rosemary for protection ...

 May 17, 1930

Dear Mabel,

Thank you so much for the condolence flowers and card.  Mother is just so devastated.  Father blames himself.  He says that if he hadn't forbidden Gregory from going into the cellar, he would not have been tempted to sneak down there.

The oddest thing though, is that no one can understand how he could have drowned in such a small amount of water, or even where it came from.  Mr. McGowan, the caretaker, insists that the cellar has never had water in it before and that the old well wasn't even in the cellar.

I took solace in the attic after Gregory's funeral.  One of the old trunks had beautiful dresses in it that must have belonged to a girl my age.  They fit me perfectly!  I also found a diary in the trunk that must have been hers.  Her name was Catherine, and I think something horrible happened to her.  Mabel, I think her room is the same one that is now mine!  I think that she died in that room.  She wrote that she had been locked in the room by a woman who must have been the housekeeper and simply forgotten.  There were a few other short entries after that one, but then nothing.

I can't help but wonder if it is her presence I sometimes feel in my room.  It is such a sadness that I feel that I'm often brought to tears for no reason at all.  Except lately there seem to be too many reasons for tears.  I miss Gregory so much, Mabel.  I just can't believe he is gone.

Please come visit soon.  I need you.

Catherine