Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
There was a ladder down into the tunnel, and I held out my hand for Violet’s.
‘Here we are, Miss Violet. William here is going to help us get down safely,’ I said, trying to make it sound like the prospect of getting into a dark hole with a strange man was okay. Violet’s eyes widened.
‘No… I don’t want to.’ She looked up at her mother, who was staring at the hole with a similar amount of distrust and horror.
I felt terrible for both of them. They had gone through so much in their lives already, so much pain and fear.
I didn’t want to bring any more stress into their already deeply traumatised existence, and I knew that if a stranger came to my bedroom at night and led me into the depths of my house, and then suggested I climb into a dark hole underground, I would tell them to bugger off in no uncertain terms.
But, there was nowhere else to go.
I had one more card to play, and I had no choice but to trust Lady Hermione Trevarron with a secret that could have meant mine and William’s death.
‘Hermione. Listen. This man is William De Vere Trevarron,’ I began, beckoning to William. He climbed out of the tunnel and stood in the scullery, looming over all of us. ‘William was the Lord of Trevarron in 1755. We are here to save you.’
‘What?’ Hermione spat. ‘This is nonsense. I cannot believe that we trusted you. Violet, come here. We will find our own way out of this house. I am Lady Trevarron. I will simply hire a coachman to come and get us.’
‘Hermione. That won’t work. Your husband has everything you do watched,’ I protested. ‘We have to go. Now.’
I had heard the footsteps outside, but I thought they’d passed us by.
I was wrong.
Two men burst into the scullery. One of them had Aunt Bill’s arm held cruelly behind her back, and she was cursing the air blue in protest. Both of them ignored her.
‘What’s all this then?’ One of them cocked his head curiously at us. ‘We all ’avin a party down ’ere, are we?’
‘Tegan. Take the ladies.’ William rolled up his sleeves. ‘Sir, I advise you to unhand that woman.’
‘Ohhh. ’Ee advises us.’ The one holding Aunt Bill laughed cruelly. ‘Well, we better ’ad then.’ He stared menacingly at William. ‘Lady Trevarron. Kindly take Miss Trevarron back upstairs. We will deal with these impostors.’
Hermione stared at the two men and then at me.
‘Harold. You have been a butler here for ten years,’ she said, in a quavering voice. ‘Please let Miss Penrose go. She is my daughter’s governess.’
‘With respect, milady, she is nothin’ but a common thief. We caught ’er stealin’ your jewellery.’ The butler reached into his own pocket and held out a jewelled necklace. ‘Kindly do as I say. I am in charge when milord is not home.’ He looked puffed with importance and I hated him on sight.
‘I do not believe that, Harold,’ Hermione said, slowly. ‘I think you are lying, and that you and my husband are trying to trap me and my daughter.’
‘Milady. Upstairs. Now,’ Harold ordered in a curt tone. ‘I will not be lectured by a woman, lady or not.’
That was it for William.
He moved quickly. Years of boxing in the Navy and beating men in bare-knuckle fights in taverns had taught him a lot about punching first and asking questions later.
He ran at Harold, who instructively let go of Aunt Bill and held up his hands in defence. William collided with the butler and pushed him into the wall.
The other man – a footman, I thought, as he wore the same uniform as the man that Aunt Bill had whacked over the head upstairs – came at William from behind, but William was clearly au fait with fighting two men at the same time.
He roared as the man’s weight hit him, and turned fast, fists flying.
He caught the footman hard on the chin, knocking him backwards and onto the floor, and returned to Harold.
Pinning the butler against the wall, William’s hand went around his throat.
‘Don’t ever disrespect a Lady of Trevarron ever again,’ he growled. ‘You have no right to lay your hands on any woman in anger or for any other reason,’ he continued, squeezing. ‘You are an embarrassment to all men. How dare you order Lady Hermione to do anything? I should see you whipped.’
Harold’s face started to go purple.
Violet screamed, and Hermione hugged her close, her eyes wild with fear.
‘Come now, milady.’ Aunt Bill rushed forward and took Hermione’s hand. ‘We ’ave to go.’
This time, Hermione and Violet didn’t delay in climbing down after Aunt Bill. I watched them lower themselves into the tunnel.
‘Tegan. Go with them. I will follow.’ William turned to me.
‘I won’t go without you.’ I held out my hands to him. ‘William, please!’
I watched as the footman got up unsteadily, picked up a plate from the stack we had made on the floor, smashed it and advanced towards William with the biggest and sharpest shard.
‘William! Watch out!’ I screamed.
I ran at the footman, picking up the closest thing to hand. I heard Aunt Bill calling to me. William and Harold were fighting. Everything seemed like it was in a dream.
Maids from the kitchen ran in. Screamed. Tried to intervene in the fighting. As far as I was aware, none of them had seen Aunt Bill, Hermione and Violet go into the trap door. Aunt Bill had pulled the cover of the door closed just in time.
My hand had closed around a large crystal jug. It was the sort of thing that cocktails would be served in, at a summer party. It was heavy.
I was about to do what Aunt Bill had done, whack this footman over the back of the head with him and knock him out, but William got there first.
He landed a powerful punch on Harold, making him sink to his knees, and turned in the same instant to knock the footman’s knees out from under him. His head resounded loudly on the wet stone floor.
The maids were watching us, but we couldn’t do anything about that now. I dragged William to the cover of the tunnel, pulled it up and climbed in.
When we were inside, we pulled across a bolt so that no one could open it from their side.
‘William. You’re bleeding.’ Aunt Bill had brought a lamp for us, and I picked it up to examine William’s beaten hands, and his nose, which was bloody.
‘I’m fine.’ He took the lamp. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’