"What do you suppose he is?" mused the doctor, glancing at the dark curly head sticking up over the back of the armchair.
Madi pondered this seriously for a moment, and stated, "I think he's a Leonie."
Dr. Grove set down his fork. "A what?"
The young girl grinned. "The way he was, down on the beach, looked just like the way a Leonie is described in my book of folk tales; you know," she swallowed, though she hadn't been eating just then. "The one Mum gave me."
Grove watched his daughter carefully. She'd been only six when his wife Marien passed away from a fatal bout of pneumonia. They had both helped each other grieve, and they missed her terribly, though every day they reminded themselves to live their lives fully in her memory.
"What is a Leonie?" He asked Madi now.
"I think it's a magical sea creature, a little like a Selkie, only it's not a seal, it's more of a water lizard, or an eel. It can change its form into pretty much anything it touches."
"Which is why it turned into a human when it touched you," Grove concluded.
Madi nodded and opened her mouth to say something more, but her eyes widened at something behind her father. Grove turned to follow her gaze and gasped.
The Leonie had stood without a sound. They watched furtively as he examined his human form closely, tracing the taut tendons creating ridges in the back of his hand, pulling back to feel the bandages on his side. Finally, he turned around, tottering awkwardly on knobby legs. The slacks on his long legs were halfway to breeches, and the shirt barely covered his forearms. In three paces he stood right next to the table, still staring quizzically at the pair.
Dr. Grove was still too stunned to say anything, but when the Leonie looked at Madi, she smiled.
"Hello," said the little girl brightly.
The Leonie acknowledged her greeting with a slight nod.
"H'llo," he grunted.
His unnerving gaze returned to Dr. Grove, who pointed to the chair in front of him. "Won't you sit down?" He suggested politely.
The Leonie stared at the chair for a long time, as if trying to decide if he knew how to use it. Carefully, he dragged the chair out from under the table. After a moment's hesitation, he dropped unceremoniously. A sharp hiss of pain escaped as he did, and the tall man with the narrow features stared accusingly at his wounded side.
"Hurt," he said, with an air of a toddler learning vocabulary by association. He looked up at the doctor, "Help," he said, nodding to Grove.
Dr. Grove nodded. "That's right; we found you on the shore, and we want to help you. My name is Dr. Grove, or sometimes just Grove. This is my daughter Madi. What shall we call you?"
The Leonie blinked and did not say anything for several seconds. Then he glanced at Dr. Grove.
"Grove," he stated. His eyes wandered to the wide-eyed girl on the other side of the table.
"Madi," he fumbled over the syllables.
The doctor and his daughter continued to watch him. The man's lips twitched and trembled as he concentrated deeply on identifying his—
"Celian."
"Pardon? Ceylon?" Grove repeated. The stranger uttered his name with such force that he wasn't sure he'd heard right.
The Leonie looked right at him. "I am... Celian," he repeated.
"Celian," Madi repeated, "like a sea lion!" She grinned and offered her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Celian.”
He stared intently at her hand, then slowly raised his and clasped it. “Pleased… to meet… Madi,” he copied her.
“Celian,” Dr. Grove addressed their new acquaintance as Madi resumed eating, “Do you mind if I ask a question?”
Celian was still fixated on Madi’s movements as she scooped peas into her mouth. Smiling at him, and completely ignorant of the impropriety, she handed him a slice of apple from her plate. Celian took the fruit and examined it closely, squeezing it between his fingers and sniffing at it. Finally, he put it into his mouth and took a bite. The rest of the slice vanished in the space of a blink.
Madi giggled. “I think he’s hungry, Da.”
Celian nodded at the young girl. “Hungry,” he moaned.
Madi laughed again.
Dr. Grove stood. “I’ll, ah, just go get another plate, then,” he said.
“Thank you,” Celian called after him, as Madi took delight in passing him more fruit and watching him practically swallow them whole.
Now it was Grove’s turn to smile; whatever sort of creature this was, at least he had somehow learned something of manners.
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter 5
Agatha fiddled with the pages of her novel as she read, in an attempt to maintain her focus. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked away, but the sound was no longer comforting. Any amount of consistent noise could hide the approach of a wandering vagrant—or a dangerous criminal.
No one in the room spoke or made eye contact. On the other side of the wide Persian rug covering the floor, Lady Dalton sat stiff as a poker, completely absorbed in the contents of her embroidery hoop. Never mind that she had to pick out every third stitch—she, whose hand was always so steady—she sewed as if her life depended on it.
Agatha chanced to pry her eyes from the book and actually look toward the corner where Thomas sat—
He was no longer there.
Agatha clapped her book shut with both hands.
Lady Dalton cried out in pain as the needle in her hand slipped and pierced her fingertip. She raised the injured finger before her face, frowning at her daughter as if
