Haunted by the Earl's Touch - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,32

and it didn’t contain their wasted bones. She shuddered at the thought of someone trapped inside the darkness behind that wall. Nonsense. Anyone who went in must have known how to get out when the coast was clear.

She peered in. The space appeared larger than one would expect. How odd. She went to the bedside table for her candlestick and marched back to the gaping hole. She held the candle out in front of her and revealed what looked like a passage into a tunnel that branched left and right. A tunnel? One of those that led to the caves described at dinner tonight? It didn’t look in the least like a ruin. And why did it lead straight to her chamber? Her stomach gave a sickening lurch.

Who else knew about this? And exactly where did it go? Down to the sea? To the outside? Could she use it to escape the earl’s high-handed edict that she might not leave? Her heart beating loud in her ears as she held her breath, she stepped over the threshold.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention.

What if the door closed behind her, leaving her trapped? She backed out into her room, set her candle on the mantel and dragged over the chair from beside the hearth. She stood it in the opening. The door would be unable to close with that in the way. Not completely. She picked up her candle once more and plunged into the dark.

The candle’s flickering light illuminated rough-stone walls glistening with damp. Creeping along one step at a time, she wondered what on earth she would find. The passage took a turn and came to a set of stairs leading up. Stairs that seemed to mirror those just beyond her chamber door, only narrower and the steps rougher-hewn. She climbed upwards carefully and came to a blank wall. She raised her candle high and saw a sconce much like the one in her bedroom. She twisted the base and started back as the wall shifted inwards, revealing the chamber above her room and in the corner, against the passage wall, a length of chain and a rusty cannonball.

In that instant she was sure the earl had lied. This was how he had got into that room. He was the one making the unearthly noises. But why? Did he plan to drive her to madness and have her locked away, thereby taking control of the money? Or did he want to frighten her into his arms? Into marriage? Or did he think to blame a ghost for her death?

Her mouth dried. The air wouldn’t seem to fill her lungs. She swallowed hard. Inside she was trembling. Weak. Wishing she knew just what he was up to.

Surely Gerald and Jeffrey knew about this passageway? It was the sort of thing no self-respecting boy would miss. Unless they truly believed that the tunnels had collapsed long ago. If their grandfather had told them it was so, would they not have believed him?

Whoever knew about this had ready access into her chamber. Suddenly her skin felt too tight and her scalp tingled. That person could come and go into her room at will.

Hastily, she closed the secret door and hurried back down the steps, pausing outside the entrance to her room to make sure everything was just as she had left it.

She let go a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. Should she explore further, or simply face the earl with her findings in the morning? It would be good to know if it led outside to freedom. She took a quick breath and continued on past her room. Darkness closed in around her, apart from the small circle of light cast by her candle.

At the sound of a deep low rumble of male voices she froze. Was someone else in the passageway? There was no glimmer of light ahead. No footsteps accompanying the voices. She continued on more slowly and came to a fork in the tunnel. By heavens, it seemed there was a veritable rabbit warren inside the walls. And they looked in good working order, too. Was there something else going on here? Was the old earl involved in smuggling? French brandy was smuggled all along the coast of Cornwall at great profit.

The voices were louder now, though still indistinct. If she could hear them, they would be able to hear her if she called out. But that would give her discovery away and