in town where we stayed at the Bed and Breakfast.
    "Are you from around here?" I asked.
    "No, actually, but my family used to live in the area. Many years ago. I was sort of keeping my eye on this property and when it came up for sale I started to make inquiries."
    "Well, we saw it listed in the paper, and made our minds up pretty quickly" I said, knowing that all the circumstances surrounding our purchase would sound slightly bizarre.
    "You're lucky. It will be a lovely family home...such a perfect setting for an older house. You've done a marvelous job of cleaning things up as well."
    "Well, actually, the caretaker must have been doing his job, as we've had minimal work to do so far"
    He looked slightly puzzled. "Caretaker? I understood that this had been deserted for a long time. Perhaps my source wasn't as informed as I'd been lead to believe."
    I didn't know quite what to say....that we'd had gremlins in to fix the gate? ...that unseen beings had dusted, cleaned, scrubbed and cleared away years of neglect? No, a caretaker seemed the only sensible answer.
    "We feel pretty lucky. It seems to suit us to a T and although we haven't been here very long, it feels like home already. "
    "You look very familiar to me" I finally added, as it seemed to nag at me. He'd turned to go back down the steps and hearing me say that, he stopped and looked at me directly.
    "And you to me" he said. "Perhaps we've seen each other in the village. I'm there often"
    "Maybe," I said, "Have you been staying there? In the village, I mean?"
    "Oh no, but on my way to my brother's, I pass through Greyleith, and the area has become very much like home. I'd hoped to settle close to the village, but it looks as if I'll have to start my search all over again." He paused. "I won't take up more of your time. I'm glad that the house has found a good owner finally. No doubt your family will be very happy here."
    He waited, and I wondered if he was fishing. For what I didn't know. He was just assuming that I was married and had a family. I didn't think it would matter at this point to let him know any different. "I'm sure we'll be quite content. We've always loved country living. Perhaps I'll see you around sometime, if you're still going to be in the area."
    "Perhaps. Nice to have met you. And good luck with everything." He swung toward his car.
    "Just a minute. I don't mean to intrude or anything, but what's your name? Mine's Jill."
    "Alex. See you around" With that he opened his door, and lowered himself into the car. A minute later all I could hear was the crunching of gravel as he drove down to the road. I went back inside, and sat down on the stairs. I looked back out through the side lights beside the door and saw Annie sitting on the top step. She didn't move for the longest time and I blinked wearily. When I opened my eyes, she was gone, and I headed back toward the kitchen, thinking about lunch.
    I wondered what was keeping Sheila. No doubt she'd be along shortly. I fixed myself a sandwich and milk, and sat on the verandah eating. And thinking. Where had I seen Alex? For a long time I pondered over that, and began to think that perhaps I was mistaken. Sometimes you run into people who for some reason look familiar, but you've never really met them. They just have that sort of face. I leaned back against the post and let the warmth of the sun lull me into a half sleep.
    Some time later, Sheila's car door banged shut, and she came up the steps looking delighted with herself.

SHEILA..... "............. and so," I said to Jill, much later, when I was home and we were having dinner, "that's how I met Mrs. Abbot. You should see those albums. They are just like Mom's with all the pictures neatly captioned and all in order. And the strange thing is, that there was not just the one Lady here after all. There were two sisters and a brother. The old man we bought the house from is the brother and Mrs. Abbot thought he had died long ago. He must be well into his nineties now. I don't remember that he looked THAT old but then neither did Dad, I guess. Mrs Abbot was a good friend of the one called Ruth and the other sister......the one whose room you have....... was Annie. They grew up here and stayed on when their parents died. It seems that they hardly ever went into town in the later years and most people didn't even know when the girls died. Apparently they both lost their men in the second war and never met anyone else they liked well enough to marry. It sure is a strange thing. Mrs.Abbot came out to visit Ruth a lot cause they were both involved in this Wicca thing. I didn't ask her too much about it cause I am not sure about it myself and she didn't go into it at all.
    "Anyway.....next time we go in to town maybe you can come and have a look at the albums. You'd like Mrs. Abbot. She reminds me a lot of Granny Healey. I didn't tell her about the attic or the journals and not about the little book of poetry either. Maybe later if we get to know her a bit better. I didn't say anything about the furniture or the other strange stuff ,like the fountain and the lack of dust and how well preserved everything is. "
    I suddenly realized that Jill had been rather quiet since I had come home, and wondered if there was anything wrong. "So.......what did you do while I was in town?" I asked, and was a little surprised to see her looking a little confused. "Do you have one of your migraines?"
    "Not exactly,"she replied. "All I did mostly, was wander around a bit. There was an interesting little resting place in the woods, and I think I probably just fell asleep there for a bit. I was a little disoriented when I woke up. And then I dozed off again just before you came home."
    "Yah.....I guess it'll take us awhile to feel quite comfortable here.It is awfully peaceful isn't it? Well, I hope you don't get any headaches here. Perhaps the magic will help with that too. Do you feel like going through those little books tonight?"
    "Would you mind very much if we just played rummy tonight or something? Perhaps we could do the books in the morning when we're fresh."
    "Oh, that's fine too."I said, and went to unearth the cards we had brought.
    The rest of the weekend passed and as I was driving home I realized that we had never gotten wround to having another look at the journals in the attic. Something always seemed to come up to side track us. We took a walk through the woods, and Jill showed me a pretty little bench that she had found. It reminded me of one that Dad had made in the wooded area behind the house in Stittsville. A pleasant place to rest after a walk, I thought. Then there was the garden to have a good look at and see what needed weeding out and though we looked and looked, we could not figure out how the fountain worked and just left it, finally, as one of the mysteries of Fiddler's Green.
    Then, after that we decided to take a short drive and see who our neighbors were on the road. There were only four or five houses on the whole road and two of them were closer to Greyleith and two the other direction, almost to the next small town and ours....almost in the middle. So.... no-one really close enough to be within walking distance and therefore not likely to just drop in out of curiosity. That pleased us both, since we were not up to having company just yet. I wondered if many people even knew that the house had been bought. Oh well, I thought, there would be lots of time to get into the journals, and I wanted to do some research first at any rate. I had a good picture in my mind of what the family had looked like. Mrs. Abbot's pictures went back a good long time and she and Ruth had been best friends. I knew that Mrs. Abbot missed the company and I hoped that she would consider me a friend. I wanted to ask her more about Wicca, but wanted to find outwhat I could on my own first.