Page 55 of A Lovely White Christmastide
Beth playfully pushed him back, then peeked over her shoulder at the footman.
Blast the man. Could he not disappear again?
She took a sip of her drink and sighed. “That is good.”
He agreed by taking another swig of his. They sat quietly for several moments watching the snow come down. Carswell was surprised to find he liked it even better than sitting alone.
There was comfort in Beth’s presence, something he’d not found anywhere else, not even in his family. His sister was far too chatty, and his parents had always been at odds with one another. Only his brother had been somewhat of a comrade when he was small, but as they’d grown, their moral characters had taken drastically different roads making comfort a difficult thing to come by.
He let the feeling wash over him. How did she do it?
Then a complaint from the hall stole their peace as Mrs. Barker questioned someone about the Misses Haynes’s whereabouts.
Beth groaned. “It is too early to face her.” Pushing back her seat, she rose and grabbed Carswell’s hand. “Come along, I have an escape.”
He did not argue but followed meekly as she pulled him toward the window. Were they going to jump out into the snow? She must be desperate indeed.
But instead of the snow jump he’d feared, Beth led him to the last panel in the wall and pushed. It slid back, revealing a tight space between the two sections. She yanked him in, quickly shutting the hidden door just as he saw the hem of a skirt enter the breakfast room.
Pitch dark surrounded them as they both tried to calm their breathing. Mrs. Barker could be heard through the wood questioning the footman, but thankfully he said nothing of their whereabouts. Carswell smiled in the dark. He knew he liked that man. Hopefully he’d be just as quiet below stairs. The last thing they needed was for the servants to gossip.
When the room again grew silent, he thought Beth would let them out, but instead she tugged him farther down the narrow space. He stumbled a time or two, but somehow Beth knew where to go. After several paces a dim light materialized above their heads.
“There are stairs here,” she whispered.
He nodded, but then realized she could not see the action in the dark. “Go slow or I am liable to leave us both with bruises if I fall.”
She laughed lightly. “If you fall, I am letting go.”
“You cannot. Remember, dear lady, if one of us is to suffer, then both of us shall.”
Her chuckle turned into full laughter. “Singing is a far cry different from falling.”
“Yes, but if I fall, you are going down with me.”
“That sounds painful.”
“It does not have to be.”
“Because you will catch me?” Her voice had grown quiet and he wondered if they were still speaking of the same thing.
“Of course, much like I did in the carriage.”
He could not see her face, but the way her hand tightened around his set off the strange fluttering again. It was most certainly different from the attraction he’d felt for other beautiful women. This feeling went deeper. Almost like a plant that had wound its roots into his chest and no matter how many leaves he plucked off with reason, it still could not be removed.
Beth cleared her throat. “There are ten steps and they are very steep, so be careful.”
He let the toe of his shoe find the back of each stair before putting his weight on it. As the light grew closer he relied less on his sense of touch, being able to see the dim shape of each tread.
At the top, a row of small square windows about the side of dinner plates lined the passageway. If memory served, there were multiple of these little windowpanes interspersed over the exterior of the house. He’d assumed them just another eccentricity in the haphazard design of Haverton, but now he understood their purpose.
Beth led him down the small space until it opened into a tiny room. The space contained two old chairs and a battered end table.
“How did you know of this passageway?”
“When one is young they will do anything to chase away the boredom.” She sat in one of the chairs and a puff of dust filled the room. Beth fanned it away from her face. “It seems the servants have not been in to clean for quite some time.”
“The servants clean this area?” he asked as he dusted off the other chair with his handkerchief.
