“In fact,” Mel admitted, “The servants have seldom seen the women. However, for years, they have been expected to feed and clean up after men who seem to have no other task except to linger in one part of the mansion.
“It was the tower for a while, then an isolated wing of the house, and now it is the cellars. They provide more food than even hungry men can eat, and must clean twice as many rooms with beds as there are men.”
Twenty or more men at present, the cook had told them. She could not be certain of the exact numbers, for they kept to themselves. But since the brothers had escaped the tower, she and the other servants who supported her had been counting those they saw when they cleaned or delivered food.
Mel continued, “The occasional glimpse of women who should not be there, being led from the guarded areas to the marquess’s bedchamber has just confirmed their suspicions.”
“The women must be aging after more than ten years,” Dellborough commented.
“He replaces them regularly,” Mel explained.
“What does that mean, ‘replaces them’?” the Duchess of Dellborough asked, leaning forward. “Could we perhaps ask the retired women to tell what happened to them at Teign’s hands?”
Mel shook her head. “According to what the servants have overheard, most women die within a few months. They are buried in the cellars. The survivors are sold to brothels when the marquess and his confederates have too many new womenfor the available space.”After their warders have had the use of them.
“If we can prove any of this,” said Kempbury, “we can demand that the king take action. But how?”
“We have the beginnings of an idea,” said Baldwin. “We think we need to rescue the women, and we need to do it as secretly as possible, and with highly reputable witnesses, so that Teign is facing the accusations of his peers.”
“The key to our plan is that Teign is currently keeping his victims in the cellars,” Allan added. “And we have a hidden way into the cellars.
