“Love poems, perhaps?” Harriet winked at Cathy before resting her head on Emma’s shoulder as they two leaned back against the sofa, seeming to savor the sudden pelting of rain against the window panes.
Lady Susan moved to peruse the bookshelf in the corner, but when she reached out to retrieve a book, the bookcase swiveled about to reveal a narrow stone passageway. “Interesting,” she purred.
She stepped into the dark opening, and then took another tentative step. She looked back over her shoulder and laughed. “Shall I see where it leads?”
“Yes!” Cathy cried out, hastening that way. But Lady Susan took a few more steps, her hands grazing the stone walls on both sides as she disappeared into the shadows. One of the stones creaked as it shifted beneath her touch, and then the bookcase swiveled back into place as it had been before.
The ladies all let out a collective gasp, tensing in their seats. Cathy approached the shelf and tugged at several of the books, but could not seem to select the one that had caused the passageway to open. “Oh dear! What shall I do?”
“Keep trying,” Emma urged her, joining Cathy in frantically grabbing at the books. After a few minutes, they managed to open the passageway again, but when they called out for Lady Susan, they received no answer.
“Surely she has gone through; I daresay the passage connects to another bed chamber, perhaps for use by some lovers of old,” Cathy said fancifully.
“Ought I to go and look for her?” Emma opened the door and peered out into the corridor, as if hoping her aunt would return, and spare her having to enter the old passage.
Instead, the sound of gunshots rang out.
Chapter Three
There were two distinctive shots, and then a horrible silence. Emma froze in the open doorway, eerily still until she slowly brought her hands to her face. “Was that…?”
Elizabeth glanced over at Cathy. “Good Heavens! When Mr. Tilney said he meant toget ridof the general, I wonder what he had in mind.” She instantly regretted her jape, for Cathy began to tremble.
“If I am not mistaken… that was a shot,” Harriet groaned. “What are we to do?”
“Two shots,” Lady Allen said. “We ought to stay here until it is safe, until Mr. Tilney comes for us, as we planned.”
But Cathy was already rushing toward the door. As Emma stepped back to make way for her, Cathy turned back over her shoulder and said, “If Mr. Tilney has been harmed…. He is the handsomest man I ever saw.”
“I should rather like to know what is happening,” Elizabeth agreed. “And handsome men surely must be protected.”
Emma patted Elizabeth on the arm as she moved past. “It must be nothing. We are in wild country, perhaps some greatbeast got into the house, or a servant made a mistake while loading guns for hunting.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I believe you are right, though Cathy may never recover if we do not discover that Mr. Tilney has fought off a whole legion of robbers.”
“Oh! Have a care for yourselves, girls,” Lady Allen tutted as she began to examine the passageway Lady Susan had vanished into.
Elizabeth and Cathy held hands as they crept on their toes toward the end of the corridor. They kept close to the wall and huddled together as they slowly peered around the corner. Sir Edward and a few of the other gentlemen had also come out into the corridor, and were speaking amongst themselves in hushed curiosity. Mr. Rushworth noticed the ladies and waved them over.
“Lizzy, Miss Morland, you ought to return to your rooms until we know that it is safe,” Sir Edward said.
Cathy shook her head. “But we want to know what happened!”
“So do we,” Mr. Willoughby replied. “Given the circumstances, it is safe to supposesomethingis afoot.”
Just then, Mr. Tilney came running around the far corner, though he slowed to a brisk walk at the sight of them. “Thank Heavens you are all safe. Have you any idea what those shots were?”
“We ought to ask you, good fellow,” Mr. Bertram sniffed.
“I have no sense of where the shots seemed to come from, but I suppose we ought to have a look around,” Mr. Tilney replied.
“Were you not with your father?”
“No, Miss Morland. He requested some time to attend to a matter of business before departing to collect my sister. I had returned to compose a quick note to Eleanor, who is aware of all my plans. I hope she might stall him for a few days, until the royals arrive.”
“Well, we must find out what those shots were about. Your father is capable of anything! Whatever business he wished to take care of might have been something ghastly indeed,” Mr. Willoughby said.
Mr. Rushworth nodded his agreement. “We have a right to know what is going on, and I refuse to be kept in the dark.”
