and looked around the room, which was sparsely decorated, and wondered where on earth such a cache of confiscated things might be. His eye fell on her closet and he quickly tiptoed over to the door.

Pulling it open, he smiled happily. There on the floor was a large trunk, and Ian’s gut told him the silver box was inside. Lifting the lid, he found it right away and was about to pull it free and head out of the room when he heard a loud series of coughs coming from the hallway.

Quickly he snatched the box and shoved it under his shirt, then closed the trunk lid and hurried toward the bedroom door. From the hallway he heard a voice ask, “Why, Theo, what are you doing upstairs again away from the table?”

Ian stopped in his tracks. It was Madam Scargill. He was a dead man. “I’m waiting for the loo, ma’am,” he heard Theo reply.

“Oh?” Madam Scargill said. “Who’s in there?”

“Ian,” Theo said. “I believe he’s feeling a bit under the weather.”

“Really?” Madam said. Ian then heard knocking on the loo door. “Ian?” the headmistress called. “Are you all right in there?”

Ian looked about the bedroom in a state of panic. He couldn’t answer Madam Scargill. She would know he wasn’t in the lavatory and quickly realize he was in her locked bedroom. “He’s fine,” he heard Theo say. “He’s just embarrassed by his bout of diarrhea.”

Ian covered his face with his hands and willed Theo to stop talking. Madam Scargill knocked again. “I should like to know that he is well enough to answer,” said Madam.

Theo’s tone suddenly became urgent as she said loudly, “Madam! The earl! He’s coming here, this evening!”

Theo had a knack for knowing when people would be arriving at the keep. She was never wrong and could often tell ahead of time who would arrive and how many people they would bring with them.

“The earl?” Madam Scargill said, her attention temporarily diverted from Ian in the loo. “Theo, are you sure?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Theo said excitedly. “And he’s bringing two men and a young boy with him!”

“How long have we got?”

“We’d be best to hurry!”

“Oh, my,” said Madam. She gave one more knock on the door of the water closet and called, “Ian, if you need me, please tell Theo. I shall be back to check on you later.”

And with that he heard her clomping feet retreat down the hallway. He waited another few moments; then, as he was about to open the door, Theo knocked.

“It’s safe, Ian,” she said. “You can come out now.”

Ian opened the door, quickly scooted out into the hallway, and pulled it closed behind him. “That was bloody brilliant!” he said to her. “Telling her that the earl was on his way was a stroke of genius. Though I’ll admit you had me a little nervous with that whole ‘Ian’s in the loo with the runners.’”

“The earl is on his way here,” said Theo. “But maybe not quite as soon as I let on to Madam Scargill. You, however, had best get back to your room and do a good job of looking sick, because I won’t cover for you again!”

“Oh, come off it, Theo,” he said, swinging an arm about her shoulders and giving her a gentle hug. “I got the box back, after all.” And he pulled it out from under his shirt to show her.

“Madam Scargill will find it in your room,” Theo said crossly. “She’ll know you stole it back, and then you’ll be in a load of trouble.”

Ian smiled down at her, his confidence unwavering. “I’m not going to stash it in my room,” he said. “I’m going to hide it up there.” He pointed to a door directly opposite Madam Scargill’s room.

“The tower?” Theo whispered.

Ian nodded. “No one ever goes up there, and we can be sure that it won’t be found and that we can have a look at it whenever we want to.”

“But it’s horrible up there,” Theo said with a shudder.

There were two towers at the keep: the east tower and the west. The west housed the children’s playroom and was a comfortable place to retire after lessons and before bedtime. The east tower, however, was a dark and gloomy place that almost every child at the keep explored just once—then never again. Most of the orphans who ventured there felt as if they were being watched by unseen eyes, and a few had noticed dark shadows following them about the