“No,” Cordelia said, jumping off of her bed and putting on her robe. She came closer to him, still holding her umbrella, but this time like a baseball bat. He breathed in her beautiful, flowery scent. She pointed again to the paneling with the umbrella. “She was wearing white and just stood over me. Looking at me. Then I screamed, and the woman walked to the wall and disappeared inside of it.”
“She disappeared in the wall?”
“There must be some way through,” Cordelia said, her voice raising higher. “I am not mad. She must know of a secret door or passageway into the room.”
“Good idea,” Thomas said. He gently knocked on the paneling every few inches until he heard a hollow sound. He knocked on the wall just adjacent to it and there was a muffled thud, then again in the place where he’d heard the hollow sound—there was something behind that section of the wall.
“I think it must be this panel,” he said, his hands pressing against the wall, trying to find the spring to open it. He pushed it with his shoulder, but it didn’t even budge.
“May I try?”
“Of course,” Thomas said, moving out of the way.
She didn’t touch the hollow part of the wall but looked at it intently, her eyes taking in every carving and detail. Then her gaze raked over the entire wall. Thomas almost believed that he could see her thoughts turning behind her eyes. Cordelia pointed to a carving of an ash tree—the symbol of the Ashby family. It was emblazoned on their coat of arms. Cordelia’s mother had even had it embroidered on Cordelia’s underclothing.
“Try pressing it,” Thomas urged.
Cordelia kneeled down and touched the trunk of the ash tree.
Nothing happened.
Thomas sighed in annoyance and leaned against the paneling. It suddenly swung forward, revealing a dark corridor. He swayed and almost toppled over, but Cordelia caught his arm and steadied him. Thomas leaned his head into the secret passage, but it was completely black inside.
“Should we see where it leads?” Cordelia asked.
“I can’t see anything.”
“We’ll need a candle,” she said.
He watched her take an ornamental candle off her mantle and light it in the embers of the fire. She held it out before her as she walked toward him.
“Aren’t you frightened?”
Cordelia shook her head. “Not anymore. I’m not at all frightened when we are together.”
“You’re very brave,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if I am terrified for you or for me, but I am definitely frightened.”
“I’ll hold your hand if that helps.”
Thomas intertwined his fingers with hers. “It does, thank you.”
Holding the candle in front of them, they walked down the dark pathway to the stairs. They climbed the narrow spiral staircase, up and up, until they reached a wall.
“I suppose we need to press something again,” Thomas muttered. “Another ash tree, do you suppose?”
“There.” Cordelia pointed to the wall where a singular leaf was carved. She pressed her fingers against it and then pushed the wall with her other hand. Again, there was a secret door carved right within the wall. They walked through the opening onto a carpeted floor, in a room with a lower ceiling.
“Where are we?” Thomas asked aloud, more to himself than to Cordelia.
“Somewhere in the female servants’ quarters,” she answered.
“How can you tell?”
“The carpet,” Cordelia said softly. “You picked it out for the entire second floor.”
Thomas tried to orient himself. He hadn’t spent much time on the second floor. He’d always respected his servants’ privacy and stayed clear of it. He walked onto the carpet, taking the candle and holding it high in the air. They were in the middle of the second floor between the two wings—the original abbey and the addition his great-great-grandfather had added. This corridor separated them, which meant that the stairs were only around the corner. He walked quickly and shined the light down the stairs—he saw no one.
“I suppose we’ve lost whoever it was,” Cordelia said from behind him.
