tell the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter [introduction]

[gritted]

Mattie sleeps well, considering the long day she's had. Little Blackie is nearby her, which comforts her and makes her feel safe. She's still afraid of the snakes that come out at night even though Rooster told her that they don't attack young girls, but for now, she tries to forget that

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[regency_twihard]

Once she's settled, if Mattie should venture into the main room that evening, she might find an old-fashioned looking girl curled up on a couch, a shawl wrapped about her shoulders and a throw blanket tucked about her feet. Her attention is wrapped in the book she's reading, and from the look on her face, it's a rather thrilling book.

[gritted]

Mattie is exploring, and when she ventures into the common room, she sees the young woman sitting there.

"Hello," she says a bit stiffly. "What are you reading?"

[regency_twihard]

The girl looks up from her book. "This? Oh, it's The Monk, and it is the most horrid thing ever written," she says, with that kind of horrified glee most kids use when they're talking about ghost stories. "Are you new here?"

[gritted]

Mattie nods. "I suppose I am, yes. Why are you reading it if it's horrid?"

[regency_twihard]

"Oh, it isn't horrid in a bad way, I'm sorry if I did not make that clearer," she says. "It's horrid like a ghost story or something deliciously scary."

[gritted]

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

[regency_twihard]

"You've never listened to ghost stories on a windy night?" she looks at the younger girl with a look of concern, even a kind of pity. "It is rather like that, except that the story is much longer and it involves many other things besides ghosts."

[gritted]

"I have heard many a ghost story, yes, and enjoyed them. So the book is full of things like that?"

[regency_twihard]

"Oh, many things like that: crumbling castles and dangerous assassins, a brooding villain and an innocent young maiden," she says, glancing at the book.

[gritted]

"Hm," she says neutrally. "I am not much one for books, I admit."

[regency_twihard]

"It's quite all right, I do not begin to suppose that it us for everyone," she says, fumbling. "So how did you come upon this place?"

[gritted]

"I was asleep," she begins, "and I woke up here, in the snow. It was very strange."

[regency_twihard]

She blinks at this, "How peculiar," she says. "That is very much the same way in which I arrived here. I was traveling to Bath when I drifted into a daydream. I dreamt that our coach was attacked by highwaymen, and that I alone managed to escape into the snow, to find myself running toward this house." The way she's telling the story, there's a certain excitement rather than fear in her voice.

[gritted]

"That is indeed peculiar. I wonder if everyone arrives here the same way."

[regency_twihard]

"I have heard that there are many different ways here, different for each person who comes to this place, but there could be ways that are similar," she says.

[gritted]

"That is very interesting. So no one lived this house originally?"