(Untitled)

[edgar_huntly]

He wakes up in a corner of the main room. There are sticks and leaves in his hair, and his clothing is torn in many places and stained with mud. He could use a shave, and probably some sleep. More than that, though, he could use some idea where he is, or whose mansion he's entered while he was sleepwalking.

Tentatively, he calls, "Hello?"

Comments

[notallworthy]

And Tom is flopped down on a couch somewhere nearby. "Hello!"

[edgar_huntly]

Edgar's head snaps up; he hadn't realized anyone else was in the room. "Where--where am I, sir?"

[notallworthy]

"Afraid I don't know." Tom extends a hand from his still flopped, partially upside down position. "Tom Jones, at your service."

[edgar_huntly]

He shuffles forward on his knees to take it. "Edgar Huntly ... late of Solesbury, in the Norwalk area."

[notallworthy]

Headtilt. "Where is that? It sounds familiar, but I don't know which county."

[edgar_huntly]

"In Pennsylvania." He smiles briefly. "And you, Mr. Jones?"

[notallworthy]

"Pennsylvania... Oh! In the colonies! How interesting! I'm from Somersetshire. In England."

[edgar_huntly]

"Ah! A friend of mine has traveled through England, although Ireland has more often been his home." He smiles. "What are you doing in the colonies, Mr Jones?"

[notallworthy]

"I don't think this is the colonies. I've asked and most people agree that it isn't there."

[edgar_huntly]

There was, we should just add, a rather condescending note on 'the colonies'--Edgar is very firmly an American citizen. There is now a slightly worried note. "I can't have traveled more than thirty miles in a night--"

[notallworthy]

"Erm... You see people seem to arrive here from all over and no one knows why. People from all over and all sorts of times. Germany, Russia, France, everywhere."

[edgar_huntly]

He asks, aghast, "All of them sleepwalking?"

[notallworthy]

"Sleepwalking? I don't think so."

[edgar_huntly]

"Ah." Edgar sits back on his heels, disquieted. "Do you have any idea at all how we came to be here?"

[notallworthy]

"Sorry. I'm afraid that I don't. And I'm afraid you can't go back."

[edgar_huntly]

"But my sisters--they need a guardian--"