Chapter 6
“Edenbridge Hall is beautiful, Lord Reginald. If I haven’t extended the breadth of my gratitude for your generosity, I would like to do so now?—”
That morning, they’d already seen the kitchen and pantries, surveyed the servants’ quarters, the bedrooms—where she learned which belonged to Lord Reginald and which to Elias, enjoyed multiple parlors, a smoking room, and a beautiful—if rarely used—space that served as both a ballroom and music room. They’d glanced quickly inside Lord Reginald’s study, and even more quickly inside his laboratory—where they were warned of the dangers within. That fact only made Victoria more curious, but she contented herself with the library that had proven to be as vast as her mother had promised.
“You flatter me, Miss Victoria. The house is old and dusty and bears all the markers of belonging to a life-long bachelor. You and your mother do this place a favor by bringing back youth, vibrancy, and femininity! This house has been stagnant for too long, and that is my fault—my fault alone.” The last of his statement was said almost in a murmur to himself. If Lord Reginald had been thinking of something, he brushed it away to point out some other antique or curiosity possessed by Edenbridge Hall as he continued guiding the tour of the ladies’ new abode.
“This armor was worn over 200 years ago by the old Protectors of man’s land who patrolled the borders of the cursed wood. There used to be barracks that housed them on the north side of the Hall, near the stables.” They paused to admire the bulky uniform from two centuries past.
Victoria smiled at the stupidity of it. “How many Protectors were housed in the barracks?”
“Oh, it varied. At the height of their necessity, there were over 100 men.”
“And Edenbridge Hall paid for their room, board, and salary?” Her expression spoke of what she thought of such an expense and the simplicity of the people who thought it necessary.
“It was a different time,” Lord Reginald said. “The creatures of the wood spilled out then; they terrorized the village and pillaged farms. Young women were susceptible to the influence of witchcraft, or worse, they might be taken by orcs…or other things.”
“It is amazing what people used to believe back then,” Victoria said.
“We have made significant advancements as a society,” Charlotte agreed. “In the sciences. Isn’t that right, Reginald?”
“Indeed, indeed. The sciences, as you know, are a little hobby of mine.” His face was grim, and he urged the women, “You mustn’t think these old-fashioned notions of a simpler time. The Perished Woods is a dangerous place even to this day.”
“Dangerous for the sake of the elements, not monsters,” Victoria suggested.
“Unless one might consider a wolf a monster,” Charlotte joked. “Surely, it was wolves that pillaged the farms in these days of old. The people didn’t know any better, and they put magical reasons to natural happenstance.”
Lord Reginald did not agree. “You ladies have lived in the capital, far away from anything like these woods we have here. In taking residence at Edenbridge, you must understand that there are lingering dangers—dangers that cannot be explained by science.”
Charlotte laughed, gently touching Lord Reginald’s arm. “You are telling ghost stories now. You mustn’t try to scare us; we are women of the world, Reginald. We are unshakable.”
He hummed. “Give it time. You will learn what I mean.” Turning to Victoria, he added, “It is important you take care when exploring the border of the woods. Grown men who have been raised in this area are regularly lost to that place. It might be best if you stick to the gardens. We have a beautiful rose garden at Edenbridge, a fountain, three ponds, and I have lost track of the number of gazebos. In any case, there are countless places to walk and sit and contemplate the beauty of the world.”
Victoria smiled, but she had no interest in manicured gardens. It was the woods that interested her. They were almost as wild and unexplored as the sea, and for that reason, they called to her. She didn’t say any of this to Lord Reginald; however, she preferred to keep it her own business—which was the benefit of marrying him in the first place. Her life would still belong to her.
They continued through the halls, where paintings, sculptures, and tapestries adorned the walls, showcasing the family”s wealth and cultural refinement. The Fairfax family had never been so wealthy as this. Wealth they had, but nothing close to what the Harrington family held. Their property was vast, and no single event, like the death of the master of the house, would ruin the prospects of those remaining.
Each room was spacious and furnished with ornately carved furniture of the highest quality. Lord Reginald took care to point out which parlors she might like to receive guests in and engaged deeply with Charlotte over how they might decorate the ballroom for the wedding. Victoria found herself gravitating to the windows, desperate for the tour to be done so she might be off on her own—free to explore her thoughts and this new land that was to be her home.
Sensing her daughter’s growing disinterest, Charlotte prodded Lord Reginald. “I think there is a piece of the tour you are forgetting to share.”
He smiled, good-natured. “Oh? What piece is that?”
“I seem to remember a rumor of a secret passage at Edenbridge.”
Lord Reginald laughed. “Oh, these old houses always have a secret passage or two. There is no great mystery to them—they were originally used as passways for the servants. So they could get to and from certain rooms without disrupting the household. Many have become obsolete over the years as customs have evolved.”
Victoria had rejoined them, and her interest piqued as her mother knew it would. “How many are there? May we see them?”
“Oh, I doubt I even know about all the passages. There is one from my quarters to my laboratory—which I use often.”
Victoria hid a frown, dismayed by this information. She’d planned on sneaking into the laboratory to explore it more deeply—but now that plan was dashed. It would be much more difficult to snoop through the interesting artifacts, specimens, and curiosities when there were two points of entry she would have to observe. Still, she ventured she would find an opportunity if patient.
“Let’s visit one now, what do you say? Are you interested in a slight adventure, ladies?”
Charlotte fought the urge to look encouragingly to her daughter. Victoria was too old for such treatment and Charlotte had missed the years where it would have been appropriate. The ladies accepted the invitation with tempered excitement, but Charlotte hoped the promise of mysterious and lost secret passages would appeal to Victoria’s desire for adventure—it was a desire that she had come to know so well in her husband, George, and it resided just as strongly in Victoria.
Lord Reginald led them to a pink parlor, which had been strongly suggested to Victoria as the primary place in which she might receive guests. It had been a favorite of his sister’s, Arabella, before her death.
“Would you like to take a guess as to the location of the passage?” Lord Reginald offered.
“I will leave it to my daughter, who has a much more intellectual nature than I possess. I am confident she will suss out any secrets this room might hold.”
Lord Reginald looked to Victoria.
“If it is a challenge, I am forced to accept.” She feigned a blush. “I have been cursed with a slightly competitive nature, I’m afraid.”
“Ah!” Lord Reginald laughed. “I see; more than one secret is coming out today!”
“In marriage and in family, all the best secrets are to be found,” Charlotte noted.
“If that is the case, I must be careful around you two,” Lord Reginald said, filled with humor.
“You needn’t worry—that is, unless you are hiding a skeleton in one of these passages.”
“I keep all my skeletons in the laboratory where they belong,” he assured the ladies.
Charlotte and Lord Reginald watched Victoria as she circled the room, looking for signs of a passage large enough for a person to comfortably move through. If what Lord Reginald said was true, and the original purpose of these passages was for servants, they would certainly be of a size appropriate for a person to come through while carrying a tray.
There was a conspicuous painting of a woman with powdered hair and an elaborately ruffled dress standing on a hillside. The woman was near to life-size. Victoria cut her eyes to Lord Reginald, and though he smiled, he gave nothing away. She traveled nearer to a bookcase.
“It’s always the bookcase, isn’t it?” he offered.
“In books, it certainly is,” agreed Charlotte, waiting for the mystery to be revealed. She was surprised to see her daughter pass up an exploration of the shelf. Instead, she pressed her cheek to the wall as if listening for something. Seemingly satisfied, Victoria’s hand went to a wall-mounted candlestick that looked to be of no importance to Charlotte. It sat beyond the bookshelf, and there was nothing of interest surrounding it. The wall beside it was lined with windows ensconced with floral and chiffon curtains.
To Charlotte’s dismay, Victoria wiggled the candlestick. She thought it was surely going to be disrupted from its place, and she gasped in embarrassment. Victoria changed her tactic and pushed upon the brass. There was a distinct click, and the wall opened up exactly as if it were a door.
Lord Reginald clapped in approval.
“My goodness!” Charlotte exclaimed. “You mean, it wasn’t the bookshelf at all?”
“There are one or two passages behind bookshelves in this house, but this isn’t one of them.”
“I suspected as much. For some reason, I didn’t think you would go easy on me…” Victoria told him, fighting her smile of approval.
“But Victoria, darling, how did you know?” her mother pressed.
“There are only two furnishings in the room large enough to pass through.”
“The painting and the bookshelf,” Lord Reginald agreed. “But you made no attempt to look within either.”
“No,” Victoria agreed. “There was no need.”
“You must tell me your trick,” Charlotte begged. “I don’t see how you could have known.”
“There were no signs that anyone had passed either way,” Victoria explained. “If you look to the floor, the rug doesn’t go all the way up to the wall. The wood is exposed and there are no markers of traffic. If servants passed this way on a regular basis, even if it were many years ago, there would be signs of wear.”
“Very observant.”
“Here, before this candle, I see that the rug does go right up to the wall—which would hide the markers of high traffic on the wood. That was my first clue, but what did the trick was the molding. Facing it, it seems to go right up to the wall, but if you look from the side—one can see there is the merest gap.”
“You were looking at the molding!” Charlotte laughed. “I thought you were listening to see if it was hollow. What a clever girl I have! How unfortunate that I can take no credit for it; all is due to my late husband—may he rest in peace.”
“Very observant indeed,” Lord Reginald complimented.
“No secrets will be safe with my daughter in the house,” Charlotte proclaimed, making Lord Reginald’s smile slip ever so slightly. “Now, where does this lead?”
“Would you like to find out?” he offered.
Charlotte followed Lord Reginald through the passage, noticing by the disturbed dust that this one might have been in use more recently. Victoria was just about to follow them when her eyes caught sight of something outside the window.
It was Elias and he was moving across the lawn, headed for the woods. Victoria noticed that no one was telling Elias how dangerous the woods were. She rolled her eyes. She could best Elias. If the woods were so monstrous, it would serve him better to avoid them rather than Victoria.
She sighed. This was the world she lived in now, away from the men who had raised her, away from anyone who trusted her strength and competence. As far as anyone could tell, she was nothing more than a delicate woman. It was disheartening…and annoying.
Turning from the window, she followed her party through the passage and into the ballroom, where her mother and Lord Reginald were deeply engrossed in discussion about the wedding plans.
“I’d like to speak to your cook today if that’s alright,” Charlotte was saying.
“By all means.”
“Do you have any preferences for the menu?”
“I leave all my meal decisions to Cook. She’s been in my employment for close to 20 years now, and she’s well-loved at the market. She knows all the local farmers and their crops. That woman can tell you what’s in season, who has the best prices, when a harvest has occurred, and who’s got the best jam. If I want pork chops, sometimes she will tell me it is not the night for pork chops. She will make Elias and me a hearty beef stew, and in a few short days, pork chops will be on the table from a freshly butchered pig, and I can tell by the cut of the meat that Cook was right. It’s all about timing, she says. You can taste the timing in the meal.”
“Alright, then she has my trust as well. She and I will discuss her suggestions for the reception dinner. I would like to visit the village to make preparations for the floral arrangements.”
“I would suggest first thing in the morning.”
Charlotte turned to her daughter. “Will you accompany me to the village?”
“I’d be delighted,” Victoria answered untruthfully. She would go, but there would be little delight in the ordeal. What did she care about flowers anyway?
“Lovely. I will have Elias escort you,” Lord Reginald offered. “I would do so myself, but I have council business I must attend to.”
And for some reason, the trip became marginally more appealing to Victoria. She smiled, thinking about the uptight and rigid Elias navigating the bustling village, towering over the farmers and villagers, scowling and frowning at everyone he passed.
Plans and preparations continued, but Victoria’s attention was at the window again, and she searched for a sign of Elias among the trees.