Elizabeth broke the seal.
The first line was written in Lady Hortensia's bold hand.
Find those who see, hear and speak without doing any of the three.
Harriet leaned over Elizabeth's shoulder. "What does it mean?"
Elizabeth looked through the dark opening between the hedges. Somewhere beyond the first turn, hidden from view, a bell began to ring.
Lady Hortensia dropped her hand.
"Begin."
The ladies hurried into the maze, Harriet restrained only by Elizabeth's hand upon her arm. Beyond the entrance, the path divided almost at once and the high yew walls closed around them, shutting out the spectators and most of the morning light. The bell continued to sound somewhere ahead, each clear note seeming to come from a different direction as it echoed between the hedges.
"Faces, maybe," said Miss Lacey, looking from one path to the other. "Perhaps a statue."
"Or a carving," said Miss Drummond. "The riddle says, find those who see, hear and speak without doing any of the three."
They chose the path from which the bell sounded loudest and began calling each turn as they went. Clara kept count near the front while Mrs Cartwright repeated the sequence from the rear. Twice they reached dead ends and were forced to retrace their steps, but after several minutes Miss Lacey stopped before three stone faces set into a low wall at the side of the path.
The first covered its eyes, the second its ears and the third its mouth. Beneath each was a small brass bell and an inscription.
The blind face declared,The deaf face speaks truly.
The deaf face declared,The silent face speaks falsely.
The silent face declared,Both the others speak falsely.
A card fixed below them read:
Only one speaks true. Ring the bell beneath the honest face.
A footman stood a short distance away with his hands folded behind his back, his expression carefully blank.
"The blind face cannot be honest," Clara said. "If the deaf face speaks truly, as it claims, then both of them would be telling the truth."
"And the deaf face cannot be honest either," Miss Drummond said. "If the silent face were lying, one of the other two would have to speak truly. It cannot be the blind face without making the deaf face truthful as well."
"Which leaves the silent face," said Jane. "It alone speaks truly, and both the others are false." She rang the bell beneath the face covering its mouth.
The footman bowed, stepped forward and presented Elizabeth with the first purple-ribboned token.
The ladies cheered, but Elizabeth did not allow them to linger. The footman handed her their next instruction, which directed them towards running water, and after several wrong turns they found a narrow channel cutting across the path. A little wooden bridge spanned it, while coloured tiles set into the rail formed a pattern which had to be repeated upon a second board beyond.
Another footman waited beside the station. Mrs Cartwright studied the sequence, crossed the bridge and arranged the second set of tiles correctly after a single look. The footman handed her the token before Miss Lacey had finished sketching the pattern in her notebook.
Their third instruction led them to a small clearing where five painted arrows pointed in different directions, each accompanied by a short verse. A footman waited beneath a nearby tree with the token visible upon his tray, but gave no indication which way they ought to go.
Miss Lacey noticed that one of the signs had been freshly repainted, while Miss Grey recognised the scent of lavender mentioned in one of the verses upon another. Between themthey chose the correct path and found a second footman waiting a little farther on.
"You have chosen correctly, ladies." He surrendered the third token and directed them onwards.
They had just begun congratulating themselves when Amelia's foot slipped at the edge of the path. She gave a cry and caught at the hedge, but Lady Frances seized her arm before she hit the ground. Amelia attempted to take another step and immediately winced.
"My ankle."
The others crowded around her until Elizabeth made them stand back. There was no swelling yet, but Amelia could not put her full weight upon the foot without pain.
