Scout felt awkward. The truth was that, even though she hadn't been there a month, Farraway Mist already felt like home to her, and she was used to it being just her and George, with Sunil and Alfred providing comic relief a few times a week. Having Kelly show up out of the blue had thrown everything off kilter in some strange way.

She saw Kelly's face when the blonde woman saw her emerging from George's bedroom before dinner, and realized how it looked. She also realized that explaining the situation, namely that she, Scout, was sleeping in the little room that opened off of George's room because of the strange events that had transpired on her first night in this house would have been awkward in a whole different way. She also had to admit that a small part of her found it strangely satisfying to know that Kelly thought there was more going on between her and George than there was.

Besides, Kelly was George's friend, surely it was his place to talk to her about his living and sleeping circumstances?

She passed Kelly on the stairs and said nothing, merely smiling and saying, "Good evening," in a pleasant voice.

And during dinner, Scout and Kelly engaged in a bizarre kind of verbal sparring, with Kelly trying to prove that she knew George really well, certainly much better than Scout did, or ever could.

"Remember, George, when you were in Paris for that show?" she began. "What was the name of that restaurant? We had similar stew to this, only it was much better, of course," she said dismissively.

"I don't remember," George said. "I'm sure all this reminiscing is very tiresome for Scout, Kelly," he said, looking apologetically at Scout. "There must be something we can all talk about?"

"Oh no, I don't mind," Scout assured him with a smile. She was a well-raised girl from an upper-class, New England family, she'd sat through more than her share of dutiful conversations. "You haven't seen each other in such a long time, how about if I take myself off to bed so you can have a nice, long visit in private?" She looked back and forth between the two of them.

"That's very kind of you--" Kelly began, but George also began speaking.

"No, absolutely not," he said firmly. "I'm still not sure why she came, but it's just work, so whatever it is can't possibly take long, right?" He looked at Kelly briefly before continuing. "So I'll sign the papers or whatever it is, then we can have some wine in the lounge and maybe play some Scrabble or something, what do you say, Scout? We can show Kelly how exciting evenings at Farraway Mist can really be, yeah?" And he grinned at her, looking so dashingly handsome that even Scout, who was usually immune to such things, caught her breath.

"Well, yes, I do have some papers that need signing, as a matter of fact," Kelly said. "I'll just run upstairs and get them, shall I? And we can all meet in the lounge in a few minutes?" She looked around.

George nodded, and left to go build a fire, while Scout loaded the dishwasher. By the time she went to the lounge, the fire was going, the wine opened, and the room was warm and cozy against the wet and windy evening.

Scout reached over her head as she entered the room, ringing one of the little service bells that still hung over the door. They were strung over the doorways of all of the common rooms on the ground and second floor, from the days when cords were pulled to alert the staff that the family of the house needed something.

George looked up at the sound, smiling at her.

Scout smiled back.

"I just love the sound," she said, reaching up to move the bell again. The melodic tintinnabulation filled the room, making Jess and Bandit wag their tails. They already associated the sound with Scout.

"I know," George responded.

Kelly entered before the sound faded, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "What a horrid sound," she remarked. "George, why don't you take those awful things down?" She was holding a sheaf of papers in her hand, and held a pen. She sat next to him, leaving Scout to sit across from both of them. This wasn't her usual place, and the dogs moved to sit under her chair, so she could rest her feet on them.

"So what am I signing, then?" George asked with a sigh. "I thought I simplified everything last year? Took care of all this shit?"

"Well, Simon found this Leeds thing that was too good to pass up, quick in, quick out? He said he talked to you about it," Kelly responded, placing the papers in front of him.

"Yeah, that's right, he did," George acknowledged. "I remember." He took the pen and spent a couple of minutes signing. Kelly collected the papers and set them aside.

"Okay, finished," she said, taking a sip of her wine. She glanced at Scout's feet, which rested on Bandit.

"Wow, they really like you, don't they?" she asked wistfully.

"Yeah, I guess so," Scout said, rubbing Bandit's side.

"What's its name? Gangster?" she continued. "Come here, Gangster, come on."

"Bandit, his name is Bandit," Scout corrected gently, as the dog showed no inclination whatsoever to move.

"He won't come," George said with a grin. "He won't even come for me when Scout's got her feet on him like that," he continued.

Kelly leaned back, defeated, taking another sip of her wine.

"So, we're going to play Scrabble?" she asked, looking around.

So they played, and George could tell Scout was pulling her punches, but she still trounced the two English players in the room. They played two games, but didn't start a third, and as the wine took hold, Kelly got more and more affectionate with George, leaning into him, pressing the mellow weight of a round breast into his arm as she leaned into him, pulling her legs up onto the couch.

"George, my goodness, your hair is getting really long," she remarked, reaching out to tuck some strands behind his ear in what could only be construed as an intimate gesture.

He leaned away as far as he could, trying not to let his irritation show in his face. He felt sorry for Kelly, who couldn't possibly know what was going on in the room, all of the feelings that were flying around.

Scout kept her face carefully neutral as she watched the lovely young woman in front of her. She'd seen women "make a pass" at men before, many times, though maybe not a woman or man with this caliber of beauty. Didn't Kelly know, though, that George was still in love with Tessa, his beautiful dead wife? Could she not tell that he wasn't interested in her?

Kelly finally just leaned in to George's neck and pressed a very loving, moist kiss there, making a very sexy sighing noise as she did so.

Scout rose. Even she, with her New England stoicism and breeding, couldn't ignore that. "I'm going to say good night, you guys," she said pleasantly, giving a little wave, smiling with her raspberry ice lips at George.

"Scout, wait--" George said, trying to rise, but Scout was already gone, head bowed, a bit of red creeping up the back of her neck that he could see.

"What the hell are you doing!" he asked angrily, grabbing Kelly by the wrists and pulling her off him.

"Ow, George, you're hurting me!" she whined, brows furrowed as he rose from the couch and released her. Jess and Bandit had both risen, not sure what to do. They wanted to go with Scout, but George was still down here with the woman they didn't like at all. They looked back and forth from their master to the door.

"Why did you come here?" he demanded, downing the rest of his wine in one gulp. "And don't give me some bollocks story about signing papers, either."

"I came here because--" she looked at him with wide eyes. "I came here because I wanted to know who was here with you," she admitted, lowering her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "I don't have anyone!"

"You ordered women's golf clubs," she practically whispered.

"What?" he thundered. He looked at her for long, silent moments, then looked around the room. He finally turned and left without another word, slamming the door shut behind him.

"George," Kelly called, running after him. She caught up to him on the stairs. "Wait, please!" She reached out and caught his arm. "George! Please! How am I supposed to feel? We had something once, something really good! I loved you, so much! I love you, so much!"

He stared at her. "Wait a minute. Kelly, we had something really short, really physical, and really temporary, that's all."

She shook her head. "Don't say that, don't say that. That's not true." And now she was crying. "I was so in love with you, and then she came along, that cunt, Tessa! And I let you go, didn't I? I let her have you, I could do that, because it was her. Beautiful, lovely, perfect in every way. And then everything happened, and she died, and I left you alone, because that's what you wanted, didn't I?"

She waved a hand upstairs. "But now, you're buying expensive gifts for someone, so I come to check on you because I love you and I'm worried about you, and I find out it's some no one, not pretty, not glamorous, nothing like you, not worthy of you in any way, George! Some bookworm who spends her life buried in books or whatever, playing fucking Scrabble! Who looks like a fucking ten-year-old boy, George!"

Upstairs, Scout couldn't listen to any more, and quietly shut the heavy bedroom door. She felt terrible for the poor, crying woman with the broken heart, and sad, sad, George whose life was in tattered shreds since the death of his perfect wife.

And she felt a little sorry for herself, some bookworm who played Scrabble and looked like a ten year old boy. She'd been called worse, god only knew. She could live with that. She went to brush her teeth.

Downstairs, George took a deep breath.

"First, nothing's ever going to happen again between you and me, Kelly," he said gently. "You need to know that right now, yeah?

"And, though it's none of your business, nothing's going on between me and Scout, either," he said with a sigh. "She's gay," he finally admitted.

"What?" Kelly asked. "How do you know?"

George thought. "I don't remember," he said at last. "Not that it matters."

"But I saw her coming out of your bedroom before dinner," Kelly persisted.

"That's just because she--" He considered how to answer her. "Never mind," he eventually replied. "It's none of your concern. There's nothing between us, though, of that I'm certain," he said firmly.

"Really?" Kelly asked, sounding in her inebriated state like a small child.

"Really," he told her. "Now, let's get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay," she said, mollified.

Both dogs were at his closed bedroom door, and he went in, hoping against hope that her light would be on, and they could read some more Lolita, but the light was off, her doorway dark. He was crestfallen, and brushed his teeth and got in bed. Both dogs had again abandoned him, but he was okay with this, knowing that they were with Scout.

He woke up in the middle of the night to the ringing of bells, at first not sure where they were coming from.

"George?" He could hear the panic in Scout's voice as she called. The dogs also barked, warning barks.

"I'm coming, darling!" he responded, leaping out of bed and going at a dead run in the direction of her room. When he was half way there she switched her lamp on, illuminating her doorway.

The three bells over her doorway were ringing madly, swinging crazily on their cords, though no one had pulled them.

Scout was sitting up in bed, beautiful eyes huge, terrified. He sat next to her, gathering her quaking body to his, feeling every bone as she shook against him. Together they watched as the bells above the doorway slowly stopped, their ringing getting lower and lower in pitch, until they rang only once every few seconds, then, finally, they stopped.

Jess and Bandit watched their humans, ears perked attentively, no longer alarmed, merely alert.

"Okay, okay, darling," George soothed, laying Scout's trembling body down in the bed. He pulled her head onto his chest, and reached across to turn the lamp off before curling his arm across her back, stroking it from time to time. She clutched at him, and he could feel her sharp exhalations against his chest. It was a long time before they slowed down, but eventually he could tell that she'd fallen back asleep, and he closed his eyes, too.