Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

have been that you were lovers once before? Is it not possible that the Richard she loved so much was your alter ego, eight hundred years ago?" He was watching Nick's expression closely. "It might be fun to find out, " he went on persuasively. "It couldn't do any harm, and it might explain a lot of your ambivalence toward Jo now. "

Nick sat down on the edge of a table, one foot on the carpet, the other swinging slowly back and forth. "I don't believe I'm hearing this. You actually think I am the reincarnation of Richard de Clare?"

Sam shrugged. "When dealing with anything like this, Nick, I keep an open mind. I think for Jo's sake you ought to as well. You owe it to her, if only to find out why you attacked her. " His eyes narrowed.

"But why, " Nick said slowly, "if I was Richard de Clare, would I be so jealous of him?"

Sam smiled. "Good question. Shall we find out?"

"You are serious?"

"Perfectly. If you don't regress, fair enough. Not everyone does by any means. At least we will have tried. If you do, it will be interesting. "

"I don't know that I do trust you!" Nick looked at him suspiciously. "After what happened to Jo. "

"What happened to Jo? She is a deep trance subject, Nick; you are not. The experience would not be the same for you. "

"I'm glad to hear it, " Nick said coolly. "There are one or two things you never explained, Sam. " His knuckles tightened on his glass. "Like why it was necessary for Jo to take off her clothes the other night when you regressed her. "

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Is that what she said happened?"

"That is what she said. " Nick was watching him closely.

Sam smiled. "She experiences the trances so vividly she finds it hard to differentiate between that state and reality, at least for a time, as I told you. "

"It was reality, Sam, that I found her clothes that night, hidden in the living room—"

"Perhaps she put them there before I came. " Sam crossed one knee over the other, his whole body relaxed. "I'm not sure what you are implying, Nicholas, but may I remind you that it is you who raped Jo, not I. It is you who asked for help, and I can give it because I'm a doctor. And I think you need to try hypnosis. "

Still uncertain, Nick hesitated. "I suppose it would do no harm to try. And I'd rather you did it than Bennet, " he said at last, reluctantly. "But I hate the idea. And I doubt if it would work on me, anyway. "

"Why don't we try?" Sam sat up slowly. "In fact, why don't we have a go now? You're worried. You're tired. If nothing else, I can help you to relax. " He smiled. "Come and sit down over here, little brother. That's right, facing the window. Now. Relax. Put the glass down, please. You're clutching it like a lifebelt! Now, let's see whether you can do one or two little experiments for me. We'll start with the lamp. " Sam leaned forward and switched on the lamp at Nick's elbow. "No, don't look at the light. I want you to look past it, into the corner of the room. "

Nick laughed suddenly. "It's like having the 'fluence' put on you by someone at school. Why don't you use a watch and chain?"

"It may have escaped your notice, Nicholas, but I don't wear a watch and chain. " Sam moved silently from his chair and gently put his thumb and forefinger on Nick's eyelids. "Now, look toward the lamp again and start counting slowly backward from one hundred. "

Several minutes later Sam stood up. He was smiling. He walked toward the window and threw it open, staring out for a minute up the narrow street opposite toward the traffic in Park Lane. Then he turned to Nick, who was lying back in his chair, his eyes closed.

"Comfortable, little brother?" he said softly. "No, don't try to answer me. You can't. I don't want you to speak at all. I want you to listen. "

Chapter 19

Janet knocked on Jo's door as she was undressing late that night. Pushing it open, she hovered for a moment, staring at Jo, who, wearing only her bra and briefs, was sitting on the edge of her bed.

"God, I'm sorry! I didn't think—shall I come back?" Flustered, Janet backed away. "I brought us some cocoa. I thought you might like to chat a bit. Old Welsh custom!"

Jo laughed. "Come in. " She reached for her thin silk bathrobe hastily and drew it around her.

Janet sat down on the stool in front of the kidney-shaped dressing table, maneuvering her heavy body with difficulty. "Jo, I wanted to apologize for David. He can be a bit belligerent at times. He shouldn't have given you the third degree like that. He tends to think all Welsh history is his special province and he almost resents anyone else who is interested in it, besides which, as you can't have failed to gather, he is a rabid nationalist—"

"Quite apart from thinking that I am completely mad anyway. " Jo smiled wearily. "He could be right at that. I'm glad he didn't order me out of your house. I really did want to know about Matilda, though—his Moll Walbee. " She reached for the mug and sipped it slowly. "It was so odd to hear him talk about her with such knowledge. He knew so much more about her than I do, and yet at the same time he didn't know her at all. "

Janet gave a rueful laugh. "That could apply to David on a lot of subjects. " She was silent a moment, watching as Jo sipped again from her mug. The pale-blue silk of Jo's sleeve had slipped back to her elbow, showing clearly the livid bruising around