Chapter Seven
THISTEWAYTE HALL
There was a sharp knock on the library door a moment before the Calthorpe family’s butler, Upton, entered and announced, to the apparently empty room.
“Lady Eugenia? Lady Seabury is visiting Thistlewayte Hall and wishes to see you. Shall I show her in?”
Eugenia looked up from the book she had been trying to read while reclining on the couch.
Once again, it was Shakespeare, though she found herself in no humour for his comedies of late.
She had instead gravitated to the tragedies.
Truth be told, however, she had been falling asleep again, often dozing during the day after waking from sleepwalking in strange places, though the garden’s hedge maze was where she awakened most often.
Her mother had set the maids to try to watch her during the night, but they often fell asleep, and it was as if Eugenia, even in her own sleep, knew it, and promptly sleepwalked.
“Of course.”
Eugenia cleared her throat, forcing both a smile and pleasant, cheerful tone of voice.
She was about to tell Upton to give her a moment, but he was gone before she could form the thought to tell him out loud.
She felt as if she had weights upon all her limbs as she set her book on the table beside her, pulled the blanket she had on her lap back and moved to stand.
When Susan came into the library, Eugenia was still rising, and had to squeeze her eyes shut a moment as the room spun.
She tried to straighten up as Susan swept across the room to her and kissed both her cheeks, but she could not hide the manner in which she fell, just a little too indelicately, back onto the couch, nor could she hide the yawn which came from her as she struggled to pull herself back from the edge of sleep to face the day before her.
She wished that she could live in the land of sleep right now, where — at least sometimes — her dreams were beautiful and kind and not filled with all the horrid memories of her humiliation at Lady Duncan’s Ball.
Sometimes, she dreamed of Lord D’Asti, as well, and her chest ached at the thought of it.
Before she could be pulled deeper into her wistfulness, Susan drew her back to reality.
“I cannot begin to tell you how delighted I am to see you.” Susan seated herself on the couch beside Eugenia. “Neville and I arrived back from our wedding trip a few days ago and I just had to come to visit you.”
“I rather suspect that Georgiana’s recent visit to Thistlewayte Hall has more to do with your appearance here than you simply desiring to see me the moment that you arrived home from your wedding trip, even if we are the best of friends.
” Eugenia blurted her suspicion aloud before she could think to stop herself, then immediately gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
It was exactly that habit of blurting things out without considering the potential consequences that had ruined her reputation so neatly.
“I’m terribly sorry. Mama always chastises me for not thinking before I speak.
I meant no offense, I promise. Can you ever forgive me? ”
Susan laughed softly and nodded, before leaning over to rest her head on Eugenia’s shoulder.
“Personally, I’ve always liked that about you, though I understand how it could be unfortunate under the wrong circumstances. But that is not why I’m here, at least not entirely.”
“Is that so?”
Eugenia sat up a little straighter and arched a brow at her friend.
“It is.” Susan nodded sagely, a mischievous gleam in her blue eyes.
“Since you and I were both instrumental in helping Edward work out his part of the delightfully mysterious treasure hunt your grandfather bequeathed to each of you, and since you were so eager for Edward to bring your letter back to you when he found his treasure, I was curious. Have you made any progress on working out the meaning of the riddle your grandfather left for you? Are you close to discovering what he bequeathed to you?”
Susan’s gaze was unwavering, her face alight with interest and excitement.
“Oh,” Eugenia was a bit startled, if she was honest with herself.
She had fully expected Susan to ask her questions about Lord D’Asti, Lady Duncan’s Ball, and the disaster which had ensued afterwards with the help of The Society Reporter.
She recovered quickly, though. “To be honest, in the midst of everything else which has happened while you were away on your wedding trip, I had all but forgotten about my riddle, and my part in the treasure hunt. Why… my letter from grandfather has been tucked away in my bedside table and not looked at since the night of Lady Duncan’s Ball. ”
Susan rose and bounced on the balls of her feet as she extended a hand to help Eugenia up off the couch, vibrating with barely contained energy.
“Shall we retrieve it and put some thought to it, then?”
Eugenia realised, of course, that her friend was shamelessly employing tactics to distract her from her woes, but she managed to hold her tongue for once, and not comment on the matter.
After all, it was sweet of Susan to care enough to remind Eugenia of the treasure awaiting her, should she be able to decipher the riddle her grandfather had left for her.
So, she took her friend’s hand and rose, only swaying on her feet the slightest bit.
“That sounds like a perfectly delightful idea to me.”
With a bright smile, Susan looped her arm through Eugenia’s. A small smile tugged at her lips, too, as she led her friend out of the library and upstairs to her bedroom.
Moving with a little more energy and enthusiasm than she had since recovering from her fever, Eugenia tugged the drawer of her bedside table open, pulled out the letter and riddle from grandfather, and held it up so that they could both read it at once.
Her fingers practically vibrated with excitement and it took a concerted effort to still them enough that they could read.
My Dear Eugenia,
I hope this letter finds you well. I also hope that witnessing the treasure your brother uncovered during his portion of the hunt has ignited your excitement to discover what I’ve chosen to bequeath to you. To that end, I shall get straight to the point. Here is your riddle:
From low to high, yet still well hidden
Of earth and sky, of hearth and midden,
Each waits in darkness, all together
Above a home, safe from the weather
Surrounded by the past, yet for your future,
In an old estate, set by waters pure,
Choose the right place, by neighbour’s measure
Climb to the top, you’ll find your treasure.
Best of luck to you, darling girl, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey just as much as you enjoy the destination.
With love always,
Grandfather
P.S. In the event that this riddle gives you trouble, it never hurts to take a walk in the garden and clear your head. And remember, my dear girl, leave no stone unturned.
Eugenia and Susan read the letter in contemplative silence, and Eugenia’s heart squeezed.
She could almost hear Grandfather’s voice as she read the words he’d penned, and could swear that she caught a whiff of his pipe tobacco wafting off the page.
For a moment, it almost felt as if he were standing right beside her.
Her throat grew thick, and she swallowed hard.
I miss him so much. I wish he could be here to witness us as we work our way through the puzzles that he left behind for us.
It would delight him. She read over the riddle several times, trying to get a feel for it, then heaved a sigh.
“I seem to be a bit baffled by this riddle, thus far.” Eugenia chewed on her bottom lip.
“I looked at the letter and riddle over and over, in the days before Lady Duncan’s Ball, yet I cannot seem to make sense of it all.
I feel as if the answer is waiting just out of my reach, but I can’t quite seem to grasp the solution. ”
“Why don’t we talk it over together?” Susan offered her a cheerful smile. “After all, two heads are better than one.”
“True, I could certainly use a fresh perspective.”
Eugenia could feel the heaviness of her situation begin to fall back just a little and decided to embrace the riddle with renewed vigour. She rang the bell and ordered tea to refresh them for their appointed task.
However, vigour was not enough to solve the riddle, even with two heads. Thirty minutes later Susan sipped gently at her tea, made a slight face when she realised it had completely cooled and set it down with an unhappy frown.
“Shall I ring for a fresh pot?”
Eugenia asked the question without fully looking up from the letter.
“No, not at all, thank you.” Susan stood, brushed her dress into submission, reached out her hand to Eugenia and drew her to her feet as well.
“We have struggled with this for too long. It is time to refresh our minds as well as our bodies. Come, let us take a stroll around the garden, as your grandfather suggested in his postscript.”
Eugenia hesitated for a moment, but Susan did not wait for an answer.
Before she could complain that she was far too tired and sluggish to go for a walk out of doors, she found herself wrapped in a shawl and escorted out to the gardens.
Susan began talking lightly about the weather, some dress she was having made for her little sister — Eliza the wallflower, as Susan lovingly referred to her — to wear to the next Ball, and a million little bits of humour to amuse Eugenia.
Before she knew it, she was laughing and talking, too, as they strolled through the beautiful gardens in the refreshing air.
The world was beautiful and full of light, for a moment at least. Eugenia found herself drawn to the hedge maze, as always, and led Susan to the centre of it, knowing the way by heart.
There were four stone benches along the perimeter of the square clearing at the maze’s centre, and Eugenia paused, sitting down to think and soak in the warmth of the sun beaming down on them.
“Do you think there’s a reason your grandfather mentioned the garden, specifically?”
“He knew that I love it out here, especially the hedge maze. As a child, every time I was upset, I would run out here and hide in the maze. There were many times Grandfather found me sitting on this very bench, or hiding under it, as the case may have been. He would always sit with me until I was ready to talk about whatever had upset me. Then, once we’d talked about it, he would always escort me back up to the house. ”
Eugenia toed a loose paving stone. As she did, an idea struck her. It must have shown in her expression because Susan leaned forward, clearly excited.
“What is it?”
“It’s the postscript.” Eugenia reached up, tapping a finger against her chin as her mind raced. “Grandfather said ‘leave no stone unturned’ and this loose stone by my favourite bench got me thinking…”
She crouched, then, and tipped the stone up out of the hole it was supposed to rest in. There was something etched into the underside of the stone. Thinking nothing of how she was dirtying her hands, Eugenia brushed soil off the stone until she could read the words clearly.
“What does that say?”
Susan crouched beside Eugenia, squinting at the words scrawled on the bottom of the stone. Eugenia had to squint for a moment, too, but then she smiled and tapped the stone.
“It says ‘the key to your future’, I believe.” She leaned forward then, sinking her fingers into the soil beneath the stone and coming up with a filthy, rusty skeleton key. “This must unlock whatever treasure it is that Grandfather left for me.”