"It is no use telling me there are good aunts and baa aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven noor."
W hile Charles was on his way to Colchester, Kate was on her way to the library. She had almost finished copying out the cipher manuscript and its transcription for Mr. Yeats. It had been tedious labor, for the crabbed glyphs were written in faded sepia ink and were hard to decipher. The paper on which they were written bore a watermark of 1809-or, rather, some of the sheets did. Others bore no mark at all; curiously, they appeared to be much newer, although
the script and ink were the same. And there was a further curiosity: the name and address of the German woman to whom Dr. Westcott had written for authorization of the Order of the Golden Dawn were in the same hand that had produced the cipher. Odd, Kate thought, since the woman had died only recently. Kate mentioned these puzzling facts to Aunt Sa-brina, but she seemed unable to shed any light on the matter.
Aunt Sabrina, meanwhile, had been copying out her tarot deck. The precious cards had been designed by MacGregor Mathers in consultation (it was said) with his spirit guide, and hand-drawn by his wife, Moina Mathers. This original deck was loaned to each member in turn, so that a personal copy could be made. The member was required to keep the deck closely guarded and pass it on when he or she had finished copying it.
But Kate was thinking neither about the cipher document nor the Golden Dawn tarot. After what Mrs. Pratt had told her last night, she was filled with a firm determination. She would have a frank talk with Aunt Sabrina. It was too late to help Jenny, but something had to be done to restrain Aunt Jaggers, and Aunt Sabrina was the only person who could do it.
But when Kate came into the library, Aunt Sabrina was not alone. Aunt Jaggers, dressed in her customary rusty black, stood in front of the fire, while Aunt Sabrina, wearing a pale blue morning gown, was sitting at her desk, where she had been copying the cards. From their strained faces and tense postures, it was clear that the two were quarreling.
Sensing that she had stepped into a private and perhaps embarrassing exchange, Kate turned to leave. But Aunt Jaggers caught sight of her.
"What do you think you're doing, miss?" she cried violently, stamping her foot. "Eavesdropping, like the other servants?"
"Calm yourself, Bernice," Aunt Sabrina said, rising. "Kathryn was merely-"
"Don't tell me what she was doing," Aunt Jaggers snapped, shoulders squared, face wrenched into angry ugliness. "I've seen how this girl toadies to you and your foolish sorcery. Before she came, there was at least peace in this household." She pulled herself up. "Clearly, your experiment is not working. She must go."
Kate gasped as if a bucket of cold well water had been splashed over her. Go?
"You aren't serious, Bernice," Aunt Sabrina said quietly.
"I am very serious," Aunt Jaggers replied with a lofty look. "We did agree, did we not, that if this person"-she glanced coldly at Kate-"did not suit, she would be returned to America."
Aunt Sabrina's voice was low, controlled. "But she does suit. She suits very well. Her work is exemplary, her manner cooperative, her-"
"She does not suit we," Aunt Jaggers said flatly. "But you needn't worry about the details. I have already written to the steamship agent in London to arrange return passage for her. As soon as possible." Her triumphant look at Kate said, How do you like that, miss? as plainly as if she had spoken the words.
"You are challenging me in this way," Aunt Sabrina said, "because you know how I feel about what you did yesterday. After that disgraceful business with Jenny, I told you that your power to discipline the servants did not extend to physical punishment or discharge. What happened with Nettie sickens me, Bernice. I intend to-"
"Be careful what you intend, sister." Aunt Jaggers's voice was flintlike, her words barbed. "Remember what I know."
Aunt Sabrina seemed to flinch and turn away, and Kate was startled to see something very like fear come into her eyes-fear and hatred. What could Aunt Jaggers possibly know that could make Aunt Sabrina afraid? What secret could be so compromising that it would force her to submit to her sister's tyranny? Kate was stunned. Aunt Jaggers was a blackmailer! No wonder Aunt Sabrina hated her.
Aunt Sabrina's face was white, without expression. When she spoke, her voice was so low that Kate had to strain to hear the words. "You may use your ill-gotten knowledge once too often for your own welfare, sister."
"Perhaps I have not used it often enough," Aunt Jaggers retorted, "for my own welfare." She felt she had the upper hand; Kate could see it in the confident lift of her head and the aggressive line of her jaw. "Perhaps I should use it with your dear friend the vicar as well. Perhaps he would be willing to-"
Aunt Sabrina's hand moved so fast that Kate almost didn't see the slap. But she went cold inside as she heard the smart smack of flesh against flesh, and heard Aunt Jaggers's shriek.
"You struck me!" she cried furiously, her hand going to her cheek.
Aunt Sabrina's shoulders slumped suddenly, all the rigidity gone out of her, and a look of self-disgust crossed her face. It was as if having stooped to physical violence, she had lost the high ground of her moral position. "I am… sorry," she said, struggling for control. "Forgive me, Bemice. I did not intend-"
But Aunt Jaggers's eye had fallen on the Golden Dawn tarot deck. "Fortunetelling cards," she shrilled. "Oh, Sa-brina, how low you have fallen!" Her nostrils flared at the painted figure on the card. ' 'I see the mark of the cloven hoof in your forehead!" She was shouting now, fixing all her inflamed morality, her burning hatred, upon the pieces of cardboard.
Aunt Sabrina took a step forward. "Don't touch those cards, Bernice," she said. "They are not mine. They belong to-"
"The Devil!" Aunt Jaggers shrieked. And with one wild gesture, she swept up the cards and hurled them onto the blazing fire. As Kate stared in paralyzed horror, the thin pasteboard cards flared brightly in the flames, curled into ash, and were gone.
"Bernice!" Aunt Sabrina whispered, horrified. "What have you done?"
Aunt Jaggers seemed to have taken strength from her action. "I have done what I should have done weeks ago. I have taken a stand against evil." She raised her hand in a commanding gesture, her eyes like silver coins. "Mark me, sister. I have burned your cards. And unless you banish the
rest of this deviltry, I promise you I will burn it, as well!" She stepped smartly to Kate's alcove and shoved Kate's box of letters onto the floor.
Aunt Sabrina straightened her shoulders. She seemed to be grappling within herself. "If you don't get out, Bernice," she said between clenched teeth, "I will… I will-"
Aunt Jaggers lifted her chin. "You will do what, sister?" When Aunt Sabrina did not answer, a thin, triumphant smile crossed her face, and she turned to Kate. ' 'I will let you know when arrangements have been made for your departure," she said.
In the fireplace, the flames flickered brightly.