Haunted by the Earl's Touch - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,65

of her ownership.

The old man grumbled under his breath. ‘She ain’t got a light.’

‘She does,’ Mr Trelawny said, producing another of the hats. ‘If you would just slip your bonnet off, Miss Wilding, let it hang by the strings, if you will, and you can put this on.’

She did as he suggested and he tied on the stiff felt hat, pushing it down hard, then lighting the candle. She was surprised at how much better she could see around her. ‘Thank you.’

‘Try to keep you head down as we go through the tunnels. They are low in places and while the hat will protect you somewhat, you can still get a nasty bruise if you are not careful. Follow Old Jem there and I will bring up the rear. Not too fast, now, Jem. I don’t want anyone getting lost.’

‘No indeed,’ Bane said. ‘Miss Wilding, hold on to my coat-tails if you please. I shall feel better if I know where you are at all times.’

The strange little cavalcade set off, stopping now and then when Mr Trelawny called out to Jem to stop so he could point out items of interest. Bane seemed greatly interested in each tiny detail.

‘Where are the men working?’ she asked on the third-such stop.

‘Further along, Miss Wilding. They are hewing and hauling today. I thought it best we didn’t use any black powder during your visit. We will find them near the horse-whim stope.’

When she looked at him blankly, he smiled. ‘Whim means the drum turned by the horse to bring the buckets up. Stope refers to where we dig it out. There is a significant lode of ore in that part of the mine.’ He pointed to a dark seam of rock running along the tunnel. ‘This is also ore. Blue peach, we call it. But it is pretty well worked out and what is left is of poor quality. Further on, the lode is heavy with tin.’

‘Then let us go there, since it is what Miss Wilding wishes to see,’ Bane said.

And they set off again. In places the tunnel was narrow and low and both she and Bane had to duck to avoid the sharp rocks in the roof. Once her bonnet got hooked up on a promontory and Mr Trelawny had to set her free. They laughed about it, while his lordship, unable to help from where he stood, simply glowered at them. And what a glower it was with the flickering light of their candles bouncing off the rough granite walls and the brim of his hat throwing his eyes into deep shadow. Why, he looked almost jealous.

She shivered. And it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant sensation. It seemed that his seductive words in the carriage had infected her body.

To prevent getting hooked up again, she untied the ribbons of her bonnet, retied them and hung it over her arm. ‘I’m ready,’ she said at his lordship’s impatient sigh.

A short while later, the tunnel opened out and all around her were moving pinpoints of light and the sounds of shovelling overpowering the background noise of running water. It was a bit like watching Oberon’s fairies, until you realised that the sparkling lights were attached to rough felt hats worn by men shovelling rocks into iron buckets. And lads running from smaller tunnels and crevasses with wooden wheelbarrows. Small boys of eight or nine.

Work stopped as they realised that their visitors had arrived. There were some startled looks between the miners as they realised they had a woman in their midst and then some touching of forelocks and awkward bobbing of heads at her and Bane.

‘This is the shift foreman, Michael Trethewy,’ Mr Trelawny said. ‘Lord Beresford. Miss Wilding.’

Another very Cornish name. These people had lived in this isolated part of the country for centuries. The man himself was big and brawny. He bowed to Mary and looked surprised when Bane held out his hand, but shook it anyway with a ham of a hand. The two men stared into each other’s eyes for a moment with a measuring look and then released the shake. Both looked satisfied with what they had discovered from that brief contact.

A meeting of like minds. Mary inwardly shrugged. Men had their own secret codes, Sally had said. This must be one of them. She was more interested in the condition of the boys pushing those heavy barrows. While the foreman introduced Bane to the other men and they talked about lodes and weights and percentages