YEAH I was having SO MUCH FUN with this book except when I was being sad about the old lady (or the cat that Joan Aiken didn't want us to care about) but the ending was SUCH A WEIRD DOWNER???? One could see Joan Aiken cackling gleefully to herself about the rugpull of it all but as I said to you I don't think it actually... worked... very well... except as a rugpull. Ironically, perhaps killing Lucy was a darling that should have been killed? I was having a great time until then, though! Nobody's motivations or schemes really made tons of sense except in the land of Joan Aiken and Gothics, and I never did keep fully track of all the minor villains' minor schemes, but she was really being very restrained as Joan Aiken books go, and the fun bits were such fun.