Angelique's Revenge pt 4
Date: 1/9/98
From: AngeliqueBouchard

Quentin and Daphne joined Chris and Roxanne in the drawing room. Tom entered shortly thereafter. Quentin had been reading the journal his father had given him for the past few days and was quite perplexed by it's implications. He decided to share it with his cousins. Quentin poured himself a brandy before beginning.

"So what's this all about Quentin? You sounded very mysterious when you asked us to meet you tonight," Chris said with a smile. Chris and Tom were familiar with Quentin's habit of getting caught up in the family history, following obscure leads and legends surrounding their ancestors.

"I know that you're thinking I'm probably pursuing another dead end," Quentin said tolerantly, but this time I think I've found a valid source that sheds light on our families past."

Tom raised his eyebrows, "Just what is this source Quentin?"

"A journal that my father gave me which was first given to my grandfather by a woman who was a servant in the Collins family. According to the journal, our great grandfather did not desert his children as the Collins family history states. He was murdered."

"Murdered? By whom?" Roxanne asked.

"A woman named Laura Collins," Quentin answered. "She was married to Edward Collins and they had two children, Jamison and Nora."

"Yes, I remember reading about them in the "Collins Family History Book, but didn't Laura Collins die before Quentin's children were born?" Tom asked.

Tom and Chris knew much of the history of the Collins family, due to Quentin. Quentin loved to explore the forgotten rooms of Collinwood searching for musty old books and diaries. Quentin shared his discoveries with Tom and Chris. Although they didn't share Quentin's zeal, Chris and Tom did enjoy learning about their ancestors.

"Let me start at the beginning, as I understand it at least," Quentin said. "According to Beth Chavez, the woman whose journal I read, Quentin and Laura had an affair. They traveled to Egypt. During that time Quentin's wife, Jenny, gave birth to twins. Jenny suffered from a mental illness so the children were kept a secret and given to someone in town to care for."

"Why would they do such a thing?" Roxanne exclaimed, not able to comprehend the fear of scandal which afflicted the upper crust of society.

"It seems that reputation was more important than family at that time," Daphne said, her almond shaped eyes flashing with a hint of anger.

"All that changed when our great grandfather, Quentin, returned to Collinwood," Quentin continued. "Beth wrote that soon after Quentin's return, they started a romance and she couldn't bear to keep the secret from him. She told him everything. Quentin immediately went to claim his children. Then before anyone in the family even knew what he was doing, Quentin paraded his children around town as his own. To placate his family, Quentin told everyone that Jenny had joined him on his trip to Egypt and the twins were born there. He denied having an affair with Laura Collins, but according to Beth the rumors persisted."

"What happened to Jenny Collins?" Tom asked, now intrigued with Quentin's new discovery.

"According to Beth she had a tragic end." Quentin took another sip of his drink. Our great grandfather argued with the rest of the family about placing her in a hospital, but before a decision could be made, there was an accident. Jenny was in the tower room with Judith Collins and Beth. Jenny looked down from one the open windows and saw Quentin. Beth wrote that Jenny cried out, 'Wait for me, Quentin!' and jumped to her death."

"Ohh, that's horrible," Roxanne said.

"What a tainted past our ancestors seemed to have," Tom commented as he ran his fingers through his hair."

"And a well hidden one," Chris added.

"So how does this tie into the murder of Quentin Collins?" Tom asked.

"This is where it gets strange," Quentin said.

"THIS is where it gets strange?" Chris said incredulously.

"Let me read to you some passages from the journal," Quentin said.

"Quentin has been acting strange since Laura's return to Collinwood. I thought this was due to their affair, but Quentin has told me a different story. Quentin confided in me that he is frightened by Laura's return. He is adamant that she died in Egypt, that he saw her burned to death with his own eyes."

"Now let me read another part," Quentin said, flipping through the pages of the old journal.

"Quentin is dead. No one else is aware of this, but I am certain this is so. Quentin went to face Laura and tell her of his discovery yesterday. I begged him not to go, but once Quentin decides on a plan of action, it is impossible to persuade him to do otherwise. He was insistent that Laura is some kind of witch or supernatural being who has returned to Collinwood to steal her children. And now I believe him. He told me before he left to see Laura that if anything were to happen that I should know it was Laura's doing. I saw Quentin enter the cottage, but Laura insists he never came to see her yesterday. My heart is broken. How can I live without him?"

"Poor Beth," Daphne said, feeling a certain kinship with this woman as she heard her endearing words for Quentin's namesake.

"I don't understand what is meant by supernatural being," Tom said.

"Neither do I," Quentin said, "and neither did Beth Chavez. She never fully understood Quentin's suspicions. At the end of the journal she wrote that she wanted Quentin's son to know the truth about his father and perhaps to find his father's body and remove the disgrace from his name."

"Obviously that never happened. What about our grandmother Lenore?" Chris inquired, referring to Tom and himself. "Why wasn't she told."

"I don't know," Quentin said. The journal doesn't say whether or not Lenore was told the secret by her brother."

"This is quite a mystery, Quentin," Tom said. "How are we ever going to prove someone was murdered in 1897?"

"If he was murdered," Chris added, raising his eyebrows. "All this supernatural stuff is a little far fetched. If he was murdered, I doubt it was because of a supernatural reason."

"It is possible that in the late 1800's someone could have been labeled a witch just because she was different, but I for one am not going to be quick to discount something supernatural occurred," Roxanne responded.

"I don't know how two people who are so different can stay together as long as you two have," Daphne said good-naturedly.

Roxanne smiled and fingered her short red hair. She glanced at Chris and thought just how true that statement was. Roxanne was intrigued by anything supernatural: fortune tellers, tarot cards, astrology. She felt drawn to such things. She felt a connection to them, but was by no means a master or even a student of these obscure crafts. Chris was quite the opposite. His attitude was much more cynical toward these things.

"Well let's find some hard evidence then," Chris said. "I know where Quentin will begin the search. The west wing."

TO BE CONTINUED