“Ye’re remaining at Duin,” he said firmly. He looked to the servant girl, who had been listening wide-eyed to her master and mistress. “Tell Mistress Jean and Master Matthew to meet me in the hall.” The girl ran off. “I must have a bath before I go. And a meal, and a night’s sleep.”
“I’ll see to it,” Annabella said. “Ah, Angus, I had so looked forward to having ye home wi’ us again.”
He put his arms about her, drawing her into his embrace. She felt warm and inviting, her sable head against his shoulder. He considered for a brief moment eliminating Donal Stewart and his few men. Then he might settle back into anonymity and live his quiet life. Would Moray really miss one of his bastards? He sighed. He was not a man to commit cold-blooded murder. He needed to clear his name. Angus Ferguson was not one of the Queen’s Men; nor would he ever be. Releasing Annabella, he took her hand, and together they descended into the hall.
Matthew Ferguson was deeply concerned that Donal Stewart and his men were imprisoned in the old dungeons of Duin Castle. “Will ye nae bring the wrath of the regent upon us?” he asked his elder brother.
“This is nae an enormous matter. Donal Stewart was dispatched to learn whether I was a traitor, and to slay me if the facts proved it so. Whoever brought this rumor to Moray did so to deliberately add to his difficulties,” Angus responded. “The regent hae many matters concerning him right now. The possible traitorous conduct of an unimportant border lord is of little import to him. He sent his son to handle the matter, and will assume it hae been done. Wi’ luck it will be some weeks before Moray considers the whereabouts and well-being of Donal Stewart. Then he must make inquiries. Only after that will he send someone to Duin. If I am nae back by that time, ye will pretend confusion, and say that Donal Stewart never arrived a second time at Duin. Who is to gainsay ye?”
“This is a dangerous game ye play, brother,” Matthew replied.
“What would ye hae me do?” the earl asked him. “I canna prove my innocence in this matter if I dinna return to France to learn the truth of it. Remember the packet wi’ the de Guise seal, and the coins found amid my possessions. While I am gone ye will see that Donal Stewart and his men are well treated and fed. They are nae my enemies.”
“And dinna let anyone into the dungeons but one or two older male servants who will serve and look after them,” Annabella added. “Make certain they canna be bribed.”
“I know my duty,” Matthew said stiffly.
After the meal, when Angus had gone to enjoy his bath, Jean came to sit by her mistress. “Ye spoke to Matthew as if ye would nae be here yerself to devil him. What mischief are ye planning, my lady?”
“I’m going wi’ Angus,” Annabella said low.
“He will nae hae it,” Jean responded.
Annabella smiled mischievously. “So he hae said. But this time he will need someone watching his back. I canna allow him to go alone. He will nae know until it is nae possible to send me back,” she said. “I shall dress like a young man, and ye must find the garments for me, Jeannie. Angus means to leave in the morning.”
“Ye’re mad!” Jean Ferguson said, but she grinned back. “I’ll help ye.”
“I must slip from the castle early, before Angus does, and then wait upon the road for him to pass me by before I follow him.”
“Annabella, ye hae never traveled but from Rath to Duin and from there to court. It can be dangerous. Ye’ll need a purse until ye can reveal yerself to Angus. And ye canna do that until ye’re upon the high seas,” Jean said.
“I know,” Annabella admitted. She was afraid of what she was going to do, but she had to do it. If Moray learned Angus had fled to France he would take it as an indication of his guilt. And what of whoever had slipped the packet and purse into Angus’s saddlebag? Certainly he was in the employ of the de Guises. If they learned Angus had returned to learn the truth, would they not seek to silence him?
“I wonder if whoever slipped the incriminating evidence into Angus’s saddlebag meant to harm him,” Jean said thoughtfully. “What if they were put there only to get them across the water? What if someone else was supposed to take them to Mary Stuart?”
“That would mean that someone had to be here at Duin, for whoever plotted and planned this could not be certain what vessel Angus would take, or the road he would travel home,” Annabella responded. “The only thing they could be certain of is that he would return to Duin. If Donal Stewart had not been here waiting for him, I suspect the purse and the packet would hae been quietly retrieved. We would have known nothing about it. Has anyone opened the packet to see what message is written inside?”
“Nay,” Jean replied. “I canna believe one of our folk would do such a thing.”
“Mary Stuart has charm. Despite her short stay there was time for someone in her party to convince an impressionable stable lad to such mischief. We must learn who this person is, Jeannie, but first the packet. Where is it?”
“I dinna know,” Jean Ferguson responded. “The last person to have it was Donal Stewart. We will hae to ask him, I fear.” She looked nervously at Annabella. This was a different woman from the one she was used to serving. That Annabella was calm and careful in both her thoughts and her words. This Annabella seemed bolder, even reckless, and yet whatever her mood, Annabella, Countess of Duin, would do whatever she had to do to protect her family, to protect Duin.
“Angus is bathing, and will eat in his apartments before sleeping,” Annabella said. “Matthew spends this time of day with Aggie. We have time before the hall fills for the evening meal. Let us go quickly!” She hurried from the hall, and Jean ran to catch up with her as Annabella made for the door at the end of the corridor that led down into the dungeons. “There will be nae guard on duty,” Annabella said, “for Stewart and his men are securely locked in their cells. Only the menservants who bring them food will come here.” Opening the door, she stepped through onto the landing, and then began to descend.
Jean followed. She found herself surprised by this new and capable Annabella.
At the bottom of the staircase they found themselves in a corridor lit by a flickering torch that sat in a wall holder. There were several doors with grates in them.
Donal Stewart and his half dozen men were housed in four cells at the end of the corridor, which they discovered by looking through each grate into the cells. Finding the Earl of Moray’s man, Annabella called to him to come to the door so they might speak.
Donal Stewart smiled ruefully at her. “Hae ye come to release me, madam?”
Annabella chuckled. “Nay, sir, I hae not. But I do need yer help, if ye will gie it to me, please. My husband is nae a traitor, but here ye must remain until we can prove it. I know that ye were given orders by yer sire that should Duin’s earl prove traitorous ye were to dispatch him wi’out delay,” she said quietly.
Donal Stewart had the good grace to flush guiltily, but he said nothing.
“Such a cut-and-dried order doesna leave room for my husband to prove his innocence,” Annabella said wryly. Then she went on to explain to Donal Stewart that she thought the packet and purse had been slipped into Angus’s saddlebag without his knowledge. That whoever was to take it to Mary Stuart could be certain of only one thing: The Earl of Duin would go home. “It was here wi’ the aid of one of our stable lads that he meant to gain possession of the message and the purse. We will learn which of our lads it was, sir. And we must read the message in the packet. It will surely prove my husband is nae traitor, sir. Where is the packet?”
