“Birdie. My heart nearly stopped when I saw you in there.” He drew in a ragged breath. “I have to help put out the fire. Take her away, Higgins. Stay clear. If something happens to her, Higgins, I’ll make you personally responsible.”
The old man swallowed nervously, then clamped his claw of a hand around Birdie’s arm. “Come with me, Your Grace.”
Birdie let him take her to the library. She pushed the curtains aside so she could watch the men put out the fire. Her head ached and her throat was raw from the smoke.
Where had all those men been previously? Birdie wondered. Where had they come from? The village had been empty. Now they all gathered in the courtyard, passing buckets of water under Gabriel’s orders. Many of them saw him for the first time. Even some women helped. They threw him odd, mistrusting glances, but did not question his authority here.
They put out the fire; however, the building was not salvaged. It burned out entirely; the roof collapsed, and the fragile structure gaped at them sadly with black, empty windows and doors.
Birdie saw Eilidh in the crowd and gestured to her. She came after a moment of hesitation.
“Your Grace.” She avoided her eyes.
“Eilidh.”
She struggled visibly. Then she met Birdie’s eyes. “Thank you for saving my son’s life. We were told to stay away from the castle. Now we know why.”
“Are you saying someone set fire to the building on purpose?”
Eilidh nodded.
“But why? Why would someone do this? It’s meant to be for the children.” Birdie felt a helpless rage well up in her.
“You have to find and punish whoever did this.”
Birdie walked up and down the library, wringing her hands. “Yes. But who? Who’d do something so despicable?”
“I don’t know. I’m so sorry, ma’am,” Eilidh whispered.
“I’m sorry too. We will find another room to teach the children,” Birdie told Eilidh. “The main thing is that no one got hurt.”
Eilidh’s eyes looked troubled. She went to the door, but before she left, said, “I will return to the castle, and Ally will, too. I think Mrs Gowan also intends to return. But the others won’t.”
“Won’t you tell me why?”
Eilidh shook her head. “It is not for me to say. There has always been bad blood between the village people and the old duke. Some men object to it.”
That was what Higgins had said earlier as well. “Thank you, Eilidh,” Birdie said, utterly exhausted by the day’s events.
Birdie took a long bath and scrubbed the smoke out of her skin. Miraculously, she had not a single scar on her body. She dressed in a warm woollen dress. Her throat was still sore, and she drank the elm tea that Cook had sent up.
They had indeed returned, the servants. Birdie frowned. Where was Gabriel? He’d worked as hard as any of the other men earlier. She’d seen him, with rolled-up shirtsleeves, drag crates and barrels out of the adjoining buildings. He’d looked like any of them.
Someone scratched at the door. “His Grace wants to talk to you in the drawing room,” Higgins announced after he entered.
“Thank you, Higgins.” Birdie ran light-footed up the stairs to the drawing room, where Gabriel was waiting for her.
Chapter 18
Gabriel leaned with one arm against the fireplace as he stared into the fire.
He, too, had taken a bath, and his hair was still damp. He wore a dark-blue coat and breeches and looked every inch a duke. Pride swelled in her. Despite his protestations of not caring, when there was need, when there was an emergency, he’d stepped in like the leader he was, without hesitation. As she always knew he would.
“You won’t believe it, Gabriel,” she said as she rushed up to him, “but I do believe the villagers are plotting against us. Did you notice that there were no servants at all earlier in the morning? That is, aside from Eilidh, Ally, and the cook. I thought at first it was your terrible reputation as the castle beast, scaring everyone away.”
Gabriel looked at her, a serious expression in his eyes. He was not smiling.
“I was joking, of course.” She lifted his hand and kissed it. “It is a terrible joke, Gabriel. You know I love you dearly and wouldn’t want you looking any other way?” She smiled.
