Among the Darkness Stirs

“Perhaps we should call it a night. I know I’m exhausted,” he said.

But Augusta would not be swayed. “Audrey! I know you believe me now. We saw him that night. We saw him walking. Let’s go downstairs and confront him. I know it’s him.”

Audrey looked away briefly and tried to stem the various emotions she felt at that moment. Intense anger was quickly followed by shame. Her mother was behaving so loud and crass in a public theater, and she didn’t even know what she had done in the box.

“Mother, come along. We’re going to go home,” she said softly.

“I’m going nowhere,” Augusta said firmly.

Audrey glanced at Henry, and her eyes must have said it all. Henry firmly but kindly took Augusta by the elbow and escorted her down the hallway. When they reached the front of the theater, a light rain was falling. As they waited for their carriage, Theodocia kept Augusta occupied as Henry spoke to Audrey.

“You must have Dr. Engle take her for the trial period,” he said softly.

Audrey sighed. “I know.”

“He’s a good man, Audrey. A good doctor. He’ll not mistreat her,” he told her. “I promise you.”

Audrey looked over at the two older women and saw her mother speaking rapidly while Frances lingered on the steps. Audrey looked up at Henry and then away.

“I’m worried for her. Very worried. I thought she was fine but this… this is different. Now I’m not so sure.” She shook her head.

Their carriage pulled up, and the women got inside. She took Frances beside her and smoothed back her hair. “Are you all right, Lambkin?”

Frances nodded, but her eyes rested on her mother.

“I’m sorry the concert was spoiled. We’ll see another one very soon,” she promised.

In the dark, she watched her mother’s eyes as she looked out the window. Theodocia said very little, which was rare. Henry kept eyeing her and then glancing at the two women across from them.

When they came to the workhouse, Henry helped her out of the carriage. “I’ll make arrangements for Dr. Engle. Is that all right?”

She took a fortifying breath. “Thank you.”

Later that evening, she went to check on Frances and heard what had happened when she and Henry had been absent.

Her mother had been excited about the concert and consumed two glasses of champagne. When they returned to the box, she had been scanning the audience below, and the two older ladies had played a game. They guessed what each person did for a living and made outrageous claims. One man was in the circus. Another woman owned half of America and was actually a countess.

Then her mother had spotted someone in the crowd, and her face had grown serious. She sucked in her breath and said that man was the shadow man. Theodocia knew what she was speaking about, as she had heard the tale from Henry.

But the shadow man had frightened Frances, who asked her mother to stop teasing her. Augusta had not stopped and had become shriller so that the box next to them stared at her.

Theodocia had tried to placate Augusta and asked if she wanted to get some air, which had annoyed her. Augusta became irritated and left the box at that point, which was when Audrey and Henry came into the story.

“I’m sorry, Francie. Sorry that you had to watch that. Mother’s not feeling well. That’s all. We’re going to get her better,” Audrey told her.

“I’m glad. I didn’t like her tonight. Her eyes scared me,” Frances admitted.

Audrey tilted her head. “Her eyes?”

“They were wild.”

“Shhh,” Audrey said. “No more talk of this. As I said, we’ll get her better. You don’t worry about this. All right?”

When Audrey closed the door, she debated whether to go to her mother’s room or not. She paused outside the room with her hand on the knob. Should she enter? She had thought her mother was going mad, then she had seen the shadow man for herself, but what did that prove? A man walking about the workhouse grounds. What was suspicious about that?

Now her mother saw the shadow man at a concert and had made such a fuss that Theodocia and Henry had been alarmed. Frances had called her eyes wild. As Audrey stood outside in the hallway, about to turn the knob to her mother’s door, she realized she was afraid of her mother.

She didn’t want to confront her. She was afraid of what she might find. Would her mother be sitting beside the window in her nightgown, looking for the shadow man? And when Audrey entered, would she turn those eyes towards her? Audrey shivered. She couldn’t face her. Not tonight.