Chapter Twenty
IRENE STARED, no sound issuing from her throat. She sat back on her heels abruptly and turned to look at Gideon.
He let out a low curse.
“Selene.”
“Oh, my God.” Irene’s hands went to her cheeks. She realized that she was shaking.
Gideon had put into words the exact thought that had formed in her head. He tore at the rest of the rocks, clearing out the entrance. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm.
“We don’t know that.”
He paused and cast a look back at her. “I know. Who else would it be?”
“We must not disturb the…the body. Someone may be able to—”
“Identify her?” he asked, and nodded, looking a little calmer. “Yes. You’re right. I won’t touch…the body. But I have to see.”
He pushed the lantern inside and crawled in after it. Irene followed him. Again he turned to her.
“You do not need to do this,” he told her. “It will not be a sight fit for a lady.”
“I must,” she replied. “You are going to look, are you not?”
He nodded and said nothing more to dissuade her. They crept closer, holding the lantern up so that its light fell fully on the body.
The woman’s body had been wrapped like a mummy with some dark, now rotting, material. Over her head and shoulders was draped a thin white material, stained with brown and yellowish marks. Irene realized that the white fabric was actually a petticoat.
Beneath the gauzy white cloth were the wizened, nearly fleshless features of a skull, a few strands of dark hair still clinging to it. Irene sucked in her breath, feeling suddenly a little nauseous and faint. She straightened away from the body and closed her eyes.
“Are you all right?” came Gideon’s voice close to her, and she opened her eyes to look into his questioning, concerned ones. “You should not see this. Why don’t you go back out?”
She shook her head. “No. I am all right.” That was a lie, of course; she still felt a bit queasy. She had never seen anything this macabre. But she was not about to leave Gideon here all alone to face what they both felt sure were the decayed remains of his mother.
She drew a breath. “Is it she?”
He shook his head. “I can’t be sure. But who else would it be?” He sighed and took her hand, squeezing it gently. “We must go back and get help. Some other men. My uncle is the only one who might be able to identify her.”
Irene nodded, then laid a hand on his arm, looking into his eyes, and said, “Yes, we will, but…are you all right?”
A sad smile curved his lips, and he brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss against her knuckles. “Yes. It is a long time past. And at least now I know that she did not abandon me.”
He leaned his head against hers for a moment, then pulled back. “Come. Let us get the others.”
They crawled back out of the oppressive room. It was a relief to stand up in the tunnel. Irene cast a look around.
“Will we be able to find our way back?”
“We will, though it may take a little time. We must leave some things along the way to make sure that we can find our way back.”
“I have the ribbons in my hair,” she offered. “And my gloves.
“My watch and fobs. Cuff links. We’ll find enough to make do.”
They started to retrace their steps, leaving an article at every major juncture or turn. They had not gone very far, however, when they heard the faint sound of voices. They stopped, listening, then Gideon cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, his voice echoing around the cavern.
A moment later, a little louder than before, they heard a man’s voice calling, “Radbourne?”
Then another, “Gideon?”
“Piers!” Gideon shouted back. “We’re here. Keep coming!”
He and the others continued to exchange shouts, the voices at times receding, but then coming closer again, until at last the glimmer of a light appeared, and a moment later three men with lanterns appeared around the curve of the tunnel.
Piers and Gideon’s uncle were in front, with Rochford bringing up the rear.
Jasper’s face was creased with worry, and even Piers looked concerned. Only the duke was as unruffled as ever, slim and straight in his fawn breeches and dark blue jacket, looking for all the world as if he might have been out for a stroll.
“Thank God, man!” Piers burst out, striding forward. “You had us dead worried. Where have you been?”
“We, um, got a trifle lost, and then…we stumbled upon something.”
Something of what Gideon felt must have shown on his face, for whatever the other men had been about to say died on their lips.
Rochford’s gaze flickered over Gideon, then Irene, and she was suddenly aware of how dirty and disheveled they must appear after digging away the rocks and crawling on their hands and knees into the low cave.
“Show us,” was all Rochford said.
They started back, picking up their markers as they went, until they were at the tomb once more.
Irene watched as the other men squatted down at the entrance and peered inside.
Piers drew in his breath with a gasp, and Jasper went pale and still as death.
He cast one quick questioning glance at his nephew.
Gideon shook his head. “I do not know. You are the only one who could tell for sure.”
Jasper turned to look back into the cave, and there was such pain on his face that Irene had to turn away from it. He nodded and began to crawl forward, Gideon by his side. Piers watched the two men in shocked fascination, and Rochford turned to Irene.
“Selene?” he asked.
“We fear so.”
Piers glanced at them curiously, but obviously realized that this was not the time for a lengthy explanation. Gideon and Jasper had reached the wrapped skeleton.
They heard a muffled exclamation from Jasper, then he said in a quiet voice, “It is a dressing gown. It—She is wrapped in a dressing gown. I—I do not know if it was hers. Help me.”
He reached out toward the material, and Gideon moved to help him try to peel it away. It shredded beneath their fingers, some of it falling into pieces and some simply crumbling away into dust.
“Oh, God.” Jasper’s voice broke, and he reached down. “Her ring. Here is her wedding ring. And this—this pin. I gave it to her. Sweet Jesus. It is Selene. Selene.”
Rochford stood up. “Lady Irene, allow me to escort you back to the other ladies. Mr. Aldenham, if you will remain here with the others, I will send the groom back to the Park immediately to bring a cart. Francesca and Irene will take the others back to the house, and I shall return to help you as soon as I have seen everyone off.”
Piers nodded. “I’ll wait.”
“Are you all right?” the duke asked Irene as he led her away from the burial cave.
She nodded. “Yes. I—It was a gruesome sight, to be sure, but…” She shrugged and gave him a half smile. “Anyone will tell you that I am not a very delicate female.”
“Thank God for that,” Rochford replied easily. “It would be a bit daunting to have to carry an unconscious woman back through all these tunnels. Or one engaged in hysterics.”
He smiled at her, and she was surprised at the way his smile lit up his handsome face, lending him a warmth that was usually missing.
“Yes, I imagine that would be somewhat difficult,” she agreed, then sighed.
“I fear that Gideon will take it hard. He was trying to adjust to the news that his mother had run away, and now to find out that she was murdered…” Irene paused, then continued.
“I don’t suppose that it could be anything other than murder? ”
“I cannot see how,” Rochford replied. “Aunt Odelia has told me about Aunt Pansy’s story—that Lady Selene ran away with a man.
I suppose Lady Selene could have written a note pretending to run away, then come here to kill herself, though I cannot understand her reason for making everyone believe she had left.
However, I do not believe that she could have killed herself and afterward draped gauze over her face. ”
“No. I—It looked as though one side of her head had been…smashed in.”
“Devil of a business. At least Cecil’s dead. There won’t be the agony of a trial.”
“You think it was Gideon’s father who killed her?”
“He is the one who read the note. The only one, if I understand my great-aunts correctly. I think it must have been he—or his valet. I suppose he could have had his man do it. Owenby was devoted to him.”
“But why was Gideon taken?” Irene asked.
“That surpasses my understanding,” Rochford admitted. “Ah, there is the main cave up ahead.”
“Are you familiar with these caves?” Irene asked.
He glanced at her, surprised. “No. I have never been here before.”
“How did you know the way back so well?”
He quirked a brow. “Once we began to suspect that you and Gideon had gone astray—at least longer than one would have expected for a newly engaged couple—” he allowed a small smile “—I marked the way we took to make certain we did not all become lost.”
“Of course.” Irene smiled to herself. She understood much better now Francesca’s remarks about the duke.
“My lady!” The groom was waiting in the main cave, along with Mr. Surton, and he sprang up as he spoke. “Your Grace.”
“Lady Irene is quite all right,” Rochford assured the men.
“I am afraid that she and Lord Radbourne had become rather disoriented, but we found them. I will need your help, Barnes, if you will wait just a moment. Mr. Surton, may I rely on you to see that the young ladies get back to the house safely? I think that Lady Irene should return right away. She is, as you see, somewhat overset by her ordeal.”
The duke turned to Irene, murmuring, “You might try to look overset.”
Irene raised a hand weakly to her chest. “Mr. Surton, I cannot thank you enough. I fear I feel a trifle faint.”
Surton hastened to assure her of his help, and gave her his arm to take her out. The duke turned to the groom and spoke to him in a low voice. The groom looked amazed, but nodded his head without protest and hurried to do as the duke bade.