Page 116 of The Paid Companion

“This is a river,” she whispered, astonished. “Flowing beneath the heart of the city.”

“Keep your head down,” Arthur advised. “There are bridges and other obstacles.”

The muffled noise of an explosion came a few minutes later, echoing down the ancient tunnel walls. Elenora felt a tremor go through the little boat, but it continued forward, riding the current.

There followed a horrific grinding, crashing, shattering sound of stone on stone. It seemed to go on forever.

After a while an unnerving silence descended.

“Dear heaven,” Elenora whispered. “It sounds as though the entire laboratory may have been destroyed.”

“Yes.”

She looked back into the darkness. “Do you think Parker really might have been England’s second Newton?”

“As my great-uncle was fond of saying, there was only one Newton.”

39

Two days later, Elenora met with Margaret and Bennett in the library. She was feeling much more herself this afternoon, she thought. The shock of events was rapidly receding. She was pleased to note that her strong constitution had reasserted itself, and her nerves felt quite steady once again.

It was time to move forward into her new life.

She had seen very little of Arthur since they had made their way out of the lost river. The previous day had been spent dealing with the aftermath of the great explosion. Oddly enough, there was no visible evidence of the disaster aboveground. The abandoned abbey appeared entirely undisturbed.

Working under Arthur’s direction, laborers had managed to locate the entrance to the secret chamber that housed the iron cage. But they had found the shaft sealed with rubble and broken stone.

Arthur and Bennett had taken small boats back along the hidden river to see if the crypt entrance was still passable. But there they had been met with another impenetrable wall of tumbled rock. The destruction of the hidden chamber had been complete.

The one thing she and Arthur had done together was call upon Lady Wilmington. Arthur had explained as gently as possible that it would be an extraordinarily expensive and quite possibly futile task to try to find Parker’s body.

“Let the laboratory be his tomb,” Lady Wilmington had decreed, tears in her eyes.

Today Arthur had left the house again very early, saying that he intended to talk to several people who were owed an explanation of events, including Mrs. Glentworth and Roland Burnley.

The moment he was gone, Elenora had sent a message to Bennett, asking him to call upon her at his earliest convenience. He had arrived within the hour, but he did not appear at all enthusiastic about the favor she was asking of him.

“Are you quite certain that you want me to do this, Miss Lodge?” he asked gravely.

“Yes,” Elenora said. She had to go through with this, she thought. She must not turn aside. “My friends and I will be extremely grateful to you, sir, if you can arrange to place the wager for us.”

Margaret’s brow wrinkled slightly in disapproval. “I cannot say I like this scheme of yours, Elenora. I really think that you should discuss the situation with Arthur first.”

“I cannot do that. I know him very well. He will be concerned for my reputation. If he learns of my plan, he will likely put his foot down and refuse to allow it.”

Margaret stiffened. “Arthur may blame Bennett for placing the wager for you and your friends.”

Elenora frowned. She had not thought about that possibility. “I would not want to create a rift between you and St. Merryn, sir, since you are soon to marry into the family.”

“Do not bother yourself on that account, Miss Lodge,” Bennett said gallantly. “It is not St. Merryn’s temper I fear. It is that you may have misjudged his feelings toward you.”

“Bennett is right,” Margaret said quickly. “Arthur is very fond of you, Elenora. I am certain of it. I realize that he may not have let you know his feelings, but that is because he is not accustomed to revealing his emotions.”

“I do not doubt but that he feels some affection for me,” Elenora said, choosing her words carefully. “But our relationship is, in truth, that of employer and employee, not that of an engaged couple.”

“Your association may have started out that way, but I feel that it has changed,” Margaret insisted.

It certainly had altered, Elenora thought, but she did not intend to confide all of the details to Margaret or anyone else.

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