Love & Misunderstanding

Chapter Eighteen - Jonathan's POV

I was back in Portsmouth, in the ballroom of my family's estate, and surprisingly enough, was dancing with Miss Hoffman. I did not quite understand what was going on. It almost seemed as though I had been transported back in time to that night when I questioned her on her behaviour towards Matthew, yet there were a few differences. The obvious difference being that no one was staring at us, and the other being that we did not seem to be arguing. In fact, we both actually seemed to enjoying ourselves, which was odd, considering how much we both disliked social events.

However, as soon as the dance ended, the scene in the ballroom faded away and a moment later I opened my eyes, finding myself once again in my bedroom at Uncle Benjamin and Aunt Josephine's manor. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I took a moment to recover from that dream. The dream had been strangely disturbing to me, despite the fact that nothing terrible had actually happened. It made no sense to me.

"Why on earth did I dream of that?" I mumbled, still half asleep.

"How should I know?" I heard someone reply, catching me slightly off guard.

When my eyesight finally cleared, I saw that my brother was sitting on the bed beside me, staring down at me in confusion. Why on earth was he confused? If anything, it should have been me. Not only had I just woken up from a strange dream, but now I found my annoying older brother sitting beside me, holding a breakfast tray.

"Would you care to explain why you are in my bedroom?" I asked. "Do you not have one of your own?"

Vincent ignored the later question. "I came to bring you breakfast because you overslept this morning."

I was surprised to hear this. How on earth had I managed to sleep in and miss breakfast? Never before in my life had I overslept. It was unbelievable! Usually I slept for no longer than four hours without waking up. If what he was saying was true, then I had finally managed to get a full night's sleep. I was not quite sure whether to be pleased by that idea or not.

Placing the tray of food onto my lap, he picked up a piece of toast and promptly stuffed it into my mouth. I glared at him, but relented and tore off a bite. "If it makes you feel any better, you were not the only one absent," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Miss Hoffman was not at breakfast either," he explained. "Although, Caroline claims that she often sleeps later than she ought to."

For some reason, I felt the sudden urge to get up and go find her when he said that. Moving the tray onto the bedside table, I jumped out of bed and began to rush about, getting dressed and tidying up my hair as fast as I could. However, I then came to a screeching halt as a question came to mind. Why on earth was I rushing to go see her? I was never in a hurry to see anyone.

"Have you always been this fast when it comes to getting dressed?" Vincent teased.

I rolled my eyes, slowing down my pace and heading for the door. "You are ever-so amusing, Vincent."

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I am going?"

"To the library," he guessed correctly.

With a slight smirk, I walked out of the room and proceeded to make my way to the library downstairs. My uncle's house was certainly bigger than ours, which meant that it was also easier to get lost, but I had decided to try out a trick that Miss Hoffman had told me about. All I had to do was find something that would help me remember where it was. After being escorted by a servant the first time, I was able to find a rather strange statue standing in the hallway, not too far away. Once I saw it, I knew that I had gone in the right direction.