Lord Melvedere's Ghost

by King, Rebecca

  “It is how I got this,” Cecily whispered back, pointing at her head even through the shadowy darkness. “I hit my head on something on the wall. I am not sure if was a wall sconce, or something else, but it was sticking out of the wall at about head height. In the darkness I didn’t see it until I hit my head against it.”

  “How did you find your way out?”

  Cecily froze. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but knew she couldn’t. “I just kept walking and walking. I followed a cold draft, and it brought me down here,” she replied weakly, relieved when Jamie seemed to accept her simple explanation without question.

  “Show me where you fell into this corridor,” he suggested, feeling the shiver that wracked her. It was cold inside the passage, but he had no doubt that her trembling was more down to the memories of her ordeal in the darkness than any intrinsic danger she may have been in. At least he could now be assured that nobody had been trying to abduct her, or had meant her any harm.

  Cecily nodded, glad to be able to get out of the darkness, and eagerly preceded him out into the fresh air. She studied the gardens while Jamie carefully closed the door. He looked like a small boy caught with his hand in the biscuit jar, and Cecily knew that he would be searching it thoroughly at the first available opportunity. Glad that she wouldn’t be with him, Cecily smiled weakly and took his arm as he led her back toward the house.

  He knew now why she had insisted on secrecy, and was very proud of her for her foresight. With no idea how far the secret passageways ran, or past which room, it was entirely possible that someone standing in the corridor would have a clear view, or be able to hear anything, that went on in the library.

  “You are going back in there, aren’t you?” Cecily knew from the look in his eye and the muscle ticking in his jaw that he was, and shook her head chidingly at his unrepentant grin. “Tell me when. If you aren’t back by dawn, I will send Jonathan after you.”

  Jamie smiled at her and shook his head. “I am afraid my dear lady, that you are going to have to come with me.”

  Cecily gasped and turned wide, frightened eyes on him.

  Jamie drew her to a halt and stared tenderly down at her. “I am not going to let anything happen to you, but I need you to show me which route you took last night. I need to know what you hit your head on, and roughly where. We will go armed with candles. This time you will be able to see everything.”

  Cecily didn’t know if that prospect was much worse. At least in the darkness she couldn’t actually see the spiders that had made the huge, heavily dusted cobwebs. Candlelight might just make the shadows even more sinister. Her thoughts turned to the man who had shown her the way out yesterday, and she shuddered at the thought of seeing him again. Although he had smiled kindly at her, the knowledge that he had died several years ago was alarming. She had no intention of meeting him again. However, she didn’t seem to be able to avoid him standing at the end of her bed in the middle of the night.

  With a shiver she glanced warily up at Jamie again. She didn’t want him going in there alone, and there really was nothing sinister about it. After all, her head injury had been entirely her fault, certainly nothing that anyone else had inflicted upon her. What harm could there be? At least if she went with Jamie, she would know which rooms were affected by the secret passageways, and it would give her a better chance of finding her way out if she was ever silly enough to find herself falling into another hidden corridor.

  “I promise you that everything will be perfectly safe,” Jamie tried to reassure her. He didn’t add that he wanted her to know where the tunnels were in order to protect herself, if the need ever arose.

  If she knew where the passages were, and how to get into them, if the house was ever besieged by French guards, she would be able to hide effectively until he came to rescue her. It was perfect. Far better than anything he could have hoped for and, despite her gash to the head, he was fervently grateful for the additional protection for her. It wouldn’t hurt for Jonathan to know about the passages either.

  Jamie studied Cecily, who was clearly unnerved at the prospect of going back in. Although he hated pushing her into doing anything that would make her uncomfortable, he also knew that if she had any hope of living in the house comfortably, she had to vanquish that fear. He could see no other way of helping her overcome her concerns without going back in and seeing for herself that they were not that bad.

  He would personally make sure that sufficient candles were left in the passages, with spills, to give anyone who happened to fall into one again, the ability to light their way. Making a mental list to check the doors over and make sure all of the latches were in good working order, and the hinges oiled, Jamie led her back toward the study.

  Cecily wished she could argue with him, but had to admit that she was curious to see for herself where the passages led. She knew she needed Jamie’s help to discover how she managed to get into the passage in the first place.

  She sighed deeply, aware of Jamie’s curious gaze on her. “If I have to,” she replied morosely, looking up to find Jamie’s lips twitching. “I am glad you find this so funny, I nearly knocked myself out last night.”

  “I know, darling, and I will make sure that all of the sconces are removed and the passages have adequate lighting, should anyone have the need to use them. I just thought that after your ordeal last night, you might find it useful to take another look.”

  “I don’t want to, but I suppose that I must. I don’t relish going back in there, but I have to admit I want to see where the other passages lead to.”

  “Then let’s go and take a look,” Jamie declared opening the door for her.

  “Now?” Cecily gasped, her stomach flipping nervously.

  “No time like the present,” Jamie urged, motioning her up the huge flight of stairs. “Now, show me where you fell in.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Within minutes Jamie was pushing at the panelling much the same way as Cecily had hours earlier. He stood back and frowned at the wood in consternation. He knew she was telling the truth. Holding his hand against one rectangle of the panelling, he could just feel the faint flutter of cold air across the back of his hand. Tapping the panelling told him exactly where the doorway was, he just didn’t know how to get into it.

  “Do you want to get changed back into your breeches? It is dirty in there,” Jamie frowned down at her pretty day dress. It was different to yesterday’s dress. This one had delicate rose buds all over it and accentuated the beautiful sky blue colouring of her eyes. She was so breathtaking that he suddenly had second thoughts about getting one smudge of dirt on her. If it wasn’t for the stark white of the bandage against the jet black of her hair, he would have relented and sent her back to her room to wait for him, but he wanted her to spend the rest of her days at Melvedere fearing absolutely nothing, and that included the passages.

  “I won’t be a minute,” Cecily whispered, glad she had had the foresight to tie ribbon around the doorknob of the bedroom that was hers. It saved her looking foolish with Jamie watching.

  Jamie smiled and understood her confusion. Melvedere was big, with many rooms and corridors that all looked the same to the untrained eye. In his youth, when guests stayed, the staff had often been sent to simply stand in the corridors and help confused guests down the stairs.

  She reappeared after only a few brief minutes, tucking the now cleanly pressed shirt into the top of her freshly washed breeches. He groaned at the sight of the clean material of her breeches clinging to the curvy length of her legs, and forced himself to keep his mind on the task at hand instead of what he really wanted to do. With so many bedrooms surrounding them, the temptation was great. Mentally chastising himself for his lechery, Jamie followed her back downstairs.

  “Are you alright?” Cecily asked, pausing beside him with a frown.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Oh, I thought I heard a growl that’s all,” Cecily muttered, giving him a cautious look.

&
nbsp; Jamie fought hard to keep his face bland and waved her before him.

  “Ready?” he asked once they were standing beside the rose trellis. Cecily was holding two lit candles and standing behind him nervously.

  Shaking her head, she looked into the darkened passage and swallowed as though she was staring into the mouth of a hungry lion.

  “Stay close,” Jamie warned, knowing without hesitation that she would do just that.

  He was looking forward to getting inside and exploring. She was terrified of the darkness that seemed to be waiting to engulf her once more.

  As the door closed behind her, she wondered if she would be sane by the time they managed to find daylight again. Her hand shook as she lifted the brightly flickering candle and, taking a deeply fortifying breath, she shuffled after Jamie.

  The passage really was as bad as she had remembered. Although this time she had the comforting bulk of Jamie’s broad back in front of her, and the flickering candle in her hand, the sight of the endless blackness framed by low hanging cobwebs was still blatantly sinister.

  “Jamie, I don’t want to do this.” Cecily’s voice quivered with fear.

  Jamie turned back toward her and grasped hold of her hand in a firm grip. “I need you to tell me which way you came down here. You were standing on the other side of the trellis when I saw you, so you must have used this corridor. You are perfectly safe, darling, I promise you. This is my house and there is nothing sinister here. It is just a few cobwebs in a disused passage.”

  Cecily knew she should have told him about the man who had shown her the way out. Maybe then he would understand, but she wasn’t at all sure she understood it herself yet. She didn’t know what to make of any of it except that she really didn’t like being in dark, enclosed spaces. Still, the reassuring warmth of Jamie’s large hand enfolding hers did go a long way toward settling her and she edged a little closer.

  “There is only one way,” she replied weakly, staring at the darkness further ahead.

  “Then let us go and see if we can find the doorway you fell through. I don’t know about you but I don’t want any other guests, or the staff, to fall through any more. You were lucky, and sensible enough to find your way out. Someone else may not be so lucky.”

  Taking a deep breath, Cecily walked after him, holding her candle high enough so she could see where she was putting her feet but not so high that she could see the heavy cobwebs, and the creatures that made them.

  Jamie paused and squatted down, studying the floor carefully.

  “It is quite clean,” Cecily gasped, staring at the floor tiles. The tiles had a clear route down the middle that was free of dust and debris, yet to the sides of them, running along the walls were decades of filth and grime.

  “Come on, let’s keep moving,” Jamie muttered, glancing behind him with a sigh. He realised then just how stupid he had been by insisting on her coming with him, because he couldn’t watch her back, but Jonathan had to keep an eye on the outside. It was inconceivable to leave Cecily in the house, by herself, with the suspicious and slightly antagonistic behaviour of Miss Emstridge, and the potential threat of the French guards.

  They followed the long corridor down the back of the house and nearly missed a hidden doorway. Cecily stopped and tugged on Jamie’s hand, frowning at the increase in subdued noise coming from what sounded like the kitchens.

  Jamie studied the door. The cobwebs covering the door had lain undisturbed for some time, probably because the door was wooden, and difficult to detect. It was dull and unvarnished and over the course of time, had been overrun by cobwebs and dust until it almost blended in with the walls encasing it. Except from the handle that sat in circular abandon half way down.

  “It sounds like we are at the back of the pantry,” Jamie muttered, mentally plotting the layout of the house. The short right turn they had just taken would have brought them past the back of the housekeeper’s quarters and that left them right now at the back of the pantry. Making a mental note to check the pantry later, his attention was drawn to a junction further ahead.

  Satisfied that this particular doorway hadn’t been used for some time, Jamie’s attention was firmly locked on the disturbed dust on the floor ahead of them. A few feet further and they found themselves at what appeared to be the main hive of activity. The corridor ran further ahead into darkness, and branched to the left, heading toward the library, study and the front of the house.

  Jamie felt a flurry of anger settle deep in his gut as they took the corridor to the left. They found the end of the corridor that had been used recently, all the way to his study.

  “God damn it,” Jamie snarled softly. Although the door still had some dust on, the cobwebs around it had been broken, and there was no dust on the handle. Someone had used the secret passage to get into his study. He cast a glance back at Cecily, and pushed the door slowly open.

  “Would you look at that?” he growled. He drew Cecily into the warmth of the room but kept his booted foot against the door to stop it closing behind them.

  Cecily was stunned. She stared absently at Basil who was watching them, thumping his tail lazily on the hearth. She turned to study the wall behind them, pushing at the panels while trying to ignore the watchful eyes of the huge painting of Jamie’s father staring down at them.

  “How on earth do you get into the passage from inside the room?” She gasped, pushing and tapping on the wall randomly.

  “Don’t make too much noise,” Jamie cautioned, taking several steps back and staring at the doorway in consideration for several long moments. He was as stymied as Cecily, and shook his head in disbelief. The doorway remained open by itself but didn’t open by pushing panels. “There has to be some secret lever or something around here that isn’t as obvious as pushing panels.”

  He hated the realisation that someone in the house had been availing themselves of his study when he wasn’t around. As he hadn’t been at home of late and his study had been unoccupied, why had they felt it necessary to use the secret passage rather than the main door? Unless they didn’t want any of the staff knowing they were in the room. Did that automatically make Miss Emstridge guilty? Or was someone else entering his house for some other purpose, and using the outside door behind the rose trellis as their entrance point?

  Jamie felt his blood run cold and a sense of urgency unlike any he had ever felt before swept through him. They could go back into the passages, and spend the rest of the day uncovering which way they all went, but it would be useless if they couldn’t find a way to access them from inside the house. He was fairly sure that there was a way in from inside the rooms, because anyone disappearing into a wall would have been spotted by now by one of the staff.

  Determination straightened his spine and he moved to stand beside Cecily, who was once again staring absently at the huge portrait of his father.

  “Do you have a painting of your father in each of the rooms?”

  “I don’t know, probably. Why?” Jamie frowned, wondering why she found the portraits so intriguing. “Where are you going?” He demanded when she moved back into the passage, holding the candle aloft.

  When she didn’t answer, he cursed and followed her, closing the door carefully behind him.

  “Cecily,” he whispered.

  “Sshh.” Cecily paused beside another door. This had also been disturbed recently. She quickly turned the latch and pushed the door open, unmindful of what was on the other side.

  “Wait!” Jamie cautioned, but was too late to prevent her swinging the door open. Unlike the study door, this door swung towards him into the passage. He peered cautiously over Cecily’s shoulder as she stood in the doorway holding her candle aloft.

  “It’s a secret room,” she gasped, repositioning the brick sitting just inside the doorway to prop the door open.

  “It’s been used.” Jamie’s voice was deadly. Unlike the rest of the passage, this room had been swept, or the floor had at least. The cobwebs hanging from the c
eiling and walls had been disturbed, but it was the clean wooden crates sitting in the middle of the room that drew his attention. There were at least eight, and each of them had been moved recently. They were all unmarked but had lids that hadn’t been nailed down.

  Cautiously lifting one, he studied the haphazard jumble of silverware, old porcelain and various ornaments. Each box contained similar items and didn’t appear to have been packed with any particular care.

  “Are all of these old things of your family’s that you no longer use?” Cecily asked, struggling to absorb the sheer volume of items that lay around them. There were plates, silver cutlery, numerous ornaments and paintings. It was an amazing sight to see and even more confusing because they were hidden from view.

  “None of them look familiar to me,” Jamie muttered, putting the lid of one box back carefully. Studying the room to make sure they had put everything back, he motioned to Cecily.

  “Let’s move on and see what else we can find.” He was going to come back when it was dark for a better look but right now, he wanted to complete the tour.

  His mind was racing in so many different directions, making so many decisions, that he didn’t know where to begin. What he did know however, was that there weren’t going to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Not only was someone entering of his property secretly, and using secret passages in his house to do it, Cecily was increasingly at risk while this person was able to move around freely, and undetected, and he wasn’t going to allow that situation to continue.

  The retraced their steps and stopped at another door that was clearly the entrance to the library. It was the only room left on that side of the house. Turning the handle, Jamie pushed the door silently open, taking note of the fact that it too had recently been oiled. Once confirming the library was empty, he pushed the door fully open and walked into the room. It was clear from where he stood that the door was used frequently. There was very little dust anywhere in the passage and the floor was free of cobwebs, dust and decades of decay. He strongly suspected Miss Emstridge was his secret passage user, but why? What was she up to?