[coat of arms with inscription "QUAERITE AT INVENIETIS"]
TRESYLLIAN CASTLE
Frobzance . Cornwall
_April 15_
Hi there!
You'll never believe what's happened! I'm living in a
_castle_ in _Cornwall_, engaged to marry a _British Lord_!
Now I'll be able to sit around in drawing rooms making
polite conversation and sipping tea. What a life!
I guess you're wondering why I'm not back at Kent
State. After finishing my semester here, I couldn't bear
to come right home. So I figured I'd take a few months
off and get some sort of job to see me through. I
found an ad for a secretary to a Lord Jack Tresyllian at
his castle in Cornwall, and now here I am.
Lord Jack wasn't at all what I'd expected. He's a young,
down-to-earth guy, and _not bad looking_ either. I was
a goner from the start. [smiley face] Luckily he felt the same way,
or I might be flinging myself off the cliff!! We're
announcing our engagement at a party on May 3 for all
the local blue bloods. I wish you could be here to
help me remember which fork to use!
Seriously, some of these upper crust types will
never speak to you again if you wear the wrong outfit to
dinner. I'm really glad Jack has a sense of humor
about it. He helps me to keep mine!
There _is_ one bohemian in the crowd. Her name is
Vivien Pentreath, and she's a painter and sculptor
who lives nearby. She's one of those women who looks
just as beautiful at 50 as she did at 25. According to
Jack, she was the mistress of his Uncle Lionel, the
previous Lord Tresyllian. Vivien's family has lived in
Cornwall for ages and she can tell lots of wonderful
old stories.
One person I could do without is Iris Vane
(she's really called the _Honourable_ Iris Vane, but you
won't catch _ME_ calling her that). She's a Mayfair
debutante who came on as an instant friend of mine.
(OVER =>)
But there's something bitchy about her, and I think she's
secretly in love with Jack. I guess castles breed romantic
tangles... [3 hearts]
Jack's best friend is Ian Fordyce. Ian's an officer
in the Coldstream Guards and a real lady's man.
According to Iris, Ian was madly in love with Deirdre
Hallam, Jack's old girlfriend. Deirdre was never able
to resist flirting with another man. But her involvement
with Ian was the last straw for Jack, and they broke up.
Although this didn't seem to hurt Jack and Ian's
friendship, something _terrible_ happened to Deirdre.
She was really upset by the breakup and ended up
drowning in a well right here at the castle. Her body
was never found. The water in the well is very salty,
so they think it's been polluted by an underground
tidal current and that she was washed out to sea.
Deirdre's death is really fueling the imaginations of
some of the castle servants. Supposedly this place is
haunted by an ancient ghost called the _White Lady_. Now
they're saying that the White Lady has been seen in the
newer Residential Wing of the castle (like any good ghost
she used to stick to the old section) and that she
looks just like Deirdre. WHOO-EE-OOO!!!
I think Deirdre's family has fallen under the spell
of some old Cornish curse. Her grandfather, Mr. Poldark,
also died recently under unusual circumstances. He
became ill and went to a London doctor who specializes
in strange drugs extracted from plants. As you might
guess, the curse didn't work. The doctor, whose name
is Wendish, was Uncle Lionel's best friend. He still
comes to visit every now and then, and he really gives
me the _creeps_.
Well, I suppose I can't blame him for wanting
to stay at the castle. Everybody loves it here. I'm
sending along a copy of the tourist brochure (the place
is open to the public on weekends). So you can read
all about it. The brochure mentions the White Lady.
I'm sure she's a great tourist gimmick.
If you look at the second floor map, you'll
see the library where I've been helping Jack
catalog Uncle Lionel's collection of books and manuscripts.
Lionel didn't spend his time at home looking after the
estate the way Jack does. Instead, he used up
the family fortune travelling all around the world. His
last trip was to the Amazon River in South America
where he caught some sort of fatal _jungle disease_.
The last months of Lionel's life were spent here in
bed, and the castle was opened to the public in order
to pay off his debts and medical bills. When Lionel
died, Jack inherited everything, but he still hasn't
been able to straighten out the finances. Supposedly
Lionel hid a valuable treasure somewhere in the castle.
If we can't find it, we will have to sell off the family
heirlooms to pay Lionel's debts. [sad face]
An antique dealer named Montague Hyde is
always toddling down from London to see what he
can get his hands on. I should be nicer to Mr. Hyde,
who isn't such a bad sort, but every time I see him
I'm reminded that all these beautiful things, some
of which have been in the family for six or seven
_hundred_ years, might be on their way out the door.
I think it should all be kept here _forever_.
I could go on and on about Cornwall and the
castle and the strange habits of the upper crust, but
I need to wade through a few more of Lionel's papers
before dinner. I told Jack that I'd keep on with the
cataloguing, even though I'm no longer his secretary.
Who wants him bringing another woman in here? [smiley face]
Well, I hope to hear from you soon. I miss
you and the rest of the gang and _can't wait_ for you
to come visit. It might be a long way, but how
often do you get to stay in a "HAUNTED" castle!!
[coat of arms with inscription "QUAERITE AT INVENIETIS"]
TRESYLLIAN CASTLE
Frobzance . Cornwall
_April 23_
_HELP_!!
I think someone is trying to KILL me!! I
know this sounds dramatic, but I really am scared!
You know I've never believed in ghosts. But
now I've actually _seen_ the White Lady! It was
so frightening!!! I woke up in the middle of the
night and there she was looking down on me. She
had this terrible pale face which suddenly disappeared.
Then an enormous black widow spider dropped
onto my bed! I screamed and shook it off my
blanket and the the time Jack got there it was
gone.
At first, I thought it was just a horrible dream.
But a few days later, I opened my desk drawer and
an _adder_ reared out and almost bit me. Adders
are such poisonous snakes that you can _die_ from
the bite! This time, the snake was found, so I
knew it really happened.
No one has ever been threatened by the White Lady
before. But some of the people who've seen the
ghost recently say it looks just like Deirdre Hallam,
that old girlfriend of Jack's who drowned in the castle well.
Do you think she's come back to torment me for
taking her place??
I don't know what to do! I know it's a big
favor to ask because it's such a long way, but won't
you _PLEASE_ come to help me? You've solved so
many mysteries. I'm sure you can help figure out
this one!!
