The Tale of Hawthorn House

Table of Contents

 

 

THYME OF DEATH
WITCHES’ BANE
HANGMAN’S ROOT
ROSEMARY REMEMBERED
RUEFUL DEATH
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
CHILE DEATH
LAVENDER LIES

MISTLETOE MAN
BLOODROOT
INDIGO DYING
AN UNTHYMELY DEATH
A DILLY OF A DEATH
DEAD MAN’S BONES
BLEEDING HEARTS
SPANISH DAGGER

CHINA BAYLES’ BOOK OF DAYS

 
With her husband, Bill Alb
e
rt, writing as Robin Paige

DEATH AT BISHOP’S KEEP
DEATH AT GALLOWS GREEN
DEATH AT DAISY’S FOLLY
DEATH AT DEVIL’S BRIDGE
DEATH AT ROTTINGDEAN
DEATH AT WHITECHAPEL

DEATH AT EPSOM DOWNS
DEATH AT DARTMOOR
DEATH AT GLAMIS CASTLE
DEATH IN HYDE PARK
DEATH AT BLENHEIM PALACE
DEATH ON THE LIZARD

 
Beatrix Potter Mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert

 
THE TALE OF HILL TOP FARM
THE TALE OF HOLLY HOW
THE TALE OF CUCKOO BROW WOOD
THE TALE OF HAWTHORN HOUSE

 
Nonfiction books by Susan Wittig Albert

WRITING FROM LIFE
WORK OF HER OWN

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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South Africa

 
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 
This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 
Frederick Warne & Co Ltd is the sole and exclusive owner of the entire rights titles and interest in and to the copyrights and trade marks of the works of Beatrix Potter, including all names and characters featured therein. No reproduction of these copyrights and trade marks may be made without the prior written consent of Frederick Warne & Co Ltd.

 
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

 
Copyright © 2007 by Susan Wittig Albert.

 
All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 
Albert, Susan Wittig.
The tale of Hawthorn House / Susan Wittig Albert.
p. cm. — (The cottage tales of Beatrix Potter)

eISBN: 9781101375853

1. Potter, Beatrix, 1866-1943—Fiction. 2. Women authors—Fiction. 3. Women artists—
Fiction. 4. Foundlings—Fiction. 5. Villages—Fiction. 6. Manors—England—Fiction. 7.
England—Fiction. I. Title.

 
PS3551. L2637T348 2007
813’ .54—dc22 2007002729

 

 

The most wonderful and the strongest things in the world, you know, are just the things which no one can see. There is life in you; and it is the life in you which makes you grow, and move, and think: and yet you can’t see it. And there is steam in a steam-engine; and that is what makes it move: and yet you can’t see it; and there may be fairies in the world, and they may be just what makes the world go round to the old tune of

 
C’est l’amour, l’amour, l’amour
Qui fait la monde à la ronde:

 
and yet no one may be able to see them except those whose hearts are going round to that same tune. At all events, we will make believe that there are fairies in the world. It will not be the last time by many a one that we shall have to make believe. And yet, after all, there is no need for that. There must be fairies; for this is a fairy-tale: and how can one have a fairy-tale if there are no fairies?

 
Charles Kingsley,
The Water Babies
, 1863

Cast of Characters

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
People of the Land Between the Lakes

 
Beatrix Potter
* is best known for the series of children’s books that began with
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
(1902). She lives with her parents in London and owns Hill Top Farm, in the Lake District village of Near Sawrey.
Mr. and Mrs. Jennings
live in the Hill Top farmhouse with their three children:
Sammy
,
Clara
, and
Baby Pearl
. They manage the farm while Miss Potter is in London.

Sarah Barwick
(also known as Sarah Scones) lives in Anvil Cottage, at the corner of Market Street and the Kendal Road, where she operates her bakery.

Captain Miles Woodcock
is Justice of the Peace for Sawrey District. He lives in Tower Bank House with his sister,
Dimity Woodcock,
who has assumed temporary care of
Baby Flora
, a foundling child.
Elsa Grape
keeps house and cooks for the Woodcocks.

Major Christopher Kittredge
is the master of Raven Hall and an admirer of
Dimity Woodcock.

Will Heelis
,* Captain Woodcock’s friend, is a solicitor who lives in the nearby market town of Hawkshead. He is the captain’s choice for a husband for
Dimity Woodcock.

Lucy Skead
is the village postmistress. She lives at Low Green Gate Cottage and dispenses gossip with the post. Other notorious village gossipers:
Mathilda Crook
, of Belle Green;
Hannah Braithwaite
, of Croft End Cottage (wife of the village constable);
Lydia Dowling
, of Meadowcroft Cottage (the village shop), and her niece and helper
Gladys
; and
Bertha Stubbs
, who works at Sawrey School.

Mr. and Mrs. Barrow
operate the village inn and pub, the Tower Bank Arms, where they live with their children.

Jane Crosfield
, a weaver, lives at Holly How Farm, on the Tidmarsh Manor estate. Her nephew,
Jeremy Crosfield
, fourteen, attends boarding school in Ambleside.

Mrs. Graham
, a midwife, lives with her husband and children at Long Dale Farm, on Glade Lane. Her old mother,
Mrs. Frost
, a former weaver, lives with them.

Mrs. Janet Allen
lives at Willow Bank Cottage on Graythwaite Farm. She keeps exotic pets, including a pair of leopard tortoises named
Hortense
and
Horatio
.

Deirdre Malone
, thirteen, lives with
Mr. and Mrs. Sutton
and their eight children at Courier Cottage.
Deirdre
takes care of the children, and
Mrs. Pettigrew
cooks and keeps house.

Emily Shaw
was formerly a maid at Tidmarsh Manor, then employed by
Miss Rowena Keller
at Hawthorn House, and lastly by
Miss Pennywhistle
, at Miss Pennywhistle’s Select Establishment for Young Ladies, in London.

Caroline Longford
, thirteen, lives with her grandmother,
Lady Longford
, at Tidmarsh Manor. She has a new governess,
Miss Cecily Burns
. Also at Tidmarsh Manor:
Mrs. Beever
, the cook-housekeeper, and
Mr. Beever
, the gardener and coachman.