Page 124 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
‘My God, Jessie got here first!’ I gasped.
‘So she has – and perhaps we’ve been following in her footsteps all along. Remember the way the cover of the confession had been sewn up in two different threads?’
He turned and played the beam of his powerful torch across the floor. ‘She was probably on the same errand as us, too, because there’s no sign of any jewels.’
‘I’m sure you’re right, but I wonder what she did with them,’ I said, then sudden illumination struck. ‘Do you remember Mr Wilmslow telling us that after her husband’s accident there were a lot of debts and it looked like the house might have to be sold – until Jessie unexpectedly came into a large inheritance? I bet there wasn’t one: it was the money from the sale of the jewels!’
‘It does all hang together,’ Carey agreed. ‘And if you’re right, I suppose there wouldn’t still be a Revell at Mossby if she hadn’t found and sold them. Now it’s up to us to make sure it stays in the family for ever.’
‘Yes, but—’ I began, then broke off as he got down on one knee in the dust. I looked at him in astonishment. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
‘Proposing: let’s get married! Mossby should be a happy-ever-after family home, not a mausoleum.’
‘But, Carey, you know my views about marriage being an outdated institution … and anyway, you can’tpossiblypropose to me next to a skeleton!’ I protested, casting a nervous eye at our silent witness. He still looked as if he was about to crawl off. I was almost sure I’d seen him move out of the corner of my eye. ‘Can we get out of here, now?’
‘Only if you say yes.’
‘Yes!’ I snapped, but when he got to his feet he paused to stoop again over the collection of bones.
‘I think Jessie missed something – that’s a signet ring on his finger,’ he said interestedly.
‘I don’t care what it is, it can stay there for ever, as far as I’m concerned,’ I snapped, then tucked the bonbon tin under my arm and made for the stairs.
‘I must nail that top step down as soon as possible, so we don’t have any accidents,’ Carey said, as he emerged into the bedchamber after me and closed the door to the staircase. ‘But first, I think I should ring the police and notify them about the skeleton, even if we’re sure it’s been there for centuries.’
‘I suppose so – and what a lot of exciting revelations we’ve got for Nick and the gang when they get here,’ I said. ‘But I absolutely refuse to go back down there and pretend to find that ghastly skeleton again on camera.’
‘OK, if necessary I’ll pretend to find it on my own,’ he said equably.
‘You know, if Jessie Kaye went down there by herself, then she was quite a woman,’ I said thoughtfully.
‘So are you,’ he said, putting his arms around me. ‘And now you’re all mine!’
I was the object of much compassion when I gave my account of this tragic accident, especially when my child was born early, soon afterwards – a son, Joshua.
While I was recovering from this, I reread Lady Anne’s confession very carefully: how sadly, in some ways, our lives mirrored one another in misfortune, though her husband’s crimes were heinous, while I cannot find it in me to hate Ralph for what was in his nature, even though he was cruel in marrying me to attain his own ends.
Once I was well again, I sewed the confession back into its original wrappings and replaced it where I had found it. Then, since my husband’s death had encouraged rather than deterred his creditors from seeking payment, I summoned his man of business and revealed that I might be about to come into an inheritance …
Of course, there was no inheritance, but it had struck me that in Lady Anne’s confession there was no further mention of the bag of jewels her husband had been holding when he fell, so that they could very well still be in the secret room below the turret …
I may be small, but I am neither imaginative nor cowardly. I thought of my child’s future, and of Honoria’s, and then, taking a small lantern, opened the secret place in the bedchamber next to the tower, testing the first step gingerly despite knowing I had turned the boss only to the right. I descended the narrow winding stair that seemed to go on for ever, till I emerged into a square chamber below.
Next to where I stood was the opening through which Phillip Revellmust have dropped … but there was no huddle of smashed bones at the bottom of it. Instead, the lantern showed his shattered skeleton, seemingly still trying to creep away towards the door that must lead to the passage and help. It was all too awfully apparent that he must have spent his last hours alone here in agony. Retribution for his sins, indeed!
Shuddering and averting my eyes from these broken relics, I began to cast my lantern around in ever increasing circles from the foot of the stairs – until, at last, the light caught and flickered on something that shone deep red. Despite my resolution, my heart beat faster for a moment, until I told myself that this was not blood, miraculously preserved over aeons, but that which I sought. The bag must have burst asunder and rotted, for the jewels lay scattered and dusty on the flagged floor. I began to pick them up and put them into my shawl: a monstrously formed pearl and jewelled ornament of the kind men wore in old paintings, on a heavy ruby necklace, the stones large and cold to the touch. There was also a sparkle of diamonds in a twisted brooch and the dull glow of dark emerald earrings.
When I was sure there were no more to be found, I knotted the shawl and carried my treasures back up to the bedchamber. You can imagine with what relief I closed the panel to that dread place behind me.
I wrote to Father and he brought Lily to stay with me for a few days, before returning to town with the precious cargo. He has acquaintances who can ensure a fair price, with no questions asked, though in truth the jewels belong to my son, so I do no wrong in using them to preserve his heritage.
43
Casting the Bones
Nick and the crew arrived just after we’d got back to the kitchen and Carey gave them a condensed version of the events of the last twenty-four hours, including Ella’s assault on me, the breakdown and the cellar full of bones.
‘So now I’m about to ring the police and notify them of the skeleton,’ he finished.
