Thirty-five Sweet William – Gallantry
Thirty-five
Sweet William – Gallantry
I’m frozen to the spot for about ten seconds, then, realising that’s not going to help matters, I use the tiny beam of my phone to run towards the stairs and cautiously make my way back up them.
When I get to the top I push gently on the doors just in case I’d heard wrongly and they weren’t locked after all. But they don’t budge an inch.
I’m about to call out for help, when I remember I’m not supposed to be down here, and if someone did hear me I’d have to explain why I was here instead of at the party. Stan had told me to say nothing about the pictures to anyone unless we found them all. He didn’t want everyone – especially, Lou – knowing about his other ladies if it could possibly be avoided.
Damn! What was I going to do?
I sit down on one of the steps to think.
After a few seconds I light up the screen on my phone hoping to find a signal, but there’s none. So my plan to call Amber and get her to come and unlock the door for me is immediately down the pan.
OK … I think again.
Stan used to say that Trecarlan was filled with secret passages constructed back in the days it had stood as a fortress overlooking the sea, protecting St Felix. But Stan told us so many tales about Trecarlan when we were children that we gave up believing him in the end. If Stan was to be believed it had been used as a refuge by King Arthur when he was resting from battle, by Cavaliers hiding from the Roundheads, and by British spies during the Second World War.
But what if Stan was right about the secret passages? And what if one of them led out from here?
It’s a long shot. But what choice do I have?
I climb down the steps again, and use my phone to guide me for a few minutes while I look for alternative exits. Then the thin beam of light falls on some packing crates stacked in a corner.
I wonder …
I manage to prop up my phone on one of the wine racks, giving me just enough light to see what I’m doing. I grab hold of one of the crates, expecting it’s going to be heavy, but surprisingly I find it’s quite light.
I lift that crate down, and then another, until I’ve moved about six crates, and it’s then in the dim light that I see it: another door…
I pull the rest of the crates aside, and pray as I grab the rusty wrought-iron handle that it won’t be locked.
Hallelujah, I silently cry as it turns easily in my hand.
I go back to the shelves and grab my phone. Then I take a deep breath and step into the tunnel, closing the wooden door behind me.
The tunnel is actually more like a corridor; the floor feels smooth and dry under my feet, as though it’s been well worn by people passing through over the years. Luckily I hadn’t worn the high heels that Amber had tried to make me order off the Internet when we were choosing our outfits; I’d opted instead for a pair of sparkly silver pumps that we’d spotted in the charity shop in St Felix. But flimsy pumps to me were still silly shoes, I’d have been much more confident walking along in my sturdy old Doc Martens on this floor, especially when I can’t see where I’m putting my feet half the time. I can only hope this tunnel isn’t adjacent to any sewers; I love animals, but rats I could really do without.
The floor might feel dry, but the walls are damp beneath my hand as I feel my way along the corridor, worrying as I go just where this tunnel is going to come out.
Finally, when I feel like I’ve been walking for ages, I see tiny specks of light up ahead – hurrah!
I pick up speed, hurrying towards the light, and as I get closer I realise the reason I’m seeing tiny specks of light is because I’m looking at the stars.
The tunnel must lead outside!
As I arrive at the tunnel’s mouth there’s a very fine opening for me to squeeze through, before I find myself in a small cave. As I step towards the opening of the cave, a great waft of salty sea air hits my lungs, a welcome relief from the musty air I’ve been breathing for the last few minutes. Another step and I realise the stone floor has given way to wet sand: I’m on a beach.
But which beach?
St Felix is situated on a curved peninsula jutting out into the sea, so when you look out to sea from various points on its coastline you can often see parts of the town from where you stand.
But tonight I can’t see any lights in front of me, just an endless sea, lit only by an almost full moon.
There’s only one place on the St Felix coastline that has a beach where that happens, I realise. The steep cliffs where I often walk Basil, and where Charlie had showed me the lookout point where he liked to sit when he wanted some peace.
I look up above me, and thanks to the moon I can just make out the ledge where Charlie and I had sat that day, looking down on the jagged rocks.
So that’s where this tunnel comes out, just below Trecarlan Castle. I go out on to the tiny beach as far as I can without the waves reaching my feet, and I can just make out the windows of the house dimly lit from inside.
Hearing movement above me, I instinctively duck back into the cave.
‘Poppy?’ I hear my name being called. ‘Is that you down there?’
Cautiously I make my way back on to the sand.
‘It is you!’ the voice says.
I look up and see Jake leaning over the ledge.
‘What on earth are you doing down there?’
‘I could say the same to you!’ I call back. ‘Shouldn’t you be at your birthday party?’
‘There must be easier ways of having this conversation,’ Jake shouts. ‘I’ll come down, shall I?’
‘No!’ I cry out, having visions of Jake scaling the sharp rocks in the dim light. ‘It’s dangerous. You might hurt yourself!’
‘Not if I follow the path down. I’ll be fine.’
‘There’s a path?’
‘Yeah, look to your left.’
I do as he says and in the moonlight I can just make out a set of rough steps leading up from the beach, a bit like the ones that had led down to the viewing ledge.
‘No, I’ll come to you,’ I say. If Jake comes down here we might both get stuck, and there’s no way out through the locked cellar.
‘OK, but be careful,’ Jake calls with concern. ‘It’s quite steep.’
Slowly I make my way up the rocky steps as best I can in the silver pumps.
Jake reaches out a hand for me to take as I get close to him, and as his fingers close around mine I finally feel safe.
‘OK?’ he asks, as I climb the last few steps to stand facing him, still holding his hand.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I feel very secure now.’
Jake looks down at our hands, still entwined, but he doesn’t let go.
‘How did you know this place was here?’ I ask, content for us to stay in this position.
‘Charlie told me about it. I often come here to sit when I need to think. I don’t know how he found it though, it’s quite tucked away.’
‘He told me about it too.’ I decide it’s best if Jake doesn’t know the real reason Charlie discovered the ledge. ‘It’s beautiful here, isn’t it? Very peaceful. You feel as though nothing else matters in the world when you sit here looking out at the never-ending sea.’
Jake looks at me. ‘That’s very poetic of you, Miss Carmichael.’
‘Well, I try,’ I say, winking at him.
‘So how did you get down on that beach if you didn’t know about the path, but you knew about the ledge?’ Jake asks. ‘That doesn’t add up.’
‘I think we’d better sit down, Jake, it’s a long story…’
While we sit on the little ledge together looking out at a perfect view of moonlit sea and twinkling stars, I tell Jake the whole story. Why I was on the beach, why I’d been in the cellar, and what I’d been looking for.
‘But who would lock you in?’ Jake asks, mystified.
‘I have no idea. Perhaps someone saw the door unlocked and thought they’d better secure it?’
‘Maybe,’ Jake says, still thinking. ‘So if the picture and letter aren’t in the cellar, then where are they?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps Stan got it wrong. He’s getting old, his memory isn’t what it used to be.’
‘But from what you’ve told me, he seems pretty compos mentis. I doubt he’d have got something like that wrong – the pictures seem to mean a lot to him.’
‘Yes, you’re probably right. I’ll ask him next time I see him. Now,’ I say tapping my hand on his thigh. ‘It’s your turn to tell me why you’re AWOL from your party! A party which,’ I glance at my watch, ‘we had better return to. People will be wondering where the birthday boy is!’
‘Yes, I know.’ Jake turns his gaze to my hand, which is still resting on his thigh, so I hurriedly retrieve it. ‘We’d best be getting back.’ He starts to stand up, but I prevent him by grabbing his hand. ‘Ah-ah, you’re not getting away with it that easily, mister! I told you my story, what about yours?’
Jake sits down again.
‘I just needed some air, that’s all,’ he says, not sounding very convincing. ‘I’d had quite a bit to drink, I needed to sober up.’
‘You came all the way down here to do that? Why not just take a stroll in the castle grounds?’
‘OK, OK,’ he sighs. ‘If you want the truth, I needed breathing space. Some time to think.’
‘At your own birthday party?’
He nods. ‘It’s special times like this that make me think of Felicity even more. Whether it’s my birthday, the children’s birthdays, anniversaries – you know the kind of thing.’
I nod.
‘But tonight seemed different somehow. It struck me the most when I was dancing with Belle.’
Oh great. I could tell where this was going…
‘What did?’ I hardly dare ask. Please don’t tell me you felt guilty because you want a relationship with her.
‘I felt guilty.’
Here we go … I brace myself for the inevitable.
‘Guilty, that I’d behaved badly towards you, Poppy.’
Oh! I prick up my ears.
‘You see, the thing is, I like you – I like you a lot.’
But … There will be a but, I know it!
‘But, it’s been so difficult for me, having these sorts of feeling for someone after all this time. I haven’t felt like this since Felicity. She was the only one I ever felt this way about. I never thought it would happen again. In fact I told myself it wouldn’t.’
I squeeze Jake’s hand.
‘And then you were so lovely the day you kissed me. So understanding when I said I couldn’t. I wondered if it might ruin our friendship, but it hasn’t, has it?’
I shake my head.
‘And then I nearly kissed you that day in my greenhouse, but sensibly you made a hasty exit. I was being stupid; I’d left it too late. You’d already found someone else.’
I had?
‘Ash is a good guy, Poppy. Much younger than me, of course, much more suitable for you. I’m pleased you’ve found someone. Really I am.’
But …
But this time there is no but.
‘We’ll still continue being friends though, won’t we?’
I find myself nodding.
‘Good. As long as I have that then, I’m happy. Right,’ Jake says standing up, pulling me with him. ‘I feel much better now. Time to return to the fold, my public awaits!’
As I climb the narrow steps from the ledge, then walk back up the short path to the castle making polite chitchat with Jake, my mind is buzzing with recrimination.
Did I let that just happen? Did Jake tell me he had feelings for me, and I didn’t respond… I didn’t tell him I felt exactly the same way?
Had Jake gallantly stood back to allow Ash to continue being my suitor, in the type of chivalrous gesture you might have expected to see at Trecarlan hundreds of years ago?
As I walk back inside the castle with Jake, part of me wishes he hadn’t been so gallant, that instead he’d challenged Ash to a duel at dawn for the hand of the fair Lady Poppy.
It had never been like this when I was a child. When I played at being a princess at Trecarlan, I always rode off with my handsome prince at the end of the day.