The Incident Concerning The Alsatian Dog.

Chapter 2

We were met on the jetty by a rather timid young girl, with lovely long auburn hair and big green eyes. She wasn't exactly pretty, as she was pale, and had a rather rectangular face with very rosy cheeks. She greeted us rather woodenly, as if she had spoken those words many times before.

"Welcome" she said, smiling. "I hope your journey was a pleasant one."

"Pleasant? More like traumatizing!" Isabel scoffed. It annoyed me that she still had the guts to come up with a snide comment when she had been hurling up all over the floor a few minutes previously.

(Author will let herself out for that terrible pun. Reread until you get it!!)

"Shut up, Izzy!" I hissed, elbowing my sister in the ribs.

"My name is Grace. My father owns the house. I'm frightfully glad you came. It's really boring here by myself. I hope I'll be alright company for you" Grace added. "Come on up to the house!"

"Spoken like a true brick" Isabel murmured to Newham and I, as we gathered our things and began to walk along the jetty to the pathway leading up to the house we were supposed to be staying at.

"Izzy!" I complained. "Stop ruining the immersion! It's supposed to be a story!"

Isabel huffed and walked on to catch up with Dr. Scott. I sighed, and slowed to walk with Newham.

"How was the boat trip?" he asked.

"Interesting" I replied, having paused for multiple seconds to try and find the correct word. "I certainly won't be forgetting it in a hurry."

Newham laughed at my openness.

"I can't say I'll be forgetting it either. What do you think of the whole thing so far?" he smiled. It was now my turn to laugh.

"Well, the weather is appalling, and" I lowered my voice "I'm afraid I do agree with Isabel about Grace's acting."

"Let's hope the rest of the troupe is a a bit better, shall we?" Newham teased.

"Oh, you can't say that!" I shushed him. "They'll be amazing, I'm sure. Don't judge a play by its opening act."

"Er, most people tend to judge a play by its opening act..." Newham started.

"Well they shouldn't!" I butted in swiftly, wishing I'd used another metaphor. The path we were taking began to slope uphill, and I was nearly blown off my feet by a particularly strong gust of wind sweeping along the beach behind us. From then on, I gratefully accepted Newham's hand to keep me upright. We were at the back of the group, with Isabel and Dr. Scott in front of us, and Hettie at the front giving Grace a good grilling about the landscape and the countryside. Since Grace didn't appear to be much of an actress, I pitied her, as she must have been finding Hettie's constant questions a bit tricky to answer. As we reached the top of the hill and got our first look at the house, any doubts I had about this trip being a bad one were washed away. It was beautiful! Well, it would have been beautiful, if the wind hadn't been blowing an absolute gale and the sky hadn't been currently sporting a rather offputting shade of ominous grey.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" Grace asked. We all nodded kindly as she led us up the gravel path towards the house, just as the rain began to fall. There were lakes on either side of us, and a boathouse on the larger one. It looked, I noticed interestedly, like it was still in use. I'd always wanted to go boating. As we reached the front of the house, and the rain proceeded to get heavier, we were greeted by a chorus of angry barks, coming from quite a large dog pen by the side of the house. A large Alsatian was standing on the other side of the mesh, staring fixedly at us all and barking madly.