And So, As We Sail Out Of 2012......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    The image above, darlings, represents the short story, "The Wastwych Secret," by Constance Savery, which appeared in my childhood anthology, "Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful."  The moment I re-discovered it on line, I knew I wanted it to be my end of the year image!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       To begin, I close with a grand total of 739 postings.  Sorry I could not make it an even 740, but that is creative muse, for you.!!!!!!!!!  And I am up, by 124, from last year's grand total of 615!!!!!!!!!!!  Which means I have an bigger goal to shoot for in 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         But back to the short story. It was always one of my favorites, and is a Gothic story, which seems supernatural, but actually turns out not to be.

                                           On a Victorian estate in England, called Marigolds, live three children--
Estelle, (who narrates the story), her sister, Nonnie, and their brother, Tawny.  They are being raised
by their Grandmama and Grandpapa Wastwych, as their parents are in Africa, doing missionary work.  One afternoon, they have a play date with the girl, pictured above, named Jessica Fairlie!  I can still recall Estelle's words about her--"Jessica was neat and ladylike, with delicate features, and pale gold ringlets.  We feared her, at first, and, by the time  tea was over, we knew she was,  indeed,  a person to be respected.  She attended a school for young ladies, she was fond of needlework, she thought all games rough, and most boys objectionable.  She was trusted to pay long visits, all by herself, without a nurse.  In fact, our possession of a gay and gracious grandmama was the only point in our favor; in all else, we were hopelessly inferior to our visitor."

                                           This description, and the picture above, reminds me of someone from my past--and not anyone whom you have heard about, like Diane or  Roberta.

                                              I am talking about Lois Jackson.

                                               Lois was tall and angular, like Jessica. In temperament, she was more like Chris Hargensen, in Stephen King's "Carrie."  But, in her own way, so too does Jessica turn out to be, as the Wastwych children find out.

                                                To entertain her, they try to show Jessica how talented their grandmama is.
They first show her a superbly crafted sampler, done by Grandmama at the age of six, with the following words on it--"Worked by me, Jane Caroline. In the year Eighteen Hundred And Nine.  They show her some hand crafted items, from things like, I think, feathers, that their grandmama made, as well as jams made from sloes, elderberries and crab apples.  There is also parsley jelly, some of which they give, to Jessica, on a piece of bread.  She shudders, and puts it down in haste.  Then Jessica asks to see their grandmama.  They observe her, out in the garden, from a window overhead.  The older woman is sweeping leaves with a broom, wearing a black cloak, with a peaked hood.  Jessica's eyes grow large, and she counters that she is going home, at once.

                                                 The children are puzzled, but, while out for a walk the next day, they run into Jessica, with her governess. Tawny asks why she left so quickly, and Jessica, with certainty, replies it was because of their grandmama.  She tells them, "Your grandmama is a witch, and I do not like witches."
She then cites the reasons--the attire in the yard, the hand crafts, the "witchy" jams.  And she says herself she knows all abut witches, because there used to be one in her village, and because her father has a large book on witchcraft in his study, which she, obviously, has perused!!!!!!!!!!  But she really gets to them when she cites the family name, which she pronounces "was-a witch."  When the children counter it is pronounced "was-tuh-witch," Jessica replies, "Then, that is even worse. Because Wastwych must mean "was-the-witch," as if she were a particularly dreadful kind, who was more important than the rest."  Butter just flows from this kid's mouth, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    The rest of the story concerns the children's efforts to prove, or disprove, Jessica's accusations.  Their suspicions increase when they notice that, on evenings, shortly after seven PM, Grandmama disappears.  One night they watch her, and see her going out the gate, carrying a basket, a broom, dressed in her black cloak and peaked hood, venturing out onto the marshes, which is forbidden to the children, seeming, as they put it, "to glide over them."

                                                      Estelle and Nonnie are convinced they are living with a witch.  But not Tawny. .  On Grandmama;'s next trip out, Tawny literally tails her.  When Grandpapa discovers Tawny not only missing from home, but missing his Latin lesson, he questions the two girls, who blurt out "He has gone to find out whether or not Grandmama is a witch."  The old man screams at them, asking where they got such an idea, and they tell him about Jessica.  He is livid!!!!!!!!  But, when they tell him Tawny has followed Grandmama out onto the marshes, his anger turns to fear.  "Tawny????  On the marshes at night?  He will be sucked under and drowned."

                                                       And, forgetting his age, the old man runs out the house, in pursuit, as Estelle says, "like a young man."  When he gets just outside the gate, he finds a marsh soaked Tawny, who very nearly did suffer his  prescribed fate.  And, slowly, the truth comes out.

                                                         Grandmama is not a witch.  She was venturing out each night to a cottage on the marshes, inhabited by a man hiding out there, named Humphrey.  Who turns out be Grandmama  and Grandpapa Wastwych's son, who, for reasons not given, the father put estrangement between he and the family.  But, with the safety of Tawny, the mystery solved, the old man forgives his son, who is the children's uncle, and henceforth comes to live with then.  When Nonnie asks if she can go to Jessica's house, and tell the truth, the old man tells her to go to bed, saying, "I will tell Miss Jessica myself." And Estelle adds, "His face wore a most peculiar expression."

                                                           I think Jessica got told off, but good, because she was never seen by them again, and things were expected to be kept a secret.  Nevertheless,things leaked out, because,  as Estelle ends, "Once we had the supreme mortification of hearing the Misses Forrests say to their new governess, 'Look, there are the silly children, who thought that their Grandmama Wastwych was a witch.'"

                                                          And so, like a Good Witch, darlings, I get onto my broom, and sail off, bringing this chapter, and 2012,  to a close!!!!!!!!  But stick around, girls, because 2013 is literally around the corner, and a new chapter has yet to unfold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                            It starts tomorrow!  Happy New Year To All!!!!!!!!!!!!