After a moment’s pause, Mrs. Campbell returned the way she came.
“Thank goodness.”
A laugh sounded behind her, and she twirled to find the friendly maid she’d encountered earlier. “Hattie?”
“Mattie, ma’am.”
“Yes, sorry, Mattie.”
“It’s all right, my lady. Don’t mind Mrs. Campbell. Ever since the former mistress died, she thinks she runs the place.”
Anne smiled at the girl’s forthrightness. “Well, I suppose she basically does.”
“Not any longer, my lady. Now that you’re here. Don’t let her bully you. I think you’re just the right medicine to bring his lordship out of his doldrums.”
Anne really liked this girl. “Mattie, tell me. Do you know about the secret passageway?”
She cocked her head, and Anne admired her dark, lustrous curls. She would find some of her decorative hairpins to give the girl.
“I heard Greene talking about it once to his lordship, but I don’t know exactly where it is. Something about it being in plain sight, whatever that means.”
Anne thanked the girl, resolved to make sure Colin paid her well and, confirming Mrs. Campbell no longer trailed behind, left to explore and find the hidden passageway.
“Now where and why would someone want to hide?” Anne mused as she peeked into the various parlors. She could think ofseveral reasons why. If there were also places hidden to peek and listen through, it would be an ideal place to spy on someone. Or perhaps ways to travel from place-to-place unseen. Or that led to a hidden room where they kept their victims chained to the wall.
She gave a little shudder, hoping she wouldn’t find such a room. A ghost knight was enough to worry about.
Rather than start with the obvious places one would wish to eavesdrop, Anne returned to the sunny blue parlor where Colin had reprimanded the servants and then shared tea with her.
It certainly seemed innocuous. But wouldn’t that be the best place to design such a secret hiding place? Where no one would suspect? Delicate flowers comprised the subtle design of the wallpaper, and Anne was quick to note that there were many circular shapes to disguise a peephole. With slow, careful sweeps, she ran her hands along the wall, probing with her fingers for any slight indentation or raised anomaly. Only when she’d reached the end of the first quarter did she realize that such a device would probably be at a greater height than her own. Perhaps that would be why Colin told the girls it was dangerous. If they used something to stand on, like a chair, it could tip over and injure them.
She also pressed her hands against the areas where the wallpaper seams joined, hoping to find a hidden panel—to no avail.
After checking two additional parlors, she grew weary but not discouraged. There were still many rooms yet unexplored, and she devised a plan to approach them systematically, going between one innocuous room to an obvious one such as the library or Colin’s study. But she would have to be careful and find a way to lure Colin away so she wouldn’t be caught where she was forbidden to go.
Colin passedthe solarium on the way back to his study. The girls sat at a long table in the sunny room, working on what Colin presumed were their lessons. Ellie’s tongue poked out as she typically did when concentrating.
“Much better, Ellie,”Miss Hart said.
His youngest daughter peered up at her teacher and beamed. Then Colin caught her eye. “Papa!”
“Sorry to interrupt, but may I have that word, Miss Hart?”
Miss Hart nodded, said a few words to the girls about continuing their penmanship lessons, and approached.
Twin lines formed on the woman’s forehead, her normally congenial countenance a mask of worry. “Will you be dismissing me, my lord?”
Dismissing?“Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Now that you’ve remarried, I thought perhaps Lady Manning would be in charge of the girls’ education.”
Colin choked back a laugh at the things Anne would most likely teach his daughters. But he hadn’t considered the possibility that Anne might like to take a more active role in his daughters’ lives. They would have to discuss it. Unwilling to commit either way, he couched his answer carefully and left the matter open. “We have no such plans at this time. However, I wished to speak with you regarding another matter.”
His response did little to assuage Miss Hart’s obvious unease, but, like the excellent governess she was, she waited patiently.
“First, thank you for welcoming my wife with such warmth. Understand that I did not direct my earlier comments to the staff toward you. However, I had no wish to single out anyone in particular.”
“You speak of Greene and Mrs. Campbell.”
