The Wanderers of the Water-Realm (41 page)

On three separate occasions, the girls had been so badly used that Amina and her father had feared for their lives. Oldshaw had also become worried and had given orders for the women to be placed in his coach and taken to a discreet nursing home were their hurts could be healed by skilled hands.

The refugees had also questioned Hetty to some length. She freely admitted that she was a police spy and divulged many of the details of her mission within the walls of Westdyke Grange, but she revealed nothing of her experiences inside the Cleopatra Music Hall, or the means enabling her son to escape to the Water-Realm. Instead, she claimed that he was hiding in the depths of the Pennine Hills.

Finally, Amina had asked the two questions concerning them all.

“How can we help to clear your son’s name? And how in the name of the prophet, can my father and I leave the service of that monster Oldshaw?”

“You can remove the charge of murder from my son’s shoulders, by telling the police everything that happened at ‘Hells Corner’ upon that cursed afternoon when Arkwright met his death. Hetty had replied. “As for yourselves, if the police are willing you can both turn Queen’s evidence and help to bring yonder villain to justice. You would not be punished for your involvement in that devil’s schemes and you would certainly be allowed to go upon your way unmolested.”

“Unmolested by your police perhaps,” Amina had retorted, “but we are both targets for the Ottoman Empire’s assassins and our public appearance in court would surely tell them where to find us.”

“Give me time to get in touch with my police contact.” She had argued. “Perhaps they can give you protection from the killers hunting you.”

“No”. The girl had retorted instantly. “We would be as good as dead!”

Hetty had continued to argue for a full hour, until the couple eventually agreed to allow the wisewoman time to contact Inspector Smith and discover the level of anonymity and protection the police were prepared to extend to the two fugitives.

The wisewoman shook her head and almost dropped a soiled dinner plate, as she remembered the strain of the long discussion and the hurried return to her bedroom with dawn already breaking over the horizon.

Hetty finished the dishes and then pretended to be suffering from a headache; at Mrs O’Day’s suggestion, she returned to her room to rest for an hour before involving herself in the labour of the afternoon.

Safe in the solitude of her bedroom she wrote a letter to Inspector Smith describing her recent discoveries and explaining the situation regarding Amina and her father. Furthermore, she suggested the policeman should meet her as soon as possible, in order to discuss what their future course of action should be in the light of the aforementioned events. She proposed that Inspector Smith should arrive by carriage, four days hence, and wait for her, an hour after midnight, in a ruined stack-yard lying about half a mile from Westdyke Grange. Hetty then sealed the letter and returned to her duties in the kitchen.

Later, that afternoon, Hetty left the kitchen in order to fetch a selection of vegetables from the root store lying close to the conservatories, and there she found Piggins busily sorting out the piles of potatoes and carrots. She handed him the letter and urged him to post it in Stalybridge that very same evening. The gardener, however, was reluctant to make the journey and Hetty was forced to bribe the man with one of the half-sovereigns that she had so prudently sewn into her dress.

“Stir yourself!” She ordered, as she handed over the gold coin. “Make sure that you get this letter into the post as quickly as you can or the inspector will be far from pleased with you.”

Hetty knew that she must find a safe way to leave the estate and return without being seen. The wisewoman therefore denied herself another full night’s sleep and when the day’s work was completed, instead of seeking her bed, she took a strong restorative draught and then tip-toed down to the basement of the house. Once there, she lowered herself into the old sewer and followed it in a westerly direction, leading her away from the house and towards the duct’s original point of discharge, and she prayed that it would be out of sight of the main house.

She was fortunate, for the sewer widened slightly as she advanced, thus allowing her to progress swiftly and with relative ease. Her prayers where doubly answered for when she reached the mouth of the duct, she was relieved to discover that it was camouflaged by a clump of elderberry bushes lying in a small depression not fifty yards from the outer wall of the estate. The wisewoman then returned by the same route and sought out the well earned comfort of her bed.

The following morning, Hetty began making the preparations for her meeting with the inspector. Crossing the formidable boundary wall should have presented the witch with an insurmountable problem. However, she had foreseen the difficulty and the answer was already at hand. Scrap timber, for lighting the cooking range in the kitchen, was always piled at the rear of the house and one of the oddments was an old but still serviceable ladder of about twelve feet in length that was light enough for the wisewoman to move without too much difficulty. Knowing this, Hetty had avoided breaking it up for firewood and the time had now arrived to make use of it for another purpose. On the night before her meeting with Inspector Smith, the wisewoman had crept out of the kitchen door of the Grange and hid the ladder in the clump of elderberry bushes near to the mouth of the sewer. Crossing the open grounds of the house with the ladder over her shoulder represented a considerable hazard for the wisewoman, for she could have been glimpsed from one of the upstairs windows, but, once again, a calculated risk paid off for the wisewoman and her nocturnal escapade remained undetected by the other occupants of the estate.

The following day was wet and overcast with frequent bands of rain sweeping over the Pennine uplands and the kitchen, where the two women worked, had to be illuminated by flaring gas-jets for the entire day. The depressive nature of the weather lowered Mrs O’Day’s spirits and the cook hardly spoke a word. Hetty, by contrast, was satisfied by the timely arrival of the mist and rain, for she hoped that it would discourage the other occupants of the Grange from wandering abroad after dark and would hide her own nocturnal movements.

The damp and misty weather persisted into the evening, encouraging most of the household staff to seek their beds at an early hour and the house was quiet and in pitch darkness by eleven o’clock, when the wisewoman left her room and crept down into the basement.

The witch then began the long crawl through the disused sewer and made rather slower progress than on the previous occasion, for she was hampered by the need to drag an old bed-quilt behind her as she worked her way along the duct. It was therefore almost midnight by the time she reached the shelter of the elderberry thicket obscuring the mouth of the sewer.

Hetty paused and listened for a good five minutes, in order to make sure that she was quite alone in that portion of the grounds and she also allowed her inner-eye to probe the pitch darkness. Satisfied that no other human being was nearby, she pulled the old ladder from its hiding place in the thicket and carried it to the base of the boundary wall. The wisewoman then whispered a strengthening spell before pushing the ladder upwards until its head was level with the double row of hooks crowning the parapet. Hetty made sure the ladder was securely grounded, and then slowly ascending the rungs, dragging the old quilt behind her as she climbed; once her knees were level with the parapet, she flung the quilt over the hooks, before swinging her body onto the crown of the wall. The witch then squatted perilously on the top of the wall for a few moments, until she had fully regained her breath and then undertook the most difficult part of her scheme. She repeated the strengthening spell, and then heaved the ladder upwards, until it was balanced across the crown of the wall. Then, with a final effort, she lowered it down the external face of the boundary wall until its heel was firmly grounded on the other side. Hetty was then able to climb down to safety, after first freeing the protective quilt from the dangerous hooks.

The wisewoman rested for a moment before hiding the ladder and the quilt in a patch of brambles and then struck out across an open meadow, in the direction of the ruined stack-yard where she prayed that Inspector Smith would be awaiting her arrival.

Hetty need not have worried, for a light one horsed carriage stood motionless in the shadow of the stack-yard wall. The witch tapped gently upon the carriage door and was relieved when it swung open and the familiar voice of Inspector Smith bid her enter.

The policemanclosed the door and helped her to remove her soaking wet shawl then poured her a stiff measure of whisky from a small flask. At that very moment Hetty became aware of another shadowy figure occupying the opposite corner seat of the coach.

“Who the devil have you brought with you, Inspector?” She said. “Is our business not private and confidential?”

“Easy lassie, finish your drink, for it will drive out the chill from your bones.”

He paused. “The information in your last letter included matters that are well beyond normal police concerns. The two refugees, whom you stated were in Silas Oldshaw’s employment, seemed like the kind of people whom our national security authorities would like to know about. I have long had the honour of being a close friend of a man who serves with British army intelligence and is sitting opposite you. For the sake of prudence, you may simply refer to him as Captain Wilson and the darkness of this coach will ensure that his appearance will remain a complete mystery to you. He will now explain everything that he wishes you to know”.

Captain Wilson coughed in order to clear his throat.

“My dear lady, the Inspector has informed me of your son’s unfortunate predicament and has also mentioned some of the relevant details concerning your attempt to clear his name.”

He coughed again.

“I feel that we can be of considerable service to you in this matter and you can rest assured that the warrant for your son’s arrest will be quietly torn up, provided that you carry out a small service on behalf of your country.”

Hetty was elated by the offer but was also naturally suspicious. “What kind of service might that be?” She asked.

“We simply wish you to convey an offer of asylum, from the British Government, to those two people in the east wing. If they agree, you must conduct them secretly out of that house and place them in our keeping. Say, not later than three nights hence!”

“What is the real identity of that man and woman?” The wisewoman asked.

“You must tell me if you wish me to do as you say, for I will have no truck with evil doings, not even in the name of Queen and country.”

Captain Wilson remained silent for a full minute and then answered. “Dear lady, your co-operation is essential for the furtherance of our plans. I will therefore tell you all that you wish to know, provided that you give me your solemn undertaking that you will not repeat my words to any other person.”

Hetty immediately gave her assurance and the agent began to speak.

“The man whom you know as ‘Mehemet’ is certainly Mehemet Collona, or to give him his correct title, ‘Mehemet Bey’who, untiltwo years ago was the governor of an important frontier district in the Ottoman province of Bulgaria.

Mehemet Bey was born an Albanian but he also had much Italian blood in his veins; he entered the Turkish civil administration at an early age and won high office through sheer hard work and ability. Some five years ago, he was made the governor of an extremely troublesome district in Bulgaria, where both of his predecessors had suffered assassination. Mehemet Bey, however, managed to pacify the inhabitants through governmental efficiency and the absolute honesty of his administration. Unfortunately, his purging of corrupt officials made him a great many enemies and these men eventually brought about his ruin and disgrace. The Bey was a widower with a single surviving daughter, the girl ‘Amina’.

The pair fled across half of Europe, hounded by Ottoman assassins, until they were apparently befriended by Silas Oldshaw and the rest you know.”

The wisewoman was still not completely satisfied.

“Why should Her Majesty’s Government and army go to such inordinate lengths, simply to succour a stray Muslim and his daughter?”

“I am not empowered to divulge further information.” The Captain replied. “Save that a man of Mehemet’s experience and ability could tell us a great deal about the situation within the European provinces of the Turkish Empire and also give us important details about the men who currently hold power in many of the strategic areas of the Balkans. His enemies also know this. Therefore, you may inform the Bey, that Her Majesty’s Government will provide the most secret of accommodation for himself and his daughter and their safety will be our most important consideration!”