Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Curse: Part Seven

"Mainstone," Lady Sylvia explained earnestly, "isn't a Vaughan family property. My family come from Cheshire, we were originally Welsh, 'Vaughan' is an English version of the Welsh 'Fychan.' My brother bought this house to save it from being demolished. The family who rebuilt it as a gothic fantasy had owned it since the Middle Ages."

Ms. Madison smiled gently at her friend's words.

"And how long ago was that?" she asked curiously.
"Ten years or so ago," the brunette noted. "I remember coming here from Cheltenham when I was very young."
"So," Ms. Madison smiled sweetly, "we can reasonably assume that this isn't an attack on your family after all. I mean, what idiot's going to invent a curse that can be proved not to belong to your family by simply checking the land registry. So, why invent a curse on the house?"
"That's easy," Lady Sylvia nodded. "In order to empty the house. The only question is, why would someone do that? And I know just the person to answer that - ever been to Southend-on-Sea, Lynette?"

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