Wakestone Hall chapter sampler

Stella spied a door, close to where they had come in. It had a latch and a padlock. ‘Here, I think.’ She rattled the padlock. ‘But it’s locked.’ The cat gave a hungry mew. ‘Poor cat, there’s nothing for you here,’ said Stella, stroking him. Ottilie touched the padlock with her finger, and then she held it between her hands. There was a tiny click from inside, and she pulled it open and unlatched the door. ‘How did you do that?’ asked Stella, surprised. Ottilie hesitated. ‘It wasn’t locked,’ she said. The larder was a dark, narrow room, lined with shelves and full of sacks and barrels and boxes. Agapanthus searched along the shelves, cautiously poking her fingers into things. ‘Lard,’ she said. ‘Flour. Oatmeal.’ Ottilie lifted the cover from a bowl and

smelled the contents. ‘Prunes, I think.’ She picked up a plate and had a sniff. ‘Oh, I think these are Miss Garnet’s sausages.’

Miss Garnet often had sausages with fried bread for breakfast, or a haddock sometimes, or mutton chops, or devilled kidneys. She always had something that smelled delicious. Her grim, elderly maid carried her meals through the

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