‘Criminals,’ I said defiantly.
‘Wrong. Men who are trying to survive and support their families in difficult times.’
I shrugged. ‘Men are only poor if they are lazy or knaves,’ I retorted. ‘Everyone knows that. There’s always honest work to be done.’
Will’s fists clenched. ‘You’re spouting the convenient platitudes of your class,’ he hissed. ‘Abominable! These are phrases you’ve heard from the wealthy and privileged. You know nothing of work or wages. You do not have the slightest idea of what it entails to support a family on a few shillings a week.’
I stared at him in silence. I felt sure of my views. I’d heard such things said a hundred times, at dinners and at balls by men and women who knew the world: the poor deserve to be poor. They are poor because they’re lazy and ignorant and can’t be helped. No one had ever challenged this within my hearing. And yet somehow I didn’t feel comfortable saying these things out loud to this angry young man. Instead, I challenged him on safer ground: ‘What do you mean, my class? You are gently born, don’t deny it!’
‘I won’t deny that I was born to as much privilege as you, perhaps more,’ said Will. ‘But since then, I’ve seen things that have made me … ’ His voice tailed off as we both heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps and voices in the distance.
‘They’re coming. Can I trust you to do this?’
‘This, but nothing more,’ I told him. ‘I’ll make you no promises beyond the next half hour.’
‘Very well. Get ready now. And you’d better hope neither of the real ghosts turns up tonight.’
‘There’s more than one?’ I asked, feeling an icy finger of fear stroke my back.
‘Oh, did no one tell you?’ asked Will, cheerful once more. ‘Not only is there a murdered bride who can’t rest, but a headless spectre is said to stalk the grounds.’
I knew that I shouldn’t ask. The less I knew the better. But I couldn’t help myself. ‘A headless spectre … ?’ My voice trembled.
Will stepped closer, his face lit up with a ghoulish pleasure. ‘He creeps up behind you, just as you think you’ve escaped him. He grabs you and tries to tear your head off. No one knows if he is seeking revenge or a head to replace the one he has lost.’
I shuddered and couldn’t forbear a quick glance over my shoulder. ‘You’re making that up,’ I said as bravely as I could. ‘A ghost can’t grab anyone.’
‘Are you quite sure about that?’ asked Will, in a hollow voice.
I shivered from a mixture of cold and nerves.
‘I’m leaving you now,’ said Will, reaching up to straighten my veil. ‘This is going to be so much fun.’
‘How can you say so?’ I whispered indignantly, but he was gone, all but invisible in his dark clothing, running across the lawn, crouching low. I gripped my hands together to stop them shaking as I heard the crunch of footsteps and the sound of voices approaching. There was something altogether chilling about this tumbledown ruin and overgrown garden. It was the perfect setting for a haunting; eerie and other-worldly.
Somewhere nearby, a strange, unearthly wailing rose up. Ice cold shivers ran down my back at the sound. I stood frozen with fear listening to it. Slowly, it faded into silence, to be replaced, after a pause, by the slow clank of dragging chains. I shuddered with terror. I’d come here to pretend to be a ghost and the real ghost was so angry she’d come to haunt me. Perhaps she was offended and angry at my impersonation. I could feel myself sweating with terror at the very thought she could appear before me at any moment.
On the other side of the overgrown lawn, I caught sight of a slight movement. It took a moment for my fear-frozen brain to take in that it was by no means an apparition. Concealed behind some trees, shielded from view of the road, Will was beckoning me out into the open, his white hands showing up in the faint starlight. Had he not heard the appalling sounds? He couldn’t be so lost to fear as to be calmly ignoring them, surely?
I realized what must be the truth and relief coursed through me. Will was making those dreadful sounds. Had he not brought a chain with us? He probably hadn’t warned me because he’d wanted to frighten me.
The loud, confident voices I’d been able to hear from the road only moments ago were silenced. I needed to show myself to set the seal on their fear.
With an effort, I unfroze my limbs and began to step forward in response to Will’s repeated beckoning. Slowly, falteringly, I stepped out across the ragged lawn, the damp of the evening quickly soaking through the hem of my petticoats. I tried to walk slowly, smoothly, as though gliding. A breeze blew over me, fluttering my veil.
There was a cry of terror from the road. Another. The pounding of feet and whimpers of fear. I turned my head cautiously towards the wall, to see the backs of a number of men fleeing up the road. I continued my glide across the garden until I reached Will. He was leaning against a tree, laughing. ‘That was just too easy!’ he said, not bothering to keep his voice down. ‘We went to so much trouble to get them here and they barely stayed to look at you!’
I couldn’t share his laughter. I was still trembling with fear. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going to make those awful noises?’ I demanded.
‘What noises?’ asked Will, suddenly serious again. ‘I didn’t hear any noises.’
My stomach gave a sick lurch and I stared at him. ‘The wailing … the chains … ’ I stuttered. ‘They were … ’ I stopped as a sound came to my ears. It was voices and the sound of horses’ hooves approaching. Will heard it too, and grabbed my hand, dragging me behind a tree. From where we were standing, we could see up the road, and could make out several men approaching on horseback. One of the horses was pale grey and his coat reflected the starlight.
‘What luck,’ whispered Will. ‘These are the Revenue officers and two soldiers.’
‘Luck?’ I gasped. ‘Are you completely mad?’
Will ignored me. ‘This is exactly what we hoped for! They must believe there’s a run on here. Oh, we can have some sport now. You must do your walk again.’
‘No, please,’ I begged, feeling sick with fear at the thought of the real ghosts and deceiving the king’s men. ‘We’ll be caught! The ghost … ’
‘Nonsense!’
‘I can’t,’ I protested desperately. I was faint with fear. The soldiers were drawing closer; I could hear the squeak of leather now and the snorting of the horses. ‘The escape route is behind me. How do I get away after?’
‘Just walk straight towards them. They won’t stand their ground. And if they do, I won’t let them near you. You must trust me. Go!’
I stood rigid and shaking behind a tree while Will disappeared into the darkness. Again the eerie wail drifted across the garden, rising to an unearthly shriek. I shuddered with horror. I knew I should move, but I couldn’t. It had been madness to agree to come here. I couldn’t go through with this.
A low shivering moan right behind me drove me from the shelter of the tree out into the open. My heart was hammering so hard I could hardly breathe and my legs were shaking. Then I heard a shout right in front of me and looked towards the wall. There were four mounted men. Two were backing off, crying out with fear at the sight of me, their horses skittish with nerves. The third looked restless, but the fourth sat quite still, staring at me.
I had no choice now but to play my part. Perhaps if they didn’t run away, I could reach them and throw myself upon their mercy. I placed little reliance on Will’s promise to keep them away from me. I took a gliding step forward, reaching out my hands towards them. Another wail began behind me and I stepped forward a little faster.
Two of the horsemen yelled in terror and fled. The third tried to hold his ground, but as I approached, turned tail and urged his horse after the others with a frantic clattering of shod hooves on gravel. The fourth, however, slid down from his horse and stepped over the broken wall towards me. I stopped, facing him uncertainly.
A low moaning sounded to my left. The riding officer
glanced briefly towards the sound, but then looked back at me. There was, I sensed, more curiosity and speculation in his aspect than fear or horror.
‘Please,’ I spoke in a low voice. ‘Help me.’
The sound of my voice gave him pause. I couldn’t see his expression in the darkness, but he stopped dead, staring at me. Forgetting my face was painted, I put my veil back and took another step forward. The man took one look at me and turned and fled. Before he’d taken more than a few steps, he tripped and fell flat on his face, sprawling in the long grass. I didn’t see what had happened. It was as though an invisible hand had reached out of the grass and grabbed his ankles.
He scrambled to his feet with a desperate cry and ran as fast as he could to the wall. He jumped onto his horse which began to canter after its fellows before his master was properly on his back.
I bit my trembling lip and turned away. My chance for rescue was gone. I looked for Will in the dark garden, but there was no sign of him. Only empty silence and shadows. My courage failed me at the thought of walking deeper into these haunted grounds. On impulse, I turned and crossed the damp lawn. I would follow the road and find help. I wouldn’t stay to be part of this a moment longer.
I gathered my petticoats in my hands and climbed the fallen section of the wall, jumping down into the road. I had scarcely taken two steps when a shadow sprang from the darkness and grabbed me, holding me fast and clamping a hand over my mouth. My heart lurched with fear. The ghostliness of the midnight garden and the tricks I’d been involved in had weakened my mind to such an extent that for a few appalling moments I was convinced I was in the grip of the headless spectre. He was about to tear my head from my body. I trembled helplessly, unable to move. ‘Trying to escape?’ Will whispered in my ear.
CHAPTER SIX
‘Get a move on, will you?’ demanded Will, as I paused for breath by a stone wall.
‘Please,’ I begged him. ‘I can’t walk so far without a rest.’ We had climbed some high downs where the night chill and the wind had whipped through every layer of clothing. We’d descended the far side into farmland. By then it felt as though I’d walked across most of England.
‘We’ve walked no distance at all!’ Will exclaimed impatiently. ‘Listen to me. We need to get to a safe house by dawn. I have business to conduct on the way. If we don’t hurry, we won’t make it.’
‘I don’t care,’ I cried. ‘I’m exhausted, I ache all over, my feet hurt and I want to sleep.’
By way of reply, Will took hold of my hand and dragged me onwards. I stumbled after him for a while, careless how I placed my feet. It didn’t take long before I caught my foot in a rabbit hole or some such thing, and fell, dragging my hand out of Will’s. I lay on the grass, too tired to care that it was cold and damp.
‘Get up!’ Will cried.
‘I can’t take another step,’ I told him, my face muffled in the grass.
Will kicked at a rock in the dark and swore with frustration. Then he sat down heavily on the ground and sank his head in his hands. I didn’t move.
‘What did I do to get landed with you?’ he groaned.
I didn’t reply, simply relishing resting my aching limbs. Sleep was engulfing me and I barely noticed when Will got up and walked away. When he shook my shoulder some time later, it dragged me back from a deep sleep to unwelcome reality.
‘Isabelle. There’s an abandoned cottage just half a mile away. If you can walk that far, I can get a fire going.’
I shivered in the chill darkness, and dragged myself unwillingly to a sitting position. ‘Must I?’ I leant my weight on one hand and then snatched my hand back with a cry of pain.
‘Gorse,’ said Will briefly. ‘Come on, we can’t stay here.’
I struggled up and stumbled after him. It seemed a very long way until at last we reached a tumbledown hovel that smelled of mould and sheep. I entered it with some distaste, wrinkling my nose. ‘Are you serious? You want me to sleep here?’
Will struck a light and lit a candle stub that he pulled out of his pocket, standing it on a stone ledge. By its wavering light, I could see an empty room with an earthen floor. The sack containing my bride gown had been dropped beside the empty fireplace. ‘Pillow for you,’ he said pointing at it.
He disappeared outside, while I lay down and tried to get comfortable. The floor was cold and uneven. I wondered, not for the first time, if the life I had left behind me would have been as bad as I’d imagined. It couldn’t have been worse than I was going through now, surely?
But once Will returned with an armful of brushwood and kindled it, I started to feel better. He pulled a leather pouch out of the sack, and from it he took some bread, cheese and a flask. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. It was hours since our last meal on board The Invisible.
The food tasted good, and the flask contained a fiery liquid that made me cough and splutter but sent a warming fire right out into my fingers and toes. ‘Is this brandy?’ I asked, passing it back to him. He took a swig and grinned.
‘It is indeed,’ he said, holding up the flask in the firelight. ‘This is our friend, Cousin Jacky.’
I remembered that first night when I’d been pulled out of the sea, the men in the boat saying ‘Cousin Jacky’s arrived’ and I hadn’t been able to work out who he was. ‘Why do you call it that?’
‘No idea, but it’s a fine name for a fine drink. Taken in moderation, of course.’
I wriggled on the ground, a stone sticking into me and then winced as my boots rubbed against my sore feet. I reached forward and unlaced the boots, easing them off my feet with a gasp of pain. I peeled off one stocking and found that the heel and the side of the foot had blistered and then bled.
‘Ouch,’ remarked Will, not unkindly. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
‘I tried,’ I retorted. ‘Listening isn’t your strong point.’
‘There’s far too much to listen to,’ said Will. ‘You never stop complaining. How am I supposed to know when it’s something serious?’
‘It’s always serious,’ I replied, peeling off the other stocking and finding the right foot in no better state. ‘You take me to a hideous haunted mansion in the dead of night and make me play at hide and seek in the dark with law officers and frighten me half to death. And you shriek and howl and then pretend it wasn’t really you to frighten me even more!’ Will laughed without remorse. ‘How did you make that officer fall over by the way?’ I asked him.
‘A trip line. I’d tied a rope across the lawn earlier and jerked it tight as he reached it.’
‘Oh. Well. Not content with all that you drag me for miles and miles across the roughest ground in borrowed boots and never so much as open a gate or lift a bramble out of the way for me!’
Will laughed again. ‘You do expect a great deal, don’t you? Remember, you’re not a lady any longer. And that was a short walk,’ he added.
‘I’ve never walked that far in my life.’
‘You aren’t serious?’ he asked, lifting his brows.
I shrugged. ‘What are carriages and sedan chairs for, if not to avoid walking?’
‘But you ride, surely?’
‘Not if I can help it.’
Will shook his head in wonder. ‘You must be the laziest person I’ve ever met,’ he remarked. ‘Do you take no exercise at all?’
I thought for a moment. ‘Dancing,’ I said with a nod. ‘I enjoy dancing.’
‘Well, that’ll be useful to you in your new life,’ said Will with heavy sarcasm.
‘Are you really going to keep me prisoner?’ I asked. ‘You dislike me. You wouldn’t miss me if I went. Why don’t you just let me go?’
‘You know why.’
‘Yes, but I swear I won’t tell. Not a word. I’ll say I lost my memory.’
‘You’re very keen to run off all of a sudden. I thought you were tired. And had nowhere to go?’
I turned my head away, sudden tears starting to my eyes. I was so very tired. And it was true that I had nowhe
re to go. I couldn’t go back. Unthinkable!
I was shocked out of my thoughts by Will taking my wrist and tying a rope around it. He tied the other end to his own wrist, and lay down beside me. ‘Best get some rest,’ he said. ‘We can sleep two hours at most then we must move on. We have a much longer walk ahead of us.’
I turned away from him, humiliated that he felt it necessary to tie me up. I stared into the soft glow of the small fire. It was warming me through slowly, and despite the pain in my feet and my aching limbs, sleep was washing over me.
The door loomed before me in my dreams as it always did. It was dark and ominous. As I stared at it, it slowly began to swing open towards me. I dreaded what lay behind it. I covered my eyes and screamed.
‘Hush, Isabelle,’ said a voice in my ear. A hand was on my arm, warm and reassuring. ‘It’s just a bad dream.’
I opened my eyes to darkness, broken only by the dim glow of embers in the crumbling hearth. I remembered it was Will beside me, speaking to me. He knew nothing. It was not only a dream. It was grimly, horribly real. I lay feeling wretched until sleep granted me another brief respite.
I awoke to Will shaking me once more, one hand pressed over my mouth. I jumped and struggled, but he hushed and then released me. Sunlight was streaming in through the window and doorway of the hovel and through a hole in the roof. The fire had burned itself to a pile of cold ash. I sat up and yawned, still tired and groggy after such a short sleep.
‘There’s someone coming,’ Will whispered. ‘Can you climb out of the back window and hide there?’
I saw that he’d already untied the rope that had bound me, so I started to pull on my stockings. ‘No time,’ he whispered, throwing the sack out of the window, and returning for my boots and stockings and disposing of them the same way. When I came to the sill, he caught me around the waist and swung me up onto it. I looked down with distaste, for it looked like a midden under the window. I wasn’t jumping down into that.
The voices approached the cottage from the front and Will gave me a sharp push. With a cry of shock, I tumbled down into the heap of rotted straw, manure, and rubbish. Will coughed loudly to cover my cry and leaned on the sill. I scrambled to my feet, repulsed by the matter I was standing in, muck all over my feet and borrowed breeches. I was about to tell Will off when I heard him speaking. ‘Good mornin’ to you!’ he said loudly, speaking like a working man. ‘A fine day!’
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