The Legend of the Irish Castle (2 page)

“And how tall the ladder must be for
changing the light bulbs!” Grandfather said.

This made Erin laugh. “That’s my Uncle
Fergus’s job,” she said. “You’ll meet him
soon.” She pointed to the carved wooden
staircase. “Your room is this way.”

Benny and Violet rushed up the stairs and
everyone else followed. They walked down
a long hallway on the second floor. On one
side was a dark wood balcony that looked
down over the main hall downstairs. On the
other side were windows so deep, you could
sit inside the windowsill.

Benny climbed up into one and looked out
at the woods behind the castle. “I don’t see
any banshees,” he said.

As they walked, Erin pointed to a room
with an open door. Inside was a small sofa and
a desk overflowing with paper. A butterfly
made of different colored glass hung in the
window and when the sun shone through, it
cast the colors on the floor. “That’s my room.
Feel free to knock on my door any time.”

They walked on. Henry and Jessie moved
more slowly than the others, since they were
carrying the luggage. Jessie glanced into a
few of the guest rooms they passed. The beds
were neatly made with colorful quilts, and
many of the rooms had fireplaces.

“All these rooms are empty, Henry,” Jessie
said. “I expected more guests.”

“Me too,” Henry said. “It must have cost
Erin a lot of money to fix up this old castle. I
hope she is booking enough rooms to keep it
in business!”

One door on the right was closed. “Looks
like someone’s staying in that room,” Jessie
said. “At least that’s something.”

At the end of the hallway, Erin led them into
a large double room joined by a bathroom in
the middle. They decided Grandfather would
take the big bed on one side, and the children
would share the two beds on the other side.
Erin said she would give them time to get
settled, and left to go back downstairs.

The Aldens went into their room and started
to unpack their suitcases. Benny took out a pair
of shoes and put them on the table while he
sorted his pants and shirts into two piles, and
then put them inside the dresser drawer. When
he looked up, a tall man with a gray beard and a
blue denim work shirt was standing right next
to him. The man was frowning.

Benny jumped, surprised, but he didn’t
want to be rude. “Oh, hello,” Benny said
nervously. “Are you a guest at the castle too?”

“Name’s Fergus,” the man said in a gruff
voice. “I’m the caretaker.”

Jessie stepped forward and offered her
hand. “It’s nice to meet you, sir. Erin said that
you’re her uncle. We’re the Aldens, visiting
from America.”

Fergus shook her hand, but he didn’t smile.
He stared at Benny’s shoes, and Violet quickly
moved them off the table and onto the floor.

“I was coming in to fix the latch on the
window,” he said. “The last guest told us it
was stuck.” He went over to the window and
examined the old iron latch for a moment.
He tried twisting it, then sprayed some oil
around the metal. It squeaked, but after a few
more tries, he got the latch to twist and was
able to open the window.

“Well, now that’s done,” Fergus said. He
brushed impatiently past the children on his
way out of the room, but he stopped when he
saw the contents of Jessie’s bag lying on one
of the beds. On top was the book by Maeve
Rowe McCarron that she had been reading
at lunch. Fergus looked at the book and his
eyebrows went up. Then he stormed off into
the hallway.

“I know one reason why Erin’s having
trouble getting guests for the hotel,” Henry
said. “Fergus is not very friendly.”

After the children finished unpacking, they
went downstairs. Erin was at the front desk
with a calculator and a stack of papers. Her
forehead was creased, but when she saw the
Aldens coming, she broke into a smile. Jessie
told her that they had met Fergus upstairs.

“I’m sorry if my uncle seemed grumpy,”
Erin said, setting down her pen. “He has
always lived in the caretaker’s cottage out in
the woods, but he just recently moved into
the castle. It’s taking him a little time to get
used to being around the people who work
here in the hotel now—this year we hired a
new kitchen helper and a full-time chef.”

“That does seem like it would be a hard
change,” Violet said, thinking about the
days when the children first moved in with
their grandfather. The Aldens had had a very
different childhood from other children
they knew, and it took time for them to
adjust too. Plus, Violet liked to try to see
the best in people. “He seems like he’s very
good at his job. It only took him a minute to
fix our window.”

“That’s true,” said Henry. “Maybe if I
offer to help him with his work, it will cheer
him up.”

“That’s the spirit!” Erin said. “Fergus
knows this place inside and out.”

Just then, Benny yawned. “Could we start
helping tomorrow?” he asked Jessie. “I am
feeling a little sleepy.”

“Of course!” Erin said. “You all must have
jet lag! Even though it’s early evening here,
your body is still on Boston time and thinks
it’s time for bed. Best to get some rest.”

The Aldens went back upstairs to their
room and changed into pajamas. Violet went
in to tell Grandfather that they were turning
in, but he had already fallen asleep with his
book on his chest. The children got under
the quilts and even though the sun was still
shining, they fell asleep.

Several hours later, Jessie heard Benny say,
“What’s that noise?”

She opened her eyes. It was very dark in the
room, and the digital clock on the nightstand
said it was two in the morning. Violet sat up
next to her. Henry was still asleep in the other
bed next to Benny.

“What noise?” Jessie asked.

“I heard a…wailing sound,” Benny whispered.
“I heard it too,” Violet said, sounding
concerned.

Jessie got out of bed and went to the
window. Just as she had guessed, it was still
open from when Fergus had fixed the latch.
“It’s just the wind, blowing through this open
window.” She pushed it closed and twisted
the latch, and the wailing sound stopped.

Benny and Violet joined Jessie at the
window. “See,” Jessie said. “Nothing to be
afraid of. I know it’s hard, but we should try
to go back to sleep until morning so we can
get over this jet lag.”

But Benny was still looking out the window.
“Look!” he said, pointing to the dark meadow
behind the castle. Far away near the edge of
the woods, a mysterious figure was moving
through the grass, hunched over and carrying
a lantern.

“Is that a woman?” Violet asked.

“I can’t tell,” Benny said. “She has a hood
pulled up on her head.”

“A hood!” Jessie said, remembering her
book on fairy legends. Just then, even though
the window was tightly closed, the Aldens
heard the wailing sound again. There was
only one Irish fairy creature that appeared as
a woman with a hood, and made a wailing
sound—a banshee!

I
n the morning, the Aldens felt groggy after
their night of interrupted sleep. Jessie had
finally convinced Benny and Violet that they
were safe in their room from whoever had
been out in the meadow, and the children went
back to sleep. As they all entered the dining
room for breakfast, Jessie filled Henry in on
what they had seen while he was sleeping.

“And you couldn’t see a face?” Henry
whispered as they sat down in the high-back
chairs.

“No,” Jessie said. “But it was definitely
someone older because of the way the person
walked.” She hunched her shoulders forward
to demonstrate.

Henry nodded. “Well, we know one thing
for sure—it can’t be a banshee because they
aren’t real.”

“Actually,” Violet whispered, “we don’t
know that for
sure
. Erin seems to believe in
banshees, and she said a lot of other people
in Ireland do too.” She nudged Benny and
pointed to the napkin beside his plate. The
children all placed their napkins in their laps.

Jessie shook her head. “I still think there has
to be another explanation. Remember how
we saw one door closed upstairs yesterday?
There are other guests here. Maybe one of
them was out taking a walk last night.”

Just then, a couple the Aldens hadn’t seen
before came into the dining room. The man
was wearing a gray jacket and had a neatly
trimmed beard. The woman had on a frilly
yellow dress and a scarf tied in her hair.

“Well, look, dear!” the woman said,
clasping her hands at her chest. “There are
children here! Aren’t they just adorable!”

Jessie didn’t like it when adults talked this
way, but she smiled politely. “Good morning,”
she said. “My name’s Jessie.”

“Mrs. Arthur Davison,” she said, holding
out her hand and wiggling her fingers to
show off a sparkling diamond ring. “We just
got married last week!”

“Congratulations!” Violet said. “You must
be on your honeymoon.”

“Pleased to meet you, kids,” her husband
said. “And, yes, we are. We plan to travel all
over Ireland this week. In fact, we’re checking
out of the castle this morning to head off
to Galway.”

“Some honeymoon,” Mrs. Davison said
with a pout. “I had no idea an old castle would
be so boring. There is absolutely
nothing
going
on here, and nothing to do but watch the birds.
We should have gone to London instead.”

Mr. Davison smiled. Violet noticed that
he seemed like a pretty patient man, unlike
his wife. How could anyone think there was
nothing to do in such an interesting place?
“Mrs. Davison likes restaurants and concerts,
but I for one
like
bird-watching,” he said with
a wink.

Mr. and Mrs. Davison were both very tall
and slim, and stood up straight. Jessie realized
that probably meant neither of them could be
the mysterious figure. Still, she thought it
couldn’t hurt to ask whether they had been in
the meadow yesterday. “Have you spotted any
interesting birds late at night?” Jessie asked.

Henry realized why Jessie was asking, and
added, “You’d probably need a lantern if you
were out there in the dark.”

Mr. Davison gave Henry and Jessie a funny
look. “It’s best to bird-watch during the day.
Owls are the only nocturnal bird around
here. And though I do usually take evening
walks back at home, so far I’ve stuck to early
mornings on this visit.”

“We’ve been reading our novels and going
to bed early every night. It has been quite
dull!” Mrs. Davison said.

The figure the Aldens had seen couldn’t
have been one of the Davisons, Jessie knew. But
maybe they could give the children some clues
to use in their investigation. “Did you happen
to notice anything strange out your window
around two in the morning?” Jessie asked.

“If only!” Mrs. Davison said. Suddenly,
she looked intrigued. “Why—did
you
see
anything strange? That sounds exciting!”

“Just a person taking a walk,” Jessie said
carefully. If Mrs. Davison was the kind of
person who treated children like babies, she
probably wouldn’t take their investigation
very seriously either.

Fergus came into the dining room then and
poured himself a cup of coffee from the silver
urn sitting on the buffet table. He sat down
a few chairs away from Henry and nodded to
the guests.

“Good morning, Fergus,” Benny said,
sitting up a little straighter and folding
his hands in his lap. He still felt bad about
putting his shoes on the table up in the guest
room the day before. He wanted to make sure
Fergus knew that the Alden children usually
had very nice manners.

“Morning,” Fergus said. “Tell me—what
have you children learned about Ireland so
far?”

Jessie was glad to see that Fergus was in a
brighter mood. “Well,” she said. “We learned
about the lighthouse at Howth.”

“And fish and chips!” Benny said.

Fergus laughed. His face looked very
different and much kinder when he smiled,
but it was a rare occurrence. “Well, if you
behave yourselves, I’ll play my fiddle for you
sometime. Then you can hear some authentic
Irish music too.”

“We’d like that!” Henry said.

“Fergus,” Violet said. “We were just talking
with Mr. and Mrs. Davison about someone
we saw walking out in the meadow in the
middle of the night. Do you know of anyone
around here who does that?”

Fergus tightened his jaw and stood up,
his mood totally changed. “There’s no one
else living around this land. You won’t find
anyone if you go looking—so don’t bother
trying!” He stormed out, leaving his half-full
coffee cup sitting on the table.

“I thought he was happier today, but now he
seems angry again,” Benny said. “He doesn’t
like it when we ask questions.”

Henry nodded. “Remember, Erin told us
that he is having a hard time adjusting. Maybe
he’s just having a bad day.”