Read Nightingale Songs for Free Online Page B

not seen it earlier.
    "Please make it quick, though. It's late and my sister and I would like to turn in."
    Claire felt Eloise's cold eyes scrutinize her as she dialed her father's number. There was a click on the receiver, then a whirring noise before the line crackled with static. Behind the white noise, she thought she heard the faint trilling of a telephone, but she could not be sure. If it was, it never ceased, and when she finally hung up the receiver in defeat, she was certain she could still hear it.
    "You see," Eloise said coldly. "There's no one there for you."
    "I'm sure, if we gave it enough time, the line would--'
    "I think we've been more than generous. The evening is at its end."
    "But what is she going to do, Eloise? We have to help her. Maybe she'd like to stay here tonight?"
    The idea sounded disastrous, but there appeared to be no other option.
    "I suppose, if you don't mind..."
    "Do we mind, Eloise?"
    The woman's tiny dead eyes glared as Claire held her breath. Then Eloise winced and began to forcefully rub her leg.
    "Give her the room at the top of the stairs," she hissed. "She can stay until the morning."
    Doreen beamed. She stood and grabbed Claire's wrist, then pulled her along.
    "Come on, let me show you where you'll sleep."
    "It's already quite late," Eloise said as they left. "You should go straight to bed."
    Claire followed Doreen back down the long corridor until they reached a set of stairs. At the foot, Claire looked back and saw Eloise hobbling in the other direction, the pain in her leg slowing her.
    "Is she going to be all right?" Claire asked.
    "Oh, she'll be fine. There's nothing to worry about. When we were kids she hated staying inside, but with her leg like that she doesn’t have a choice. It makes her restless; she doesn't mean to take it out on you."
    "I'll have to take your word for it."
    Doreen stopped on the stairs and turned.
    "It isn't like that," she said. "Eloise is just difficult to get to know. It's been just her and me for so long sometimes I think she forgets how to talk to other people."
    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything."
    "Oh, I know you didn't." Doreen smiled and then continued up the stairwell.
    Claire inspected the paintings on the wall as they climbed. Unlike the others in the house their only subject was the bearded man.
    "These are pretty," Claire said. "You painted them?"
    "In this stairwell? Yes, they're mine. Our father was such a good sport about sitting still for them, though I can't say I ever did him justice. He passed away when Eloise and I were quite young. There was an accident and --" she stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back at Claire. "I'm sorry for talking so much. It's just that we don’t get many visitors."
    It was unfortunate to see the situation Doreen was in. Her sister heaped scorn upon her for no reason, and cabin fever was no excuse. Claire understood what it meant to lose a parent at a young age, but she no longer felt anger about it. She counted herself lucky she still had someone who loved her at all. Claire's father was overprotective, but too much love was better than none at all. Eloise seemed shut down, and Claire wondered how Doreen managed to live with it without going mad. Were Claire's father to die, she doubted she would make it.
    Doreen led Claire through the first door at the top of the stairwell, which opened into a small room with a tiny bed and walls claustrophobically close together. The staleness of air intensified the feeling of being strangled, and Claire opened the window so she might catch her breath.
    "It looks perfect," she said, swallowing her discomfort. It was either the room or the side of the road.
    "The washroom is down the hall. Like I said, it's just Eloise and me, so there won't be competition for it. I'll leave you to get settled. Eloise will be wondering where I am."
    "Oh, before you go," Claire said. "Which one of you was playing the piano earlier? I heard it outside and it was