Chapter Three
The Interrupted Journey
Philippa hurriedly pulled on a pair of slacks and a blouse, slipped into her shoes, and rushed down the stairs, only to find the big hall empty; the house, eerily quiet. Her heels clicked as she scurried across the checkerboard of the tile floor. Increasingly determined, she raced from room to room. She thought of calling out for the servants, but she worried that that might be a bit unseemly. She searched the house till she finally came to the dining room, where, seated alone at the massive table, she found the Lord of the Manor, still dressed in his quilted morning robe, calmly buttering himself a slice of toast. At the sideboard, Parkhurst was preparing coffee.
Philippa marched straight up to the seated man, fully prepared to demand an explanatio
