Mally : Signet Regency Romance (9781101568057)

by Heath, Sandra

  Mally’s eyes widened. “But why?”

  “We don’t know for sure. Nathaniel saw Brew Darril with her earlier, though.”

  “Ah. Prissy Davies has carried a candle for Brew for as long as I can remember. He’s steered well clear of her, though.”

  “Until now.”

  “Yes.” Mally took a long breath. “A strange coincidence.”

  “Too strange.” Richard stood, leaning one hand against the chimney breast and staring at one of the firedogs. “And put together with something else— When I was in Harry Finsby’s forge, I heard two women talking outside. One said something about them going up there tonight. They began to walk away from the forge and I couldn’t hear any more, so I went to see who they were. One was Turney’s wife. The other looked so much like Brew Darril that she has to be his sister.”

  She nodded. “Ginny Darril.”

  He pushed a log more firmly on the fire with his boot. “Well, altogether I feel happier with the drawbridge up tonight. I’d dearly like to be sure where up there meant, though.”

  “You believe it’s here, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I think somehow or other Jasper’s got wind of why Chris and Annabel have left here today. Nathaniel coming up here first thing in the morning, perhaps— Or maybe he had someone follow the landau to see which road it took, and when it made for Abergavenny, he’d need no more prompting, would he?”

  “Well, Jasper can’t just walk into the castle, can he? Nor can he take it by storm.”

  He smiled at her. “That’s what worries me. If he’s coming up here, it’s to find Andrew. But he knows he’ll first have to get across the park, assuming he climbs the wall. Then he has to get into the castle itself. Even he cannot be that desperate that he intends an out-and-out—” He didn’t finish, but went to pour some more cognac. “Mally, something’s bothering me, and I can’t put a finger on it.”

  “But what? If the drawbridge is up, then he cannot get in. Our forebears knew what they were about when it came to building impregnable fortresses, especially fortresses on the Welsh border. There isn’t any other way into Castell Melyn.”

  “How do we know that?”

  She stared and then shrugged. “Well, surely, if there was, you’d have discovered it by now.”

  “I haven’t discovered everything about this place yet. To begin with, I don’t know where it was that Daniel left you. Somewhere low, damp, and long? There just isn’t anywhere like that here.” Slowly he put the stopper back in the decanter. “That’s what’s bothering me,” he said softly. “Your blasted hidey-hole sounds suspiciously like a tunnel.”

  She got slowly to her feet. A tunnel.

  “Think back, Mally. Was it a tunnel?”

  “I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

  “Try.”

  She went to the windows and drew a curtain back with one hand. It was quite dark outside now and she could see her own face looking back from the latticed glass, a face fragmented by the different small panes. What had happened that day when she and Daniel had come up here to the castle?

  Richard put his glass down and came over to stand by her. “You described it before, Mally. Low, damp, and long. Was there anything else?”

  “It was so dark. I couldn’t see anything.” She closed her eyes. “I just kept edging further and further up.”

  “Up? Steps?”

  “No. A slope. A long, long slope upwards.”

  “More and more like a tunnel.” He smiled ruefully, putting a hand to the nape of her neck. “Try to think how you and Daniel got into it.” His fingers moved gently in her hair.

  A forfeit, Mally. A proper forfeit.

  But why are we leaving the castle? Where are you taking me?

  She turned to look at Richard. “Outside the castle, we went out past the lodge, I remember.”

  “I was afraid you might say that. So, Jasper knows your tunnel too.”

  “But I don’t know where it is. Daniel blindfolded me—”

  You mustn’t see, Mally, that’s part of the forfeit.

  Promise you won’t leave me.

  Promise me, promise me, riddle me riddle me ree—

  She shivered and dropped the curtain, shutting off the echoing voices.

  Richard sighed. “Daniel was too damned efficient, wasn’t he? He must have been a loathsome brat.”

  She laughed slightly. “He was. I worshiped him, though.”

  “Yes, well I suppose he went through some metamorphosis, for he was tolerable when I knew him.” He smiled at her, taking her hand and drawing her toward the fire. “Sit down again, and we’ll think about where the tunnel ends then.”

  “I don’t know.” She said it quickly and she didn’t know why.

  He sat next to her on the sofa, looked curiously at her. “Don’t snap my head off.”

  “I didn’t mean to.” She reached out to him. “I don’t know why I said it like that.”

  His fingers wrapped around hers. “You don’t want to think about it, that’s why.”

  “But I do—”

  “No, your memory doesn’t. It’s something Nathaniel said. And Stiller, for that matter. They are of the theory, the controversial theory, that, sometimes, the mind shuts away things it doesn’t want to think about. Upsetting things. For you it is that day in the tunnel. For Andrew it is the night Mrs. Harmon was murdered.”

  She was disbelieving. “If that’s the case we should be able to conveniently forget anything we choose.”

  “That’s what I said. But, they believe it to be so. Stiller propounds most eloquently on the subject.”

  She smiled. “Someone should tell the Prince of Wales, then perhaps Princess Caroline would vanish from the face of the earth for him.”

  “He’s doing all he can to that end already, without Dr. Stiller’s fearsome theories. Anyway, the tunnel. What do you remember? Your father rescued you, didn’t he? Isn’t that what you said?”

  “Yes. He wrapped a blanket around me in the courtyard. He came alone, he didn’t want the whole neighborhood to know about what had happened.”

  “But he knew where to come?”

  “Daniel told him. He confessed he’d left me there. He was thrashed so much he could hardly walk, I remember that.”

  “Mally. You’re in the courtyard with your father. How did you get there?”

  She looked at him. “I can’t remember.” She bit her lip and lowered her eyes, shaking her head. “I just can’t remember. I’m sorry, Richard—”

  He pulled her closer, his arm around her. “Don’t look so woebegone, it plays havoc with me. Well, at least we know there is a tunnel, that it begins outside the castle, and ends inside it. And you can bet your grandmother’s mobcap that friend Jasper knows it too.”

  “But why hasn’t he used it before then?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked at the fire. “There’ll be a reason, but I can’t think what. Perhaps he didn’t finally make up his mind until he looked in the grave. It doesn’t matter what his reasons are, I’m pretty sure he’s intending using it tonight. There’s nothing for it but to search every cellar.”

  She smiled. “Perhaps Gwynneth could ask Lady Jacquetta.”

  “Gwynneth?”

  “Oh yes, she sees our ghostly lady quite often, so she tells me.”

  “A maid with second sight? I suppose that’s all this night lacks. That and a few unearthly howls and the dry rattle of bones.”

  Her smile faded. “Don’t say that.”

  He put his hand to her cheek. “I hadn’t imagined I was creating quite such an effect, forgive me—”

  “It was the bones,” she whispered.

  “What bones?”

  “In the tunnel.” She put her hand over his, gripping his fi
ngers tightly as she remembered. “When father’s lantern shone on me from above, I saw them. Bones. Human bones.”

  The screams came winging back over the years, echoing around and around in her head, childish screams of terror. And the swinging, dancing light of the lantern as her father climbed down— She put her hands over her ears, but the memories seemed only to grow louder.

  Richard caught her close, holding her gently.

  “I kept screaming. I screamed and screamed. And I couldn’t move, I was so terrified. Oh, God, I was terrified. I must have fainted, for that’s all I remember.” She sat back weakly, her mouth dry. “It’s so vivid it has the power to frighten me even now. But there’s one thing we know now. If I did faint when Father found me, then that’s why I don’t know how he got me out or where it was.”

  “We might find it tonight, I’ll have every man search. The women can stay in the kitchens together. You go up into the tower with Maria, and lock yourself in that top room. All right?”

  “Yes.” She stood.

  He went to the corner table where Annabel had left her book the night before. “Here, take this. Annabel said that it had a lot more detail of Lady Jacquetta’s story—perhaps there is something in there about a tunnel. Faint hope, but hope nonetheless.”

  She nodded, taking the book. As she reached the door, he spoke again. “I love you, Mally.”

  She looked back at him, and her hand dropped from the door handle. She went back to him. “And I love you, Richard,” she whispered.

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. As she held him she knew that this time it was different. With Chris it had been a shadow. With Daniel something she would always cherish. But with Richard—

  He smiled. “You’re all mine, Mally. I’ll not share you.”

  “You won’t have to.”

  Chapter 27

  Maria’s hands twisted together on the edge of Andrew’s bed. “Maybe Richard’s wrong, maybe Jasper isn’t coming.”

  “Maybe.” Mally put the marker in the page and closed the book for a moment, rubbing her eyes.

  “You don’t sound reassuring.”

  “I can’t help it, I think he’s right. I only hope he can find the end of the tunnel first—”

  “I never could stand Daniel St. Aubrey as a child. It must have been a premonition of this!”

  “Daniel was pretty awful at times, wasn’t he?” Mally opened the book again, smiling. “I can’t think why Annabel was so engrossed in this book, there doesn’t seem anything interesting in it.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Well, she said she wouldn’t go into the same gruesome detail the book did about Lady Jacquetta’s fate.”

  “Then there must be something there. Read on, Marigold.”

  “Mother wouldn’t thank you for that mimicry.”

  Maria smiled faintly and took Andrew’s hand, putting it against her cheek. “Please, Andrew, please!” she murmured, resting her other hand against his long fair hair.

  For a long time the room was silent. The candle guttered, and Mally looked up at it. “I can’t read any more of this lettering, Maria. You’ll have to do it for a while.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes. You were always better at such things than I was anyway.”

  “Because I liked our tutor.”

  “The handsome young Mr. Blatchford? You terrified him. Anyway, the book is yours. Here.”

  Maria took it and went to the other bed, lying down and resting her chin on one hand. “From the page you’ve marked?”

  “Yes.”

  “And nothing’s happened so far?”

  “John of Gaunt has sojourned with his vast retinue and eaten poor Lord Whoever-it-was-at-the-time out of house and home. But apparently it was worth it for the Duke’s favor.”

  Mally went to the tiny window and looked out. The stars winked in a clear sky and the moon’s silver light lay over the valley. The castle was quiet. Shouldn’t there be more noise? She opened the window and immediately felt foolish. She would hardly hear the sounds of searching going on in the cellars—

  “At last. Lady Jacquetta.”

  She turned to look at Maria. “What does it say?”

  “Just a minute, I’ll read all of it and then tell you.” Maria turned another two pages and then closed the book. “I think I know why Annabel wouldn’t read it to you—”

  “Well? Oh, come on, don’t lie there knowing it all without telling me!”

  “Lady Jacquetta was being unfaithful to her husband, Sir Francis, with a certain nobleman from Court named Sir Piers. Piers and Francis were both adherents of Richard III. Oh, it’s 1485. The year of Bosworth and all that.”

  “Yes.” Mally controlled her impatience.

  “When Francis discovered what had been going on, he had Jacquetta thrown in the dungeon. He was so furious about it that he demanded justice from the king, but poor Richard had problems enough—he didn’t dare mete out anything to Piers because he needed as much support as he could for the invading Henry Tudor was making noises across the Channel. Francis was beside himself with a sense of the injustice of it all. He changed his allegiance to Henry. Castell Melyn was important, because it was one route into England which Henry might take, so Richard rather tactlessly dispatched none other than Piers to lay siege to the castle.”

  “Is there any mention of a tunnel at all, or does it ramble on like this?”

  “There’s a tunnel. But I have to tell you everything in the right order. Now, where had I got to?”

  “Piers is about to lay siege to Castell Melyn.”

  “Oh, yes. Well he did lay siege to it. And Francis sat tight, leaving Jacquetta in the dungeon still, for he was more determined than ever now to punish her. That was a little poetic license on my part—I haven’t a clue what his intentions about her were. The siege hadn’t been in progress very long when one day Piers’s men found a spring on the mountain below the castle, and when they knelt to use it, they saw that behind the rock it came from beneath, there was a space. When they pulled the rock away they found the entrance to a cave.”

  Why does it echo in here, Daniel?

  The words were in Mally’s head immediately and she could hear her own stumbling footsteps again. And the vague gurgle of water.

  Maria sat up. “The cave went a long way back into the hill, and Piers had the capital notion of helping the cave on its way by digging a tunnel and perhaps managing to get into the castle. And this is what he did. Each day, when there were exchanges of cannonfire or whatever between the castle and the besieging force, some of Piers’s men were making their way nearer and nearer to the castle. Then word came from the king that Piers and his force were needed, but Piers was anxious to get to Jacquetta if he could, so he told his men to tunnel at night as well, and that was his mistake. The guards watching over Jacquetta heard the sounds. Francis knew immediately what was going on. He decided on what Annabel must mean by the gruesome part of it. The next day he had his men begin firing cannonade after cannonade at Piers’s men, guessing that Piers would be forced to withdraw a little, taking all his men with him. Then he took up the floor of the dungeon and had his own men dig down to meet the tunnel. His stonemasons built a solid wall across the tunnel, underneath the dungeon. He then—he then chained Jacquetta behind the new wall and replaced the floor of the dungeon. When all was done, he relaxed the castle’s onslaught. And waited. Piers advanced to his former position again and sent his men to continue. He had had another command from the king, and was desperate for Jacquetta. His men went up to the tunnel and found a wall where there shouldn’t be one. And they heard Jacquetta’s pitiful moans the other side. They were so terrified they went back out again. Piers couldn’t get one of his men to go into the tunnel, and so decided he would obey the king’s orders and lift the siege. J
acquetta was left there forever.”

  “The dungeon. That’s where it is—” Mally ran to the door and began to unbolt it.

  “Don’t go, Mally!” Maria was suddenly frightened. “That’s the first place Richard will look—”

  “I must tell him, it’s important.” The door crashed back as Mally forced the bolts at last, gathering her skirts to run down the winding steps.

  The draught set the candle flickering wildly. Maria turned to shield it, but it was too late. The room was in darkness suddenly and the air filled with the smell of the candle. The door at the foot of the tower crashed as Mally ran out. Trembling, Maria remained where she was, afraid to cross to the door. The steps led down into darkness, and the cold sweep of air from the courtyard below passed over her as if it sensed her fear.

  A light appeared down the steps. A tiny light, a candle protected by someone’s hand, someone who crept up the steps very slowly. Maria’s eyes widened, and she was frozen, unable to make her legs or arms move. She stared at the light, so pink as it glowed through the fingers. As the top of the steps was reached Maria screamed.

  “Miss Maria? Miss Maria, it’s only me. Gwynneth. I saw your light had gone out—”

  Maria pressed the back of her hand against her mouth, shaking so much she couldn’t speak. Gwynneth came closer, holding the new candle to the old one, and then she crouched beside Maria. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, Miss Maria. Look now, take some of this wine you’ve left in the glass, it will help you. Oh, but your hands are so cold.” Gwynneth held the glass out and Maria took it. As she did so she looked across at Andrew.

  He smiled at her.

  ***

  Louis was holding a lantern in the dungeon, and Richard was crouching on the floor looking down into a hole. Light from another lantern glowed up from the hole, lighting Richard’s face.

  “What do you see, Abel?” He turned as Mally came down the steps. “We’ve just found it.”