Michael Bedford > Recent Status Updates

Dr Jordan finds Mary Whitney's grave but reflects that Grace might have just used the name in her story after seeing the grave. He travels home & fantasizes about keeping Grace as his housekeeper with benefits, and then thinks of marrying her. He knows how insane it would be to marry a convicted murderess, but he can't shake the idea.

Dr Jordan goes to Richmond Hill & inquires about Grace & the Kinnear house. He visits the house, currently for sale, and gets a tour. The housekeeper who shows him the house tells him where to find Mr K's & Nancy's graves. He visits them but doesn't learn anything. Dr J then goes to the cemetery where Mary Whitney is supposed to be buried.

Dr Jordan hides his anger at the suggestion that Grace fell in love with Mackenzie. M suggests G is similarly in love with Dr J. This causes Dr J to wonder what G thinks during their talks. G overhears Dora gossiping about Mrs Humphrey & Dr J's affair, she is upset. G thinks about hypnotism the next day w/ Jeremiah (Dr DuPont) & what would be in her keepsake album—one of the items is the kerchief used to kill Nancy.

Dr Jordan & Mrs Humphrey have a regular & pathetic ongoing affair now. Dr J wonders how far he will go into the relationship. He arrives in Toronto & thinks of going to a European city where he could be free of Mrs H & be anonymous. Dr J meets Mackenzie, Grace's lawyer at her trial, & they discuss her case. M describes G as overly affectionate, which is as G described him, & says he thinks G was "guilty as sin."

Dr Jordan has left for Toronto & Grace thinks about what she would say to him if he were there. She recalls the trial & being found guilty: she fainted, impaling herself. G thinks about Dr J asking her about Susanna Moodie who G said looked like a beetle. When Dr J asks G about telling SM that G saw Nancy's red eyes following her everywhere, G tells him she said "peonies," not "eyes." Dr J didn't understand.

Dr Jordan gets a passive-aggressive letter from his mother & dreams he is in school dissecting a woman's corpse. He removes the sheet but finds no one there, although he could see the contour of a body beneath. He wakes & thinks he sees Grace bending over his bed. Thinking himself in a dream, he grabs her & forcefully takes her. He realizes too late that he is awake & has just fornicated with his landlady.

McDermott tries to rape Grace at the side of the road, saying that she had suggested it to him. She bites his ear, drawing blood, & McD is proud of her for being so chaste until they're married. G agreed to marry McD but tells Dr Jordan she intended to flee from him once they'd crossed the border. McD acts suspiciously & the two are noticed. They cross the border on a ferry but are arrested that night in a shady inn.

Grace stalls & bargains for so long that McDermott "loses his ardour." They find the blood-smeared Godey's Ladies' Book that Mr Kinnear had been reading in Nancy's bed where McD had left it. McD thinks it an omen & crosses himself. G takes advantage of this lull to convince McD that they must hurry & escape the scene. They steal several items, including some of N's clothing & Mr K's shirts. They set out for Toronto.

Grace doesn't think she would've been so heartless as to drink to the success of the murderous venture & says all she remembers is waking up in her bed wet from being revived by a bucket of water. G describes seeing McDermott in her room. He is drunk & says it's time for G to keep her promise. G doesn't remember promising herself to him, but knows he won't be refused. She suggests a larger bed to stall for time.

Grace tells Dr Jordan she would like to remember the truth about the day of the murders. Dr J returns home & finds that his landlady Mrs Humphrey has been drinking his laudanum. He goes on a rowing trip with Miss Lydia & thinks about proposing, but won't, not yet. G describes waking up wet from a bucket of water McDermott splashed on her, but McD testified that he & G drank to the success of their venture.

After killing Mr Kinnear, McDermott tells Grace to open the trapdoor so he can throw the body in the cellar. G refuses, but relents. G runs out the door & McD shoots at her but misses. G tells Dr Jordan she fainted then. Jamie visits & finds McD w/ a gun. McD tells J he was shooting birds. Dr J reminds G that J testified that G, dressed in Nancy's stockings, told J that N was out. G can't account for it.

Dr Jordan asks Grace if she remembers seeing McDermott drag Nancy into the cellar or telling the butcher they wouldn't need meat for the week: she doesn't. G says Mr Mackenzie, her lawyer at the trial, told her to tell it that way. When Mr Kinnear comes home, he asks where N is. G tells him she went to town. McD threatens G, telling G she must help him kill Mr K or else. G agrees. McD shoots Mr K dead in the kitchen.

Grace describes the day of the murders to Dr Jordan: everything looked silver, & G thought about how God was in everything. G suggests McDermott not be wicked & kill Nancy. He thinks G is taunting him. G begs McD not to kill N in Mr K's room since blood is hard to get out. McD leaves G, & G goes into the garden. She hears a thud & can't remember anything until Mr Kinnear returns to the house early.

Grace describes her dreams to Dr Jordan: the night before McDermott murdered Nancy, G saw Mary Whitney release a firefly from a jar. The firefly can't get outside & G knows the firefly is MW's trapped soul. G then dreams of strangling N in the cellar, the dream matching the details of the actual event. Dr J, surprised that G had the dream the night before the murder, writes in his journal.

Grace continues telling her story to Dr Jordan. G describes having a party with Jamie, Nancy, & McDermott before McD murdered N. The party ends, McD walks J home, intending to murder N that night. G persuades McD not to, saying she woul be in bed w/ N & McD could accidentally kill her. G & N sleep in Mr Kinnear's bed, & G tells N that McD means to kill her. N laughs it off: McD is all boast.

Dr Jordan gives his talk. Grace overhears Doris talking about Dr J's domestic situation: D will go back to work for Dr J but will only listen to him since he's footing the bill. G is surprised to hear about Dr J's situation. G gets called to bring a cake up to the guests & is again surprised to see Jeremiah, calling himself Dr DuPont. He covertly suggests to G that she should let him hypnotize her & she consents.

Dr Jordan continues to have problems with Mrs Humphrey & continually pictures her in erotic poses though he claims to have no interest. He awakes 1 night to find her in his room claiming to have been frightened by a noise. He is determined to put an end to this behaviour. Grace struggles to remember what happened, specifically what Mr Kinnear looked like.

The March girls have a picnic with Laurie and his British friends. It goes off fine. Meg snubs Ned and Laurie's British friends find American girls good company once one gets to know them.

The Riders of Rohan agree to let the company of 3 go. They also give them some horses. Éomer tells Aragorn not to fail. Aragorn tells him he won't.

Dr Jordan writes down the details of what Grace has told him down. G notices that he seems more animated than ever before & feels good that she has brought a little pleasure into a fellow being's life.

When Grace awakes from her dream, she finds that her nightdress is wet, her feet are smeared with grass & mud, & finds yesterday's washing, which looks like headless angels, caught in the trees. G describes to Dr Jordan feeling sense of foreboding, that there was a doom on the house, & that she was worried some would die. She wishes she had left with Jeremiah.

In Grace's dream, the man groping her turns out to be Death & the horse she hears is the biblical horse that Death rides. She also sees a number of huge white birds perched in the trees around the house, but when she looks closer she finds that the birds are actually headless angels dressed in white, their robes washed in blood.

Mr Kinnear tells Nancy not to worry about Grace's talking to herself & calls G handsome. G hears them giggling & carousing, & goes to bed. There's a thunderstorm, G imagines the house being split in 2 & falling into the earth. A voice says "it cannot be," & G loses consciousness. She dreams she is outside being groped by someone, but can't decide if it's Jeremiah, Mr K, or McDermott.

Grace suspects Nancy is pregnant from Mr. Kinnear, she shows all the signs. Mr K walks in on G scrubbing the floor & leers at her as she scrubs. N sees this & yells at G. G later listens to N reading to Mr K The Lady of the Lake & carousing. She overhears N tell Mr K she's thinking of firing G for a number of reasons (talks to herself etc.).