“I suppose not”, I smirked.
“And this visit will still give you a profit. I will sign the Obsidian Staff over to you after the ritual, and we still have the matter of the art sale your auction house will do for me. So we are both victors, are we not?”
No matter how attractive I still found my old friend, it appeared that what Sebastian Cavell had stated was true. I needed to press Euan on the art he wanted me to list for sale. I had inspected the canvases before breakfast and wanted to look him in the eye and watch him lie to my face.
“I have, shall we say, reservations about several of the canvases you wish me to auction at Hannan’s.”
Euan’s brows rose, “Reservations?”
“As to their authenticity.” Euan’s pupils blew wide and I understood then that he knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Some information was passed to me.”
“By whom, dammit. Tell me! I’ll gut the blaggard!” Euan sounded just like his father. He stood in outrage and paced back to his drinks cabinet. He trembled with rage as he poured a shaky drink.
“The brushwork is good, but to an expert eye like mine, I know that the Botticelli, Van Dyke, Holbein, and the Pero di Cosimo are wrong. I was also informed that you sold the originals for your father in the Americas seven years ago. Did you really think you could play me for a fool?”
Euan tossed back his drink and then turned to look at me. His face was unreadable. He shrugged sheepishly and then with uncharacteristic coldness said,
“It was worth a try old boy, wasn’t it!” Those words were like a knife to my gut. I stood angrily,
“Damn you to hell! You would have ruined my reputation and my business, and for what? A few thousand pounds. Did you care for me at all Euan, ever?”
“I did care once, until I was forced to marry to cover up the rumors that the bloody Butler was passing around. He blackmailed father for years, you know.” Euan said morosely.
”I did not.”
“The money from the art sale would have paid for my new life on the continent.”
“But you just made thirty thousand pounds!”
“That goes toward the death duties and my father’s debts. Mr. Buchanan is a stickler and I will not see a penny of that money. These are desperate times, Ben. I have a wife and two sons to see to, as well as the mess my father left his finances in.”
“You were planning to leave everything behind? Your wife, your children!”
“Possibly.”
“You absolute coward!” Not for the first time in the past few days I was revolted by Euan and my naivety in believing him to be the same man he had been when we were together.
A sudden urgent knocking came to the door.
“My Lord, come quick,” a serving girl hollered. Euan angrily dragged open the door.
“The chimney in the Great Hall is afire” She wailed.
Without a though both Euan and I ran for the staircase. When I had reached the bottom rung I could see the thick black smoke billowing from the doorway to the Great Hall and hear the ungodly roar of the fire before I even set eyes on it. Mr. Rennie and his under-butler came running from the kitchen. They had neckerchiefs over their faces and between them were carrying a sodden bed sheet from the laundry.
“Don’t ye worry mah Lord, it’s all in hand, we’ve done this before.” Mr. Rennie reassured. Euan looked stricken as we placed our pocket-handkerchiefs over our mouths and rushed into the Great Hall. Around the hearth was blackened with soot, and the flames raged red and orange. Mrs. McKelvie had clearly tried to move furniture out of the path of the flames because the furniture was strewn haphazardly away from the fireplace. She had fainted on the floor just inside the doorway. Euan stooped to gather her up and take her outside for some fresh air. Mr. Rennie and his colleague unraveled the sodden sheet and then cautiously approached the hearth. They stood on either side and with a roar of, “NOW JIM!” the two men covered the front of the hearth with the wet sheet starving the fire of oxygen. Acrid black smoke billowed and I could stay in the room no longer.
I rushed out of Dunecht Hall to see a line of three carriages heavy with baggage in the snow-covered courtyard. The other guests were either sitting within a carriage or standing out on the snow gazing up at the plumes of black smoke billowing from the broad chimney above the Great Hall. I saw flames at the top of the chimney, which was a good sign because it meant that the fire was close to burning itself out. Euan sat on the step, Mrs. McKelvie cradled in his arms. She looked so small and frail, like a discarded doll.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, I think so, Jenny’s gone to get some smelling salts, and the kitchen boy, Jack, is riding to the town to get Dr. Sinclair to pay a visit.”
Two kitchen maids then came rushing out of the house with blankets and smelling salts. They and took Mrs. McKelvie from Euan’s arms and continued with her care.
“Is the fire out? What’s the damage?” Euan said as he stood and arched to stretch his back. His shirt still hung open and his nipples stood erect with the piercing cold.
“I believe the fire is out, and there is smoke damage mainly.” I grabbed one of the blankets that the maids had brought with them and put it over Euan’s shoulders. He looked a little dazed and nodded his thanks,
We re-entered the house
