Short stories by Mace Styx.

Upon the occasion of her own demise, Mary Seacomb was buried, as was her wish, between the roots of the tree - despite the malevolent elements of her work and the fact that she was expressly forbidden from entering any of the church buildings within the surrounding areas. Accounts and parish records from the time reveal that she was regarded as something of an asset to the local area.

This was particularly on account of her apparent ability to shield the town and a number of local villages from the effects of the black death, which had mysteriously ravaged all of the surrounding districts but left this locale almost entirely untouched. Many in the area put this down to Seacomb’s insistence that they nail half an apple from the tree over their doorways, a practice that still has echoes in the town today, with many of the older buildings in the area having a small painting of an apple on their door frames.

From that point on, no apple was ever taken from the tree, and the entire crop had, for centuries, been allowed to fall and rot naturally around it - the belief being that if left undisturbed, the tree would bring luck to the area. If it were any way damaged, the opposite would be true.

When a location was chosen for the building of Artringham Hall, it was undoubtedly a consideration of the builders that the great house be built in close proximity to the lucky tree; indeed, not only does the tree feature on the coat of arms above the gates of Artringham, but the house itself was built so that the tree’s very branches would extend almost to touch the windows of the upstairs rooms of the first floor. And for many years they did, until the arrival of Sir Arthur.