Island of Bones (48 page)

Harriet nodded. ‘Half of Keswick is here already, it seems.’

‘Mostly lawyers though,’ the old lady said, rolling her eyes. ‘I mean people who can work and be helpful, and tend to Master Charles.’

‘We have all the help we need for now, I think, Mrs Tyers.’

She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin, examining Harriet carefully. ‘You may call me Lottie, I think, madam. Very well, when I’ve done talking to Master Charles, I shall be on my way.’

‘May I send someone to escort you, Lottie?’

‘Nay, lambkin. It’s hardly a mile. When I can’t manage that on my own roads with ease, I shall get into my bed and let the Devil take me off at last.’

Harriet watched her climb the stairs with a smile. She would go to her at some time over the next few days and ask for her stories of Crowther. First, however, she needed to write a careful note to Miss Scales and send Ham to sleep outside Miss Hurst’s door like a bulldog.

Stephen did not treat Sophia to another lecture on Austrian history on this walk. He could tell she was sad, and was still doing enough thinking and wondering of his own. They reached the ruins of Gutherscale Hall just as the sun was sinking. The haze in the air made for beautiful sunsets. To the south, Skelgill Bank began its steep black climb into the rose and gold sky; beyond Newlands Beck, Causey Pike and Outerside had become dark shadows. The last light struck the top of the pele tower through the trees, and the old hall was full of the voices of crows settling to sleep. They looked up at it together and it felt quite natural to Stephen to take Miss Hurst’s hand.

‘It looks so old,’ he said. ‘We could climb the tower, if you like, before we go back. You can see the lake from there.’

‘That would please me,’ she said, ‘but Stephen, I am not going back.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I wish to leave this place as soon as I might,’ she said. ‘I am with child. I want to go away somewhere. I will say I am a widow, and have my baby. I learned many things when I was at the convent; afterwards I shall go to some small town and teach the daughters of the gentry.’

‘But you told Casper you have no money!’ He blushed. ‘I was near the camp when you came to talk to Casper. I haven’t said anything.’

She looked a little shocked for a moment, then squeezed his hand. ‘No matter, Stephen. Mr Sturgess knows my secret, I think. He came to see me this morning and was very kind. He said he knew I wished to carry something precious away from here and wished to help me. He has offered me money to slip away quietly. I think he brings it from someone less kind who wants me away from here. I am more easily bought off than my father.’

‘I don’t understand.’

She continued as if he had not spoken. ‘I am to meet Mr Sturgess here in a little while. He will have a carriage waiting nearby. I shall disappear. It is for the best.’

Stephen did not like the thought of Sophia leaving, for some reason. ‘But what of your father? Don’t you want to see him buried?’

She put her free hand to her eyes and wiped something from them. ‘He was not a good father. I must take this chance to get away. It is too painful to remain here.’

‘But why?’ He tugged on her hand.

‘Oh Stephen, it is difficult.’ She knelt down beside him and brushed his hair from his forehead. ‘You will try to be a good man, won’t you?’

He nodded, frustrated and unhappy. She stood again and said more brightly, ‘Let us climb the tower and we shall look at the lake. Then perhaps you should go home.’

He began to lead her to where the spiral staircase began its old climb
through the tower walls. He sighed. ‘It is quite difficult to be a good man, if no one ever explains anything and just cries all the time.’ He thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘I shall wait with you. No one will worry about me for an age yet. Mr Quince knows where we are, and you should have a friend to say goodbye to you.’

H
ER NOTE WRITTEN AND
Ham dispatched, Harriet had retreated to the kitchen to let Mrs Briggs’s cook feed her, then realising her presence was making the woman nervous she returned to the study and sat drumming her fingers on Sturgess’s desk and looking about her. Tucked under the desk she saw the butt of a pistol and hissed between her teeth as she bent down to retrieve it. It was a Light Dragoon pistol, impossible to shoot accurately with such a weapon, but at close range it was devastating. Crowther had been lucky beyond belief. She felt herself flush with irritation. How could he have been so foolish as to not see what Sturgess was about? She laid the gun on the table top. It was a fine example and well cared for. But then had not Hudson said Sturgess had had military experience in one of his former lives?

She stood and looked into the open drawer of the dresser behind her. The drawer was very deep. There was the case for the gun, and the powder and ball. He must have been very quick to load it and prime the pan without Crowther noticing, but then she had served long enough at her husband’s side to see such weapons loaded and fired a hundred times. She would have recognised the necessary movements. Crowther, it was likely, was less familiar than she with such guns. The thought made her smile.

There was a knock at the door. She looked up, expecting to see one of the lawyers or servants, but instead saw Miss Scales hovering in the entrance with Ham beside her. Harriet felt a sudden cold dread in her stomach and her smile disappeared.

‘Mrs Westerman, Sophia is missing.’

‘Good God!’ Harriet said, emerging from behind the desk. ‘When? Did she take anything with her? Tell me all.’

Miss Scales was obviously distressed, but she answered calmly. ‘She told me she wished to go for a walk while I was reading to Papa, late afternoon that must have been. I thought she must have returned and gone straight to bed, but when I went to her room after reading your note, it was empty. She had taken some clothes, I think, but not more than she could easily carry. It is difficult to say. I think she had a small travelling bag, and I cannot find it now but I may be mistaken.’

Harriet began to pace the room. ‘Can we know what direction she took?’

‘We saw some parishioners of my father’s along the way and enquired. Miranda Dent is sure she saw her walking towards Silverside.’

‘Alone?’ Miss Scales nodded, and Harriet tried to reason herself out of her dread. No doubt Fräulein Hurst had regretted turning Felix away, and meant to try her luck at Silverside again. However unpleasant the Vizegräfin might be, Sophia would be safe there. Surely Sturgess would not make some attempt on her now, with the village ready to chase him down and his secrets exposed. He must be thinking only of escape.

But still . . . ‘I am sure she will come to no harm, Miss Scales, but perhaps Ham, we should go and find her there?’ The huge coachman nodded. ‘Miss Scales, may I ask something of you?’

‘Of course, my dear. Anything at all.’

‘Would you be so kind as to take charge of Crowther’s nursing until I or Casper return? Lottie is with him at the moment but when she leaves, I would be easier knowing he is in your care. He may develop a fever yet and should be watched.’

Miss Scales nodded and Harriet walked briskly into the hall and crossed it to reach the library. The circle of male faces looked up at her.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said with a nod. ‘Felix – a word with you, please.’

He shot to his feet and joined her. ‘Mrs Westerman, I have been
kicking my heels for hours! I don’t understand what is happening at all. Why did Sturgess shoot my uncle?’

She kept her voice very low as she replied. ‘There is a chance that your wife is in some danger. She has left the vicarage and was seen walking in the direction of Silverside. Will you come with me to find her? I shall explain on the way, as best I can.’ He did not manage to speak, but he nodded at least. ‘Good.’

Harriet returned to the other room to collect her cloak and saw the pistol on the desk. She hesitated for a moment before picking it up and gathering ball and powder from the drawer, and re-attaching the ramrod to the barrel. Heavy as it was, she had no difficulty concealing it in the folds of her cloak. She did not want to spend the ride to Silverside arguing with Felix about the niceties of females arming themselves with such weapons.

As the darkness around them became complete Sophia tried to persuade Stephen to leave her to wait alone, but he remained adamant. He had a certain streak of his mother’s stubbornness under his gentle ways. He had decided it was right to remain at Sophia’s side and he would not be moved. Eventually she gave up trying to send him off and instead told him stories from the convent. Fairytales from the forests of Germany and Austria, folksongs that tricked his tongue and made him laugh. In turn he told her the stories he had learned at his mother’s knee of her adventures as wife of Captain Westerman. Sophia was eager to hear all that he could tell, and as the landscape disappeared into darkness the time passed quickly. Then they heard voices below them. Stephen jogged to the edge of the tower and leaned over the edge. Deep in darkness below them he could see a lantern, and peering up at him the face of Mr Sturgess. He was with two other men but they were all in shadow. He called out and waved.

‘We’re up here, Mr Sturgess. Miss Hurst and I!’

‘Very good!’ Mr Sturgess said something to the men he was with that Stephen couldn’t hear and they moved away. ‘Wait there, Master Westerman! I shall come up and light you both down.’

Harriet found Mrs Briggs and Mr Quince in the drawing room in Silverside.

‘Crowther’s wound is severe, but he is conscious and lucid and in Casper’s care. I think he will do,’ she said in reply to their first urgent enquiries, then looked about her. ‘I hoped to find Miss Hurst here. Is it possible she is closeted with the Vizegräfin?’

They were all confusion – no, Miss Hurst was not there. ‘I saw her this evening. She wished to see the ruins of Gutherscale Hall at dusk,’ Mr Quince said, and found himself the centre of Harriet’s furious attention. ‘Stephen went with her, as I did not feel I had the strength.’

‘Stephen? Dusk has passed long ago, Mr Quince.’

His eyes darted to the darkness outside the windows. ‘The news of Mr Crowther’s shooting, I did not notice the time passing . . .’

‘I assume Stephen has not returned?’ Harriet asked. Quince shook his head. ‘Felix, Ham, I suggest you arm yourselves, and fetch lanterns. We must go immediately.’

Ham left the room at once with a nod. Felix, however, hesitated. ‘Mrs Westerman, surely you should allow us to go alone and remain here, till we return.’

Harriet did not bother to conceal her disgust. ‘Go and arm yourself, Felix. We shall not wait for you.’

Mr Sturgess emerged onto the top of the tower and placed his lantern down at his feet. The thin light set the shadows of the crenellations and suns on the battlements dancing. The fallen corner of the tower though seemed to swallow the light entirely and pour out darkness of its own. Miss Hurst crossed to Sturgess and shook hands with him.

‘I hope you have not had too uncomfortable a wait for us, Fräulein?’ he said. ‘I am sorry I was delayed.’

‘Stephen insisted on waiting with me to wish me farewell, and we have passed the time very happily together. Is all prepared? Shall we leave at once?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said with a smile and keeping a hold on her
hand. ‘If you will just give me the Luck, then you shall be on your way at once.’

Miss Hurst looked confused. ‘The Luck, sir? I don’t understand you. Forgive me, what can you mean? I have the little carving of Casper’s – can you mean that?’

‘Now, now Miss Hurst. We spoke of it this morning – the treasure you wish to take from the valley. That is the Luck. Give it to me now, dear.’

Stephen saw her try to remove her hand from Sturgess’s, but though he was still smiling he held onto it fast. She put her other hand on her belly. ‘I am with child, Mr Sturgess. Did not you know? My child is the treasure of which I spoke.’

‘You stupid bitch!’ Sturgess pulled her hard, spinning her round so her back struck the low wall behind her, then he laid the whole weight of his body across her and bent her over so her upper body curved over the darkness. ‘I know he gave it to you!’

‘He did not! He did not! Only one of his carvings!’

‘Liar!’ he roared. ‘I know you have it! Give it to me now or I will cut that bastard whelp out of your belly this moment.’ Holding her against the wall with his left arm, he pulled a blade into his right hand. It caught the lantern light.

Sophia screamed.

‘Stop it! Let her go!’ Stephen was on his feet and there was a black taste in his mouth. ‘I have it, Mr Sturgess. I have it!’

They ran. Ham, Harriet and Felix, lightly and swift along the path between Overside Wood and Stub Hill. Ham and Felix carried lanterns held high, Harriet bundled her skirts over her arm, and her slippers scudded over the dry earth. They did not know they were watched for. There was a sound to the right, and in the same moment something came crashing down on Ham and he fell to the ground at once. Harriet and Felix turned to see two figures plunging out of the darkness, one with a club in his hand, the other a pistol. They all fired at once, and
the air became as thick with flashes and powder smoke as at Mr Askew’s firework display. The one with the club shouted and fell writhing on the path. Harriet heard Felix cry out and spin to one side as the force of the bullet caught him, carried him round and dropped him to the ground. The other was uninjured. He stepped towards Harriet and raised the butt of his gun. She froze, unable to do anything but wait for him to strike. She closed her eyes, then heard a gasp and opened them again. The man’s expression had turned to one of surprise, the gun dropping from his hand as he fell forward, almost on top of her. There was an arrow sticking through the back of his left shoulder. She stared, still unable to move. A lumbering step and Mr Quince appeared on the path red and sweating holding Felix’s longbow in his left hand. He bent over, panting, then looked into Harriet’s white and frozen face.

‘There were no more guns,’ he said.

A scream, a woman’s, opened the air behind them. Harriet turned towards it, then back to Mr Quince. ‘Go, Mrs Westerman.’ She ran off into the night once more.