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BEFORE EVERYONE DONNED their wraps once again, I reluctantly awakened Tilda and relayed to her what was about to take place. With a sleepy yawn, she rose to join us, while across the room, Lord Montford delivered terse instructions to Gaston to see to having Nordstrom’s body carried to the other side of the house and laid out alongside the other two . . . corpses that were already there.
“And see that the window in that chamber is wide open. Otherwise . . . well, it is imperative that the . . . bodies remain as cool as possible until alternate arrangements can be made. Off you go now!”
In the corridor beyond the drawing room we all made ready to depart, Tilda and I hurriedly putting on our wraps, however, before setting off, I quietly mentioned to Lady Montford that his lordship might want to procure another candle, or even two, to help light the way. I had, of course, earlier extinguished the candle I was carrying when Tilda and I arrived, but as we were now a far larger party, I believed that additional illumination was necessary for our long trek to the nether regions of the unlit house.
“The tower staircase is quite dark, ma’am,” I added, unsure whether or not she had ever ventured to the opposite wing of her own home, and if she had, it had probably not been in the dead of night.
“Yes, of course. John . . .” she summoned her husband. “Might you also bring along a candle and procure one or two for the gentlemen, who should perhaps bring up the rear of the party. Ladies,” she addressed the women, “we must all stay close together, grouped in the middle with the gentlemen flanking us. However, I do believe Miss Abbott and her maid should lead the way, do you not agree, John?”
“Yes, well, I-I daresay that will serve.”
After grudgingly carrying out his wife’s orders, we finally set out, Tilda and I taking the lead, I carrying what was left of the candle I’d nicked from the clergyman’s hideout. His lordship followed a few steps behind us, holding another flickering light above his head. Amongst the group of ladies clustered behind his lordship, Mr. Lyttleton also carried a lit taper, with the rear-most person Mr. Egerton, holding aloft yet one more flickering flame.
All went well until we entered the tower, and upon finding the staircase so very narrow, we had no choice but to rearrange ourselves into a single file as we all slowly trudged upward. The candles that those of us carried did serve to chase away some of the shadows, unfortunately the diminutive flames were not assisted by so much as a glimmer of light from the moon overhead, it being completely obscured by dark clouds tonight, therefore our climb upward was undertaken in far less than desirable conditions.
Tilda and I reached the floor of the castle where we were headed first, and stood for what seemed like a good long while awaiting the others to join us. I admit to feeling quite anxious to reach the killer’s hideout, mainly in order to check on his condition, which I hoped would not prove severe, or Heaven forbid, deadly.
“You don’t think we’ll find him . . . dead, do you, miss?” Tilda whispered to me, almost as if she had read my thoughts.
“I sincerely hope not.” I exhaled an anxious breath. “But we shall soon find out.”
“I wish now I hadn’t hit him on the back of the head like I done.”
“Well, one thing is certain,” I said on a rueful sigh, “not a one of our hasty actions can be reversed now.”
“I was jes’ scared outta’ my wits. I’d been scared o’ that man for two long days and nights. Make no mistake, he’s a killer, he is.”
“I truly do understand how you felt, Tilda. I confess to being a trifle frightened myself, now.”
Apparently, the journey to an upper level of the opposite wing of the house was far more exhausting than I expected for the older ladies, but, at length, they all did arrive; although both Emma and Carlotta were clearly winded, both now huffing and puffing. Even Ardeth seemed to have suffered slightly from the steep climb; her wig had somehow slipped, or rather dipped, the fringe of curls that should have framed her forehead now rested over one ear.
However, Lady Montford seemed none the worse for wear. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his lordship. For a gentleman who appeared to be a few years his wife’s junior, the man’s face was now a blotchy red colour and his breath was laboured. “So . . .” he gasped. “Here we are, Miss Abbott. Where do you intend taking us now?”
“Just down this corridor, sir.” Once more, I stepped to the fore, his lordship and the others following several steps behind me.
Upon reaching the door to the proper chamber, I glanced behind me to ascertain whether or not everyone had completed this last leg of the journey without mishap and that the older ladies were still upright. And, also because I wished all of us to enter the room at the selfsame moment.
“What are you waiting for, Miss Abbott?”
“Sir, I-I merely wished to warn the ladies that what they are about to see might prove a trifle . . . shocking.”
His lordship snorted. “I suppose you are now going to confess that you and your maid strung the clergyman up by his heels and left him for dead, is that the case?”
I winced. “No, sir, it is not. Although the killer might be . . .”
He huffed. “Get on with it, young lady. No doubt, we can all handle whatever gruesome sight awaits us within.”
I turned to Tilda. “Stay close beside me.”
I heard his lordship exclaim impatiently, “Miss Abbott!”
“Indeed, sir.” With a nod, I slowly pushed open the door and because the only whisper of light in the room now came from the dying embers of the fire, Tilda and I both blinked in an attempt to better see as we stepped inside, a few steps ahead of his lordship with the rest of the party trailing behind him. Tilda and I moved further on into the room and at the exact same instant, we both drew to an abrupt standstill, our eyes wide, our jaws slack.
“Oh-h!” I gasped, even as Tilda rushed ahead of me to the wardrobe . . . whose doors were standing wide open!
I all but ran that way, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Where did he go?” Tilda cried, peering into the darkened wardrobe.
“I can scarcely believe it!” I exclaimed.
When Lord Montford stepped to the empty wardrobe and looked inside, his eyes narrowed, “Pray tell where has this dangerous fugitive of yours got off to? If he ever existed. Appears you have gone around the bend this time, young lady!”
Apart from his lordship’s seething sneer, I could hear indistinguishable murmurs coming from the others as they, too, streamed into the darkened chamber and gazed about at . . . nothing.
“I asked you a question, Miss Abbott!” the angry man bellowed.
“Sir, I-I do not know what to say. He was right here! Tilda and I overtook him and . . . and put him . . . the man was barely conscious when we put him . . . that is, when we locked him inside the wardrobe!”
“Well, he is clearly not here now!” the overset man thundered. He turned toward the others who were all now curiously milling about the small chamber. “There is nothing here to see, ladies; gentlemen.”
“What is this?” came a feminine voice.
Recognizing Lady Montford, I turned her way. Between thumb and forefinger, her ladyship stood holding up a length of dark cloth.
“That is his clerical robe!” I hurried to her side. “He must have removed it before he escaped!”
“Escaped?” breathed several astonished voices.
“You had best explain what you mean by that, Miss Abbott,” said Mr. Lyttleton, holding the candlestick he carried over his head.
Several ladies bent to gaze curiously at the black fabric in Lady Montford’s fingers, she holding it away from herself as if she feared it might be . . . unclean.
“I flung that very clerical robe over the man’s head and tied it quite securely around his neck. At that moment, he was dressed the same as any young man. I cannot imagine how he could have got all the knots untied and slipped free of his bindings . . . without help!”
“We tied him up right and tight, we did!” Tilda interjected, her tone as agitated as mine. “After I hit him with a chair leg, we tied ‘im up and stuffed him in the closet. He couldn’t see nothin’ ! He couldn’t move! He weren’t even wearin’ no boots! I got his boots on now. After we got him stuffed inside the cupboard, we locked the door. But, I . . . I guess we forgot to take the key with us when we left, didn’t we, miss?”
His lordship’s eyes narrowed. “That is a preposterous tale, young lady. This entire charade is the outside of enough! You have dragged us here on a fool’s errand, Miss Abbott. Believe me when I say I intend to have both you, and your maid, locked up! And bound!”
“John, please! I believe her. Look, just there on the hearth. It appears to be a stack of chair legs that have obviously been torn from furniture taken from chambers on this side of the house. The man has clearly been using our furniture for firewood.”
“He was burnin’ it up, ma’am!” Tilda cried. “And, that cot is where he slept and that chair . . .” she directed everyone’s attention with a finger, “that’s where he tied me up!” She moved a few steps that way and picked up a wad of cloth from the floor. “This is what he stuffed in my mouth so I couldna’ yell for help!”
“The clergyman gagged you?” Carlotta cried. “Why, I can scarcely countenance such a thing. I daresay the vicar must have strayed a very long way from the tenets of the church to behave in so disgraceful a fashion.”
“This clergyman ain’t the least bit . . . churchy, ma’am,” Tilda hotly informed her. “Here’s the rope what he tied about m’ wrists and m’ feet.” She stooped to scoop us several lengths of twine lying near the chair. “He tied me to that chair,” she said again. “Two days and as many nights, he kept me tied up! And, apart from a bit of dirty bread, he didn’t bring me nothin’ to eat, neither!”
“Oh, you poor dear,” commiserated Lady Montford.
At that instant I caught a glimpse of Ardeth’s face in the firelight. Her off-kilter wig notwithstanding, the expression on her face was not at all attractive. But, to my mind, it was a good bit telling.
Lord Montford, who was further enraged that his missing pistol was not found lying on the bed where I told him I’d left it, continued to take me to task.
“You should be ashamed of yourself, young lady! This notion of yours that there is a murderous clergyman on the premises is the most bacon-brained tale I have ever heard. If this has been your idea of entertaining everyone, you are quite wide of the mark. Make no mistake, I meant every word I said about having you and your maid locked up!”
“Oh, John, don’t be such a crosspatch,” Lady Montford said as we all headed back down the corridor toward the tower staircase.
“So, I suppose you still believe her?”
“Indeed, I . . .”
“Sir, he must still be on the premises!” I cried. “Although I . . . I haven’t a clue where. Now.”
His lordship’s head whirled towards me again. “How you can persist with this Banbury tale defies all reason, young lady!”
“But, sir,” I began afresh, although I fear the expression on my face clearly said I thought he had windmills in his head. “It is still snowing quite heavily out-of-doors. And, the clergyman, apart from now being attired as any other genteel young man, is not wearing shoes. He is also injured! I have no doubt that he is presently unable to walk without aid.”
His brows drew together. “Exactly what did you and your maid do to render the hapless fellow unable to get about on his own?”
Lady Montford spoke. “You heard Miss Abbott’s maid say she struck his knees with a chair leg, did you not? We all saw a number of them stacked upon the hearth. The man has been burning up our furniture, John!” she said again, her tone close on to outrage.
His lordship seemed not to hear his lady wife’s outcry; instead he turned again to me with a huff. “I should have never let you wander about the house unchecked, young lady.” With that, he brushed past me and entered the tower staircase, leaving the others to straggle along in his wake.
That night, after Lord Montford stormed off to bed, Lady Montford kindly invited Tilda and me to pass the night in her sitting room, an invitation to which my little maid and I both eagerly accepted. Saying very little, the others, including Ardeth, quietly melted into the shadows, heading towards their respective bedchambers for the night.
I confess I did not know what to make of Ardeth’s reaction whilst within the clergyman’s hideout, but as I was too tired tonight for another angry confrontation with anyone, least of all her, I was more than happy to leave matters as they now stood. After all, beyond conducting another exhaustive search of the huge house, for the injured man this time, I had no other choice but to pause for some much needed rest.
Unfortunately, a restful night was not in the cards for me.
