Page 35 of The Right to Remain Single

For a moment she couldn’t think, so transfixed was she by delight.

He pulled her close, kissed her hair, and reached for his shoes. “That block of stone wasn’t from the battlements. Furbelow took it up there, and then tugged it down with a rope.” He stood and pulled on his coat.

“He carried a stone up in order to pull it down?” She yawned. “I suppose he means to get Papa even more stirred up about getting rid of Max. But why? He’s already determined to do so.”

“Perhaps he hopes to increase the reward,” James said.

“Maybe,” she said doubtfully. “But Papa doesn’t usually change his mind.”

James blew her a kiss, checked that the corridor was clear, and left.

Thomasina washed, dressed, and went downstairs to find her father in a foul mood. “I’ll get rid of that ghost if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Why?” asked Thomasina. “Ja—Mr. Blakely told me it was Cousin Sam who got Max riled last night.” Papa’s brows drew together. Had he noticed her stumble over James’s given name?

She hurried on with her explanation. “Sam carried a stone up to the battlements and then pulled it down with a rope.” Papa scowled even more. Did he wonder how she had managed to speak with James when he hadn’t yet come down to breakfast?

She reached for the coffeepot to pour for him. If he asked, she would say they had met in the passageway. He must be given no cause to suspect her growing intimacy with James.

“Pot’s empty. Joey’s gone to fetch more.” Papa cut a slice of ham into pieces. “I suppose Blakely got his so-called information from the ghost.”

“It’s not so-called, it’s true. Max was trying to warn us last night.”

“Yes—that he will kill whoever gets in his way. He’s afraid we’ll get rid of him, and rightly so.” He took a bite of ham.

“Papa, Max cannot push stones off the battlements.”

“So Blakely says, but our legends say otherwise. He’s a murderous bastard and has to go.” Before Thomasina could summon a response, he added condescendingly, “Come now, Tommie. You’re a woman and therefore a fool, but think about it. Can you imagine Sam carrying a stone and a rope all the way up to the tower?”

“Yes, I can, if he didn’t want anyone to know.” She tried a different approach. “Mr. Blakely says Sam relieves foolish young men of their money.”

For an instant, Papa frowned, but then his brow cleared. He waved his fork in the air. “So? Nothing wrong with gaming and winning.”

“Unless you’re cheating!”

“Did Blakely say that? He has a gall, barging his way in, demanding my hospitality, and now slandering my nephew.”

“No, he didn’t say it, but knowing Sam, I bet he does cheat.”

James strolled into the breakfast parlor, freshly shaven and looking so handsome and lovable that her heart wept. “Not that I know of,” he said mildly. “He’s skilled at cards, and whenever his pockets are to let, he chooses opponents who are young and callow.”

“Humph,” Papa said. “Not in the best of taste, admittedly, but he’s not the sort to toss stones off roofs. The ghost did it, and that’s that.”

“The ghost did nothing but warn us,” James said. “Furbelow must have brought the stone with him, for nothing is missing from the parapet. Joey told me Furbelow carried one of his bags by himself—refused to let Joey handle it, and it looked heavy, Joey says.”

Papa wheezed. “How dare you question my servants?”

Thomasina intervened. “I asked him to, Papa.”

“Fool girl! You’ll stop at nothing to exonerate that ghost.”

“And you’ll stop at nothing to make him seem guilty,” she shot back. “Tell my father what really happened, Mr. Blakely.”

Patiently, James resumed his story. “Furbelow bought a rope in the village—Mick will testify to this—carried a large stone up to the battlements, tied the rope around it, balanced it on the edge, and then went outdoors and pulled it down. He’s lucky he didn’t drop it onto his own head—but I assume he feared if he dropped it from above and ran down, someone might see him before he got outdoors, in which case his story wouldn’t hold water.”

“Where is this apocryphal rope?” her father demanded.

“Joey looked last night, but didn’t find it,” James said.