"The Mystery of O'Connor Death"

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

     When Mrs. Wharton's carriage arrived in Ramsgate. The sun was setting as if the sun was burning from the heat and to calm down it submerged itself in the sea water. Alice, who saw this beautiful scene for the first time after those bitter events, involuntarily smiled even though she didn't want to smile for a moment. When the children saw that small and simple country house, they were surprised. Jessica and Sarah, when they saw their mother hug a fat country woman who had come to greet them with a relatively dirty apron, without thinking about the class difference and dignity, their mouths were half open in surprise for a moment. The woman who had sunburned skin seemed surprised after hugging Isabella and was a little embarrassed because her cheeks had turned noticeably red. The woman was Alice's aunt and was completely different from Alice's imagination.
   When Alice was introduced to Linda and Liana – Aunt Margaret's twins – as much as Alice was surprised by their simple clothes, they were also surprised by the expensive and beautiful clothes that Alice wore.
   Linda said softly so that no one would hear: "She must have come here to sell us pride with her clothes." As if there was nothing more important than selling pride in clothes in the world.
   Margaret said: "I don't understand, didn't I tell Charles and Jack to be home before sunset? Girls do you know where they are now?" That at that moment two boys were running after each other in different places of the house. As if the younger boy – Jack – who was covered in mud was running away from the older boy – Charles. Charles stopped to catch his breath and then angrily said: "Didn't mother say to be careful not to jump into the mud holes with your party clothes." He left his sentence unfinished and started running again.
   After a few moments Margaret who was stunned said: "Charles and Jack stop it, you have dirtied the whole house. I'm with both of you until you clean the house, there is no news of dinner."
.  Charles, who had just noticed the presence of the crowd in that room, looked at his muddy self with regret and said: "I'm sorry mother."
   Jack laughed mischievously when he saw Charles's face and clothes, but soon realized that he had done something wrong and lowered his head in shame.
Anyway Margaret showed Alice her sister's room. Everything was almost untouched but it looked clean. For Alice it was nice to be able to sleep in her mother's room and Alice felt calm. Margaret showed Alice this room plus the pantry room. When she opened the pantry door, Alice who was amazed by the presence of so many books there involuntarily said: "Wow how many books are here?"
   Margaret sighed and said, "Alice, you know Emily loved reading books like your grandfather, but Emily had a strange interest in reading books here instead of the library."
   Alice looked at the books and touched them as if she was reaching for a precious treasure and well, it was a treasure.
   When Margaret finished speaking, Alice looked at her and exclaimed, "Really?"
   Margaret laughed and said, "Yes, all these belonged to your mother. You can also use these books."
     The next day the weather was very good and pleasant. Everywhere was very green and beautiful and spring had given a special beauty to the dead earth. That day many families came to picnic to enjoy this spring nature. The Bennet family along with Alice were present at the picnic and the curious women looked at Alice as if she was a strange creature and beyond their imagination. She was different from all the people they had ever seen. It seemed that there was something magical around her that distinguished her from others in a strange way. Margaret paid more attention to Alice than to her own children and this made the children unhappy. In the morning of that day, Margaret took Alice with her to a place where no one knew where. When they went out for the first time and returned home after a while, it was clear from Alice's face that she was shocked and did not feel well at all. Of course, Margaret's mood was not good either.
   Anyway, at the time of the picnic, one of the gossiping women of the village, Mrs. King, who was sitting next to Margaret, said to attract her attention to a news: "Today is a good day even for the Ellington family and especially for Mrs. Ellington."
   Margaret asked in surprise, "Mrs. Ellington? What happened?"
   Mrs. King, who was very excited, said, "Do you believe that the same person who caused Georgiana to disappear has found her."
   "Do you mean Karen?"
   Mrs. King realized from Margaret's look that she did not believe her words, so she pointed to a woman and said, "Well look at that woman; she is Georgiana."
   Margaret looked at the woman in question and realized that she was a tall, beautiful and well-dressed woman. When she paid attention to her face, her face turned red and she opened and closed her eyes several times to make sure she was seeing correctly. Then she said softly in shock, "I can't believe it."
   Mrs. King, who was reminiscing about the past for herself, said, "She got lost in the forest years ago, remember?"
   Alice, who inevitably heard their words, tried to look at the woman curiously but could not see her face because the woman was sitting behind her. Alice involuntarily said, "That woman disappeared years ago and now she's back."
   Mrs. King said, "This happened almost nineteen years ago."
     Mrs. King suddenly realized that Alice was a newcomer who had no information about the interesting events of the village. This made her happy because she could tell these events again for someone with more excitement.
   Mrs. King and Alice decided to take a walk together.
    Mrs. King said excitedly: "Did you see that big, strange castle?"
   Alice said: "Yes; it was very strange and scary to me."
   Mrs. King added to her excitement: "The strangest thing is that the house belongs to your mother's family, your grandfather and grandmother; I mean Emily's mother."
   Alice said: "My grandmother and grandfather?" And after a few moments of thinking, she said: "So why does Aunt Margaret live in that small house with such a big house?"
   Mrs. King said incredulously without paying attention to Alice's age: "So you don't know anything?" Then she regretted and said: "Of course you are still too young to understand these issues."
   "I am too young to understand these issues; by the way, today is my ninth birthday, I totally forgot."
   "Really? Congratulations."
"Thank you; by the way, why do you say that the house belongs to my grandfather is strange?"
   "Because as soon as Georgiana got lost in the forest, your mother had a severe measles; and for a few days after this incident, there was no news from them until I finally wanted to visit them; I realized that they had left without any information."
   Alice did not understand anything from the first part of this answer and said: "So my grandmother and grandfather disappeared at once?"
   "Yes; of course they returned to Ramsgate after about a week but moved to the house where Margaret now lives. Although your mother was healthy, something seemed strange."
   "What was strange?"
   "Your mother was rich and very different from us, but she had a good relationship with us, but since they returned, it seemed like she didn't know any of us. She looked at us confused and bewildered, it seemed like she didn't know us."