‘The hiding place,’ she suddenly remembered, ‘and if there was one in Mama’s bed and all the beds were made at the same time, then perhaps there is one in mine.’
Excitedly, she stood on tiptoe and began to pull at various carvings.
‘Oh, goodness,’ she wondered, her arms aching with the effort, ‘perhaps there is not the same feature on my bed.’
But just then, she found what felt like a small catch underneath one of the leaves. Holding her breath, she pushed it to one side and, to her amazement, a small door opened.
‘Now, if I can stretch up and feel inside – ’ she urged herself, straining her muscles till they started shaking.
Then her hand closed around something cold and metallic. Pulling it out, bit-by-bit, she gasped as there in her hand was a key!
‘This looks just like the one for my bedroom door,’ she cried, before rushing over to the door to try it.
Sure enough, it fitted.
‘I must not waste any more time, I must run to Mama’s room and see if I can find hers.’
Novella’s heart was beating so loud that she was sure that it could be heard downstairs, but she stood and waited to make certain that no one was around.
Satisfied that her stepfather had gone out, she re-locked her bedroom door and tucked the key into the sash of her dress.
‘Thank Heavens I had Mrs. Armitage sew a small pocket in it for handkerchiefs,’ she thought, as she made her way to her mother’s room.
It was cold and dark inside. Closing the door carefully behind her, she took that key out of the lock so that she would not find herself imprisoned should someone surprise her.
Looking up at the carved bedhead, Novella could hardly wait to start her search. Carefully, she climbed up on to the huge bed and began to feel around the acorns. Almost in the same place as she had found the catch on her own bedhead, there, underneath a leaf was the very same.
Moving it to one side, she held her breath as she reached up. Feeling inside the hole, her fingers grasped what felt like a necklace. Pulling it out, Novella let out a stifled scream as there, sparkling in her hand, was a string of emeralds!
‘It is grandmother’s!’ she cried. ‘I cannot believe that Lord Buckton did not get his hands on it. I wonder what else is inside?’
Novella held her breath as she stood on the pillow and delved deeper inside the hollow. Within seconds, she had pulled out a diamond tiara and a couple of rings.
She could not help herself – tears of joy began to course down her face.
‘Mama! Oh, clever Mama. These are all her most precious pieces of jewellery – the jewels that my stepfather managed to find were not the very best of her collection. Oh, Mama, I am so pleased.’
She decided to stand on yet one more pillow to reach right into the back of the hollow. As she did, her fingers brushed against something cold and hard.
‘What is this? Could it be another key for the bedroom?’ she wondered.
Stretching in so far that her arm ached, Novella’s fingers just about hooked around the item. Breathing out, she pulled it from its hiding place and it fell onto the bed heavily, bringing a key on a blue ribbon with it.
Novella stood and looked at what had fallen out – utter horror on her face.
‘A pistol’ she whispered, ‘what was Mama doing with a pistol in her bed? And this must be the key to her bedroom.’
She held up the pistol by its blue ribbon. It was then that she remembered that her mother had once confided in her that her father had made her sleep with a pistol under her pillow whenever he went away for long periods of time.
‘Of course. Papa was always worried that robbers would break into the house when he was away and so he made sure that Mama could protect herself. She must have put it in here out of harm’s way.’
Voices downstairs in the hallway alerted Novella to the fact that there were people around.
Quickly, she pulled the pillowcase off the pillow and began to stuff the jewels into it.
‘I must get back to my room as soon as possible,’ she thought.
But no sooner had she put the last piece into the pillowcase when her stepfather stormed into the room with an Officer of the law close behind.
“Ah, just as I thought,” he snarled. “As you can see, Officer, my stepdaughter is not only a cheat who would do me out of my legal rights, but she is a thief. Look, she is making off with her mother’s jewels.”
Novella felt sick to her stomach – not just because she had her mother’s jewels in the pillowcase, but because she could see that she would be spending the night locked up in her room.
‘I wish the earth would swallow me up,’ she moaned to herself, as they all stood there, enduring a tense silence.
Then at last the Officer spoke,
“I am sorry, sir, I cannot arrest this lady for taking her own mother’s jewels. You told me that one of your horses had been stolen, which is why I came down to the Hall to investigate.”
“But it was she who instigated the theft. She is in league with some local villain!”
Novella could only stand there with her mouth open.
“What nonsense is this?” she said wearily.
“Look, she has proven that she is a thief,” continued Lord Buckton in high agitation as the poor Officer looked on in bewilderment.
“Sir, this is obviously a family matter and I cannot intervene on behalf of the law. Lady Novella is quite within her rights to take a horse if it is stabled on the premises and be in possession of her mother’s jewels. Was not the Countess buried this very day?”
Lord Buckton looked at the man in horror. Novella could tell that he had not bargained for such a reaction.
“Yes, but I fail to see – ” he stammered.
“I am sorry to have troubled you, my Lady, today of all days,” said the Officer, humbly.
Then Lord Buckton spied the gun on the bed. Seizing it, a smile of triumph spread across his red face.
“What about her being in possession of a firearm? Is that not an offence?”
He caught up the gun in his hand and waved in the Officer’s stunned face.
Novella did not know what possessed her at that moment, for she leapt at her stepfather and tried to take the gun off him.
“Give it to me! It is Mama’s!” she screamed, as she lunged for the weapon.
But Lord Buckton was too strong and he caught Novella in a fierce grip. Holding her by the throat, he took the gun and aimed it squarely at her head.
“I will be rid of you once and for all, you darned nuisance!” he bawled.
“No! No!” cried Novella, as she saw his finger pull the trigger.
But Lord Buckton had not checked the safety catch – it was still quite firmly on and there was just a click from the pistol.
Novella swallowed hard, her legs shaking terribly. She had come within a hair’s breadth of death and luck had been on her side.
Taking advantage of the fact that Lord Buckton’s attention was concentrated on the pistol and that he had slightly released his grip on her, Novella pulled away from him and dived behind the shocked Officer.
“Give that gun to me, sir,” he demanded, but Lord Buckton paid no heed.
He was so far gone in his rage that he was beyond reason.
“Get out of my way, man! I’m going to shoot the little wretch and solve this problem once and for all!”
The Officer stepped forward with his hand out and as he did so, Lord Buckton took off the safety catch and shot him in the leg.
Falling to the ground with a yell, clutching his bleeding leg, the Officer could not have looked more astonished.
“Help! Help!” screeched Novella, feeling that she was surely next in line for a bullet.
But just as she began to shout even louder, the bedroom door flew open and in charged Sir Edward with a whole troop of Police Officers.
“Oh, my Heavens!” he cried, seeing the bleeding Officer on the floor. Within seconds, the Police had s
urrounded Lord Buckton and overpowered him.
The gun fell to the floor with a noisy clatter and Sir Edward ran to Novella who lay weeping on the bed.
“Darling, it is all over now,” he said soothingly, as he cradled her in his arms. They embraced for a moment before turning towards the door just in time to see Lord Buckton being handcuffed and wrestled out of the room.
Two other Officers helped the wounded man to his feet. He was shaken but not badly injured.
“I will wait downstairs for you, Sir Edward,” said the Officer in charge. “We will need to take statements from both of you shortly.”
“Would you give us ten minutes, Officer? I want to make sure that Lady Novella is recovered enough to cope with your questions.”
“Very good, sir” he replied, tactfully leaving the room.
As he left, Novella turned to Sir Edward, wonderment in her eyes.
“Edward, I do not understand how you knew I would be in danger?”
“After all you had told me, I guessed that your stepfather’s absence meant only one thing – that he was up to no good at Crownley Hall. When you mentioned the people who had been looking around in droves, I believed that at worst, you might return home to find it overrun with more of them, so I decided to ask a friend of mine to arrange for some Police Officers to clear the scene. I had no idea how far in peril your life had become – it makes me terrified to think what might have happened had I not arrived when I did.”
“But how did you get the Police to attend in such numbers?”
“By persuading my old friend, the Chief Constable – yes, the very same man who ensured that you reached Crownley Hall the day you returned from the school – that there would be an affray at the Hall. He was only too eager to help – it transpired that he was about to arrest Lord Buckton anyway for a number of frauds he had committed in London! He was in league with an actress – ”
“Mrs. Byesouth!” gasped Novella,
“Most likely. The pair of them had defrauded several members of the aristocracy over some shady dealings with land and such. Now that he has added attempted murder to his list of felonies, I cannot see that he will be interfering with our lives for a long time to come.”
“Look what I have found,” said Novella, pulling open the pillowcase that lay beside her, “they are Mama’s most precious jewels. I had thought they had all been sold.”
“That is wonderful, Novella. We must put all of this behind us now and make plans for our future and Crownley Hall. That is all that matters.”
“Do you mean you will help me restore it?” asked Novella, her eyes wide.
“As your father would have wished,” he replied.
As he gently pulled her into his arms, Novella felt that she had never been so happy. Even though it was the day of her Mama’s funeral, her future had gone from looking extremely bleak to being full of the most wonderful promise and love.
“Come, we should go downstairs,” he urged. “I want to make sure that Lord Buckton does not escape justice this time.”
Novella smiled, she could not believe how such a sad day had ended so well.
The pair of them walked hand in hand down the main staircase and watched as a howling Lord Buckton was bustled into the Police wagon that stood in the drive.
Mrs. Armitage was crying into her apron as the wagon drove off. She gave Novella a mournful stare – she knew that she would not be required for much longer at the Hall.
As the wagon pulled away into the distance, taking Lord Buckton out of their lives for ever, Sir Edward squeezed Novella’s hand.
“Come, my darling. Let us walk around the garden – there is a beautiful sunset this evening.”
And so it was. The sky was full of vivid pinks and blues – the clouds overhead high and soft. Novella watched the sun sink into the horizon with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Darling one?” asked Sir Edward, seeing her dab at her eyes.
“I am crying because I am so happy,” she replied, “I feel as if Mama is at peace with Papa and that I now have only good times to look forward. Of course, I am sad that they will not be here to witness our wedding day, but I can only hope that, up in Heaven, they will know how lucky I am.”
They watched in silence until the sky grew dark. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, Sir Edward whispered,
“It will be another beautiful day tomorrow, my precious. Look at the sky. And it is the first day of the rest of our lives. We have only happiness to look forward to – and a life of love.”
“Oh, Edward!” murmured Novella, as their lips met in a heavenly kiss.
Pulling back, her eyes were misty with passion and longing.
“My life for the past few years has been touched with tragedy and I felt as if I had nothing to live for when I returned to Crownley Hall.
“But now, through you, I have discovered that love is the reason for living – and we now have love in abundance. God has given us the great gift of loving and being loved and no gift could be more wonderful.”
“The future is ours, my darling,” replied Sir Edward, gently kissing her hair, “and with God’s will and you by my side, love will see us through, whatever fate might bring.”
Deep in her heart, Novella knew it was true. She had never before felt so completely loved.
“Together forever,” she sighed, her smile full of love and adoration.
“Until the end of time!”
Love Is the Reason For Living Page 14
