When they reached it, they discovered an outcrop of uncleared bedrock jutting out within a few feet of the mansion’s showy frontage, which created a narrow gap. Placing his hands on either side of the wall, Harry peered down. “It’s quite a steep slope, but if we can reach the wooded ravine below, we’ll be safe.” He dusted his hands. “But it’s dangerous. We’ll have to go carefully. Do you think you can manage it?”
“I can.” Cecily had no intention of staying here alone while he went for help. Nor would she let Harry down. She turned to Margaret’s ghost, sure now who it was. But the specter faded before their eyes. “Thank you for helping us, Lady Margaret.” No sooner were her words out than the last lingering vestige of the spirit vanished into nothingness.
“She’s gone.”
“Seems like it,” Harry said briskly. He stripped off his overcoat. “Put this on.”
“No! You’ll be cold.”
“I’m a warm-blooded fellow.” A brief grin lifted his lips. “And it will protect you from the rocks on the way down.” He held it out and shook it impatiently. “It’s not wise to stand around here arguing the point, Cecily.”
She slipped her arms through the sleeves, which covered her hands. Harry rolled them up. The coat which reached Harry’s knees swirled around her ankles.
No sooner did he do up the buttons, than a roar of ghostly outrage shattered the quiet.
“Off we go,” Harry said as if through his teeth. “I’ll go first.” He stepped onto the steep slope, sending an avalanche of rocks scattering down into the inky blackness.
Far beneath them, the dark stand of forest looked forbidding and unreachable.
He steadied himself on the slope and wedged his foot solidly into place before holding up his hand to help her.
Cecily swallowed nervously and took hold, her foot searching for purchase among the loose rocks and slippery vegetation littering the slope.
Over their heads, two ghostly horses with specters on their backs leaped into the air and vanished.
Harry’s hand tightened around hers in a deathlike grip. He uttered a vulgar word that, in normal circumstances, she would not forgive. Nor did he apologize as they ventured, crablike, down into the dark.
Chapter Five
As the sunrose, the sky turned pink and gold. Harry and Cecily safely reached a narrow ledge above the trees and huddled there to gain their breath. Above them, the castle loomed, silent and sinister. Harry had admired its stark beauty, but no longer. Now it appeared malevolent. Where did the two ghosts riding phantom horses leap to? Would they vanish back into the castle in daylight?
He sat and wrapped his arms around his knees. “As I told you, I learned from my friend Brian about the ancient and powerful Pomeroy family who owned the castle and village since the fifteenth century. As the legend goes, for their part in the religious rebellion of 1549, Edward VI ordered the seizure of the castle. But when troops arrived to enforce the order, the two Pomeroy brothers who held it donned their armor, blindfolded their horses, and spurred them over the ramparts, where they crashed to their deaths.”
“Oh, how horrible? They must have been the ghosts we saw.”
He nodded. “It would appear so.”
“What happened to the castle after that?”
“The King’s Protector, Edward Seymour, acquired it. He was executed in 1552. Then his son by the same name lived there. They extended it and were the ones who added the manor house. But after lightning struck it in 1685, they abandoned it.”
“And it became the moldering ruin it is today,” Cecily said, sounding mournful.
“Yes, left to the sad ghosts.”
“I hope we did what Lady Margaret wished,” Cecily said. “She was so beautiful, and to be trapped in the dungeons by her cruel, jealous sister until she died makes me want to cry.”
“We did what we could. No sense in dwelling on it. We must relegate it to the past,” he said hastily, not wanting to see her upset. “You were very brave,” he added, and he meant it. What a wonderful girl! He didn’t think he’d meet another to equal her if he lived to be a hundred. But in two days, he’d be back in London. And some other chap would snap her up soon enough. Her mother wouldn’t consider him for Cecily’s husband after this, anyway, should Cecily even wish to marry him. Especially as he had so little to offer. He stood up and stamped his cold feet, surprised to find his thoughts wandering down this path. And by how much it suddenly seemed to matter.
“It was because you were with me.” She rose, smiled at him, then shook out her skirts. “I think I could face anything with you at my side, Harry.”
He grinned, suddenly light-hearted and relieved that he hadn’t let her down. That she was safe. He stretched wearily and pointed. “I can see a trail among the trees. It might lead to the road.”
Scrambling down the last of the rocky slope, they joined the trail. Their footsteps stirred up the forest smells of leaf mulch and bark and sent birds flapping away. This, he was familiar with, and it made him feel much more like himself. But he was wearier than he’d ever been in his life, and Cecily was, too. If only they could stop to rest, but he feared if he dropped off, he’d sleep until nightfall!
She sighed heavily, her small hand in his. “I’m not looking forward to going home.”
“I’d sell my soul for a plate of bacon and eggs.” He winked at her to make her laugh.
