by Paula Paul
“I’ll need a bit of bread and jam to give me the vigor I needs for that,” Artie said.
Chapter 15
Thunder rolled across the ocean, moving closer to the village of Newton-upon-Sea as the small group left the Gladstone house, walking toward the graveyard. Artie, whose legs were deemed too short to keep up, was riding astride Lucy, at Alexandra’s insistence. He rode in contented silence, chewing his bread and jam. Alexandra had urged the group to wait until morning to go to the graveyard, but the boys insisted that the spirits came out only at night. In the end, she’d given in. It wouldn’t hurt to find out what Lucas was really up to, she’d told herself. Now she was beginning to regret it.
“I’m thinking now ’twas not a good idea to start this short little journey,” Nancy said, echoing Alexandra’s thoughts as a few cold raindrops splattered the group. She raised her umbrella, but the wind was bullying them by now, pushing their bodies and toying with the umbrella.
“Don’t be a mouse, Nance. A little cold rain won’t hurt you.” Rob thrust his chest out in a gesture as blustery as the wind.
“ ’Tis not the rain that bothers me so much as the wind, and there’s bound to be lightning soon enough. ’Twill worsen, you’ll see,” Nancy said. “Should have listened to Dr. Gladstone and stayed home.”
Alexandra remained silent under her own umbrella. When she saw Artie shivering, she stopped Lucy long enough to climb on the mare’s back with the boy so she could shelter him with her umbrella.
By the time they reached the graveyard, neither the wind nor the rain were any worse, but the rumble of thunder had increased, and lighting gave sporadic illumination to the scattered tombstones.
“Young Lucas is not as foolish as we are,” Alexandra said, searching around her. “I don’t think he came out in this weather.”
“Why, ’tis hardly raining at all,” Rob said. “Not enough to keep the ijit away, I’d wager. The wind don’t bother the likes of ’im no more than it does me. We both growed up here, where the wind from the sea never tires of its keening. Many’s the night me and Artie spent with no shelter but for a few boards propped against a wall. You’re used to riding out in the storm, too, ain’t ye, Doc? What with people gettin’ sick in all weather?”
“Being used to it and learning to like it are two different things, Rob.”
Nancy chuckled as if to signal her agreement, but she ended the laugh with a sharp intake of breath just as the sky grumbled and spit a stream of fire. “Look at that!”
“You see a spirit?” Rob asked.
“Lucas?” Alexandra asked.
“I…I’m not sure. ’Twas there,” Nancy said, pointing into the darkness. “I saw it when the lightning flashed.”
“I’ll see if I can find it,” Rob said, walking into the void.
Artie grabbed at the folds of Alexandra’s skirt and clung to her just as he had earlier. “I ain’t going,” he said.
Another flash of lightning illuminated the graveyard, and Nancy gasped again. “Alvina’s tombstone!” she said.
Alexandra ignored her as she called out to Rob, telling him to be careful, lest he stumble over a tombstone in the darkness. Just as she spoke yet another angry streak lit up the night. In that brief moment of illumination, she saw something as well, a young boy—Lucas, she thought. But there was something else, a dark figure standing next to him. The figure was difficult to distinguish, as if it were not really there, and it appeared to be reaching for Lucas.
“Dear God in heaven!” Nancy cried. “ ’Twas Lucas, and he was with a ghost!”
“I think it was Lucas, all right, but I’m not certain about the other figure,” Alexandra said. She tried to move toward the two forms, but Artie was clutching her skirts so tightly it made movement difficult. The rain, along with a shrieking wind, had increased. Rob, by now, had completely disappeared into the darkness. She was about to call out to him to come back to their little group when an eerie, mournful screech came from somewhere near one of the graves and hung in the air, dying slowly.
“Not certain? You say you’re not certain?” Nancy spoke with a hoarse whisper. “That sound is coming from something inhuman. And that tombstone! I don’t like what I saw.”
“Calm yourself, Nancy,” Alexandra said as she took a step toward the sound, while Artie still clung to her. “Who’s out there?” she called.
A dark mass rushed toward her, and she stumbled backward. At the same time Nancy screamed.
“It’s the devil,” Artie whispered. The dark mass lunged closer until it materialized into the shape of Rob. He was breathing hard and shivering. A flash of lightning revealed water dripping from his hair, his face, his coat.
“Sumpin’s out there,” he said. “Sumpin’ like I ain’t never seen before. I could hear it whispering evil things.”
“What sort of evil things?” Alexandra asked, as Nancy moved closer to share her umbrella with Rob, although it was impossible to imagine how it could help, since he was already as wet as any human could be.
“Things about death and murder and dragging people into hell.” Rob’s voice was unsteady, as if he might start crying any moment.
“Could you make out who it was?” Alexandra asked.
“Weren’t no who, ’twas it. Most unhuman thing I ever seen, and I seen it, I did, with me own eyes.”
It was going to be difficult to make any sense of what had occurred with Rob being as frightened as he was, Alexandra realized, but she tried again.
“I thought I saw Lucas with someone. Did you see him as well?”
“I seen ’im, all right. Just for a second when the lightning flashed. Seen ’im talking to that ghost. You musta seen ’im talkin’ to it, too.”
“But there doesn’t seem to be anyone out there now.” Alexandra had to shout to be heard over the howl of the wind. “Did you see where they went?”
“I seen ’em disappear into the air. That’s where they went. Just disappeared. That thing picked Lucas up in its arms and disappeared him just like it disappeared itself.” Rob was shivering so hard he could hardly speak.
“We’re going back to the house,” Alexandra said. “I don’t know why I was so foolish not to stop this nonsense. Rob, you ride Lucy with Artie and take my umbrella. I’ll share Nancy’s.”
They progressed in slow, slogging motion toward home, heads down against the increasing deluge and the wild, whipping motion of the wind. Nancy walked beside Alexandra, scolding Rob.
“Stay under the umbrella, young man. Do you want to catch your death?”
“If that’s to be, then I’ve already caught it,” Rob said. “I’m already swimmin’ in me duds.” He ended his statement with a sneeze.
“See! See what I mean,” Nancy scolded.
“Don’t you see?” Rob said. “I’ve caught me death already. It’s best I just keep the umbrella over Artie. ’E’s got his whole life ahead of ’im.”
Alexandra accepted Nancy’s scolding and Rob’s drama as at least adding a bit of normalcy to their miserable journey. Nevertheless, she was worried about how the damp and cold might affect all of them. She glanced up to look toward the house to try to judge how much longer they would be subjected to the cold wind and rain. It was impossible to see the house through the gloom, but there was something in front of them—another dark mass moving toward them, only this time the corpus was larger and moving faster.
“Sumpin’ ahead of us!” The shout came from Rob, who had seen the same thing.
“ ’Tis a ghost!” Artie said in a voice so low it could barely be heard above the sound of the storm.
“ ’Tis no ghost, ’tis a man!” Rob said.
“A man on horseback!” Nancy added.
“Who’s there?” came a voice from out of the storm.
Alexandra recognized the voice immediately. “Nicholas! Is that you?”
They heard a command, muffled by the storm, heard the sound of hoofbeats grow louder, saw man and horse advance closer.
; “Alexandra! Nancy! What…” Nicholas rode up in front of them.
“We’re trying to get home out of the storm,” Alexandra said. “What are you doing out?”
“Looking for you,” Nicholas said, reaching for Alexandra, ready to hoist her up with him onto his horse.
“No, take Nancy,” she said. “And why were you looking for me?
“I was worried about you, for one thing.” Nicholas got off the horse to help Nancy up, then remounted and pulled Alexandra up in front of him.
Alexandra started to protest. “Three of us are too heavy for your horse to—”
“It’s only a short distance.” Nicholas pulled her up into the saddle and urged the animal forward. When they arrived at the stable, Nicholas helped Rob remove the wet saddles and blankets in order to put the horses away before the two of them joined the others in the house.
Alexandra was busy drying Artie with a towel while Nancy encouraged the coal fire to burn brighter as Rob and Nicholas entered the house. Zack had positioned himself flat on his belly between Alexandra and Nicholas, with his eyes on Nicholas.
“I’m a bit confused,” Nicholas said. “Rob tells me you were in the graveyard so you could hear some young boy he calls ijit talk to ghosts.”
“I’ll explain later, but for now, we’re all going to change into dry clothes. I have some of my father’s clothes upstairs you can wear.”
“I saw a young chap running away when I was searching for you. Was that the so-called ijit?”
“Lucas?” Alexandra said. “Was it Lucas?”
“I have no idea who Lucas might be,” Nicholas said. “All I know is that it was a chap of sixteen or so with shaggy hair and a kind of lumbering gait, running in the rain as fast as he could.”
“That was Lucas,” Alexandra said. “Was he alone?”
“As far as I could tell. But he kept looking over his shoulder as if he thought someone might be following him. I saw him go into that little house at the edge of the village. You know the one, I’m sure. They tell me women go there to buy lace.”
“His mother’s house. Thank God he got away.”
“Away from what?” Nicholas asked.
“The ghost,” Nancy said.
“Excuse me?” Nicholas sounded more confused than ever.
“I told you, I’ll explain later,” Alexandra said. “For now, you’ve got to change out of those wet clothes.”
A few minutes later, Nicholas was in an old dressing gown that had belonged to the first Dr. Gladstone and that Nancy claimed made him look elegant. Rob wore a shirt and trousers several sizes too big for him, secured at the waist with a scarf tied in front and with pant legs rolled high. Artie looked like a monk in a black shirt that came down to his ankles.
“I say, we look as if we belong in a circus, except for you two in your fresh frocks.” Nicholas clutched his borrowed dressing gown in the front in an effort to keep it closed. “But those towels on your heads do look a bit like Arabian turbans,” he added. He backed up closer to the fire. “Now tell me the story.”
“I’ll fetch tea whilst the doctor tells you all about it,” Nancy said and disappeared through a doorway.
Alexandra took a deep breath and told Nicholas the story of how they had decided on the unwise jaunt because Rob and Artie had said Lucas talked to ghosts. “We wanted to witness it ourselves,” she said, “since the boys insisted the ghosts out there are real, unlike the one we saw during the séance.”
“That one weren’t real fer sure, me lord,” Rob said, and proceeded to tell him how they had found the entrance to the scullery had been violated, along with signs of someone having been on the inner staircase.
“I ain’t going back to the graveyard,” Artie said, speaking for the first time since Nicholas’s arrival. “Just wish I hadn’t brought home that fancy ’rooch Lucas gave me. That’s what started it all.”
Nicholas, who had been listening with amused interest, raised his eyebrows. “ ’Rooch?” he said.
“He means brooch,” Alexandra said, grateful to see that Nancy had entered with a pot of steaming tea.
Nicholas’s eyes widened. “Good God! Do you still have it?”
“Of course,” Alexandra said, puzzling at the look on his face. “I put it there in that box on the mantel until I could determine who might be the owner.”
Nicholas gasped when Alexandra produced the jewelry. “I’ve seen it before. MaMa said I would recognize it.” He took it from Alexandra and examined it closely.
“It belongs to Her Ladyship?” Alexandra asked.
“It does!” Nicholas said as the angry wind blew a puff of smoke from the chimney into the parlor. It looked like a dark specter swirling in front of them.
“So Her Ladyship was in the graveyard just as we thought,” Nancy said. “Could she have been the…the one who…?”
“Nancy!” Alexandra’s voice was sharp. “A lot of people visit the graveyard. You’ve no right to attach any meaning to that.”
“My mother was there, all right,” Nicholas said. “I followed her there just recently. And she told me she went there looking for this.” Diamonds in the brooch were effervescent in the light of the fire as he raised it for all to see. “But she wasn’t the one who lost it in the graveyard. She’d loaned it to someone.”
“Loaned it? To whom?” Alexandra asked just as a clap of thunder answered the howl of the wind.
Nicholas seemed reluctant to say more. “I’m not sure,” he said finally as his gaze slid toward Artie and Rob. Alexandra interpreted the nuance.
“Well, it doesn’t matter, does it?” she said. “You can take the brooch back to your mother when the storm abates.” She turned to Nancy. “Take the boys to the kitchen for hot milk, then show them to the bedroom at the end of the hall. I’ll not send them out to try to make it to their room above the stables in this weather.”
Nancy opened her mouth to protest. She knew full well that Alexandra was sending the boys away so Nicholas could speak freely, and it was clear that she didn’t want to miss anything that was said. She closed her mouth without speaking, however, except to urge the boys toward the stairs and to answer a question from Artie by telling him he’d had quite enough jam.
When they were all three out of sight, Alexandra turned to Nicholas. “Your mother loaned it to Her Majesty, didn’t she? Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” She removed the now soaked towel from her head and shook her hair out.
Nicholas nodded and pulled her toward the fire. “You must dry your hair, else you’ll catch pneumonia.”
“One doesn’t get pneumonia from wet hair,” Alexandra said, “and don’t try to change the subject. Why did Her Majesty go to the graveyard?”
“The same question I asked,” Nicholas said. “And I’m not trying to change the subject. You were right when you said that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. My mother’s answer to why Queen Victoria went to the graveyard was that she went to murder Alvina Elwold.”
Alexandra found it impossible to respond at first. Finally she shook her head and said, “That can’t be true.”
“I don’t know,” Nicholas said with a heavy sigh. “One would hope it’s not true, and my mother is in such a state I don’t know whether to think she’s lost her mind or the strain of her recent visitor was just too much for her or both.”
“I’ve no doubt her nerves are frayed,” Alexandra said. “Perhaps I should visit her. Was that another reason you were looking for me? To fetch me to visit her?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I suppose I was hoping you have some magic potion that will calm her. Something other than whatever it was you gave her last time, which seemed to make her crazy.”
“No magic potions in my possession, but I must see what I can do to help.” Alexandra was already on her way to the surgery to retrieve her bag.
“You can’t go out again in this weather.” Nicholas was following a step behind her. “I meant you could see her later. There’s no need to—”
“You must have felt otherwise when you started out, and if she’s in the state of mind you described, it’s not safe to leave her alone. One never knows what a person under duress will do.”
“She’s not alone. She has a house full of servants.” Nicholas had caught up with her and took her arm. “Along with the servants, Her Majesty insisted that her own companion, you know, that Cudney woman, stay with her even after Her Majesty left. At last!”
Alexandra paused and turned toward Nicholas. “Madam Cudney is with her?”
Nicholas nodded. “The queen insisted.”
Alexandra paused again briefly. It was true that she dreaded going into the storm again, and Madam Cudney was a competent caretaker. Her hesitancy was short-lived. “Nevertheless, you apparently thought it serious enough to come looking for me.” She turned quickly, headed for the surgery again.
“I used it as an excuse to come for you, my dear. It’s true, I’d like you to have a look at Her Ladyship, but she’s not in such dire straits that you can’t wait until the storm abates,” Nicholas said, hurrying after her.
“You didn’t let the storm stop you from coming for me.”
“That’s an entirely different matter. Besides, the storm wasn’t so fierce when I started out, and it didn’t get that way until I reached your house and found you weren’t here. I beg of you, wait until it—”
“I’m quite used to going out alone in inclement weather when necessary.” By now she had reached the surgery. She picked up her bag and took a hooded cloak from a coat rack, pulling the hood over her still-damp hair.
“Well, you’re not going alone,” Nicholas said. “And you’re not riding Lucy. The poor little mare has had quite enough tonight. You’ll ride with me. Have Nancy bring me one of your father’s coats, and have her fetch one of those umbrellas.”
“If you insist,” Alexandra said. “Can you saddle your own horse? I don’t want to ask the boys to go out again.”
“Of course,” Nicholas said without hesitating. “I haven’t spent my entire life inside a courtroom or lounging about in a country house.”