Lady Anna and the Wolf

Chapter 11

She was sure that Miss Jones would notice her rigid demeanor. Nervous, and filled with trepidation, her movements were wooden and forced. She retired to bed too readily and lay there too still. And yet the mouse was seemed equally eager to leave the room.

She seemed normal until it came to locking the shutters. Dinner had taken longer than normal because of Lord Godfrey's dithering. Twilight was starting to fall. For some reason, the view from the window scared the girl. She looked at the darkening sky with fear in her wide eyes. Then she worked with frantic speed. Gone were all the careful checks, as speed trumped prudence. She yanked the shutters in place and slammed the locks on them without delay. Then she ran for the door without saying 'Goodnight, Lady Godfrey' as she did without fail every night.

The heavy wooden bedroom door was slammed in place and the pin was withdrawn. The bar fell in place with a familiar crunch of the metal flat beam falling into the metal bracket. Then the lock turned. The clicking sound of the bar extending did not occur. And yet the girl withdrew the key. The next sound was of the iron gate clanging shut and then the rasping of the chain of metal being dragged into place.

Anna did a silent excited scream into her pillow to celebrate her success. The footsteps were heading away, which implied that Miss Jones was gone and that she had achieved her goal. There was every possibility that the girl would be coming back with some locksmith type to fix the failure, but that wasn't something Anna could prevent.

All she could do was wait and listen. If the mouse did make a report to Mrs. Smith, then Anna needed to be found feigning being asleep in her bed. If she was caught on her first escape attempt, then it would be worse for her. Security would be increased tenfold. She needed to be able to claim that this was not her doing, an accident, and to be seen as innocent.

She waited. The bright light of the full moon penetrated the narrow gaps in the shutters. She watched the movement of light on the floor, which was the only evidence she had of it climbing in the sky, to know when it was time. She guessed that a couple of hours had passed since the mouse had left when she decided that was enough time. A repairman would have arrived by now.

With that decided, she was out of bed and heading for the door, paintbrush in hand. She had practiced lifting the bar and securing it, so this was easy enough even in the darkness. And yet she trembled as she worked. There was no guarantee this would work. With the door bolt in place, she couldn't test her theory that the bar was rendered ineffective by this action. If there was a corresponding bar on the other side of the door, then this solution would do nothing. She couldn't be sure until now.

She looked at the door and took a deep breath. If she failed it would be a painful blow. Removing a lock on the other side of the door would not be simple. It would be almost impossible. She would be stuck. It made her chest tight and her heart hammer.

She paused. Maybe it would be better not to know. Would it bring her more happiness to believe she had a method of escape without knowing if it was false hope?

She shook her head to clear the negativity. This will work. She reassured herself. This wasn't freedom but there was a good chance it would get her past the first barrier.

There was no point in doubt. She would cross that bridge if the door didn't open. But she had to go forth and ignore her fear. If she lost this opportunity to test her theory, then she might never get another one.

She needed to do this.

She placed her hand on the knob and held her breath as she slowly turned the handle.

The door swung inward without so much as a sound. It was well oiled and perfectly balanced. She stood there looking at it as if the ease at which it complied was wrong, too easy, unnatural, or possibly just unexpected.