Kate looked at Sophie with a sly twinkle in her eyes. “Show me the carving.”
Sophie hesitated. “I don’t know, Kate. It’s late...”
Kate laughed and grabbed Sophie’s hand. “Oh, come on!”
Taking a candle with them, they climbed the stairs and crept down the corridor. Kate opened the hidden door in the wainscoting and ducked in first. Sophie followed, pulling the door shut behind them.
Kate lifted the candle higher and light swept across the narrow room.
“There...” Sophie pointed to the timber with the initialsW.D.O. + J.A.B.
Kate stepped closer, then paused as a squeak pierced the quiet. Sophie cringed, her gaze darting to the farthest corner of the room. A mouse?
Tentatively, Kate stretched the candle toward the dark corner, and Sophie gasped. A creature huddled there—one much larger than a mouse. They heard another squeak, and then a rumbling sound like... purring.
“Gulliver?” Sophie asked in wonder.
The orange tabby lay in a nest of wood shavings, with squirming bundles of fur gathered around him—her, Sophie corrected herself. She counted, then shared a wide-eyed smile with Kate. “Six kittens. Gulliver must have moved them here since we were last inside.”
“Oh, wait until Winnie finds out!” Kate cried. Kneeling, she set down the candle and extended her hand to Gulliver, letting her sniff it before smoothing the cat’s head. “You’ve been a busy b... em, girl.”
“Perhaps we should take them to Winnie’s room,” Sophie said.
“Right. We don’t want Mamma to hear them.”
“We’ll need something to carry them... like a basket.”
“Maybe a picnic basket?” Kate rose. “I’m sure I can sneak one past Mrs. John.”
Sophie nodded. “You get the basket. I’ll find Winnie.”
“Won’t she be in her room?”
“Maybe not...” But Sophie had a good idea where the woman would be.
Kate hurried off to retrieve a basket and Sophie started down the corridor. As she’d anticipated, she heard voices coming from the colonel’s room, the door once again left ajar. But now she recognized both voices.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“You’ve nicked me, woman. Sink me, not again.”
She tiptoed to the colonel’s door and peeked inside the room, well lit by candelabra.
There sat Colonel Horton and Winnie at a small table covered in green felt, a glass of something at each elbow, a bowl of nutmeats between them, and a pile of sweets in the middle.
“Enough with these childish stakes. Let’s play for real money.”
“But what would Janet say?” Winnie gave him an impish smile.
He lifted a jar full of coins. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“I’ll take all your money, just as I took all the sweets, and all the buttons.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” The colonel grinned, maniacally wagging his eyebrows. He shook a pair of dice in his meaty hand, and sent them tumbling to the felt.
“Not again. I’ve thrown out.”
Sophie pushed open the door. “Good evening, Colonel. Winnie.”
