Lords of Honor (19 page)

Yes, he hoped Newt could obtain a special license
.
He
decided he did not wish to wait long to marry Libby
.
The sooner
he married her,
the better
.
His self-control where Libby was concerned was
diminishing
.

The new letters were sent
to Harry and Owen
.
Elveston took
the room beside Micah and
Libby’s
.
Jack also
paid Mr. Banfield
to send someone to procure a map
.
He and Micah studied
the map upon its arrival
.
They
talked of the
best route
for them
to take
to Templecombe
and the best means of transportation
for them
when they did leave
.
Of course, it all depended on how many of their fellows showed up
in Salisbury
to help them
.

The only
means of
entertain
ment
available to them
was
conversation
.

“What happened in Glastonbury
?
And does Glastonbury have something to do with the scrolls those men Cobley and Rawson talked about
?
And how did you get shot
, Micah
?” Libby
asked when the two men were speaking about something that happened in Glastonbury involving the men with brown coats and hats
.
“Or can you not talk about that
?
Charlie told me he could not speak of it.”

“
Jack
,
since Libby was kidnapped and these men are after her, I feel she has a right to know
some of
what happened
.”
Micah
regarded
his colleague
.

“I would agree with you Micah
.
However, we must eliminate any mention of the
details
of the scrolls f
or the safety of Lady Elizabeth,
”
Jack smiled
thoughtfully
.

“
Absolutely
.
Fair enough
, Libby
?”

She nodded, a
n eager
smile lighting her face.

Micah smiled at
her
.
He
moved to sit next
to her on the large
oak settle
.

Jack lounged
nearby
in one of the wooden chairs with his booted feet crossed and resting on another
chair
.
“Do you know any of the legends of Glastonbury,
Lady Elizabeth
?”

“Well, I know the Abbey
is
very old, and the Tor ancient
.
They were both pilgrimage sites for centuries
.
I remember reading that St. Joseph of Arimathea lived there after Christ was crucified
.
There are many ties to Arthurian legends there as well
.
And I know the last Abbot was hung upon the Tor.”

Micah
would
summarize
,
as best he could
,
what happened in Glastonbury
.
Just as the true history of the place was encompassed in many volumes, what transpired while they were there
in April
would take hours to explain
.

He began,
“Lady Rowena Locke, now Lady Glaston
,
discovered a letter written by a man who served as the last Abbot’s servant
when a boy
.
The letter explained that he and the Abbot did hide some of the very ancient and valuable treasure
of Glastonbury Abbey
in secret tunnels beneath the Abbey and near Stonedown Manor
before the dissolution
of Glastonbury Abbey in 1539
.
Some
of the treasure
was hidden
inside a Holy well at St. Bridget’s Chapel
which is removed from the Abbey grounds
. The boy’s name was William Dula
c
and he
is
an ancestor of Lady Glaston and her aunt
.
He hid letters written by Abbot Whiting in a secret chamber inside the Manor
.
The day I arrived in Glastonbury with Charlie, a man in a brown coat and hat broke into the library at Stonedown Manor and stole books about the manor and the Dulac family.”

Micah continued, “The first letter we found hidden in a secret compartment inside a large court cupboard original to the manor
.
That letter led us to discover the legendary Glastonbury Sapphire
, presented to the Abbey by St. David of Menevia around A. D. 530
.
We found the sapphire in St. Bridget’s w
ell chamber in nearby Beckery
.
We also found
the cruets containing the blood and sweat of Jesus Christ
from
the Crucifixion
brought to Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea
and hidden by the last Abbot and William Dulac
inside the chamber
.
On our way
back to Stonedown we were accosted by two
armed
Brown Coats
.
We made it back to the Manor safely and hid our treasures in a safe at Stonedown
.
The next day, Harry, Lyon and I found six Brown Coats digging into one of the lost tunnels on the Abbey grounds.
They got away
.
The
following
day, Lady Glaston and I found a map in a book written by Abbot Whiting showing the
location of the hidden
tunnels where the rest of the treasure was hidden
.”

Elveston added, “W
hile Micah and Lady Glaston were in the cellar
searching
for a tunnel opening
, and Harry, Wyldhurst
, Charlie
and Newt were seeing to the tunnel
on the Abbey grounds
, Lyon was shot
by trespassing Brown Coats
while guarding the safe in the gallery
.
The next morning Trevan and twenty of his relatives arrived
.
That evening we found the scrolls, along with many other valuable manuscripts and treasures in a tunnel leading from Stonedown Manor to the Tor.
”

Micah continued, “By this time,
Jack
arrived and let us know Lord Dalworth, a very unsavory person, was
also
involved
. His
intent
was
stealing
Lady
Rowena
from her home
so he could marry her
.
So Harry and Lady Rowena, now Lady Glaston, were
married
.
I,
and Harry’s sister, Lady Caroline, stood u
p with them at Stonedown Chapel
.
When we exited the carriage upon arriving back at Stonedown
Manor, we were both shot
.
I was shot
in the thigh
and Lady Caroline
was hit
in the arm.”

Jack
took a turn again
.
“We knew a man by the name of Percy Davitt
to be
involved, and from one of
the Brown Coats we interrogated;
we learned another local man by name of George Whitely was
in partnership with Davitt
.
Trevan and Wyldhurst persuaded Whit
e
ly to be
our
informant and promised
him
he would be cleared of the charges against him
.
To make a long story short, Dalworth
lost his life
when he took the bait
for a trap we set to catch him
.
Percy Davitt was shot by Newt, Lyon and Wyldhurst and took a knife from Micah
.
But, he got away
.
We found out later, George Whitely’s wife
went
mis
sing too
.
We
later confirmed that Mrs. Whitely did take Davitt from Glastonbury in her carriage and they headed
north
.
That
was
the only reason Davitt survived
,
for his wounds should have killed him
.
Micah and I
picked up their trail
a
nd followed
as far as
Newcastle, which is why we were fortunately
in Andover
the
day
we
found
you
.
W
e spent three weeks on the Northern road
prior to that
following Davitt’s trail, only to come up empty handed
.”

Micah ended the tale
.
“So, now we are left to wonder if this Mr. Crow
is
in charge, for even if Davitt still lives, he could not have orchestrated everything that has happened these last three
days
.
Lyon’s wound was serious
; h
e
still walks with
the aid of a cane
.
Davitt could not be traveling about England without
enduring
severe discomfort
.
His wounds were much more severe than Lyon’s
.”
 

“My goo
dnes
s,” Libby said
,
“You
must be correct.
I do not see how this Percy Davitt can be the one behind what happened to me
.
He must have been near death when he got away
.
And he
suffered
more wounds than
Lord Amesbury
.
And you say
he
is still walking with a cane
and experiencing much pain
.
It has only been some
five or
six weeks, has it not
?
It seems more likely this Mr. Crow is behind everything going on now.
”

“I too have started to think that Percy work
s for someone else
and just went a trifle unhinged at the last
.
I keep going bac
k to the fact that most of the Brown Coats
we captured
in Glastonbury
were hired from London
.
I’m wondering if
this Mr. Crow, or even a
nother
in London
, are
orchestrating all of this,” Micah thought aloud.

“My concern is that there is a leak
with
in the Avalon Society
.
No one,
no one
but us
shou
ld have known about the scrolls,
”
Jack emphasized.

“But remember Percy
wanted only
the one scroll
when he came to Ston
e
down
.
None could have known save us that scrolls were found in the Tor tunnel
.”
Micah purposely didn’t mention the name of the scroll for Libby’s safety.
Davitt wanted
the Jesus the Younger Scroll, believed to have been written by the son of Jesus
.
He
explained to Libby
, “We
believe
Percy
Davitt
gleaned information
from
a letter
written by
William Dulac
found
hidden in the books stolen from Stonedown.”

“True
.”
Jack agreed
.
“You are
correct
.
I forgot Davitt
wanted
a scroll
as well as the holy treasures
.
”