message for you, Miss Mortimer. You're to burn it when you've read it.' Candlelight flickered beneath the door as he pushed a folded piece of paper into her room.
Feeling uneasy, she got out of bed. The note was short and to the point.
'You're to be quick about it,' Edward whispered.
She threw the paper on to the fire, and watched flames reach from the dimly glowing coals to lick eagerly around it. The blackened remains curled and shivered, and sparks fled up the chimney toward the night sky; then the flames died back once more.
'Are you coming or not, miss?' Edward hissed, growing impatient.
She didn't want to see her cousin, but knew it was in her best interest to do as he wished. If she could convince him that she wished to keep silent and out of his way, maybe that would be the end of it. Her decision made, she hurried to speak to Edward through the door. 'All right, I'll come. Where is he waiting?' she asked.
'The summerhouse. Look, get a move on. I'll be downstairs in the hall.' Edward was uneasy, for he knew Evangeline to be a relatively light sleeper.
Megan quickly put on her shoes and mustard gown, and after dragging a brush through her hair, swung her new cloak around her shoulders. She paused to look out of the window at the summerhouse, and at first thought it was deserted, but then she saw Oliver. He wore his greatcoat, and his top hat was pulled very low over his face as he still kept well back to avoid immediate detection by any casual glance from an upper room of the house. He had gained access to the garden by means of ladders on either side of the garden wall bordering the remains of Great East Street.
Edward was waiting for her in the hall, his face annoyed in the light from the candle he held. He wore his livery coat over his nightshirt. 'About time!' he snapped, still being careful to keep his voice down.
'Are you Mr. March's creature now, Edward?' she asked quietly as she followed him toward the kitchens.
'If I am, it's no business of yours. And if you're thinking of speaking out of turn to her ladyship, you'd best think again, because Mr. March looks after his own.'
'If you believe that, you'll believe anything,' she replied scathingly. Look after his own? Her dear cousin only looked after himself! She was living proof of
The sound of their voices had come to Rollo's attention. The ghost, who never slept, was in the theater amusing himself by practicing the levitation of things on the stage. He had never been terribly good at levitation, and sometimes thought he would never get it right. He had managed to make some pieces of shipwreck and llyrian rocks hover in midair, and some of the ropes from the flies wriggle like snakes, but they didn't do exactly what he wanted or go when he wanted. Frowning, he tried to concentrate his supernatural energy, but then he heard the low voices coming from the hall, and he let everything return to its proper place.
' 'O mistress mine! Where are you roaming?' ' he murmured as he went to investigate.
Megan heard his steps and glanced back. She saw his faint outline again as he passed a thin sliver of moonlight that found its way between some poorly drawn curtains, and she wondered why she could see him sometimes but not always. Edward sensed nothing as he conducted her through the kitchens, where he extinguished the candle, then out into the walled garden. The night was bitterly cold, and the clear sky was filled with stars, except to the north, where a bank of cloud lay low in the heavens.
The ghost's steady tread followed, and Megan heard him mutter another quotation. ' 'Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.' '
She halted in front of the summerhouse, where Oliver still waited in the shadows. 'You wished to see me?' she said.
'Come inside, and keep your voice down. Sound travels on a night like this.'
Reluctantly she did as he asked, and he reached out to pull her right back behind the bench. Then he glanced out at Edward. 'Stand away now, for this is not for your ears. And be sure to keep out of sight from the house.'
'Yes, Mr. March.' Edward hurried toward the black shadow cast by the garden wall.
Oliver then looked at Megan. 'Now, coz, we have things to clear between us,' he said softly.
'You have already made your wishes very plain, sir.'
'I need to be certain that not a word of our past dealings will come to light.'
He smiled. 'I was within my rights.'
'Legally, maybe, but certainly not morally! You didn't even
'Oh, I realize, my dear, I realize.' Still he smiled.
'In spite of that, you may rest assured that I have no intention of saying anything to anyone.'
His pale eyes flickered. 'I'm not foolish enough to trust your word alone, so let me remind you that I know the full lurid details of your shocking little escapades in Bath.'
'Ralph Strickland hasn't told the truth.'
'Oh, I do not doubt it, but as far as everyone here is concerned, his account will be the truthful one.'
'You are too late, sir. Lady Evangeline already knows what happened, and she heard it from Lady Jane Strickland herself.'
It wasn't the response he had been expecting, and he turned slightly away. For a long moment he was silent, then he faced her again. 'I am prepared to pay you handsomely to quit Lady Evangeline's service and disappear.'
She stared at him. 'You cannot be serious!'
'Never more so. I will advance you your wages for a year-half now, half when you have done as I wish.'
Rollo heard. ' 'I like not fair terms and a villain's mind,' ' the specter breathed.
Suddenly Oliver caught hold of Megan's arms, his face only inches from hers. 'Be warned not to decline my offer, for if you do it will be the worst for you. Cross me at your peril, coz,' he breathed.
This was too much for Rollo. It was bad enough that a man should lay hands upon another and utter such threats, but that he should do it to a woman was intolerable. 'Vile knave! Insect of insects!' he cried, and fixed his attention upon the path that ran around the lawn as he willed some of the gravel to fly through the air and strike Oliver. But although the tiny stones rustled and jumped about a little, they certainly didn't obey his will. Uttering a curse, the spirit bent to seize a handful and hurl it at Oliver, who suddenly found himself being rained with tiny sharp missiles.
'Great God above!' he gasped, instinctively backing away. More gravel struck him, and he ducked, clutching his top hat on his head for protection.
Megan whirled about to look where she knew Rollo to be. She could see a vague shape bending to gather more ammunition. More gravel hurtled through the air like grapeshot, and Oliver whipped around to look ferociously at Edward, who immediately threw up his hands in alarm.
'It's not me, Mr. March! I swear it!'
'Then, who-?' Oliver yelped as more gravel found a target. By the direction from which it came, he now realized Edward could not be throwing it, so he cast around for the culprit. 'Who's there?' he cried. More gravel struck him. 'Help me, damn you!' he begged Edward, but the terrified footman couldn't move.
Rollo, well into his ghostly stride now, decided that Edward needed a little punishment too, so he tossed some ammunition at the young man's bare shins, yelling. ' 'Out, damned spot! Out I say! One; two; why, then, 'tis time to do't!' '
Edward gaped foolishly down at his stinging legs, and choked back a frightened sob. Then at last he found the wit to take to his heels and make a dash for the house as if someone had set fire to his nightshirt. But as he sprinted for the kitchen door, another barrage of gravel scored a bull on his posterior.
Rollo gave a triumphant snort of laughter, then returned his attention to Oliver, who had begun to back toward the ladder against the wall. The wraith wasn't having any of that, so he ran to cut off Oliver's escape, then hurled gravel again. Oliver made a sound that resembled a squawk, and hastily backed the other way, but whichever way he went he was assailed by the flying gravel. At last he fled headlong toward the ladder, but in his haste he dislodged it, and it toppled over, striking him on the head and knocking him out.
