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Locke Manor – The Guest Wing
Joseph
He smiles as his visitor enters the room. “You must be Simon,” he remarks. “Your brother had mentioned that he would be asking you come and have a word with me.” Despite his weakness, a weakness which is only slightly evident in his bearing, there is an easy gracefulness about his movements as he sets aside the book he had been reading and indicates a chair next to his own. Unlike the Lockes, he is no stranger to such awkward and difficult moments as these and so it is he, the stranger, who assumes the responsibility of making the owner of the house comfortable. “Please allow me,” his tone is marked by the same easy grace as his gestures, “to extend to you the same word of thanks that I gave to your brother earlier this morning. That I would likely be dead if not for your hospitality is not lost on me.” He pauses and after the pause he smiles – a warm and engaging smile. “Which, of course, begs the question of just how I came to arrive within the walls of this house and for what purpose.” Once more he pauses. “Perhaps your brother has already apprised you of our conversation of this morning. Then again, perhaps he has not. Edward is a cautious man. And rather on the private side. And, therefore, perhaps, likely to prefer you to form your own impressions of me before disclosing too much of his own.” He notes the surprise on Simon’s face. “Please do not let my words trouble you. People are not so difficult to read should one know what signs to seek out and I am one who has spent his life learning how to perceive and read such signs.” Again he pauses. “But I am sure,” he says simply, “that you have questions of your own to put to me. Where then shall we begin?”
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