Such a beautiful old house! More like a castle, really... it had to be ancient, and yet it seemed so perfectly kept. Perfectly kept, but by apparently invisible staff. Since in the weeks she had been staying with her Great Aunt in the cottage, she'd never seen so much as a gardener or handyman cycle up the long drive to the house that began at the gates opposite her bedroom window. No visitors, no-one coming or going, not even the baker from the village to deliver food. It was a real mystery! And so she slipped out at dawn one morning, to brave the walk up to the house, so see what it could possibly be that her Great Aunt had warned her about in such mysterious, whispered tones the day she arrived.

"Only two things you need to know, dearie." She'd said. "Don't leave the milk on the doorstep, because the birds will get the cream. And don't go up to Tumbledon Hall, if you know what's good for you!"

But how bad could it be? Surely it wasn't as though a terrible beast dwelt there in the cellars, shunning the light of day and hiding his hideous disfigured yet still powerful and somehow noble, well-muscled form from all visitors... could it? And even if the lord of the manor was some sort of beast, what could he possibly do to a pretty girl come for a walk up the drive?