The Duke's Dilemma

by Fenella J Miller

  As Tom fiddled with the lanterns the back door shook, this was followed by a fuselage of barks. Ralph smiled. ‘I believe we’ve left the most crucial element of our search outside. If the dog remembers where he went, maybe he can lead us back there.’

  He marched up and down the endless passageways pressing and knocking, rubbing and banging every protuberance, every knot hole, but found nothing. ‘We’ve spent the best part of two hours searching, even the dog has given up and gone back to the kitchen. I suggest we do the same.’

  His two henchmen followed him to the rear of the house; they went to the servants’ hall, he to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what his reception would be from his volatile sweetheart, but no doubt they would enjoy a lively exchange of opinions.

  *

  ‘The snow must be another yard deeper, Birdie. I shouldn’t think the grooms will be able to attend the horses this evening.’ Hester hadn’t heard the door open but was aware Ralph was in the room. She called to him, but didn’t turn. ‘Ralph, what will happen to the livestock this evening?’

  He spoke from beside her. ‘The cows will be milked before it gets dark and the horses have enough fodder and water to last until tomorrow.’ He lowered his voice before continuing. ‘Are we friends again, darling?’

  ‘Of course we are.’ She glanced up and wished she hadn’t. Her heart somersaulted and the familiar wave of heat enveloped her. He didn’t need to speak, his expression told her he felt the same.

  ‘Miss Frobisher, your dog is sitting in the scullery looking pitiful. I reckon he’s after food.’

  Relieved to be interrupted, she stepped round Ralph and smiled at Polly. ‘I’m sure he is. I shall come and attend to his needs immediately. One cannot let a hero remain unfed.’

  She spent the afternoon with Birdie; they played a round or two of piquet and then wrote letters to friends. Hester wondered if they would ever be delivered. They were to eat an informal supper of cold cuts and pickles followed by apple pie and cream.

  ‘I think it best if you join Ralph and I this evening then the staff can spend the evening in the hall. Do you agree?’

  ‘I do indeed, my dear. As you know, initially I was delighted that you and Lord

  Colebrook would be obliged to spend time in each other’s company, however it would seem your relationship is developing at an alarming rate. I think it would be best if I chaperoned you until this … until this matter is resolved.’

  ‘I appear to have fallen in love with him. I can’t stand the understand how my affections have been engaged so as swiftly we spend most of the time at daggers drawn.’

  ‘It’s as plain as the nose on my face, my dear, that he’s head over heels in love with you. I can’t believe it – you shall be a duchess by and by.’

  Hester tossed her book to one side. ‘I said I had feelings for him, not that I intend to marry him.’ She laughed at her friend’s disbelieving look. ‘We’re scarcely acquainted. I shall eventually agree to his proposal, but even then our nuptials won’t take place for a year at least.’

  Birdie snorted but made no further remark. Jet, who’d spent the afternoon lounging in front of the fire, stood up and looked hopefully towards his mistress.

  ‘Very well, I’ll let you out. It’s not quite dark so I expect the men are still outside to take care of you.’

  ‘I shall come down and supervise the evening meal. Those two girls are excellent workers, but are spending far too much time in the company of the male servants. I understood that Polly was betrothed to someone who worked here, if that’s the case then Tom is going to be disappointed.’

  Hester had also noticed a growing attachment between her man of affairs and her new maid. ‘I don’t believe anything official had been said, according to Polly they were merely walking out together. I think Tom will make an excellent replacement.’

  —

  ‘That was delicious, Miss Bird. You’re a woman of many talents and without your skills we would have been on short commons indeed.’

  ‘Thank you, your grace, if you wish to drink tea I shall go down and make it later on.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking, Ralph, although we haven’t yet discovered any secret entrances we know there must be one. If we lock all the internal doors, will it make us safer?’

  He stood up and came round to pull out her chair. ‘I’ve already done so, my love. However, I think your dog’s the best deterrent we have. No-one is going to get upstairs without him alerting us. I suggest, ladies, you sleep in your clothes tonight.’

  Hester swallowed. This suggestion was not because of the inclement weather. ‘I thought we could play a hand or two of whist, but I warn you, Miss Bird is an excellent card player.’

  The next two hours sped past and the hour was past nine o’clock when they were disturbed by the sound of running footsteps on the staircase leading to the sitting area. Hester stiffened and Ralph was on his feet and moving towards the door before it opened. Polly, closely followed by Meg, burst in.

  ‘Oh, your grace, they’ve gone. Seth and Robert went half an hour ago to check the doors and make up the fires in the passageway and they’ve not returned. Tom sent us up here to ask if you could come down, your grace, and please to take the dog with you.’

  Hester was on her feet to guide the distressed girls to the day bed. ‘Sit down by the fire. We’ll be quite safe up here together whilst his grace finds the men.’

  Ralph gestured with his head that she join him by the door. ‘Here, sweetheart, take this pistol and keep it close. I want all of you to go into your bed chamber and bar the door. Don’t open it unless it’s me outside.’

  ‘Take care.’ She blinked back her tears, not wanting him to see her distress.

  Ignoring the three interested spectators he stepped closer and her arms encircled his neck as his closed around her waist. She tilted her face to receive his kiss knowing it might be the last time she saw him.

  *

  Tom and Robin were waiting at the bottom of the stairs, lanterns lit and pistols ready. ‘How long is it since you saw the men?’

  ‘About half an hour, your grace, Tom and I were playing cards and didn’t notice the time. It was Polly told us they hadn’t returned.’

  ‘I take it you’ve searched the house?’

  Both men nodded. ‘And the doors were locked, the keys still hidden in the table drawer in the kitchen, your grace.’

  ‘Good. At least that narrows our search. The entrance must be in the grand hall or along one of the corridors that lead up to it. It can’t be this side of the house or we would have heard them.’ He looked down at the dog. ‘It’s up to you, now, old fellow. You must find the entrance to the passageway or the next time they come in here might well prove fatal to your mistress and me.’

  Ralph extracted his pistol, checking it was primed and ready to fire, then took the lantern Tom was holding. The only way forward was to find where these bastards were coming from and take the fight to them. The way things were his assailants were having it all their own way, picking them off one by one.

  ‘We’ll start in the grand hall. Tom, you go to the left with the dog and Robin to the right with me.’ They had searched meticulously once before, but this time the scent would be fresh and with luck the dog would pick it up.

  The passageway was black as pitch, his breath steamed in front of him, swirling around the yellow glow of the lantern. He was relieved the men knew they weren’t tackling the supernatural, what had happened was enough to make anyone nervous. He was about to start his search when he recalled something Hester had said about her unpleasant experience the previous night.

  ‘No, it can’t be in here either, Miss Frobisher said she could hear the dog barking a distance away; if he’d found the entrance in the hall she would have seen it herself and he would have sounded nearer.’

  He stood for a moment. ‘What we’re looking for will be in the main passageway that runs between the drawing-room and dining room. As before, you take the left, Tom.
’

  He searched the area thoroughly but found nothing – taking the dog with them this time had proved no assistance. Ralph had no option, he had to find it or they could all be dead by morning.

  Halfway down the passage he began checking the wall, in which the doors to the various rooms were situated, on his own whilst the other two and Jet continued on the far side. They had no luck, everything was as it appeared, no panel swung inwards, no rosette of carved oak turned under his probing fingers.

  A deep rumbling alerted him; the dog had metamorphosed into that terrifying beast. He crossed the corridor to join Tom, Robin close behind him. He whispered to his companions, ‘It’s here, the dog can smell them.’

  Jet, his hackles up, was growling softly as he sniffed the wall. He stopped and pressed his nose against an innocuous panel as if expecting it to swing inwards. It didn’t. The animal continued to vibrate like distant thunder.

  Without a word being spoken the three men started a painstaking search of what appeared to be wood like all the rest. The dog sat as if waiting for them to open it. Ralph gestured to the others to stand back and raise their lanterns, he did the same. He was missing something. He raised his lantern higher and from his superior height immediately saw what he wanted.

  ‘God’s teeth! It’s there, right in front of our eyes and we missed it because we were looking on the wall and not the ceiling.’ Pointing upwards he stepped across and reached out to press what looked like a knot hole in the black ceiling beam. The depression in the wood was worn smooth as if by constant rubbing whereas the rest of the wood was rough to the fingertips.

  There was a faint hiss, a barely audible click and a section of wall swung inwards. The dog bounded in. Ralph leapt forward, grabbing him. ‘Quiet, Jet, we don’t want to warn them we’re coming, do we?’ He gave the dog a small shake and the noise ceased. He blew out the candle inside the lantern and the others did likewise; the flickering of their lights might warn whoever it was of their coming. There were a dozen, at least, and their only hope of success was surprise.

  He kept his hand firmly in the dog’s fur believing Jet would lead him as he had done Hester. He turned to the two men behind him. He couldn’t see them but could hear them breathing heavily.

  ‘Robin, take hold of the tail of my coat, Tom take Robin’s, that way we’ll stay together; the dog can guide us.’

  Jet padded forward, his hackles stiff, his nose to the ground, following a recent scent. He hoped one of the men had had the sense to bring a lantern and tinderbox for they might well need one later on. The passageway descended steeply and the stone walls he had been feeling under his fingertips gave way to earth. They were outside the house now – God knows how much further to go.

  They’d been travelling sometime when he felt the dog tense and almost imperceptibly the growl began again. They must be near their destination. He flattened himself against the side of the narrow passage and releasing his hold on Jet, he waited, pistol cocked and straining his eyes and ears, hoping to get a clue as to what might be facing them.

  He didn’t know what the dog had sensed; it was as dark and silent as a grave ahead. He reached down, but the animal had gone, slipped away into the darkness. Buggeration! They were totally blind now. Keeping his fingers on the wall he crept on, his men following behind. But something had changed. What was it? His mouth curved. It didn’t smell as rank, the air was fresher. The passageway was widening; there must be a chamber ahead.

  He stepped forward and his hand was floating free, no wall beside him. Before he could warn the others there was a faint scuffle and he was seized from behind, his feet kicked out from under him and his head enveloped in a stinking sack. His pistol fell uselessly to the ground and he had only his booted feet as weapons. As ropes were tied round his writhing body he used these to good effect and landed several punishing blows on the shins of his assailants.

  The satisfying crunch of boot on flesh elicited no cries of pain, no swearing, no reaction of any sort. If he hadn’t known he was dealing with flesh and blood he would have been truly terrified. Two men grabbed his heels and he was hauled some distance, his head cracking on the ground, and then tossed roughly against a wall. For a moment he was dazed.

  Robin and Tom were being given similar treatment and the thuds as they fell beside him echoed eerily. There was a faint glimmer of light filtering through the filthy material but not enough to distinguish anything. Rough hands rolled him over and feigning unconsciousness he was thrown backwards a second time. There was the faint shuffle of footsteps as the men departed and then impenetrable darkness and thick silence.

  Where was the dog? Why hadn’t he attacked? There was nothing to do until his hands were free. He lay still. Had the men with the lantern left? Alert to every sound, it became apparent there were more than just Robin, Tom and himself held captive. Was it possible James and two grooms were also here unhurt?

  Although he was tightly trussed, his fingers were able to reach down to his boot top in which he’d slid a stiletto knife that he’d liberated whilst in Spain. Grasping the hilt he pulled it out and began the laborious process of sawing against the ropes that held him fast.

  At last his hands and arms were free and snatching the noisome sacking from his person he gratefully drew in air that wasn’t tainted. He edged forward on his knees until his questing fingers touched a shrouded shape. He slashed through the ropes that bound this man, certain from the shape and smell that it was Tom.

  ‘Is that you, your grace? If you give me the knife, I’ll release the rest of them. Do you know how many we’re up against?’

  ‘No, I’m going to reconnoitre. When everyone’s free quarter the area and see if you can find the pistols. Do it by touch alone, don’t light the lantern or make a sound.’

  Leaving him to release of the others he dropped to his stomach and shuffled forward on his elbows, uncomfortable but effective, as it kept him below the eye line of anyone who might be watching.

  His eyes became accustomed to the darkness; there was a faint glimmer ahead so there must be a lantern burning. He continued his painful progress until close enough to see there was a group of eight or nine men standing round a brazier conversing in sibilant whispers. He squashed himself against the wall and strained his ears. What he heard made his blood run cold. These men had mistaken him for a servant. Fervently thinking his Maker he was dressed in his oldest clothes and because of that he was still breathing. The bastards were now going back to the Hall to murder Hester and himself.

  He’d begun to slowly reverse when, to his horror, the men moved. Rolling sideways, his face and body pressed into the earth, he prayed to remain unnoticed as the men hurried past.

  Would his men be ready to attack or would they lie, pretending to be constrained, until the men had passed? His life hung in the balance and he didn’t even have his knife to protect himself.

  The first three men past their lanterns held aloft, leaving the ground in darkness. They must have been by his calculation almost up to the side chamber in which his men were hiding when suddenly there was the sound of a ghostly howling. The two men who were parallel with him crashed into the men in front.

  ‘Bloody hell! It’s that noise again. I’m beginning to think this bloody place is really ’aunted.’

  The leader of the gang snarled. ‘Shut your trap, Jones; it’s that bitch’s dog, I’ll slit it’s throat when I get my bleeding ’ands on it. I reckon one of you stupid bastards left that panel unlocked again.’

  The men fell silent and resumed their progress and Ralph knew he was safe – for the moment. He waited until he was sure he couldn’t be heard by the two guards or the raiding party, then sprang to his feet, racing to join his men.

  ‘Robin, you keep Seth and Robert with you and deal with the guards; they’ll not be expecting an attack. James, I’m damn glad to see you alive and well after your incarceration. You and Tom, come with me. We have to stop them before they reach Miss Frobisher and the other women.’


  Chapter Sixteen

  Hester sat with her arm around Polly whilst Birdie comforted Meg. She should try and say something uplifting, but all she could think of was that Ralph was risking his life to save them all.

  ‘How long have they been gone, do you think?’

  ‘I heard the clock strike nine just after they left and it hasn’t struck again, so it’s less than an hour, my dear.’

  ‘I’m not sure we should have locked ourselves in your parlour, we have no facilities in here.’ Too late she realized it was a mistake to draw attention to their lack. Polly shifted uncomfortably beside her; the girl needed to relieve herself. ‘I think it should be safe enough for the two girls to go into your bed chamber if they lock the door behind them.’

  ‘Very well, as the need’s urgent, I can see no harm in it.’ Her companion stood up and ushered them to the door. ‘I’ll unbar this and wait here until I hear you lock yourselves in next door. Do you understand what you have to do?’

  The girls nodded, too frightened to speak. Polly had her arm around her friend; she was obviously the more courageous of the two. ‘When you’re done, knock on the wall and we can let you back in.’ She supposed it would have been more appropriate if they had used the pot first, but their need at the moment was not desperate.

  Ten minutes later the wall reverberated such was the ferocity of the banging coming from the room. ‘Birdie, I’ll stand behind our door whilst you collect them.’

  She was poised in the half open door way when she heard her dog barking somewhere downstairs. He sounded frantic, even from this distance she could hear his paws scrabbling on the wood. Without stopping to think, she deserted her post and raced down stairs. If Jet had returned alone something catastrophic had occurred. Her dog would not have left Ralph unless he’d good reason to do so.

  The animal didn’t pause to receive her petting but tore up the stairs and vanished into the temporary sitting-room. She gathered her skirts and prepared to run after him. The wall sconces made the stairwell bright as day, it would be obvious where they were if she left them burning. She blew out each one as she ascended hoping they would have cooled and the distinctive aroma have dispersed before their enemy arrived.