Page 46 of A Duke Under Her Spell
When they reached the servants’ stairway they descended to the place where the secret door stood open. The men of the household below a certain size had all gathered to hear what Felix had to say. When they stopped, Marybeth stood just behind him on the stairs. It felt good to have her at his side.
“We have been visited by the intruder once more. He has brazenly shown himself to me and then vanished within moments of my giving chase. I wish to flood these walls with so many men that he has no choice but to flee forever or be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law allows for such behavior. You are my army, my trusted men at arms. I cannot fit into the walls as you can, but I will be here listening. If any of you get into trouble, simply beat upon the wall and I will tear it down to find you.”
The men’s eyes widened at the thought that a Duke would tear his own house apart to save them. “We will not disappoint you, Your Grace,” one of the groomsmen from the stables pledged, stepping forward. The man wrung his hat in his hands, betraying his nervousness.
“I know that it is a dangerous, unpleasant thing that I ask, but I would not so if it were not imperative to the safety and wellbeing of our household. Young Oliver Singer lies wounded in the next room. Remember him as you enter these walls and use caution.”
Mr. Wheatly moved forward, handing each man a lit candle to light their way and a knife to protect themselves. The handful of men walked into the hidden room and one by one disappeared into the walls. Felix waited traversing the house listening for signs of distress. The men who were too big to fit in the walls stood at intervals, listening for those on the inside. It was a tense time for everyone.
Felix was not at all convinced that he was doing the right thing by sending them all in together armed. He was concerned at how easy it would be to mistake their fellow menservants as the intruder causing injury. When he had considered his options, he decided that he could not bear the guilt were he not to arm them and the interloper were to harm one of them. He did not want their deaths upon his conscience.
The number of men moving through the walls made it sound as if giant rats were invading the manor house. It was an eerie feeling to stand and wait while others did the dangerous work. Felix did not like it at all. He paced the halls like a caged jungle cat ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. Marybeth had gone to sit with Oliver and tell him of all that had transpired. Felix had sent Mr. Wheatly to guard the Dowager Duchess and to keep her company.
As he walked the halls, there was the sound of a scuffle, a shout, the pounding of feet upon floorboards, and then silence. Felix waited with bated breath concerned for his men unsure where the sound had originated. It took all of his restraint not to tear through the walls just to reassure himself that nothing had befallen them. He could not bear the thought of someone under his care being brought to harm by his order. There was a dragging sound through the walls, and he followed it.
“Your Grace,” a voice petitioned from the opening to the secret room.
Felix ran down the stairs and found the blood-spattered visage of one of his men staring out at him pale and line with dirt. “Yes? Are you injured?”
“Not I, Your Grace, but the intruder is.”
“You found him?” Felix asked moving forward.
“You might not wish to see this, Your Grace,” the manservant cautioned. “The man is dead, Your Grace, and it is not a pretty sight.”
“You killed him?” Felix asked daunted at the idea that someone so young had been forced to do such an act.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“How?”
“He came at me in the dark. It was over before I even knew what had happened. My father fought in the Napoleonic War. He taught me how to defend myself when under attack. I reacted before I had time to think,” the manservant admitted.
Felix stepped forward into the room and gazed down into the face of the man who had haunted them for days. “Bring me some water,” he ordered. The manservant swiftly obeyed, and Felix wiped the powder and dirt from the interloper’s face. What he saw shocked him to his core. “He is one of ours.”
Chapter 20
“How can this be?” Felix breathed the question in disbelief of what his eyes were telling him. “How can one of our own betray us in such a fashion?”
“Who is he, Your Grace? I do not recognize him.”
“He was here before your time with us began. He was a footman. I caught him stealing and was forced to let him go. I have not seen him since.”
“Could he have done it out of anger, Your Grace, for his being fired?”
“Perhaps, but strangely enough he was not angry when I let him go. I dare say he was relieved to not be swinging at the end of a rope when I let him leave without pressing charges for his criminal actions. He was quite grateful for the leniency he was shown. I cannot imagine one of our own, even a thief, doing something like this of their own accord. Something is amiss here. There must be a puppeteer pulling this man’s strings. As a servant he was a petty thief, but not a violent man by nature.”
“A man can change for the better or the worse, Your Grace. Without steady employment it is possible that he was tempted down a much worse road than he originally intended.”
“Perhaps,” Felix studied the face of the dead man and shook his head. Nothing in the house had been taken. If it had been a petty revenge scheme to get back at Felix for firing him then he would have taken something. The man had been an uncontrollable thief, taking this and that with little regard to its value. It had been as if he could not resist the urge. Felix doubted that the man could have resisted the urge to take something unless a firm hand was guiding him with a mixture of fear and payment.
“I could not haul him out on my own, Your Grace. The space is small, and it was impossible to carry such dead weight. One of the other lads aided me in his removal.” He nodded his head toward another groomsman who had been standing in the opening to the wall watching the ordeal, his face pale and drawn at the sight of so much blood. “Do you wish for him to be removed to the magistrate to be buried?”
Felix shook his head. “No, not just yet. The magistrate should be called to bear witness to the scene. He will also wish to see the place where he was killed and afterward the blood will need to be cleansed from the area or it will cause the house to stink of the dead. We have no choice but to remove another section of wall. Do you believe that you can point to where you encountered him? I know it is a bit disorienting being on the other side.”
“I believe I can, Your Grace. The sheer number of men running about within the walls left him with nowhere to go. I am fairly certain that he was in the hallway near the library where you saw him last.”
“One would think he would have run during the time I was searching for him,” Felix mused.
