My Lady Ghost Page 10

  “Allison insists that I owe you an apology for accusing you of abusing Miss Pollard. Consider it done.” Thorne watched his cousin expectantly.

  James turned his head slowly so that he could look into his cousin’s eyes. “I am astonished! You’ve never apologized to me before! Too bad that this is one time when I richly deserve your censure. Not that I forced Marie up those steps, nor was I beating her, as you seemed to think. But I did bring her here, even though I sensed that she was less than enthusiastic about the project.”

  Thorne snorted. “According to what she told Allison, he deliberately compromised her to cause her to be discharged from her position.”

  Allison nodded. “Even then she refused, so he and his coachman abducted her and threatened bodily harm if she did not do his bidding.”

  James dropped his head into his hands. “She said nothing of this to me. Never guessed he was such a mm touch!”

  Thorne shook his head impatiently. “All of this does not enlighten me as to why she and Newcomb were anywhere near Sil- verthome Castle, today or any other day .”

  “We were there to look for the treasure, of course.”

  “Of course. Just like that. Yet I’ve told you again and again not to go there.”

  “I am not your child, nor your servant, nor your slave!” Bitterness laced James’s voice. ‘Though you’ve treated me as all three for years. I am co-heir to the treasure of Silverthorne, and as such l have a right to search for it.”

  “The castle and all approaches to it are my property. You have no right to be there without my permission. As for you, Allison, I knew you were sketching around the castle, but you gave Ben your word you wouldn’t go near the north tower. To think that you conspired behind my back—”

  “I did not...” Allison began indignantly, then remembered that though she had not been involved in James and Newcomb’s plot, she had, in fact, been searching for the treasure.

  Fortunately for her, James jumped in. “Now don’t you go accusing Allison. She knew nothing of my plan, didn’t even know we were there. I take the entire blame for it, though if you were a fair-minded man, you’d say it was credit I deserved. A rum touch though he may be, Newcomb had a brilliant idea. When he heard about Marie seeing all the ghosts at Hammerswold, he saw the possibilities instantly. Bringing someone who sees ghosts is an intelligent way to approach the problem. We might all be wealthy if only you'd agree to it.”

  “And we might all be dead! There is no amount of money worth risking more lives! Especially when it is unlikely the treasure even exists.”

  “It is a good deal easier to give up the notion when you are already rich as Croesus! Why don’t you go ahead and level the tower and excavate under it, as you have said so many times you would do? Just think, I’d be off your hands for good, and Allison and her mother wouldn’t have to be your pensioners, which I know chafes Allie sorely.” James thrust his lower jaw out pugnaciously. “Sometimes I think you like the power you have over us!”

  “That isn’t fair, Jamie. Thorne isn’t like that!”

  “Huh! Let him prove it. Let him look for the bloody treasure!”

  “Your language leaves a great deal to be desired, James. But blood happens to be the right word. I swore no one else would lose their lives over that chimera. For your information, the delay in razing the entire north wall and tower is precisely for your sake. I had an engineer look the thing over carefully, one who has made a study of geology, too. He found evidence that much of the northern part of the castle stands over hollow ground a few feet below the surface.”

  “No surprise there! You know full well there are tunnels under the castle. This hardly explains your delay. Only makes it more obvious you are determined to thwart me.”

  Thorne sighed. “You will think the worst, won’t you? As a matter of fact, he doubts that escape passages could account for the amount of empty space his test holes indicate. He suspects a large cavern or possibly the work of sappers during the several sieges the castle endured. He says cannon fire alone cannot account for the collapse of the wall. He told me if I blasted the north tower down to speed the search process, as I had been considering, the entire cliff might collapse, taking castle and treasure with it. It would take an army of men and the rest of our natural lives to go through such massive ruins.”

  James’s astonishment matched Allison’s. “Why did you not tell us this before, Thorne?” he demanded.

  Thorne shook his head. “Would you have believed me? Would it have kept you away? My father knew the dangers as well as anyone, yet he and Percy . .He turned to stare out the window. Allison could see him swallow hard. She longed to go to him and offer him the comfort of her arms.

  “Am I to lose my cousin to those mins, as well as my father and brother?” Thorne’s voice throbbed with pain. “Do you have any idea how close you came to dying today? Both of you.” He began to pace the room.

  “When I heard that woman screaming, I thought it was Allison. To see her in the entry to that death trap ... To see you standing there struggling on those steps . ..”

  Allison could see his jaw working and knew he was fighting tears. She turned to James. “Now that you know, you won’t go near that tower anymore, will you, Jamie?”

  At first she thought he didn’t hear her question. He stared at Thorne, bemused by this exhibition of emotion. At last James shook his head. “Pointless. I don’t think that is where it is. Told Newcomb that. But when that maid started shaking and chattering about ghosts, there was nothing for it but he must investigate.” Thorne turned on him. “Not there ? Of course it is there! Or was. That is where she is always seen. Dozens have said so. That pathetic frightened woman today confirmed it. Told Allison the Silver Lady was standing behind a monstrous soldier. There may be a ghost, or even two, preposterous as it seems, but if so, their mission appears to be to tempt searchers to their deaths.”

  Allison opened her mouth to argue, to tell him what she had seen today. How James had arrived at the conclusion that the treasure was not anywhere near the north tower, she did not know, but her experience with the ghost suggested that he was right. Nor did she believe for a moment that the sweet-faced Silver Lady could have been trying to lure her to her death.

  But Thorne’s impassioned speech continued without a chance for her to interrupt. He faced James, determination carved in granite on his face. “I will bring wagon loads of gunpowder and blast that tower down myself, though it destroy the entire castle and me with it, unless you swear to me on your honor as a gentleman that you will not again attempt to discover the treasure yourself, nor cause anyone else to do so.”

  James was visibly shaken by this threat. Jaw agape, he could only stare for several moments. Allison’s mind raced. There was no point in telling Thorne her own theories now. He would lay a similar interdict on her. She could see the deep concern in his face, hear it in his voice. Unlike James, she had no trouble believing Thorne’s threat sprang from genuine fear for their safety. She realized she would have to give up her own search for the treasure, find a position as a governess, and let Thorne pursue his slower, less dangerous explorations.

  “If I so swear, will you agree to speed up your own plan?”

  “Not by an instant. First a means of supporting the tower must be found, for the safety of the workers. Then we shall take it down, stone by stone, just as we have done that middle section of the north wall.”

  James groaned. “Then there is no hope for me, none at all! I shall be transported for my debts.”

  “Don't talk rot. Go to Fairmont as I asked—”

  “Not asked, Cuz, Ordered!”

  Thorne sighed wearily. “If you would show yourself capable of managing it, and stay away from the gaming tables. I’d sign it over to you.”

  “Charity! I won’t take it from you. I pay my own gaming bills. You put Fairmont on the auction block to get my attention, but I say good riddance to it. Didn't want you to buy it back. I’m not cut out to be a farmer. I
want to be a soldier. Plan to pay back every penny you’ve ever loaned me when I come into my inheritance from Father. Thirty seems a lifetime away, but it will come eventually.”

  “You’ll have encumbered all of it long before then, at the rate you are going.”

  The two men were nose to nose by this time. Allison began to fear they would come to blows. “Stop it, you two! There is no need to tear at each other this way.” She jumped up and interposed herself between them.

  “Jamie, can’t you see that Thorne has your best interests at heart? Thorne, can't you see how humiliating James’s position is?”

  Neither man responded, but continued to glare at the other. At least their loud voices had gone silent. And into that silence came an unexpected sound.

  “There you are. Allison, my lamb, you have frightened your poor mother so. Thorne, I hold you responsible for this. What do you mean, snatching Allison up and bringing her here? I told Delphinia you had not given up your dishonorable intentions.”

  Aunt Agatha’s strident voice berating Thorne almost drowned out Delphinia’s quieter cry of “Oh. Allie, I have been so frightened. Ian came home covered with blood and dirt, not knowing where you had gone. I was sure you had been abducted by Gypsies.”

  Chapter Ten

  Never had Thorne expected to be glad to hear Aunt Agatha berating him. But he saw such resentment in James’s eyes, and felt such barely leashed fury suffusing his own body, that it seemed there must be a violent confrontation. Without a doubt he would win a contest of strength with James, but they would both lose, for their relationship, severely strained now, would be irreparably damaged.

  The two men relaxed their aggressive postures slowly as they turned their attention to the three women, all talking at once.

  “Ian, bloody? What happened to him?” Allison tried to recall when she had seen her groom last. When we went into the gatehouse for lemonade, she realized. Too much had happened too fast, and she had not noticed what now seemed a most uncharacteristic absence on his part.

  “Why are you here? Are you hurt?” Delphinia asked. She hugged Allison fiercely, then held her at arm’s length to examine her.

  Agatha demanded. “What has that beast done to you? Mind, if he’s harmed a hair of your head, I shall thrash him.” She brandished her heavy walking stick as if ready to commence this program immediately.

  Thorne bowed toward the two older women. “Won’t you both please have a seat, and we will sort matters out,” he suggested in his most urbane tone of voice. He led Delphinia to a chair, while Allison coaxed Agatha to sit next to her on the sofa. James retreated to the window embrasure, though he knew he would not evade censure for his misdeeds.

  Taking charge of the situation came naturally to Thorne, whose deep voice overrode Agatha’s shrill complaints. “Now, tell me exactly what happened to Ian,” he commanded Delphinia.

  “He came to the dower house with a bloody clout on his forehead. Said he’d been struck by someone named Paddy. When he came to, he could find no sign of Allison or anyone else. Her horse was gone, Sergeant Bean was gone, even the geese were gone.” Delphinia’s voice trembled. “I was terrified.”

  “Humph. Thorne’s doing, I make no doubt. He—”

  “No, Aunt Agatha, none of this was Thorne’s doing.” Allison spoke with unusual firmness, for she had deeply ingrained habits of respect for her elders. “Indeed, it is because of him that both James and I were saved from harm.”

  While he appreciated her instinct to protect him, Thorne had no wish to hide behind her skirts. Still less did he want to air James’s dirty linen before the viper-tongued Agatha Keisley. “We had some intruders at the castle today, who had a notion of finding the treasure.” In quick, economical narration he gave Agatha and Delphinia a modified account of the morning’s events, leaving out any detail that would have condemned James to an angry tirade.

  “Afterward, we came here to discuss ways to prevent this happening in the future,” he finished blandly.

  Allison could see James from where she sat, his face a study in dread as he awaited exposure. When he realized Thorne meant to cover for him, he looked at Allison, eyes wide with surprise. She smiled at him and nodded as if to say, “I told you he isn’t such a bad sort.”

  ‘That poor maid. How like a man to put a woman through such an ordeal just for filthy lucre,” Agatha exclaimed. “I suppose you let him carry her off, to torment her with his schemes elsewhere, Thorne.”

  “She escaped while we were confronting our intruder. Several estate workers are looking for her now. Shall I have Doctor Par- tiger look at Ian?” Thorne directed this question to Delphinia.

  “Perhaps, for he may have a concussion. I put a cold compress on his head before we left,” Delphinia replied.

  “Probably just malingering. Men will make the most of any injury if they can find a sympathetic female to minister to them.” Finding that he was not cast in the role of villain, James joined the conversation. “I am sorry you were fretted,” he offered. “As we

  were unaware of Ian’s injury, we had no way of knowing you would be alarmed.”

  “You might have sent a servant to apprise us of Allison’s whereabouts, Thorne!” Agatha turned once again to her favorite victim. “Next you will be telling us you had invited her for dinner, and without so much as asking Delphinia’s permission.”

  “What a happy thought!” Thorne smiled. “Now I think on it, I have had nothing since breakfast. An early dinner will suit all of us, I think.” He rose and went to the velvet bellpull that hung next to a massive armoire.

  “The nerve. Without so much as waiting to hear if we will accept!”

  Delphinia demurred. “It is but a shon drive, after all, Thorne.”

  “We are not dressed for dinner,” Agatha added.

  Delphinia stood as if the matter were settled, and Allison followed suit.

  Thorne invited them to dress and return, but each of the three had some reason why that was impossible, so he and James escorted them to the front portico.

  “Why isn’t our gig here?” Agatha demanded of the butler, looking one way and another as she surveyed the empty gravel drive that wound its way from Thorne Hall to the dower house.

  Thorne Hall’s ancient butler, Mr. Mimmings, directed her attention to the sky. “I did not think you would be wishful of driving home with a storm in the offing.”

  Agatha looked up at a sky half obscured by a line of black thunderclouds moving toward them. At that moment a streak of lightning illuminated the blackest section, and she shrieked in terror. Mimmings knew Agatha Keisley’s reactions to even a tame rain cloud was hysteria, for her parents and younger brother had been killed when lightning frightened their carriage horses into running headlong over a cliff. She had been severely injured in the accident.

  “Now, Agatha, it will be a good hour before it begins to rain,” Delphinia said soothingly.

  “Have a closed carriage brought around, will you, Thorne,” James offered helpfully. He wanted the ladies gone, for he still had unfinished business with his cousin.

  But Thorne knew Agatha better than any of them, so he did not waste his time remonstrating with her. “Come inside,” he said, gently taking her arm. “Of course you shan’t go home in the teeth of that storm.”

  Uncharacteristically, Agatha tamely allowed her in-law to guide her back into the drawing room. She was trembling, so he went to the sideboard and poured her a bracing glass of brandy, which she downed instantly.

  Delphina explained the situation to Allison and James as they, too, returned to the drawing room. “I expect we had best return to the dower house and send some clothes around for her, for she will be dining here after all, and spending the night, too, if I am not mistaken.”

  “I do not understand how I can have gone out in such weather! How could I have been so careless? I must have been sorely distracted by Allison’s disappearance.” Agatha's words tumbled out rapidly, nervously. “Did I hear you say you were going
to go back to the dower house? No, no, you mustn’t. I couldn’t bear the thought of it. Thorne, we will accept your hospitality for the night.”

  Although Thorne had not as yet offered his hospitality, he bowed graciously.

  “But Aunt Agatha!” Allison had a sinking feeling. I swore I'd never spend another night under his roof, and for good reason! “We have neither dinner dresses nor night rails. And I am not the least afraid of storms, I assure you.”

  “Oh, but you should be! You should be! No, I won’t hear of it. Thorne, forbid it!”

  “Absolutely. Allison Weatherby, you are hereby forbidden to leave this house until the sky is once more clear.”

  Swelling with indignation, Allison opened her mouth to give him a severe set-down, when she realized that he was quizzing her.

  “There, how is that? Now, if you will excuse me, I will find a maid suitable to the task. Allison, will you make a list of required items? James, could I prevail upon you to order a carriage to convey the maid to the dower house?”

  An hour later, six people sat down to dine with the Marquess of Silverthorne. In addition to Allison, her mother, Agatha, and James, they were joined by Thorne’s one-time tutor, Mr. Markham Swinton, now employed to keep his library organized and up-to-date. and carry out the occasional secretarial duty; and his overseer for the home farm, William Smith.

  Agatha, having recovered some of her aplomb, let it be known that she was not accustomed to dining with servants. “And so you shan’t. Aunt,” Thorne assured her. “You shall be my hostess and thus sit at the far end of the table. Mr. Swinton and Mr. Smith shall sit at my right and left hand so that I can discuss the estate business that brought me from London in the first place.”