#anywhere

"Certainly it appears to be a bucolic country scene, with flowers and a quaint barn..."

A nod.

"But nay, for the villainous Corder, having gotten his paramour Maria Marten in a disgrace, was affianced to her."

"They were to be married, for her virtue, and to go forth to London - aye?"

"And when Mr. Corder and Miss Martin both disappeared from town, what thought was there of treachery? Why, Mr. Corder sent home letters to Miss Marten's parents, saying that she was in delicate condition and could not travel, saying here, have some pounds to pay your ledger..."

"Oh my" Siv says

"But Maria's mother slept ill. And after a few months, the letters stopped."

"No" Siv gets caught up

"It is then that Maria's ghost appeared to her mother in a dream! Thrice she appeared, wailing for justice, for the world to know what had befallen her!"

"The Red Barn! Find me in the Red Barn!"

"And so, driven by this plea from beyond the veil, Maria Maten's father searched the barn.. turned up the straw... dug, aye, until her found his daughter's rotted corpse. She had been dead these many months!"

"Corder was, of course, sought. And found! He was living in the city, wed, to a woman procured by a newspaper advertisement." The shanda!

"That rat bastard" Siv says furious "to betray hearts so! Tell me he got brought to justice? Though he deserves a blade in the gut"

"Oh, the villain claimed no knowledge of his murdered fiance at all! That he had never known - nor known - Maria."

"But they had letters!" Siv says

"He then tried to claim that they had argued, and he left, and he heard a pistol shot - that she had suicided! And that he returned ere he had gone far to bury the body."

"Oh... the gutless monster"

"Twas only after his conviction did he confess, to lay bare his soul at the gibbet."

"But aye, he was hanged and dissected. The phrenologists took a cast of his head to auger."

"His skin was tanned, and used to bind a book accounting the tale..." A wistful sigh. Longing?

"Wow.. I did not expect that last.. there's really a a .. skin book out there? That's a thing?"

Morbidly fascinated, a bit grossed out, but not afraid

"Aye. There are a few, actually. One of Burke, of course - for a time, 'getting Burked' was slang for hanging..."

"Burke and Hare were Resurrection Men, but they grew lazy - they would kill indigents to sell to the aloof Dr. Knox, who did not question where he got his anatomical models for the educational theater."

"oh my."

"Did.. any of these books linger?"

"Aye, they exist - some in museums, but some in private collections."

Siv ponders this "I would think human skin was poor material"

"And, of course, murder tourism was quite popular. The Red Barn no longer exists, for it was sold in pieces - the very planking stripped and shaved to toothpicks so curiosity-seekers could take a piece home."

"Mmm, delicate, but tanning may preserve it."

"And so, the pottery... intact sets are rare, of course. But aye, there you have Corder and Marten a'courting, and then, the centrepiece, the Red Barn, which seems innocent if you know not the tale - Corder, beckoning his fiancee to join him as the cats and chickens rest amongst flower-spotted grass... and the third piece, Corder, before the judge..."

"Well, I admit, it's not my thing but I can see why it would be fascinating"

"Aye. And to think, some would look and see but a country scene!"

"I admit, I might do that" Siv says

"But now, you know better!"

"I do" Siv agrees and smiles at something