Crooked House Page #9

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to do it, though.

And I warned him.

I told him he'd be sorry

for stopping my ballet.

And now I hope he jolly well is.

He really shouldn't

have done that.

That and other things.

Many other things.

He's mean. Cruel.

He's a bad person.

And he thinks

he can do anything.

He thinks he can tell everyone

what to do

and make them crazy

and miserable.

But not me. I'm stronger.

I'm different.

I'm like him.

And I gave him a special treat

for his birthday.

I did my best dance for him.

I know how much he likes

watching Brenda dance.

I can see it from my tree house.

I also know how much he loved it

when Sophia wanted

to be a ballerina.

He thought

she was beautiful and gracious.

But he said

there was no point in me

having any more ballet lessons

because I would never be

good enough or gracious enough.

He said it wasn't so much

swan lake as duck pond.

I hate him. I hate him.

There's a bit

about Brenda's letter.

"I finally got the hang

of her handwriting."

It's lucky she writes

like a child of 10.

I copied it

from a bit in exposure.

Is this the right way?

I believe so.

Today, I have to be very brave.

I put aunt Edith's secateurs

in Laurence's drawer

in the school room.

Now I must climb up

to the tree house with a knife.

But every task worth doing

has a hard bit.

"Nanny's guessed.

Eustace kept asking questions,

and I worried he might."

But he didn't. Nanny did.

She's snooping around

all the time.

She certainly saw my

ballet shoes, which were muddy

after I took secateurs

from the shed.

She kept looking at me,

and I knew she'd put two

and two together. I hate nanny.

Always after me,

trying to teach me lessons.

And she's so stupid.

I hate stupid people.

"They're useless,

apart from dying during wars

"like grandpapa used to say.

She should be next."

Edith must have sensed

something,

and then she found

Josephine's notebook.

And then Josephine killed nanny.

And that's when Edith decided

to blame herself.

She couldn't let Laurence

and Brenda hang

for a crime

they hadn't committed.

But at the same time she

couldn't let her Josephine

face a lifetime of institutions,

being jeered at as a monster,

laughed at as a freak,

not to mention

the public humiliation

the house would have had

to endure.

What is she doing

with Josephine?

There they are.

Why this way?

It's a shortcut.

It's the road that leads to

the quarry. I don't understand.

Aunt Edith, what is this?

- You're frightening me.

- Don't be frightened.

Aunt Edith, what are you doing?

Aunt Edith!

Oh, my god, Charles.

They're--

Aunt Edith, stop! Stop!

No, no!

Stop!

Stop the car, stop the car,

stop the car.

No, no, no.

No.

No, no, no.

Shh.

What did we do to her?

What did we do to her?

No, no, it's okay.

It wasn't you.

It wasn't you.

It wasn't you.

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