Page 27 of A Duke Under Her Spell
“Perhaps,” she nodded. Had she not been so worried about Oliver she would have smiled. She enjoyed challenging the Duke. It gave her a sense of freedom to rebel against his orders. She had had the epitome of freedom in the forest, a freedom she sorely missed and longed to return to at the earliest opportunity. She enjoyed the company of the Dowager Duchess and her son, but she missed the tranquil peace of the forest.
For a brief moment, the idea of leaving the Duke saddened her, but she knew that nothing could come of it and so she pushed her feelings aside. She studied the features of his face drawn in concern for her wellbeing, and yet even in his anger and fear she still found a glint of admiration for her in his eyes. The thought occurred to her that with the Duke might lie something more than a solitary existence.
Mr. Wheatly arrived with the requested rope and lantern. The Duke tucked a pistol in his belt and then rigged up the rope over a large beam in the wall. He used the rope to climb down into the pit and shined the light around. Marybeth leaned over, taking advantage of his light to inspect the area below. “It is a tunnel and there are fresh tracks in the dirt leading away from the house.”
Marybeth grabbed ahold of the swinging rope and lowered herself down into the darkness beside the Duke. “Are they Oliver’s?” she asked coming up to stand at his elbow.
“I told you not to come down here,” he chastised.
“And I told you I would do it anyway.”
The Duke closed his eyes as if he were praying for patience and rubbed his temples in frustration. “How am I to keep you safe if you do not listen to me?”
“The ghost man had ample time to harm me when he was in my bedchamber and yet he did not. I do not expect him to do so now.”
“It is unwise to assume that because he did not harm you once that he will not do so in the future.”
“Perhaps, but I am here and that is that.” Marybeth moved forward with her candle in hand to follow what she hoped were Oliver’s footprints.
The tunnel was quite a bit wider and taller than the passageway had been. The Duke easily walked along its length without stooping or sidestepping. “Footprints means he is alive and relatively unharmed,” the Duke offered her in comfort.
“Yes, I draw great hope from that fact. He probably fell and was unable to climb back up.”
“Yes, it seems the most likely explanation.”
They walked side by side for a time in silence. The tunnel seemed to go on forever deeper and deeper into the earth. “Where do you think it ends?” Marybeth whispered, a bit frightened by the thought of being so deep underground with no apparent way out of the darkness that surrounded them.
“I do not know. I am concerned about having brought you so far underground.” He reached out and drew her closer to him as if he could somehow protect her from the earth itself.
“It was my doing, not yours. Remember?”
“Yes, I am not likely to forget such defiance.” The look on his face in the candlelight told her she had not heard the last of his thoughts on the matter.
They continued to move through the darkness searching for Oliver and any sign of a way out. The earth was hardpacked beneath their feet, offering them a sure footing. Timbers supported the walls and ceiling, much like those found in a mine shaft. The air was still and stale. Marybeth began to doubt the wisdom of her choice to enter the tunnel, but she would have done anything for Oliver no matter the danger, no matter the price.
Holding hands, the Duke and Marybeth walked until they began to see the faintest hint of light. Marybeth unable to contain herself, released the Duke’s hand and took off running. “Oliver!” she cried out.
“Marybeth, wait!” the Duke called after her, but she did not listen.
As she ran, she could hear the Duke’s footsteps pounding the earth behind her. “Oliver!” she cried out again as she emerged into the dawn’s early light searching frantically for any sign of her friend. “Oliver!
Chapter 10
“Marybeth?!” Oliver’s voice came from the opening above. He extended his hand down to her and pulled her up out of the tunnel. The two friends embraced and then turned to help the Duke.
“Where are we?” the Duke asked as he hefted himself up over the side.
“Blackleigh Castle,” Oliver answered, offering the Duke a hand up.
Marybeth looked around them and found that he spoke the truth. “How can that be? I know we walked for a long time, but never would I have guessed that we had walked that far. I have explored every stone of this castle and never once did I find a tunnel or any hint that it existed.”
“I had to push a stone up and out of the castle floor to climb out of the tunnel. We must have run across this floor hundreds of times as children without knowing of its existence,” Oliver remarked.
“The tunnel was directly under my own home and I did not know of it,” the Duke replied bewildered by the connection. “How is it possible that such a thing could have escaped the attention of my forefathers? One of them must have arranged for the digging of the tunnel when or before the manor house was built.”
“There did not appear to be an entrance from the tunnel into the manor house, but I did not follow the passageway in the walls to their completion. My progress was halted by my fall through the floor. Perhaps there was one further down, or one that had been covered over years before,” Oliver pointed out.
“Perhaps,” the Duke nodded thoughtfully as he turned around in a circle taking in the ruins around him. “It has been many years since I have been inside of these walls.” He moved over to the stone stairs that led to the top of the tower and began climbing. Marybeth and Oliver followed behind.
