Page 26 of The Trials of Alaric
With that in mind, he had some calls to make, some at the castle, and some down in the town.
*
As he movedaround the castle on his errands, Alaric kept an eye out for carvings of roses. At some point during the previous day, it had occurred to him that mansions had walls inside as well as out. If the rhyme referred to a piece of wall or ceiling decoration, then a carved, or perhaps painted, climbing rose should lead him to the other parts of the clue.
But he realized before long, the problem was not finding roses. The problem was that the castle seemed to be full of them, and he couldn’t see how any of them fitted the rest of the rhyme.
The search had to take second place to preparations for tomorrow’s fête. He and the other suitors had met yesterday evening, and again this morning, to report on progress and problems. Even Howard and Beverley were pulling their weight.
Howard had, with the help of Claddach’s groundsmen, located the marquees, tables, and other items that would be used to set up stalls and had checked them off against the list of stallholders. He and the butler—probably mostly the butler, but Alaric didn’t fault Howard for that—had selected the grooms and footmen who would be their labor force and written a schedule for what needed to be done tonight and then tomorrow morning to set the stalls up.
Beverley had been interviewing judges and had ridden out immediately after the meeting this morning to visit the remaining experts on his list.
Alaric also had a list and had been talking to some of the same experts to make certain he knew exactly what each contestcomprised and how it worked, so that he could carry out his tasks.
It wasn’t the fête that bothered him, or even his search for something that would help him figure out the second clue. It was that Bea had partnered Fairweather into dinner, had played the piano after dinner with Howard to turn her pages, and had gone riding with Meadowsweet this morning.
When Alaric asked to escort her for a walk in the garden, she had refused. A polite refusal, but still! Had he offended her? Been too pressing in his attentions? And yet, he had been certain she returned his growing affections.
“Sir!” It was Colyn, his borrowed valet. “Sir, you must come with me. I will show you where the pall-mall alley is.”
“The pall-mall alley?” Why did Colyn want to show him to the pall-mall alley?
“For the game, sir,” Colyn said.
Oh. That’s right.Colyn had mentioned it this morning with a list of other activities that Lady Claddach had organized for the house guests. “I thought I’d skip the game,” Alaric replied.
“I think you should play, sir,” Colyn told him, his eyes intent, as if trying to send him a message he would not put into words.
Alaric narrowed his eyes, a suspicion occurring to him. “Is it a trial, Colyn?”
Colyn didn’t reply—he just stared at Alaric with pained eyes.
“Am I straining your loyalties, man? Very well, I won’t insist on an answer.” Though his refusal to answer was answer enough. “Show the way, then, Colyn. Pall-mall is a trial? I wonder what he is testing for?”
The questions were for himself, but Colyn replied, “It was to have been boxing, but Lord Claddach ordered the change yesterday afternoon. No one knows why.”
“Just as well,” Alaric said. “I doubt I’m up to a boxing match just yet. Mind you, I haven’t played pall-mall in years. I have no idea how I’ll fare.”
Lady Claddach was dividing the participants into teams of two as they arrived at the alley. It had been built on a terrace, with one long side formed by the side of the hill into which the terrace had been cut and a high wall on the other side. Bench seats had been built into the slope above the terrace, so spectators could watch the play. “Half of you shall play in the first set,” she said, “and half in the second. Then the top players of each set shall play in the third. Ah. Mr. Redhaven. There you are. You shall be paired with Miss Bryant.”
Alaric had automatically sought out Bea when he and Colyn arrived. She, it seemed, was paired with her cousin Beverley. Alaric took some comfort in the fact that she didn’t look happy about it. He walked over to where Miss Bryant was standing with Miss Radcliffe and Dashwood. “Miss Bryant. Miss Radcliffe. Dashwood. Miss Bryant, I trust I do not let our partnership down. It has been at least three years since I last played the game.”
“Christina is pretty good,” Miss Radcliffe claimed.
Alaric bowed to his partner. “I shall do my best,” he promised.
They were in the second set, so they walked up to the benches to watch the first. The players with their mallets began at one end and took turns to hit their balls toward the other. Each hit counted as a point, and the winning pair would be the one with the lowest number of points.
The run ended when all of them had put their balls through the iron ring at the end of the alley. It was suspended on a long rod four feet above the ground, and the end of the run was delayed as one of the players had to make five attempts before finally succeeding in putting his ball through the ring.
They then played back up to the first end, where another iron ring waited. Each set would comprise five runs, and the scores for each run would be added together to create the final score for the set.
Servants moved along the benches with drinks. Most of the older members of the house party were watching the game, too, but Lord Lewiston and Lord Claddach were supervising the servants who were keeping score down on the court.
During the second run, Alaric was watching Bea, so he missed when Beverley hit his ball into Howard’s, but he turned at the gasp. A ball shot backwards, farther from the ring, ending up against the wall where swinging the mallet made for an awkward shot. Beverley’s ball ricocheted from the impact, landing closer to the ring and right in front of it.
“An excellent roquet,” Miss Bryant noted. “Beverley is well-placed for his next strike, and Howard will have trouble getting away from the wall.”
