The Walker of Summer Hill Inn

A simple short story of a woman and man chatting about the woman's recently deceased "partner" over a cup of tea.

"Ms. Lafayette, I must thank you for your hospitality." A big, well dressed man of about forty looked up to his hostess as she poured him a cup of tea. He began to mix a few lumps of sugar and cream in it.

Mrs. Lafayette, a frail woman no more than twenty years elder to the gentleman, fained a small smile to him. “Well, you are my guest, sir," Ms. Lafayette poured herself a cup and sat on the sofa facing the garden outside, “I must tend to my guest."

"Of course you must, but a woman of your age should not be performing the tasks of the help."

It was true Ms. Lafayette did not have much of  a staff for her facility, only a maid and a cook. However it wasn’t such a big place to keep up; there were only six bedrooms, two of which were occupied by the maid and herself.

"Well, Mr. Boyton, I prefer to tend to my guests personally. It’s a pleasure to have the company of travelers. Ah, the stories they can tell." She trailed of for a moment, and Mr. Boynton was about to say something but was cut off by Ms. Lafayette’s hasty interjection. “Then again, I don’t have much company anymore, now that my dear Henry has left me."

"My condolences, madam, I had no idea of your loss." The gentleman stated quickly with quite a serious tone.

"Thank you, Mr. Boyton, that is very gracious of you. But it is entirely unnecessary, a few months have passed and I have learned to cope."

"My dear woman, you seem to be doing splendidly after such a short time."

"Well, I do miss him terribly. I think of him often."

"Tell me about the fellow, if it helps. But of course, you are not obligated."

"It is no strain on me, I love to account him to others."

Ms. Lafayette took a long sip of her tea and set the cup carefully on the saucer, using the moment to think.

"My Henry was a strange one, but he was remarkably handsome. He had smooth, sharp cheekbones, deep blue eyes, and curly lips. Normally, he was always very calm and relaxed, and his eyes rested half open as if half of him was there and half of him was asleep or maybe in some other place. He was quite athletic when he was young. He favored hunting, and was quite good at it too. He could be quite fierce with them. I was appalled by some of the terrible things he would drag through the door. But, in time, he grew weary of his hobby, and instead took to walking."

"I am sure this pleased you more than the hunting."

"You could say that, however I will never know what all he did during his strolls. You see, he would stay out from a day to a week, sometimes even a month. Never returning here."

"My word! Wouldn’t you think that was suspicious of him?"

"Oh, I supposed at times that he found some other place he liked to live in, but he always returned to me. He wasn’t like that half the time though. Usually he just reclined at the neighbors homes or hiked through the forest. He was quite the gossip among my neighbors. They often told me he was gone for good when his returns were lengthy, but I never listened. I knew Henry would return."

"And he left you often, alone here?"

"Why yes, in fact, he would leave the day after he came back, weather permitting. He was persistent in going out. Once, for a week a pair of vagabonds bullied him when he left the house. But Henry found a way to hide from them through the trees and bushes. He didn’t let anyone keep him away from the outdoors."

"It is touching, Ms. Lafayette, your affection for him. But tell me, did the chap never work?"

"Oh no, but, of course, I never expected him to. His nights with me were more than I could ask for. He usually returned at about seven o’clock. He would be ravenously hungry, and I would fix him something special to eat with some milk. Then, as I carried on about my business, he would inquire on my affection immediately. Of course, I would pay some attention to him and then return to my business. I loved the way he harassed me, at first he gave me a tender nudge on my arm, which grew into him playing with my hair. And then, he would lose interest in me, and would find a place of his own to occupy himself. No matter how much I desired his attention afterwards, he would never give me a single look."

"How cruel he seems!"

"He was a loving man, but distant. But then, he would come and beg my attention again as I prepared for bed, and he would sleep beside me all night. And every morning, he beat me to wake up and would already be off on his walk."

"Tell me, where did you meet him?"

"He was my great-great aunt’s. When she passed on he came to live with me. Would you believe, they first thought him a girl? Why, they had to rename him!"

"Ms. Lafayette, are you suggesting he is a cousin of yours?”

"In a sense, I suppose."

Mr. Boyton squinted his eyes in thought, processing the moral concept of it all.

"Well, I suppose it is decent if he was distantly related. Nonetheless, your husband seemed to be an admirable gentleman."

Ms. Lafayette, who had raised the cup to her lips, put it back in the saucer while staring at him hard.

"However," he continued, “a man is responsible for his household, and earning his keep to provide for his family. In that sense, I must say he wasn’t so respectable."

"Mr. Boyton," Mrs. Lafayette started with such a serious, “I have never married."

Mr. Boyton, who had previously perceived that he might have offended her in some way, raised an eyebrow.

"He was only your partner, then?" He inquired.

"Mr. Boyton, Henry was my cat."

The gentleman sat still, startled and perplexed.

"I…of course. I see now. Please, excuse my misunderstanding. It’s just you made Henry sound like your significant other."

Ms. Lafayette relaxed and sipped her tea, this time resting the cup in the palm of her hand.

"I should apologize as well. I was very fond of him, I suppose he was more to me than just a pet."

Mr. Boyton felt a bit uneasy at the fact that she was so attached to a cat, but he also loosened his tense shoulders and gulped down the rest of his cup.

"Of course he was."

There was a moment of silence, as Mr. Boyton tried to think of a way to politely start a new subject, and Ms. Lafayette watched outside, reminiscing over her happy memories.

"I don’t believe it though." She said finally, as if to no one bet herself.

"Believe what?"

"That he is gone. Its what the neighbors have told me. But he will return, he always does."

Author's Note

This was a story about my cat and my fear of slowly turning into a crazy cat lady. I do wonder, because I have thought that he is my boyfriend because we sleep together and I take way too many pictures of him. Tell me I’m not alone, right?

Anyway, I used the same type of trick I used last time, but set it in sort of a old English style country inn, like the ones you see get haunted on BBC. I tried to sound British, I learned it from Jane Austin and Keeping Up Appearances. I have already hit a dry spell with my lessons in this book, so I used some sort of phrase like how characters are irregular or something, so I decided to write about my Prince. Hope y’all enjoyed it!

Reviews

[zainul]

I smile and smile.
It is such a lovely story.
Anna,you know how to charm and captivate with words.
It is like a story of the Arabian Knights.