Page 77 of Grave Expectations
He left as Cook arrived with a cup of chocolate and Gus not much later. "Horse is jittery," he said. "You did well to control him."
The three men stood or sat around me, not speaking. It was as if they were waiting for something, but I didn't know what. Tears? Hysterics? They ought to know me better than that. I gave them a fuller account of what had happened, merely to break the silence. They listened without interrupting.
"I hope the fire doesn't spread to the other factories," I finished.
"I'm sure the firemen will have it under control by now." Seth glanced at Gus.
Gus cleared his throat and folded his arms. He didn't meet my gaze.
"What is it?" I asked. "What's happened?"
"We found Mrs. Drinkwater."
"Bloody hell! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"We wanted you to recover first."
"I am recovered."
"You ain't," Cook said. "You be shaky and filthy."
Seth and Gus nodded in agreement.
I rounded on Seth. "Where is Mrs. Drinkwater now?"
"The tower room."
"You locked her in?"
"Of course. We don't want her to escape."
"She's afraid of Fitzroy," Gus said. "Hardly blame her for that, but we can't let her go until he speaks to her."
"I'll speak with her first." I stood and marched to the door.
They didn't try to stop me as I suspected they would, but they did follow me. "What has she said to you so far?"
"Nothing," Seth said. "She says she'll speak only to you."
"Is that so?"
"She's afraid of us too."
"Can't think why," Gus chimed in. "We're the nice ones."
"You look frightening," Seth told him.
"Do not! Charlie, do I frighten you?"
"Not at all." I didn't tell him that his scars and craggy face had given me nightmares when I first met him.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk to herafteryour bath?" Seth asked.
"I don't want to waste another moment. I think it's best that I talk to her before Lincoln, in case she closes up when he confronts her. If he's still furious about the kidnapping, he might scare her into silence."
"Precisely what we were thinking," Seth said.
He pulled the key out of his pocket when we reached the top of the tower, the highest level in the house. He unlocked the door and went in first.
