Another scream echoed through the house.
Snatching up their shawls, they rushed from the room.
The two footmen stationed outside were already racing down the corridor ahead of them. Together they descended the grand staircase, where chaos had erupted in the entrance hall below.
A young housemaid had collapsed against the banister, face blotched with tears and eyes wild with terror.
‘She... she... sh-she’s dead,’ she gasped between sobs.
Lord Stanley was already there. Catching the maid gently by the shoulders, he steadied her at once.
‘Who is dead?’ he demanded. ‘Tell me—who?’
She pointed a trembling finger towards the servants’ corridor.
‘Mrs Dent.’
A stunned hush swept through the hall.
Servants clustered nervously outside the corridor entrance while, at the far end of the mansion, bedchamber doors began flying open as guests emerged in varying states of alarm and disarray.
‘Have we been robbed?’ Lord Bainbridge demanded loudly.
‘I heard a girl scream,’ Mr Payne added nervously.
‘Eh? What is happening?’ cried Miss Hill.
The hall dissolved into overlapping speculation.
Lord Stanley intervened immediately.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, remain calm. One of the servants suffered a nightmare, nothing more. Please return to your rooms.’
His tone left very little room for argument.
‘Gentlemen,’ he added coolly, ‘perhaps you might assist the ladies.’
Reluctantly, the guests began drifting back upstairs, muttering amongst themselves. Several tense minutes passed before the commotion finally subsided.
Across the hall, Lord Stanley’s gaze found hers instantly.
And in that single look, she understood.
He needed her help.
Moving at once, she stepped forward just as Mrs Wilberforce appeared in the corridor, her night robe billowing behind her like a storm cloud.
‘What is happening?’ she demanded breathlessly.
Charlotte quickly took her arm, steering her away from the servants’ corridor before she could glimpse anything dreadful.
‘Come now,’ she said firmly. ‘There is no need for everyone to crowd the hall. Sarah, would you escort Mrs Wilberforce upstairs?’
But Mrs Wilberforce resisted immediately, her face turning alarmingly pale.
‘I heard the maid scream and say someone was dead—who is it?’
Unlike the other guests, being lodged in the family wing meant she had heard far more.
