The cabinet door was, as could be expected, locked. He huffed his disappointment again, turning to examine the rest of the small space. Nothing of significance that he could see. Lady Harriet peered in through the door.
“Oh, a cabinet. Is it locked?”
“Yes, unfortunately, it appears to be quite solidly locked – and no sign of a key.”
She nodded, and squeezed in beside him. His body tightened at the press of hers against him and he gasped. She crouched, putting her face at a level with the lock (and also, alarmingly for his peace of mind, at a level with certain parts of his anatomy, which were very aware of her presence). She pulled a hairpin from her tangled locks as she did so.
“Hold the light down here please.”
Shocked, he did as requested, and watched in open admiration as she swiftly picked the lock.
“How… Where… did you learn to do that?”
She looked back at him, flushing, perhaps embarrassed?
“I… when I was a child, Michael – my horrible, now deceased elder brother, you remember? Michael used to lock away anything I treasured, just to be mean – he was like that. So I learned to pick locks to get my things back. Jimmy taught me. He was our stable boy in London. I think he’d been a thief before we took him on. But he never stole from us.”
“Lady Harriet, I am doubly indebted to you. And impressed by your resourcefulness.”
She flushed again, definitely embarrassed this time, at receiving praise from him, and squeezed her way back out of the space to allow him to investigate the contents of the cabinet.
The brush of her body against him brought a new rush of desire, but he pushed it aside. Right now, the contents of that cabinet were his first priority.
She took the candle from his fingers, and held it for him, so that his hands were free to pull forth the roll of pages within. Shaking, he unrolled it. And, for a few moments, was hit hard by disappointment again. Not a set of incriminating letters or lists. Just a collection of maps or diagrams.
And then his brain caught up with what he was seeing. In his hands was a full set of maps of his house – every floor, of every wing, and the attics, and the cellars. Neatly drawn, well noted with names of rooms, and with some odd symbols in various places. Most importantly, these maps showed a large number of passages and rooms that were not part of the normally accessible parts of the house. It appeared that he held a full set of maps showing the hidden passages and rooms in the house, and under it.
This was a prize indeed. He stepped back out into the study, and allowed the hidden door to close, after carefully studying the mechanism. Then he opened it again, to be sure that he could, closed it, and took the maps to his desk.
Lady Harriet followed, her face alight with curiosity.
In that instant he realised – there was no going back now, no keeping her out of it – she had found the secret, opened the door, unlocked the cabinet – she knew that the maps existed. After all that, she had a right to see them. But what could he tell her, without revealing the detail of his mission?
Thinking carefully about that very pertinent question, he spread the maps out on the desk. They were old, and appeared to have been added to and annotated at various times over many years. He wondered who had first drawn them. Whoever they were, he owed them a debt of gratitude.
Lady Harriet stood close and peered over his shoulder to better see the detail. The brush of her body against him, the touch of a tendril of hair against his cheek, made him nearly groan aloud. He forced his mind back to the drawings in front of him. The longer he looked, the more excited he became.
There were, it seemed, secret passages and rooms on every floor except the ground floor. After some thought he concluded that one of the symbols used indicated the locations of doors into the passages. He was not entirely sure about some of the other symbols, but perhaps they might indicate the locations of peepholes, which would permit a person lurking in the walls to spy on the occupants of the normal rooms? It was a likely possibility.
By far the most fascinating thing was the drawing of the cellars. For, not only was there a sheet for the level of the cellars he knew of, where root vegetables and wines and other comestibles were stored, but there was another sheet, which appeared to show not just one, but two further levels of cellars below that. At this rate, he would be spending the next few weeks exploring secret rooms and passages, and still be lucky to get through all of them!
And… if the conspirators knew of these, if, as Peterson had surmised, they had hidden the treasonously incriminating papers somewhere in this warren of hidden passages, what action might they feel forced to take, once they realised that he was exploring them??
With a start, Lady Harriet pulled back, removing the contact between her, and Lord Geoffrey. She could still feel the heat of him, as if they yet touched. What she truly wished was to throw herself into his arms, to regain that moment when he had kissed her. Instead, she stepped back, considering the maps of the house, and what they had just revealed. She wondered how the mechanisms for the other doors worked.
The thought of exploring the passages was beyond exciting – who knew what they might find within, given what had been there to find in the open parts of the house!
“When will we…”
“No-one must know of…”
They both spoke at the same instant, and stopped at the same instant, startled. He was the first to recover his composure.
“No-one must know of this. It must be kept between us for now.”
“Why?”
And here was the moment. The moment that he was still not truly prepared for. What could he say? Could he trust her with the truth? Or would that simply endanger her more than this knowledge already did? Her bright green eyes watched him, waiting.
He gulped for air, his throat suddenly tight, and made an impetuous decision, perhaps an unwise one, yet it seemed, in the moment, the only decision to make.
“Because, my dear Lady Harriet, these hidden rooms and passages may, nay, almost certainly do, contain evidence of treason against the crown, perpetrated by the previous owner of this house, and an unknown number of other conspirators. Some of whom are, I believe, still here in the house, in my employ. If they were to realise that we have discovered this, they might choose to act precipitously. Speaking of this would be to endanger your life.”
Her face had paled as he spoke, and she stared at him in some shock. But her eyes shone with intelligence, and it seemed that she was thinking, rather than about to faint away in a ladylike swoon. Minutes passed, while she absently twirled a tendril of hair around her finger, and thought, then she spoke.
“I see. If that is the case, then we will simply have to take the utmost care as we explore them. For surely, whatever is hidden there is what you have been seeking this last three months. This information makes sense of your insistence on seeing every crevice of the house – am I correct in my deduction?”
She showed no sign of fear, and her usual enthusiasm for life was undimmed – before him, what he saw was excitement.
She was quite a remarkable woman.
In that instant, he realised that she had just, neatly, trapped him again – for he had no choice but to allow her assistance, if he wished to ever complete his mission. She would get what she wanted, in this, at least.
“Yes, you are correct. That is what I have searched for, and yes, I must reluctantly allow you to assist me in searching these hidden passages. I have already stepped beyond the bounds of what I should reveal to you, and, if Charlton knew of this, he would never forgive me for involving you, but I see that I have little choice. For now, I must lock these away in my own safe, before anyone sees them. Miss Carpenter is sure to soon realise that she has left you scandalously unchaperoned, and return in a fluster!”
He stood, and went to a small cabinet near the desk, opening compartments and locks to secure the plans. Lady Harriet had, until then, quite completely forgotten about Miss Carpenter, and p
rayed that her tendre for Mr Featherstonehaugh would keep her distracted a little longer.
“Then how will you explain to me what we must do? How will we plan, if we are never to be alone?”
It was an excellent question, to which Lord Geoffrey was sadly lacking an answer. All manner of thoughts flooded his mind, in the context of being alone with Lady Harriet.
None of them had the least to do with his mission.
He forced the inappropriate thoughts aside and considered.
“Perhaps, tomorrow, you should ride here, rather than take the carriage. I could then take a little time out from ugly paintings and dust to show you around the property – I believe that you have yet to see the extent of the grounds in the direction away from Pendholm Hall?”
She nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“Of course, Miss Carpenter would accompany us, for reasons of propriety. It would, I am sure, not prevent her chaperonage from being effective, even if her lamentable riding abilities meant that we were well ahead of her most of the time – not out of sight, but certainly out of earshot.”
Lady Harriet’s face lit with delight and amusement. So, he had noticed her rather naughty tendency to make poor Miss Carpenter struggle to keep up with her when riding! It was a very clever solution, especially as she loved to ride, and, now that the weather was warming, she would enjoy a chance to see the grounds. It would be the perfect way to talk privately. And Moonbeam needed the exercise after the last few months when Harriet had sadly neglected her to spend her time at Witherwood Chase.
“What a brilliant idea!” She clapped her hands together, and spun across the room, all energy and impatience for the morrow. At that precise instant, Miss Carpenter, looking flushed, embarrassed and guilty, all at once, entered the room. Finding Lord Geoffrey and Lady Harriet on opposite sides of the room, and most obviously not engaged in anything scandalous, she breathed a sigh of relief, and chose to say nothing. Lady Harriet smiled, and her eyes lit with devilment.
“Miss Carpenter! We are to have a treat tomorrow. Lord Geoffrey has most kindly invited us to ride over, and he will ride with us to show us the farthest reaches of the Witherwood Chase grounds. Is that not most delightful, after all of these days amongst dusty paintings?”
Miss Carpenter paled, then squared her shoulders with a long-suffering sigh.
“Delightful indeed, Lady Harriet.” Her tone was dry, and Lord Geoffrey looked at her in surprise. Perhaps the companion was not so mousy as he had supposed.
~~~~~
All around, the ride was a great success. Miss Carpenter, whilst not exactly happy about it, managed to cope quite well, and was just slow and sedate enough to allow them the perfect opportunity to talk. Lord Geoffrey discovered himself having fun, even whilst discussing a topic of such a serious nature.
Lady Harriet rode extraordinarily well, and Lord Geoffrey thrilled to the chance to ride with a woman who could not only keep up with him, but potentially even outride him. He explained, in as minimalist a way as possible, that he was working secretly for a representative of the crown, to find and neutralise the last of the treasonous conspirators. That he was searching for a cache of incriminating papers, and possibly other items, and that Ashley and Jobs seemed the only possible guilty parties amongst the staff that had come with the house.
He also explained that Peterson, Walters and Hurst were to be trusted absolutely, but that everyone else was not. The difficulty was going to be finding a way that Lady Harriet might assist in the search, whilst staying within the bounds of propriety. The only possible option seemed to be taking Miss Carpenter into their confidence. A step that Lord Geoffrey was loath to take, for every extra person who knew was another person at risk.
In the end, they agreed to think on that for a few days, whilst Lord Geoffrey studied the maps, and began to identify the places in the rooms and corridors, which corresponded to the points on the map marked with the symbol which they believed to represent doors. For they had to find those locations, before they could work out how to open the doors.
Lady Harriet prayed that all of the doors would have similar mechanisms, for if they did not, the search would be slow and difficult.
Three days later, Lord Geoffrey was ready to start opening doors – if he could work out how. He was fairly certain that he had discovered the doors, less certain of the mechanisms controlling them. Lady Harriet, unable to bear the thought of missing out on exploring, approached Miss Carpenter carefully.
Fifteen minutes later, a combination of appealing to Miss Carpenter’s patriotic nature (which was not difficult, as her father and brother had both perished as soldiers in the war) and threatening to tell Lady Sylvia of her tendre for Mr Featherstonehaugh, and the hour that she had spent in his company, leaving Lady Harriet unchaperoned, had persuaded Miss Carpenter to co-operate.
Once convinced, Miss Carpenter was surprisingly enthusiastic about the project, for which Lady Harriet was immensely grateful. The plan was simple, and still rather risky, but it was the best they could do. Miss Carpenter would continue to work with Mr Featherstonehaugh, sequestered in the library, working through his final notes.
They would all pretend that Lady Harriet was also working with them, and, if asked by a servant, or anyone else, Miss Carpenter would report that Lady Harriet had simply left the room to use the necessary. Miss Carpenter was quite confident that Mr Featherstonehaugh would, because she asked it of him, also ask no awkward questions.
Meanwhile, Lady Harriet and Lord Geoffrey would be exploring the passages. The doors, between the map allowing them to be found, and the fact that the mechanisms were all very similar – in each case there was a whorl of carving of some sort to push, and a drape, tapestry or painting to pull on, at the same time – proved remarkably easy to open. Lord Geoffrey felt rather foolish that he and Peterson had not found even one of them in those three long months of searching – they seemed so obvious now that he knew what to look for!
~~~~~
Over the next two sennights, Lord Geoffrey and Lady Harriet discovered two things – that lurking in corridors and poking at walls, then disappearing through them, was remarkably difficult to do without drawing the notice of servants, and that hidden passages contained even greater amounts of dust and mouse droppings than long unused rooms. What they did not discover, was the cache of incriminating treasonous documents which they sought.
It also became, as they worked at checking the passages and tiny hidden rooms, at first together, and then separately, obvious that there were more passages than those shown on the maps - which depressing fact just made the work harder.
There were moments of amusement, and moments of great surprise, as they discovered yet more paintings and other minor valuables, long forgotten in recesses in the hidden rooms and passages, or looked through peepholes to discover which rooms they allowed one to spy on.
Lady Harriet took especial delight in discovering a peephole which let her spy on Miss Carpenter and Mr Featherstonehaugh. They were studiously working away, whilst each casting surreptitious longing glances at the other, when they though the other wasn’t looking. It took enormous effort for Lady Harriet not to burst into a fit of the giggles watching them. More seriously, she took note of all of the rooms for which she found peepholes, and they compared them to the symbols on the maps. It seemed that they had guessed the symbol correctly.
Each day provided another chance for Lady Harriet to be as close to Lord Geoffrey as she could manage, without actually throwing herself at him. Which was what, if she was honest, she truly wished to do. Now, more than ever, he took her breath away. Not only was he heroic by his actions, but also by his nature. His steadfast refusal to take advantage of their scandalous proximity, even whilst his storm grey eyes followed her and, in unguarded moments, revealed what she dared to hope was desire for her, was demonstration of his honourable character.
She found his dedication to his mission, and his willingness to suffer months of dirt, dust and te
dium impressive, and worthy of respect. Especially when compared to the town fops who had clung to her side this Season past.
Still, for both of them, the lack of result for their efforts was wearing, as was the continual subterfuge required to keep their actions secret. By the end of the second sennight, the novelty of peepholes and hidden passages had quite worn off, and frustration had set in.
~~~~~
As it happened, their explorations had not gone entirely unnoticed. Late one evening, after Lady Harriet and Miss Carpenter had returned to Pendholm Hall, and Lord Geoffrey had locked himself away in his study, with the maps, and a glass of good brandy, two figures slid quietly through the shadows at the back of the house. They made no sound until they reached the run down shepherd’s cottage at the edge of the boundary woods.
Once inside, by the light of an only partially unshuttered lantern, Ashley and Jobs looked at each other with fear on their faces.
“What’ll we do Ash? He’s found the passages – least some of ‘em anyway. The dust’s all disturbed and some of them old pictures in there’s been moved.” Jobs’ voice quavered as he spoke.
“We’ll move them things from up top down with the rest tomorrow – one way or t’other - we can’t wait any longer. I don’t think he’s found the hidden door down the bottom – even if’n he has, he won’t find the second one.” Ashley put as much confidence as he could into the statement, but, in truth, he wasn’t sure it was true.
“What if he does? What if’n we runs inta him in the passages?”
“Then we’ll deal with it. Whatever it takes. If he catches us, we’re dead – we’ll hang or worse for those papers. If’n he finds us, he’ll have an ‘accident’ – I’ll make sure of it.”
Being Lady Harriet's Hero: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance (His Majesty's Hounds Book 4) Page 6