“I believe so. I am also completely certain now that this was written by my grandfather.” Closing the notebook, he stared down at it for a moment before saying, “Reading it was like listening to his voice.” He fell silent, and it looked as though he was pondering something. “He and Duncaster perished at sea after unexpectedly setting out together without a moment’s notice. I never understood it, but now...”
“You think The Electors might have realized what they were up to?”
Looking up, he met her gaze and nodded. “More than that, I am beginning to suspect that their deaths were not accidental.”
“I... I am sorry.” As lame as that sounded, she could think of nothing else, except perhaps attempting to push the unwelcome melancholy aside with a question that formed at the front of her mind. “There are four Cardinals though, so if your grandfather and Lord Duncaster were two of them, then who were the two others?”
“I have no idea,” Richard said. A frown creased his forehead. “It would have had to be men that they trusted—close friends of theirs, I would imagine.”
“Can you think of anyone?”
He shook his head. “No. Not at the moment.” He took a sip of his tea. “Shall we see what else we can find while we are here?”
Acknowledging that their time together in the villa was limited, Mary nodded. She’d looked forward to exploring their find in greater detail, and with the added light that Richard had provided, the opportunity to do so presently was one that she did not wish to pass up. So she placed her hand in his without hesitation, allowing him to help her to her feet. A buzz of energy shot through her fingers and up her arm the moment they came into contact. Her breath caught, and a light-headed dizziness overcame her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, steadying her on her feet, his hand slipping toward her elbow so he could offer her better support.
“Perfectly so,” she said, even as the buzzing sensation persisted, making her insides flutter in response to his sudden closeness. Was it normal to feel both ecstatic and ill at the same time? Inhaling deeply, she caught a whiff of his scent, which in turn reminded her of what it was like to be held in his arms... for him to place his lips against hers... “I just...”
“I know,” he said as he turned her toward him. With a slight nudge, he tilted her chin, whispering, “I feel it too,” right before he lowered his mouth over hers.
The caress was sweet, infused with the rich flavor of vanilla and marzipan. Winding her arms around his neck, Mary savored every second of it as she pulled him closer, surrendering to the beauty of the moment just long enough to convey to him what was in her heart. As she lowered her arms to embrace him, she turned her cheek into his shoulder and secured herself in his strength while he in turn placed his chin against the top of her head. His hand stroked a gentle rhythm up and down her spine. It was wonderfully soothing.
“Shall we take a look at the other rooms down here and venture beyond the stairs?” Richard asked after a while.
“Mmmm,” Mary murmured. If only she could have stayed like that forever. But they had to get moving if they were to take a closer look at the villa before it was time for her to return to Thorncliff. So she reluctantly pulled away and helped him gather up the remains of their picnic.
Returning to the hallway, they set the picnic-basket down and grabbed a lantern before approaching the first unexplored room to the left of the stairs. Pushing down on the door handle, Richard nudged the door open and peered inside. “It looks like a bedchamber,” he said as he held up the lantern and stepped inside.
Mary followed, squinting her eyes until they adjusted to the dimmer light. There appeared to be two beds, each pushed up against opposite walls and with two bedside tables between them. The walls were completely bare, the only other furnishings a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. “It does not look as if this room was ever used very much,” she said as she followed Richard over to the chest of drawers, staying close to the light. Leaning forward, she watched as he pulled open a drawer, revealing a pile of neatly folded shirts, two pairs of breeches, stockings and cravats.
“I agree. It seems as though it was only intended to be used in case of an emergency—a means by which The Cardinals could seek shelter if the need to do so arose.”
“Whereas the study and the sitting room appeared to be more personal.”
“Precisely.” Moving toward the bedside table, Richard pulled open its drawer as well, but as he did so, a piece of paper slipped out from beneath the drawer and drifted onto the floor.
Chapter13
Picking up the paper, Richard began to read.
“What does it say?” Mary asked from somewhere behind him.
He shook his head, reread the letter again. “This...” He stared down at the swirling script, so prettily penned... “This is from The South Wind,” he said, his words floating somewhere above him as if they belonged to no one.
An extended period of silence followed, and then, “Can I see it?”
The question pulled Richard out of his reveries and back into the present. “Of course,” he said, handing it to Mary.
“It is in French,” she said, almost immediately.
Just one of the clues revealing the true identity of the person who’d written the letter.
“Judging from the form, I would say that it was written by a woman, and with the subject matter in mind... considering what we have learned from the notebook, I think it is fair to say that this letter was sent as a warning of what awaited the French aristocracy. In fact, it almost sounds like a plea for help.” She paused. “But the mention of a box and the importance it seems to have in the context of the French revolution, makes little sense to me. If these people—”
“The box is of great value,” Richard said. He watched as Mary glanced back down at the letter, rereading the part that mentioned the box.
A faint crease appeared upon her brow. “It is described as having the image of a meadow and a shepherdess watching her sheep, carved into it. The sides are supposedly edged with mother-of-pearl.” She looked up at him, her eyes widening with surprise. “You know the box that is being referenced, perhaps even who it belongs to.”
