Chapter 4
Polaris was adding wood to the fire when Hoku brought the smaller crate into the parlour. He put it beside the other, and they drew two chairs before the hearth.
Cheshire sniffed a corner of the crate before settling beneath the table.
With the first notebook open across his knees, Polaris separated a few pages and handed them to Hoku, who placed them over a burning log.
"Let those burn before you add the next handful," Polaris advised. "We'll put the fire out if we try to hurry it."
Hoku rested the papers on his lap. Several bundles still occupied the larger crate, with the other standing untouched beside it.
A few words on the uppermost sheet in the hearth remained legible. He watched its edge blacken and curl over the log before adding the next section.
They made slower progress through the notebooks he had examined downstairs. Occasionally, Hoku read a sentence aloud, asking about a word he could not decipher, and Polaris supplied it while separating the next few pages. At other times, they sat quietly, waiting for the fire to consume what they had put in.
The smaller crate was half empty before Hoku thought to move his chair back. Soot had darkened his cuffs, and he had become rather less careful about keeping it off his trousers.
Polaris checked the final bundle against his list and passed the pages to Hoku a few at a time. When two sheets curled together over the embers, he drew them apart with the poker and held them there until their edges crumbled.
He laid his list on the table and got up to stretch his legs.
Hoku collected the empty crates, intending to take them back to the study.
"I'll put those away later," Polaris said. "Have some water while I see to the clocks upstairs. There's no need for you to sit over the fire any longer."
Hoku left the crates beside the table and retrieved his glass.
Polaris was already at the stairs when he added, "When they begin to strike, come to the back of the hall. I'll meet you there."
Hoku nodded over the glass.
The water was cool, and he drank most of it before sitting down. His throat had grown dry beside the hearth. He nearly rubbed his eyes, remembered the soot on his fingers, and lowered his hand with a sigh.
Cheshire lay under the table with his paws tucked beneath him.
For a little while, Hoku stayed where he was, holding the glass. The fire required no further attention, and he could hear Polaris moving about upstairs.
The first stroke made him lift his head.
It was the deep, measured sound of an old clock. Before it had died away, another sounded over it, and more joined them until the tolling filled the parlour.
'How many has he got up there?'
Hoku set down the glass. He had heard his uncle's clocks striking a little apart, but never so many together.
Cheshire left his place beneath the table and went through the arch. Hoku rose to accompany him into the hall, where a broad patch of daylight extended across the boards at the farther end.
A white door stood in the wall Polaris had shown him.
Hoku approached the glazed panels. Flowers grew close on the other side, and he could distinguish a pale path descending between them.
He rested his hand against the painted wood. The clocks were still striking when Polaris joined him and opened the door.
Cool air stirred the hair around Hoku's face.
The path continued down a gentle slope before reappearing on a low rise. White tulips covered the ground around it, extending into the distance in an unbroken mass. Hoku leaned closer to the threshold, trying to see past the rise.
"I hadn't imagined it going on quite so far," he said.
"I spent a good while looking for the far wall myself," Polaris replied.
Hoku examined the path. Its pale surface and the flowers growing close to either side were much as he had pictured them while reading, but he had supplied the limits of the garden himself. From here, he could see why the traveller had written of a field.
'The man who sent that letter had never seen it. Had the original writer come out through this house? Or was there perhaps another way into the garden?'
He would have liked to know what had happened before the first sentence of the account. For now, he had the part describing the walk, copied into the papers inside his coat.
Cheshire crossed the sill and stopped beside the nearest flowers.
"Keep him in sight," Polaris said. "He may leave the path now and then, but don't let him get too far ahead."
Hoku nodded. The cat was sniffing a leaf, apparently untroubled by the extent of the journey.
He drew his hand from the doorframe and offered it to Polaris.
"Thank you for all your trouble."
Polaris smiled and shook his hand.
"I've enjoyed the company. Take care of yourself, Hoku."
"And you," Hoku replied, returning the smile a little hesitantly.
He stepped onto the pale grit, drawing his coat together against the breeze. Cheshire left the flowers and went ahead along the path.
Hoku had gone only a few paces when the ringing stopped midway through a stroke.
He faced about.
White tulips filled the place where the doorway had stood.
"Polaris?"
Hoku went back to the edge of the path and parted the flowers with one hand. Their long leaves brushed his wrist as he searched for the frame he had been touching a moment earlier.
He called Polaris's name once more, more loudly this time, and listened with his hand still amongst the leaves.
'Can he hear me from the other side? Perhaps he can open it again…'
After a moment, he glanced down the path and found Cheshire sitting a few paces away.
The Memoir Chapter 2
Objective 2
Bid many farewells.
The Memoir Chapter 2 End
The Memoir Chapter 3
You have been granted passage into the Timeless Sequel of Mysteries.
「Recommencing Sequence」