Page 22 of Nothing But a Rakehell
“No!” She sounded shocked. “I would never steal Tensford’s thunder in such a fashion. He loves to show off his collection—and the spots where he finds them.” He looked back to see her nod in encouragement. “This will be as diverting, though, I promise.”
“More diverting than a bunch of oddly shaped rocks? I should hope so.”
“Don’t let Tensford hear you talk like that!”
He realized they couldn’t be going to the river as the path began to climb. Like the path they had followed to the coal pit, it wended its way around and back and forth a bit as the way grew steeper. The dense canopy overhead kept the light dim, though, even as they climbed, and random outcroppings of rock added to the alien feel of the place. But it was quiet, and he drank in the peace and the strange beauty until the path ended at a large tumble of rocks.
“Turn right and climb,” Lady Glory directed.
A path of crushed undergrowth led over a crest, down into a dip and then angled over another high spot. When he crested the second hill, Keswick pulled the chestnut to a stop.
“Ohh.”
A small glen spread out before them, surrounded by dense growth and backed by a huge tower of rock. A boulder, bigger than a house, lay at the bottom. Some time in the past, something cataclysmic had knocked away a section, leaving a flat ledge, almost like a stage, carved out of the rock. Trees arched gracefully around it and here the sun broke through a bit more. Three large, moss covered logs sat before it, almost as if they’d been placed there for the purpose of seating an audience.
Lady Glory rode up beside him and then swung down. “Tether your mount here,” she instructed. “It’s safer.”
“Safer?”
“You shall see.” With that, she fed her mount and his each a carrot from her pocket, then walked down the slope to the stage. Carefully sitting, she swung her legs and mounted the stage. A hand on the boulder helped her climb to her feet and she moved to the center. Standing there, she grinned and raised her arms. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“Yes.” But he was looking at her, so slim and straight, full of spirit and pleased with herself. She was bespeckled with sunlight and her amber eyes glowed. With her fawn colored habit, she looked as if she’d been born in this glade. He couldn’t imagine her hiding away in her rooms, and he suddenly grasped the steely determination—and the depth of fear—that had kept her there.
“It’s a veritable fairy theatre,” he said, approaching. “Are you going to sing?”
“Heavens, no. And you’ll eventually learn what a kindness that is.”
He rotated, taking in the entirety of the place. “Surely this has been used. You can see where clearings have been made, in the past. But for what?” He frowned. “Luddites? Revolutionaries?”
“Perhaps they were children.”
“So far into Tensford’s lands? I doubt it. Does he know about it?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t wanted to ask. Certainly I’ve seen no sign of anyone coming here, except for me.” She walked the edge of the stage-like span of rock. “Perhaps it was a secret society. How thrilling. I wonder if they wore disguises? Masks and cloaks?”
“Masons, perhaps,” he mused.
“Come up and try it,” she beckoned.
He hopped up and stood beside her. It was indeed a heady feeling, as if all the forest waited, breath baited, to see what he would offer up.
She felt it too, for she nudged him. “Come on, then, give us something.”
He struck a pose.
“There wasa young lady from Saul,
whose bottom stretched broad as a wall—”
“No!”She covered her ears, laughing. “Stop! That doesn’t fit the feeling of the place, at all.”
“That is the extent of my repertoire, I’m afraid. Limericks and bawdy tavern songs are all I’ve got. It’s up to you, then.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t even have limericks and drinking songs.”
“What? I can scarcely believe it. I know your governesses must have forced a speaking piece upon you. Especially if you do not sing. Don’t all young ladies have something at the ready, with which to entertain the masses?”
She pulled a face. “You are entirely too perceptive. Yes, I have one. But no, I will not show you.”
