Osmon

The candlesticks sit one at each end of the long table. They've held that spot for over a hundred years, so there was never a reason to move them.

• PaulineDo I wash the curtains in that room too? It's a little frightening.
  OsmonBy day it's just a dusty room.
• AlbernAnd if a reason to move them ever comes up?
  OsmonThen we'll move them, my lord.

Under the candlestick that has stood in the same spot for a hundred years, this morning I found a wax trail running a hand's width off to the side. Everyone says no one moved it.

• MartaA manor where the candlestick goes wandering at night? Far from frightening, it just makes me laugh.
  OsmonIt's certainly worth a laugh. Though I polished it without laughing.
• ViolenThat house used to be one where nothing ever moved. I preferred it that way.
  OsmonYes, it was, great-aunt.

The petition file went from two drawers to five. In my forty years here, this is the first time the villagers have stopped fearing this hill.

• HabelMine's stayed in the same drawer for twenty years, I've noticed.
  OsmonYours I can copy over without even looking now, Mr. Havel. When will you fix that waterwheel?
• MartaThe bread basket empties by midday now. I'll bring two starting tomorrow.

He told me never to touch the empty frame at the end of the gallery. And yet these days, that's the one spot with no dust at all.

• GrahamI saw it on a house call. He stands there every night.
  OsmonEven if you saw it, you saw nothing, doctor.
• PaulineThat's the one hallway I always run through.
  OsmonDon't run. The floor is older than I am.