Richard’s eyes had traced his shape by now. That tall, lanky frame, the faint lilt to the syllables, were unmistakable. “O’Donnell? Why are you about so late?”
O’Donnell came near, his face made ghostly pale in the darkness, but Richard suspected it would have appeared so even under proper light. “My mother, sir, she lives just over the fen, across the wood beyond the estate’s borders. My sister has been ill, and Cook gave me a parcel I might take to them, but I did not wish to be late to my duties in the morning.”
Richard stared. “Do you mean you have walked over eight miles tonight?”
O’Donnell shifted his feet. “I ran part of it, sir.”
“Singular!” he cried. Whatwasthe protocol in such a situation? A soldier in a time of war could not leave camp at all without leave, but he had not the least idea of the permissions granted to a servant at a great house such as Pemberley. In truth, as he had never meant to inherit an estate, he had paid little attention to the inner workings of the staff. Did Mrs Reynolds know of his errand?
“If I may, sir,” O’Donnell ventured, “is there some trouble?”
Richard snapped back to attention. “Trouble? No, why should you ask?”
“Well, sir, it is rather late, and you seem to have misplaced your lantern.”
“Never you mind, O’Donnell,” he answered stiffly. “It is nothing more than I did on reconnaissance training as a young lieutenant. We were often required to venture into the night with no more than a pocket knife.”
“Oh!” the lad replied cheerfully. “It is admirable that you have kept up the practice—a good exercise for an officer, and all of that.”
“Certainly.” He cleared his throat, trying to affect a tone of command. “Carry on, O’Donnell.”
“Sir!” The lad touched his cap and sauntered away.
Richard beat his head against a tree.Fool!He would have done better to disappear into the shadows until O’Donnell had passed, but no, old soldier that he was, he had to play the sentry upon his midnight errand! With any luck, the lad was naïve enough to accept his excuse, and intimidated enough not to speak of their encounter. He sighed, waiting until the boy had fully disappeared before resuming his path.
His hands were still shaking when he approached the estate chapel. True to his word, Broderick was there, and with him two grimy-looking souls.
“My apologies, sir,” Broderick spoke at once, “I know you wished for all to be prepared at least a fortnight ago.”
“Never mind that. Is everything in readiness now?”
Broderick jerked his head wordlessly to his assistants.
“Oh, aye, Cap’n,” one of them offered a toothless grin. “Me an’ Blunt, we got into one finer ‘n this. This tosser wan’d the wife’s jewels t’ give t’is fancy piece, see.”
Richard held up a hand. “Just get on with it, and remember I am paying you well for absolute secrecy!”
“Aye, Cap’n. Eh me boy!” he gestured to his companion.
Richard had been present at far too many a burial, but the unsealing of a family vault was an event to which he had never been witness. It was never meant to be an expeditious undertaking—rather, it seemed the architects of such a crypt felt that the very difficulty of the endeavour added some solemn momentousness to the occasion. Still, he was pleasantly surprised—and not a little disturbed—at the efficiency of the experienced grave robbers. He certainly wished the task over and done with quickly, but he wondered how many other final resting places had been desecrated by this pair.
“Sir, you will be wanting this.” Broderick extended to him a thickly folded cloth, soaked in camphor. “The odour will be rather bad by now.”
Richard nodded, accepting it. “Bring out the body,” he directed.
Down to the cold stone floor the grave robbers lowered the body, encased in a simple woolen shroud. Richard clasped the hideous cloth more tightly about his nose.What the devil was I thinking?
“D’yo’ wan’ to see the face, Cap’n?”
“No!” Richard fought a wave of nausea, and closed his eyes. “Turn the body over, then pull back the clothing just there,” he waved in the general direction he meant.
“’Ere, Cap’n?”
“A little lower. Yes, there. What do you see?”
The man cackled irreverently. “We calls ‘em grubs, Cap’n, but—”
“Not there!” Richard shuddered in revulsion, then stepped near to examine the body himself. His stomach heaved, his entire torso convulsing as he struggled to answer this one question. Briefly he turned away, dragging agonising breaths through the caustic mask.You started this, fool!
