I would have screamed had I been able to breathe, but both actions were made impossible by the large hand clamped around my nose and mouth, stifling me. My eyes widened first in fear, and then in recognition, and the choking hand dropped from my face as suddenly as it had come.
'Mistress Farr!' The steward's face, for once, betrayed his astonishment. 'I pray your pardon! I took you for a thief.'
I rubbed my neck, and smiled wanly. 'I do but seek asylum,' I corrected him, 'in the chamber of his lordship. Tell me, has my uncle come before me?'
The steward shook his head. 'He has not. No one has called here since yourself this morning.'
'Good sir, I beg you.' I placed a hand upon his sleeve. 'On no account admit my uncle to this house. He means to do your lordship mischief, and there is one with me who can attest the evil of his nature.' Turning, I called out to Caroline, who still clung to the shadows of the far wall. 'Come, Caroline, this man is a friend. You will be safe.'
Slowly she came, in that stiff and painful shuffle, clasping the pitiful bundle to her breast protectively. As she drew level with us, the light from the library fell full upon the child's waxen, lifeless face, and showed the trail of drying blood that stained the blue-tinged skin.
The steward looked, and lifted horror-stricken eyes to mine. 'Where is your uncle now, mistress?' he asked me.
'I fear he waits in hiding outside this very house,' I answered him plainly. 'Have you a man that you can trust?'
'I have three men as able as myself,' was his loyal response, 'and a young lad who would not shrink from duty, were he called. Do you wish me to send for the bailiff?'
I shook my head, my heart sinking. 'The bailiff would be of no use, sir, for he is dead and a traitor besides. I confess, I know not who to trust in this affair. The wolves are well disguised among the lambs.'
The steward squared his shoulders proudly. 'Then it is left to us,' he said. 'I will send my men to watch the road for his lordship's return, that we might warn him of this danger.'
I smiled at him in relief. 'I thank you, sir. Where may I take my aunt, that she may be more comfortable?'
'There is a fire in the Great Hall, mistress, where you both might warm yourselves. I'll send a maid to attend to 3o you, and to the ... child.' He looked with pity at Caroline, but she only stared back at him with wooden eyes, and followed us when she was bidden to.
I waited until the maid arrived and saw Caroline settled in a chair before the fire, where she rocked Johnnie back and forth, humming contentedly. Unable to remain, I took my leave of both women and went upstairs, taking the steps two at a time in my haste.
The crimson bedchamber felt cold and lonely without Richard there to fill the room. The moonlight made ghosts of the bed hangings, and cast a spectral pool about my feet, but I dared not light a candle for fear of my uncle's eyes. He was out there, I knew, concealed somewhere behind a tree or hedge or garden wall, driven by a cruel and single purpose. The lawn spread pale and peaceful beneath my window, but I could sense the evil presence of the serpent.
I stared out over the lawn, toward the road, hoping that one of Richard's servants had already intercepted him and turned him back. I went on watching, hoping, until my vision blurred with weariness, and still I did not look away. I do not know what hour it was when the first small flicker of movement caught my eye, and jolted me awake.
At first I could see nothing clearly, only a flash of white between the trees that marked the curving road from the south, and then I saw it was Navarre, cantering innocently homeward with Richard on his back. Ghostlike, silently, they moved against the darkness, the rising scream of the wind stealing the sound of the stallion's thundering hooves.
They must have seen him, surely—one of the servants must have seen him, and spoken to him; yet still he came on.
He had come back for me, I thought painfully. He knew that Jabez Howard lived, and that my uncle in his anger would return to seek revenge. It had been fool of me to think that Richard would choose to turn from danger, and yet his reckless bravery saddened me, I knew not why.
It was not until the horse drew nearer that I saw the reason Richard had not turned on the road, and why his servants' warnings had not reached his ears. The stallion ran with a single purpose and would not be stopped, his rider sprawled senseless across the broad gray neck. Navarre eased finally to a slow walk, and then stopped altogether, his heaving sides bathed in foam. In horror I watched as Richard pitched forward, sliding heavily from the saddle to land full-length upon the ground. He did not move.
I remembered my uncle's leering smile, and the sound of
his rasping words But I have seen the devil's blood, and
know he is a man.
For the second time that night, my mind filled with screams of terror, and for the second time I was powerless to give them voice. I saw a shadow running across the lawn toward the fallen man, and an urgent litany ran through my agonized brain. Get up, I begged the dark and crumpled figure. Oh, please, get up. Please ... please ... please ...
The running shadow was much closer now, and spurred to action I dragged my leaden feet from the spot before the window, flying with a speed unnatural down the stairs and through the darkened passage.
The silence in the Great Hall should have warned me. The wind wailed still against the tall windows, but there was no other sound, and my running feet had carried me well into the room before I perceived my error.
Caroline and the maid still sat before the fire. They sat like pokers, stiffly wary, eyes fixed upon the man who stood upon the hearth rug with his hands outstretched toward the blaze. Beyond him lay the door to the outside, and beyond that lay Richard—helpless, perhaps dying, on the lawn. But my uncle blocked my way to both.