“Oh dear,” she said as she peered into the garden. “There seem to be more of them.”
He joined her at the window. “Hell and death. When the devil did he do that?”
Her cup ratted against the china saucer. She steadied it with her free hand. “I don’t know. Perhaps he goes and builds them at night.”
“In the dark?”
She shrugged.
“I do wish you would reconsider my suggestion.”
“To call the mad doctor? For the Earl? Never in life. Think of scandal.”
“I can’t think of anything except those damned cairns. Where does he find the stones?”
This is marvelous. Skillful, tense, and scary!
Earls, of course, are never mad. Just a little eccentric
Dear Josh,
Lots of questions. I wonder what the answers might be? Tense and mysterious.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I like the cairns.
I like an Earl who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Good one.
If it keeps him happy, I’d leave him to it. They make interesting conversation pieces.
One man’s crazy is another man’s, um, art!
As usual, sir, this was a good read.
Thanks!
The Earl is merely eccentric. They are scared of him though. Atmospheric weird story.
Why is my sympathy all for the Earl? You haven’t even shown him to us, and yet he’s a reality. skillfully done :)
This is a lovely period piece, Josh. Great entertainment. And, as Linda says, you haven’t even shown us the Earl, and yet he’s a reality. Well done!
I love this story – so entertaining. Especially that last line. It made me laugh out loud! I can just imagine the Earl, with his ear to the door, listening in to their conversation and chuckling to himself. Then going off to check his stock of stones!
Ha! ha! Very clever, I had not paid attention to the many different piles of stones in the picture.
Must be related to the Earl of Emsworth, everybody’s favorite Earl :-)
Hopefully, there’s only ground below those cairns. Nicely done, J Hardy.
Possibly a good door lock might be in order!
He is in good company, many individuals love to create folly’s. Indeed many are now considered works of art. Great story
A moment in time, perfectly caught, love the phrase ‘ her cup ratted against the china saucer.’ I felt gripped by the couple’s conversation … what will they decide ?
A marvellous little piece to marvel at as they marvel at that.
Very unsettling tale.
Well, there were plenty of mad earls over the years – we’ve had a few mad kings too (George III, Henry VI) ! There was a Lord who had his carriage pulled by zebras – perhaps not mad, but not normal either.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/walter-rothschild-zebra-drawn-carriage-2015-7
I like the tone here, the terror at the mental illness becoming public knowledge.
Maybe the Earl is a wish-he-had-been sculptor creating his own trail markers to the life he never had or to the Gods.
Really good. Very interesting take.