Aunt Dimity and the Duke (22 page)

Derek saw the rope. He lunged for it, and Emma leapt to help him as he dug his heels into the rocky ground, hauling fiercely, hand over hand, his muscles straining against his rain-drenched shirt. The rope bit into Emma’s palms and fell in coils behind her, but she looked only at the point where it slithered slowly over the cliff’s edge.

All at once, a hand came into view, white-knuckled, clinging to the rope. Then Peter’s face appeared, and as his shoulders rose into the light, Emma saw that he was tied fast to the limp and pallid form of Mattie.

Derek eased them onto solid ground, then flicked his penknife open and cut the rope. As the light began to fade, he hugged his son, kicked the wheelbarrow aside, and shoved the boy toward Emma, who swept him into the safety of the chapel, where she held him at arm’s length, scarcely believing that he was alive and in one piece.

Peter wobbled slightly on his feet, blinked dazedly, then stiffened. His mouth fell open and he tried to raise his arm to point, but his eyes rolled back in his head and he tumbled, fainting, into Emma’s arms. Emma glanced over her shoulder as Derek stumbled in, carrying Mattie, and in the last fluorescence of the fading light, she thought she saw the lady in the window, clad in white.

22

The moment Derek closed the back door, Grayson, Gash, and Newland came barreling into the chapel. They’d been struggling with the front door for some time, their efforts hampered by flapping slickers and the blankets they were carrying.

“Dear old Kate,” Grayson said, draping a blanket across Emma’s shoulders. “Jolly brilliant of her to think of the flares, what?”

Shivering, Emma pulled the blanket tightly around her. She’d tried to get a clearer look at the window, but the lights, and everyone’s attention, were focused on Mattie, who lay on the rear bench, unconscious. “Grayson—” Emma murmured.

“Hush.” Grayson squeezed her shoulder and turned to watch Newland, who was crouching beside Mattie, checking her pulse. “Not a word, my dear, not until we’ve got you all back in the hall.” Newland looked up and Grayson nodded. “Right, then. Everyone ready? Off we go.”

Derek cradled Peter in his arms, Gash and Newland carried a blanket-wrapped Mattie between them, and Grayson put an unexpectedly strong arm around Emma’s waist as they left the chapel to face the storm once more. Emma felt lightheaded, and she moved through the mud and the pelting rain on legs that had turned to rubber. The castle ruins closed around her, then fell away, and the light in the dining-room windows hovered like a dream on a distant horizon.

Kate and Hallard were there, bearing ornate candelabras, since the electricity was still off, and they led the motley parade to the library, where Dr. Singh was waiting. Chilled to the bone, Emma told Grayson to go ahead with the others, then made her solitary way up the darkened staircase and through the silent corridors to her room, oddly comforted by her ability to find her way without a light to guide her.

The rose suite was warm and dry and quiet. Emma let the rain-soaked blanket slide from her shoulders, dried her glasses on the quilted coverlet, then knelt on the hearth and fumbled with numb fingers to start a fire. She gave up, finally, pulled the coverlet from the bed, and huddled beneath it, too exhausted to move. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she was aroused from her stupor by the sound of a voice from the hallway.

“Emma, honey. It’s me, Syd. You think maybe you could get the door?”

Syd Bishop’s candles were balanced on a round tray. “Room service,” he announced, placing the tray on the low table between the pair of overstuffed armchairs. “Hot coffee, and a bowl of chicken soup. I’d go straight to hell if I was to say it’s as good as my grandma‘s, God rest her soul, but I’m tellin’ ya, Madama musta stole her recipe.” He filled a cup with steaming coffee and handed it to Emma, wincing when he saw her bloodied knuckles. “Ouch. Caught yourself pretty good there, huh? And what are you doin’, sittin’ here all this time in wet clothes? C’mon. Let’s get you changed before you catch pneumonia.”

Syd’s years behind the scenes at fashion shows had not been wasted. He knew how women’s clothing worked and was disarmingly matter-of-fact about nudity. He stripped off Emma’s dripping clothes and tucked her into her blue robe, wrapped a towel around her head, and sat her in an armchair without spilling a drop of her coffee or bringing the faintest blush to her cheek.

The coffee had revived her and the scent of chicken soup proved irresistible. While Syd bent to start a fire, Emma emptied the bowl, then sat back, wishing there was more. Her hand was sore and her knees were beginning to ache, and she knew she’d be stiff later on, but at that moment, with a bowl of warm soup inside her and a second cup of coffee to sip, a soft chair to sink into and a fire beginning to crackle at her feet, she felt as though she’d washed ashore in paradise.

“Is Peter all right?” she asked, as Syd settled into the other chair.

“Petey-boy? He’s gonna be just fine after he gets a little shut-eye. I’m tellin’ you, Emma, I’m so proud of that kid, I could bust.” He turned to pour a cup of coffee for himself. “He saved Mattie’s life, you know.”

“No, Syd,” said Emma. “I don’t know. What was she doing out there?”

“Tryin’ to off herself.” Syd nodded, picked up his cup and saucer, leaned back in his chair. “Crowley found a note.”

“Oh, no,” Emma whispered.

“Yeah, I know. Terrible thing. Terrible. Such a young girl. She’s gonna be okay, though. Busted her arm and banged herself up pretty good, but the doc, he says she’ll be fine.”

“But
why?”

“Didn’t know how to explain things to Crowley. Didn’t want her old grandpa to be ashamed of her.” Syd paused to drink from his cup, then looked toward Emma. “She’s the one what clobbered Suzie.”

“Mattie?”

“That’s what the note was about. There was pages and pages of it and, I’m tellin’ ya, it was a real eye-opener.” Syd put his cup on the tray, folded his hands across his stomach, and sighed. “Mattie had her heart set on goin’ into the industry,” he began. “She was crazy about Suzie, real thrilled about meetin’ a pro. So, when Suzie told her to come to the chapel garden that morning, and to keep everything hush-hush so Nanny Cole’s nose wouldn’t be put outta joint ...”

...
I couldn’t say no, Granddad.
Mattie paused to listen for a moment, then smiled. It was much too late for anyone to be knocking on her door. It was only the wind that had disturbed her, rising to a keening wail outside the window of her room. Such a nice room. She’d cleaned it from top to bottom after supper, and put her things neatly on the dresser, where Granddad could find them and send them home to Mum afterward. Now all that remained was the note. Mattie chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen, then bent to her task once more.

I put all my sketches together and packed my blue bag with the dress Nanny helped me make—the cripe de chine, with all the tucks. Nanny says it’s my best one yet, but I wanted a professional opinion, so I just had to show it to Ashers. And then I thought about accessories. You know how strict Nanny is about them, but I didn’t think my dress needed too much fuss and feathers, as Nanny calls it. The right pair of shoes would be enough.
Mattie raised her pen from the paper and looked toward the windows again. The wind was blowing harder than ever, and that was good. It would make everything easier.

“She snuck the shoes outta Suzie’s room,” Syd explained, shaking his head. “Poor kid thought it’d be real impressive to show her dress with Suzie’s shoes.”

I put the shoes in the bag with the dress, Mattie wrote, and told Nanny I was going down to help Madama. Then I told Madama I was going up to help Nanny. Then I came out to the garden, where Ashers was waiting. I know you don’t like Ashers, but she was wonderful, at first. She said I had a real eye for detail and she told me she could put me in touch with all the right people. Can you imagine? I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
Mattie reread the last sentence, then scratched it out.

I was very happy, she wrote instead, until Ashers started asking those questions. You know, the ones she was asking Mr. Harris, about that grotty band that stole His Grace’s boat. I told her I didn’t know anything about it, but she said that you did, and told me to ask you.

I couldn’t do that. I tried to be nice about it, but Ashers kept after me, just the same way she kept after Mr. Harris. She got really mean, Granddad. She started shouting at me. She called you a thief. She said she’d have you put in prison if I didn’t help her..
Mattie’s hand began to tremble and she reached for her cup of cocoa to steady her nerves. This was the hard part.

“Things kinda got outta hand,” Syd went on. “One minute Suzie’s standin’ at the top of the stairs, laughin’ at the kid, and, the next thing Mattie knows, she’s got the grub hoe in her hands and Suzie’s out cold on the ground.”

I didn’t mean to hurt her
. Mattie underlined the words.
I just wanted her to stop saying all those awful things about you. And then she was lying there, not moving, and I knew I’d done a dreadful thing. Not just dreadful for me, but for everyone.

You never talk about it, Granddad, and neither does Nanny Cole, but Mrs. Tharby at the Bright Lady told me how bad it was after that rock singer drowned, and I knew this would be even worse. I didn’t mind going to jail, but His Grace might have to close up the hall if the newspaper people started coming round again, and I couldn’t let that happen. You’ve been so happy here.

So I tried to make it look like an accident. You can probably guess how. I broke one of Ashers’s high-heeled shoes, and took off the flats she was wearing. I put the high heels on Ashers and hid her flats in my bag. I put the flats back in her room the next day.
Mattie put down her pen, and reread what she’d written, then turned to stare at her reflection in the window. It had begun to rain.

“All the time Suzie was in Plymouth, it was grindin’ away at Mattie,” Syd said. “And when they brought Suzie back to the hall, she kinda cracked. Said it’d all come out once Suzie got her memory back, so she might as well save everyone the trouble of a trial. And she hadda tell her grandpa the truth, so he could tell the police so nobody else would get blamed for it. Also so he’d know how sorry she was for what she done and not be too mad at her for ... for not sayin’ goodbye.” Syd sighed again and shook his head, adding softly, “Kids.”

That one word summed up Emma’s complex feelings. She should have known something was bothering Mattie the moment the poor child fainted in the entrance hall. “Do you think they’d let me see her?” Emma asked.

“Nah,” said Syd. “She’s out cold, and so’s Crowley. Nurse Tharby thought he was havin’ a cardiac when he came staggering into Suzie’s room with all them scribbly pages. Poor guy.” Syd leaned over and punched Emma in the shoulder. “But I’m tellin’ you. what I told him. You got nothin’ to blame yourself for. Mattie put on a helluva good act and it ain’t your fault you couldn’t see through it.”

“Thanks, Syd, but ...” Emma set her coffee cup on the tray and turned to face Syd. “I should have paid attention, at least. I treated Mattie as though she were invisible.”

“That’s ’cause she was makin’ herself invisible. You gotta believe that, Emma. Hey, look, things worked out okay, didn’t they? Thanks to you and Derek and Petey-boy, Mattie’s got a long life ahead of her, plenty of time to get over all of this garbage. Things could be worse, am I right?”

Emma smiled wanly. “When you’re right, you’re right, Syd.” She leaned toward him. “Do you know the rest of it? How Peter ended up saving her?”

“Not for sure, but I can make a good guess. Let’s see, now.” Syd squinted into the middle distance. “Mattie’s gonna toss herself off the cliffs, right? But maybe she changes her mind at the last minute. And then she slips —you know better ’n me how slick it is out there—and she goes over accidental-like. And she ends up on one of them little ledges, holdin’ on to one of them tough old bushes.”

Emma nodded. “Then Peter goes out to the chapel to check on the window....”

“And he hears somethin’ funny out back,” Syd went on. “And when he figgers out what’s wrong, he goes and grabs some rope from Bantry’s shed—”

Emma interrupted. “Why didn’t he come back to the hall for help?”

Syd shrugged. “Hey, Mattie’s out there hangin’ in the breeze. Maybe he figgered he didn’t have time to spare. So Petey drops the rope to Mattie, but she can’t use it on account of her busted flipper. So he goes down to help her—”

“And then
he
can’t get back up,” Emma broke in. “So he ties himself to Mattie, and stays to ride out the storm with her.” She slumped back in her chair, one hand on her heart. “My God ...”

“Yeah.” Syd’s voice was filled with satisfaction. “You ask me, Petey-boy deserves a medal.” He let the silence linger for a moment, then gave Emma a sly, sidelong look. “You didn’t do so bad yourself. You and Derek, you made a pretty good team, huh?”

Emma looked at the fire, embarrassed. “Yes, well, that was ... automatic. The only thing I could think about was that, if anything happened to Peter, I’d ... I’d ...” Emma shook her head and looked at her hands. “He’s such a good kid.”

“Nell ain’t so bad, neither, once you get used to her.”

“Afterward,” Emma went on, slowly raising her gaze to the fire again, “when I had Peter safe with me in the chapel, just for a split second, I thought I saw ...” Emma held back. She could tell the truth to Syd without mentioning the window. It might be better to say nothing of that until she’d seen it in the clear light of day.

“I saw something that made me realize how unfair I’ve been to Derek,” she continued. “I can’t begin to understand what he went through after his wife died. I’m sure he’s done his best to look after Peter and Nell since then, and I know that, once I’ve told him about the problem with Mrs. Higgins, he’ll straighten it out right away.”

“That’s real big of you, Emma,” Syd commented dryly.

Emma glanced at Syd’s impassive face, then looked quickly back to the fire. “I realized something else, too,” she said, in a voice so low that Syd had to lean forward to hear it. “Derek’s already lost his wife, and tonight he nearly lost his son. I ... I don’t want him to lose anyone else.”