Alice-Miranda at the Palace 11 (19 page)

The children followed Caprice across the lawn and down a long wisteria-covered walkway. At the end there was a gate that led into the woodland.

‘Is this really the way?' Sloane asked loudly.

‘Of course it is,' Caprice snipped, charging ahead.

As promised, Bunyan had remained behind once the children reached the edge of the garden.

‘Bye, Mr Bunyan,' Alice-Miranda called. ‘We'll see you later.' She turned to wave but the man had already disappeared.

The children trekked along the dappled path which wound its way up and up until they emerged on top of the ridge.

‘Whoa,' Lucas said. ‘The tower's even more impressive up close.'

Caprice led the way until the boys ran to overtake her and sprinted to the front door. Sep grabbed the handle and turned, but it was locked, just as Mr Thripp had warned it would be.

Caprice smirked. ‘You won't get in that way.'

‘Okay, smartypants, where's the entrance?' Millie said.

Caprice took off around to the other side of the building and the group followed. She pointed at one of the windows. ‘Give me a leg-up,' she commanded Lucas.

He and Sep both knelt down so she could hoist herself up to the window and prise it open. She wiggled her way through, then disappeared from view. ‘Well, are you coming or not?' Caprice called from inside.

Within a couple of minutes, the children had hefted and heaved each other into the tower. Sep scrambled up the wall on his own and Lucas helped pull him through.

‘This is so cool,' Lucas breathed as he looked around.

Sloane scrunched her nose. ‘It smells awful – like someone's stomped kippers into the carpet or something,' she remarked.

‘Did the twins bring you here?' Millie asked, looking at Caprice.

The girl nodded.

‘Did they say you could bring us?'

‘I don't care what they say. They're not here now and they can't stop us,' Caprice said defiantly.

‘What's in here, anyway?' Sep asked.

‘Follow me and I'll show you,' the girl said, then flounced off towards the stairwell.

Edgar turned around from where he was mixing a sludgy paste in a beaker which sat on a tripod over an open flame.

‘Hey, what's Langley doing up here?' he said, dropping the wooden spoon and rushing to the window. In the daylight the twins weren't afraid to draw the curtains, but when it got dark they made sure that the drapes were always fully closed. They
didn't want to risk anyone seeing lights on in the tower.

Louis stood up from the table, where he had been fiddling with a circuit board.

‘He hardly ever leaves the palace.' Edgar frowned. ‘And why is he carrying a hammer?'

Caprice and the children climbed the spiral staircase while holding onto the rope banister.

‘This place is incredible,' Sep said.

‘These stairs were built for midgets,' Sloane grumbled after almost tripping on the tiny treads.

Edgar and Louis watched as Vincent Langley approached the building and disappeared around the other side.

‘Come on, let's go and see what he's up to.' Edgar turned and raced towards the door. He wrenched it open and charged through to the landing, just as Caprice's head appeared at the top of the staircase.

‘You! What are you doing here?' the boy blustered.

Caprice's mouth fell open and for a minute she gasped like a fish out of water.

‘I can't believe you,' Louis said, coming up behind his brother.

Alice-Miranda popped up next to the girl. ‘Oh, hello boys, we didn't know you were going to be here too. I thought you were getting your hair cut.'

‘What's she doing here?' Louis pointed at Alice-Miranda.

‘It's not just me,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘We all came to look at the tower.'

A few seconds later, the seven children were standing on top of the landing.

‘You can't be trusted one little bit, Caprice,' Edgar accused the girl. ‘You promised not to tell.'

‘Sorry,' the girl huffed. ‘Lucas really wanted to see the tower, and it isn't fair to keep this place all to yourselves.'

From somewhere outside, the children heard a loud banging.

‘What's that noise?' Sep said.

Edgar and Louis looked at each other and pushed
past the children. ‘Langley!' they shouted in unison and took off.

‘What about Mr Langley?' Alice-Miranda wondered aloud before turning to follow them. The rest of the group stampeded downstairs behind her.

As they reached the ground floor, the hammering stopped.

The twins ran over to the window. Louis leapt onto the small stool they had positioned beneath it.

‘Can you see him?' Edgar demanded.

Louis shook his head. ‘I'll go and have a look outside. He tried to push the window but it wouldn't budge. Did you close this?' He turned and asked the group.

‘I was last through,' Sep said, unsure if he should be apologising. ‘But I think I left it open.'

Louis pushed against the frame but it was stuck fast. ‘It won't budge,' he said, shoving harder.

‘What do you mean it's stuck?' Sloane asked with alarm.

‘It's stuck – it won't open,' the boy replied sarcastically.

‘There has to be some other way out of this place,' Millie said. She turned and looked across the hallway at the front doors.

‘There is no other way in or out. Trust us on that one,' Edgar said. ‘All of the windows are nailed shut and now it looks like this one is too.'

‘Do you think Mr Langley locked us in?' Lucas asked.

‘But why would he do that?' Jacinta frowned. She didn't like the idea of spending the night in the spooky old tower.

‘Well, it's pretty obvious he doesn't like either of you very much,' Millie said to the twins. ‘But we haven't really done anything to offend him – except for the boys sliding down the banisters.'

‘There's something very strange going on,' Alice-Miranda said. ‘Is there a telephone up here somewhere?'

The boys shook their heads.

‘Did anyone bring a phone with them?' Millie asked.

There was a cacophony of ‘no's.

‘Mr Bunyan knows we're here. If we don't get back before dark someone will come and look for us, I'm sure of it,' Alice-Miranda said.

‘How does he know?' Caprice scoffed. ‘None of us told him.'

‘Actually, I did because I didn't want him to
worry about us, especially when Mr Thripp and Aunty Gee were so keen for him to accompany us,' Alice-Miranda said.

Caprice rolled her eyes. ‘You're such a goody-goody.'

‘You should thank her, Caprice. When it gets late, Mr Bunyan will come looking for us and we won't be stuck here overnight,' Sep said.

Caprice rolled her eyes. ‘Then there's nothing to worry about,' Jacinta said, trying to be cheerful.

‘Except that we're trapped here with you lot for the rest of the day,' Edgar griped.

‘I'm starving,' Sloane declared. ‘Can we have something to eat?'

‘There's nothing much up here,' one of the twins said. ‘Maybe a muesli bar or two, but you're not having those.'

‘It's fine,' the girl snipped, remembering the daypacks Bunyan had given them. ‘We have our own picnic.'

‘Good, you can share it with us then.' Louis grabbed Millie's backpack and took off upstairs.

‘Hey!' The flame-haired girl yelled, racing after him.

Braxton Balfour sped along the lane. By his calculations he had just over ninety minutes to get to the cottage and back, including the time it would take to pick up the supplies from the farm shop. He had no idea if Lydie would be there, let alone if she'd be receptive to his questions, but he had to try.

Braxton parked the car in the usual spot and charged through the undergrowth to the cottage. He couldn't believe his eyes when he spotted her
kneeling down beside a flowerbed by the side of the house. ‘Lydie!' he called.

She looked towards him, then stood up and started to run away.

Braxton took off after her. ‘Stop! I just want to talk to you.' He reached the back door and blocked her path.

‘Please leave me alone,' she whispered, catching her breath. Her head felt as if it were stuffed full of cotton wool.

‘I don't want to hurt you. I just have to know why,' Braxton pleaded. ‘Why did you go away?'

Out of the corner of his eye Braxton spotted the raven. It was flying straight for him.

Lydie must have seen the terror in his eyes. She turned and held out her hand. ‘Away, Lucien!' she called.

The beast swooped low, then circled back and landed on the roof of a small outbuilding.

She turned back to Braxton, a look of utter confusion on her face.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the photograph, then held it out for her to see.

Lydie frowned as she took it and traced her
forefinger over the outline of the couple. For several minutes she seemed completely lost.

‘Please, Lydie, I don't care if you didn't want to marry me. I just want to know why you ran away,' Braxton began. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it might burst right through his chest. There were so many questions.

‘Braxton …?' she whispered, looking up at him. ‘Braxton Balfour?'

‘Yes, it's me, Lydie.' A wave of relief washed over him. He wasn't imagining things, after all.

Lydie's face crumpled. ‘Oh my goodness, we were going to get married.'

Braxton nodded sadly. ‘We were. And then there was the accident and you wouldn't see me anymore. You left and I had no idea where you'd gone. Please, Lydie, I have to know why.'

Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I don't remember.'

‘What do you mean you don't remember?' Braxton reached out and held her hands in his.

‘I couldn't remember any of it – you, what happened to me, who I was …'

‘Your brother told me you didn't want to see me ever again,' Braxton said.

Lydie shook her head. ‘I didn't know who anyone
was – not even my own mother or father. The doctors all said it would get better and that I'd be okay, but I wasn't. That's why I went away. I needed to discover who I was and hope that one day it would all come back to me.'

‘And has it?' Braxton asked.

‘No … I mean, not properly. For a long time there were scratchy memories here and there, then one day I was walking across a field near the village where I was living in France and I saw an old woman in the distance. I don't know why it happened but something sharpened in my mind, and all of a sudden I remembered my Aunt Marian and I had an overwhelming urge to come home. Except that I didn't really know if I still had a home.'

‘Aunt Marian?' Braxton frowned.

‘Marian Marmalade – my godmother,' Lydie said. ‘I'm told that she was a good friend of my father's when they were young. I wrote to her and asked if she could help me.'

‘Do you remember the Queen?' Braxton asked.

‘No, not really, other than things I've read about her or seen in the newspapers. I know we were second cousins because Aunt Marian told me but I can't recall anything about being at the palace
or things we used to do with her when we were children.'

‘You poor darling,' Braxton said. ‘I can't imagine losing my memory like that.'

Lydie shrugged. ‘Sometimes it feels like a seam-stress is picking at a part of my brain, just trying to catch the right stitch so that everything will unravel. When I saw you the other day, I knew there was something more. I've been thinking and thinking.'

‘How long have you been here?' Braxton asked.

‘Three years,' she replied.

‘Three years!' Braxton sighed. ‘I can't believe you've been so close. Who knows you're here?'

‘Only Aunt Marian, and I suppose Her Majesty must too. I'm not really sure. Aunt Marian arranged for me to live in the cottage. She said that my timing was perfect and so was my trade. I trained as a milliner in France, you see, although I was something of a hermit there too. Her Majesty's milliner had just retired and they needed someone to take up the position. I just couldn't tell anyone and, up until now, that's suited me very well.'

‘Hats? That's what I pick up in the boxes?' Braxton asked, remembering the piece of fabric he'd picked up off the sitting-room floor.

Lydie nodded.

‘What about your brother? Does he know you're here?' the man asked. He knew that both her parents had died some years ago.

Lydie shook her head. ‘Aunt Marian has told me about him and shown me photographs, but I can't remember him at all.'

‘Don't you think seeing him might have helped?' Braxton frowned.

‘I didn't want to. There was something that just didn't feel right.'

Braxton's heart skipped. ‘My dear girl, out here on your own all this time.'

‘I thought coming back would help but it didn't. Apparently I'm doing something important for Her Majesty, and Aunt Marian visits when she can. I take walks in the evenings and I've got my animal friends for company,' Lydie said calmly. ‘Please don't feel sorry for me.'

‘The raven?' Braxton's brow creased.

‘Yes, his name's Lucien and he's rather protective, as you learned the other day. There are others too – a rabbit and a wren. I raised them by hand when they were left for dead.' A small smile perched on Lydie's lips.

‘You did always love animals,' Braxton said tenderly.

‘They don't judge, do they? They just love you for who you are.'

Braxton thought for a moment. ‘Have you been to the tower?'

‘No,' Lydie replied. ‘But I've thought about it a lot lately. I've had small flashes – of arguments, then everything goes black. I don't know what it all means but I think I want to. I'm tired of not knowing.'

Braxton glanced at his watch. He'd already been away for much longer than he should have been.

‘Would you take me there?' Lydie asked. ‘I don't think I can do it on my own.'

Braxton nodded and drew her close. ‘Of course.'