My secrets revealed, if you know where I lay.
Holding her hands toward the fire, Elizabeth considered the clue.A clock. That was obvious, but there appeared no clue as to which it meant. They would have to go room to room; a grand old house such as this could have quite a few.
“Is there nothing else?”
The paper turned this way and that, Mary peered at the message, a shake of her head soon following.
“No, there is nothing else written there.” Turning toward her sister, Mary’s eyes widened. “Wait, was that what you found with it? A peacock feather?”
Lifting it from her lap, Elizabeth passed it to her sister. “Beautiful. Though I am afraid there is no message hidden on it.”
“Not on it,” Mary whispered, her eyes cutting toward the door as the other teams passed. “Itis the clue. There is a longcase clock in Lady Charmane’s study, you saw it. It must be the one.”
“The carvings,” Elizabeth grinned, the ache of her fingers forgotten in light of the solution. “That will save us a great deal of time, but we must hurry. Your cleverness without the next clue may not get us far.”
A fleeting glance at the fireplace and Elizabeth rose to her feet, Mary’s worried frown ignored as she moved past her.
If fortunate, a fire would be lit in the study, if not, at least the movement would fight whatever cold was left in her bones.
Making their way from the drawing room to the study, the sisters sought any signs of another team; the empty hallway prompting them to hurry into the nearby study before that changed.
Face brightening at the warmth of a roaring fire in the hearth, Elizabeth turned to close the door behind them, her sister reaching the clock as the door swung into place.
“A pity the clue did not indicate where on the clock to look,” Mary huffed as she peered behind the clock. “Though given the need to hide four items and clues, it should not take too long to find… Ah, here, does that look like it belongs there to you?”
Crouching to look under the longcase clock with her sister, Elizabeth smiled as she answered, “No it does not. Now quick, grab ours; we cannot have another team benefiting from our earlier sneaking.”
Chuckling, Mary worked her arm into the narrow space, her hand reaching around until she found what they were after.
“Here we are. One clue, and one… family crest? That is a peculiar item; a piece of paper with our host’s family crest and motto on it,” Mary frowned as she stood and made her way to the desk.
“If it is hers,” Elizabeth mused, “It could belong to any family. Perhaps the motto or design will be important?”
Taking the knife from the desk, Mary broke the seal on their clue. “Hopefully this makes things clearer.”
When the day is done and hunger churns, you may come to me to ease the burn.
A means in which to light your way, though it may be as bright as a summer’s day.
To find the reward for which you seek, remember for a moment the meek.
Brow rife with furrows, the sisters turned toward one another, each trusting the other would have the answer.
“Here, let us view the motto. How is your Latin?” Elizabeth smirked as they examined the crest–done in ink, the family colours were absent, the stripes and crossed swords on the shield leading up to the helm, wreath, and other swirling designs, with a ribbon atop holding the family’s motto.
EXITUS ACTA PROBAT
Licking her lips, Mary drew the motto closer, “A pity Kitty is not here, she did better than all of us in Latin… Lydia or Jane would even be an improvement over either of us. Still, here we go.Exitusis an outcome, an exit, an end–something along those lines. Thenactawe have some sort of act or action… Butprobat, that would be… what exactly?”
“Perhaps it is… I know this, I do. It is… proof? Proving? To prove? I think it is something similar to that, so we havean end to an action that proves?” Elizabeth suggested as she accepted the crest from her sister.
“Maybe it is more likethe action proves the end? Or,the end proves the action?”
“The action proves the means,or maybe,the deed,” Elizabeth hummed as she studied the paper. “Yes,the action proves the deed. That certainly is closer than that first attempt. Our choice of words may be off, but I think we have the meaning.”
“If only that answered the question of our next clue. We ought to return to that before we get too involved in this family’s crest and motto,” Mary said, the clue examined once more.
“Alright,” Elizabeth began as she leaned against the desk. “End of day… hunger… where one goes to ease the burn. Then there is talk of a light, something to light your way. Then we need to remember the meek.”
