Berating herself, Patience lowered her eyes. It would do no good to antagonise her gaolers now or she might be dragged away before she’d had a chance to eat. Knowing she had to have some sustenance if she wished to keep up her strength, she sat mutely and helped herself to a hunk of bread.
After locking the door leading back to the rooms they’d just come through, Cavendish grunted to his companion and disappeared into the dim corridor that led to their dressing room and bedchamber. After one last look around, Mrs Trenchant went after him. ‘You’ve got ten minutes,’ she warned, still scratching. Chewing her bread, Patience suddenly spied a pin begin to dislodge itself from the matron’s hair, obviously nudged loose with the woman’s constant itching. Heart in her mouth, hardly daring to breath, Patience watched her walk towards the door, willing the pin to fall before their gaoler reached it. For a second, she thought it wouldn’t, then, holding her candle high in the air, Mrs Trenchant gave a last look back into the room. ‘Ten minutes,’ she reiterated. When she turned back, the pin was no longer there.
As the door slammed and the key turned in the lock, Patience feverishly scanned the floor for any sign of where the pin had dropped. Almost weeping, she slipped off the end of the bench and got down on her hands and knees.
‘Wot the bloody ‘ell d’yer think yer doing?’ grumbled Lolly as Patience scrabbled around her feet.
‘She’s lost it; din’t take long,’ shrugged Bess, helping herself to some more cheese.
The other two simply sat and watched, nonplussed but sensing the young woman hadn’t suddenly become addled.
Abruptly, Patience gave a triumphant cry and held her prize up in the air.
‘What have you got there miss?’ queried Kate with a puzzled frown.
‘Our way out,’ whispered Patience climbing to her feet.
Hoisting up her dress, she ran over to one of the windows and pulled the candle out of its wax base. Then she handed it to Bess.
‘Quickly,’ she hissed, pulling the woman off the bench and towards the outer door. ‘Shine the light on the lock,’ she ordered, ‘and hold it still.’
‘Ouch, it’s burning me bloody ‘and,’ Bess grumbled as Patience bent towards the lock.
‘This won’t take long.’ She took a deep breath and focused all her attention on the lock, pushing the pin in carefully and turning it gently as John had taught her. After a mere half a minute, the lock clicked, and Patience hurriedly pulled open the door. Then she turned her head back towards the others who were still seated staring at her in astonishment. ‘Are you coming?’ she questioned with a fierce grin.
∞∞∞
Bamford ordered Mrs Trenchant to bring him a bowl of hot water and a bottle of brandy as he reclined in his specially adapted bedchamber. Eying the sumptuous hangings that decorated the central point of his most private sanctum, the Earl smiled in satisfaction.
When he’d first locked Edith away, he hadn’t even imagined the possibility of creating his own private brothel. His wife he had no interest in of course. From the onset she was an insipid creature, much given to swooning when he paid her attention. Indeed, he’d been more than happy to turn elsewhere for his pleasures once her dowry was in his possession, and if the stupid baggage hadn’t been so deuced religious, insisting he kept to his vows, he’d have been more than happy to simply ignore her.
As it was, he’d had no choice when she threatened to make his particular … appetites public. Short of getting rid of her permanently like he had his previous two wives, a private asylum was the next best thing. Unfortunately, the doctors in the first home he’d placed Edith in had begun making noises to have her freed and had the support of her interfering family. Naturally, that had been the last thing he wanted.
Bamford chuckled to himself. It had taken him a while to transform Farfield Place but once he had, he’d wasted no time in spiriting Edith away. The look on her parents’ faces when they discovered her gone had been priceless. And then his particular preferences had led him to the other inmates. There was something delicious about paying back those who spurned his advances. Here, in this place he was God.
And now he was making Guildford pay. He laughed out loud as he stripped off his shirt. The poor sap would never know what happened to his whey-faced doxy, and neither would her family. Guildford might have taken back the diamond, but at what cost?
Bamford felt an undeniable stirring between his legs. When he ravished Patience Shackleford this night, he would imagine Guildford looking on.
∞∞∞
‘Ow did yer do that?’ breathed Bess, sticking her head through the open door as though she expected it to lead to some mythical realm.
‘Never mind,’ Patience replied. ‘We have minutes at best before Mrs Trenchant comes back. If we push the table against the door, it will give us a little more time. Come on.’
She urged the other women to help her shove the table towards the door through which their gaolers had disappeared. ‘Where will we go?’ grunted Kate breathlessly as they strained to move the heavy piece of furniture. Before Patience could answer, there came the ominous sound of a key turning in the lock.
Looking round wildly, Patience grabbed the second candle from the other windowsill and ran towards the shadowed room behind her. The women wasted no time in further argument, and she shepherded them through, all the while looking back at the blocked door. The moment Cavendish realised there was an object in the way, he gave a bellow and shoved his shoulder against the wood. Inexorably the table began to slide back with a loud screech.
‘Blast and bugger their eyes,’ muttered Patience realising that the table would not keep the giant out for more than seconds. Suddenly, Beatrix pushed past her, grabbing the candle from her startled hand. Screaming, the older woman thrust the burning wick at Cavendish’s head as he stuck it through the narrow opening. With a roar, he pulled back, his hair beginning to smoulder.
With a hysterical sob, Beatrix flung the candle directly at the table. It bounced off and hit the floor where the rushes covering the bare stone immediately caught fire. Eyes already beginning to smart from the smoke, Patience grabbed Beatrix’s hand and pulled her towards the open door where the others cowered. The draft carrying from the empty rooms beyond fanned the flames, and in less than half a minute, the table was alight.
‘Come on,’ panted Patience, pulling at her stunned companions and slamming the door behind them. The meagre light from the small windows high up in the wall was hardly enough to see by, and they wasted precious seconds fumbling with the door that would lead them to the next room. Smoke was beginning to billow under the door of the room they’d just left by the time Patience finally managed to wrench the next door open. As one, they rushed towards yet another door. Kate got there first. ‘It’s locked,’ she moaned turning towards Patience.
By now they could hear the enraged roars from Cavendish as he sought to move the burning table far enough for him to enter their eating chamber. Bending down, Patience tried to blank out the sound of the giant and the acrid smell of burning that was already following them from room to room. If she couldn’t pick this lock, they would all die.
∞∞∞
