Page 93 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
‘This?’ I ask suspiciously, holding up the collar. ‘Why?’
‘I thought the key for that box had been lost years ago . . . and all this time it was on a dog’s collar?’ Arthur seems almost mesmerised by the key.
I look questioningly at him – just what is going on here? Arthur clearly knows about all the stuff down here. Tiffany said he’s been back and forth a lot just lately. Why was he so against us opening this box now we have the key?
‘I think you should all leave now,’ Arthur orders, his voice calm, but his face reddening, as though his anger is just beginning to boil under his cool exterior again. ‘Before you do any more damage. The things down here are private – private to the family.’
I’m really not sure what the feeling is building up inside me right now. It’s one that I’ve never felt before. But all I know is it’s time to pull rank.
‘If,’ I say in a steely voice that surprises even me, ‘these had been your private items, Arthur, then of course I wouldn’t dream of riffling through them. But we’ve opened nearly every trunk down here now and all we’ve found are items that belonged to past owners of this castle, private items that as you have correctly pointed out belonged to past members of the Chesterford family – my family, Arthur. So I think that gives me some right to look at them too.’
Arthur is silent.
‘There are things down here we could display for the public to see; things I think they’d find very interesting. We make no mention throughout the castle of what went on below stairs, and I think some of the bits and pieces in this trunk in particular could be used as the basis for an exhibition about the staff of Chesterford.’
I can see Arthur’s mind ticking over fast. ‘Thatmightbe a good idea . . . I suppose,’ he says carefully. ‘I would have no objection to you opening the rest of the trunks and seeing what you find. But, miss, I really must ask that you stop at opening the box in your hand. In fact, I beg of you that you don’t.’
I notice this is the first time he’s used a title to address me since he came thundering down the stairs. Normally this would please me, but all it does is make me wonder all the more why Arthur is so upset about all this.
‘Why?’ I ask again. ‘What’s in here that’s so important?’
Arthur sighs and shakes his head. ‘I knew you meddling would come to this. Why can’t things just remain the same around here? You youngsters are obsessed with change. Change isn’t always good. Sometimes change is bad.’
‘Why is it bad, Arthur?’ I ask, still desperate to know what he was so keen to prevent me from seeing. What on earth could be in this box that’s so awful?
‘Fine!’ Arthur says, throwing up his hands in despair. ‘Go ahead and open it, then. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
With that, Arthur turns and stomps back up the stairs without another word.
‘What the hell was all that about?’ Tom asks, looking mystified as we watch Arthur disappear.
‘I have absolutely no idea,’ I reply, shaking my head. ‘But what I do know is that now I reallymustopen this box and find out what’s inside.’
‘Wait!’ Tiffany holds up her hand just as I’m about to place the tiny key, still attached to the dog collar, into the padlock. ‘What if the box is cursed?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘What if it’s cursed, and when you open it, it unleashes a whole host of misery and woe on to the castle and its inhabitants?’
‘You watch too many movies, Tiffany,’ I say, looking at the box. ‘That is not going to happen.’
‘She might be right, you know,’ Tom says to my surprise. ‘Arthur is pretty keen for you not to open that box. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s cursed – sorry, Tiffany – but there must be something inside he doesn’t want you to see.’
I stare down at the box in my hand, then I glance at the painting of the dog again, and across at the trunk full of Clara’s dresses.
‘No, we’ve come too far. Arthur may not want me to see what’s inside here, but I’m pretty sure Clara does.’
I take a deep breath and turn the key, and as smooth as anything it immediately pops the mechanism so the padlock springs open. I remove the padlock and finally, I open up the lid.
‘I knew it!’ I exclaim triumphantly, lifting the contents from the box. ‘It’s the missing diary!’
I put the box down on the ground and begin to thumb through the pages of the book.
‘What’s this, though?’ Tom asks, lifting up the box again and looking inside. ‘There’s something else in here.’
I look at what he’s removing from the box. It’s a small velvet pouch. Tom eases it open and pours the contents into the palm of his hand.
‘It’s a brooch,’ Tiffany says, gazing in awe at it. ‘A really pretty one, too.’
