Scotland Hard (Book 2 in the Tom & Laura Series) (26 page)

33.
      
The Dance

Daisy and
Cam
giggled together as they walked up to the castle. They had indeed found a clothes shop in the village and were now resplendent in tartan skirts, matching blouses, stockings and bonnets.

Lord McBride had anticipated that most of his employees would be ill equipped to take part in a Cèilidh and the clothes shop was stocked to the brim with appropriate clothing at ridiculously low prices. After some persuasion from the kindly woman in the shop, they had also bought Scottish clothes for Arnold and the boys. It was how the males looked that was causing the girls so much merriment.

“If we are the only males wearing skirts when we get there, you girls are going to be in so much trouble,”
Arnold
said in a growl. He could not believe that Camilla had managed to convince him to wear a kilt. If his own clothes had not needed washing so desperately, he would never have agreed to it. His spare clothes were still in his case at the left luggage repository back in
London
. They never had the opportunity to go back and retrieve them.

Getting Ebb and Tricky into kilts had been a difficult task and Camilla had resorted to a mix of threats and bribery. If
Arnold
had not given in to wearing the kilt the boys would still be in their scruffy clothes. As it was, all three looked resplendent in their
Highland
apparel as they trudged miserably up the hill.

Dougal waited at the castle entrance to greet new member of his father’s workforce. He smiled when he saw Daisy and openly grinned when he caught sight of Arnold and the boys. Fortunately for Daisy and
Cam
, he was also wearing a kilt, replete with a large and impressive sporran at the front.

“I see that your sisters have got you into proper clothes,” he said to
Arnold
. “My father will be pleased to see you getting into the spirit of
Scotland
.”

“Camilla can be very persuasive,”
Arnold
replied grimly. “I trust we will not be out of place inside?”

“It’s only about one in four who are wearing a kilt among the newcomers,” Dougal admitted. “But you look fine.” He turned towards Daisy and offered up his arm. “May I escort you into the Great Hall, my lady?”

“I would be delighted,” Daisy said standing at his side and placing her arm in his. “Lay on, MacDuff,” she said brightly

“Aye, the Scottish play,” Dougal said as he squeezed her arm in his. “The Bard of Avon did write one good story, despite being handicapped by his English birth.”

Dougal led them to a massive medieval hall. The oak beam ceiling stood thirty feet above them and the hall was forty five feet wide and at least twice that long. Two large open fireplaces dominated the room to the left and right. Roast ox and pig were being turned on spits over log fires. The hall was brightly lit by two electric arc lights, which were far too bright to look at.

The front of the hall was lined with oak tables, laden with food and drink. A crowd of people had already gathered and there was hubbub from them loud enough to make shouting a necessity if you wanted to be heard. At the far end of the hall stood a small stage, on which fiddlers and bagpipe players stood. They were playing music with a lively feel to it. That end of the hall was free of tables or chairs and small huddles of the younger people stood and chattered there, waiting for the dancing to begin.

Dougal led Daisy away from the others and got her a tankard of mulled wine that was still a little too hot to drink. He maneuvered her towards a passageway where it was possible to stand and talk without having to shout at each other.

“We seem to have lost the others,” Daisy said with satisfaction in her voice.

“They do say that two is company and three is a crowd,” Dougal replied innocently.

“Cam and I had a lot of trouble getting
Arnold
and the boys into those kilts,” Daisy said between giggles. “all insisted on wearing underwear even though I was sure that nothing is worn under a kilt.”

“There is nothing worn under my kilt,” Dougal said grinning, “I can assure you that it is all in perfect working order.”

Daisy blushed before responding, “I am quite sure I have just been subjected to one of the oldest jokes in the history of
Scotland
.”

Dougal laughed and then spoke in a confidential manner, looking to see that no one could overhear.

“Now my cousin Danny was in
Perth
a few years ago where he became a little worse for wear for drink and ended up taking a nap in a back alley. In his sleep, his kilt rode up his legs revealing his manhood to the world. A young girl walked past in the early morning and taking pity on him took the red ribbon from her hair and tied it in a nice bow around his shame.”

“As any properly modest child would do,” Daisy said, going along with the tall tale and wondering where it would lead.

“When he awoke, he looked down and saw the bow around his old man.
‘I don’t know what we were doing last night, laddie’
he told it,
‘But I’m surely glad you won first prize.’
”

“You jest with me, sir,” Daisy said desperately trying to avoid laughing.

“I was just telling you, first hand, the oldest joke in
Scotland
,” Dougal replied straight-faced. Daisy held onto Dougal to avoid falling over as they both began to laugh uncontrollably.

Arnold and Camilla discovered they had lost Dougal and Daisy when they turned away from one of the benches carrying plates laden with food.

“Do you think Daisy will be safe with him?”
Cam
asked anxiously.

“I am more worried for Dougal,”
Arnold
replied, “Girls from Hobsgate can be pretty overwhelming to a naive country boy. I should know.”

“Shush!”
Cam
whispered urgently, “What if someone should hear you?”

Arnold
grinned and bit into a roast chicken leg in response. He was feeling hungry, as he hadn’t eaten all day. He looked around at the hundreds of people in the hall and saw no one that he recognized. Then his eyes locked with those of Josiah Green who stood some distance away. Josiah waved and started to make his way through the throng towards them.

“I have to go and find the little boys room,”
Arnold
said hastily. He thrust his plate into Camilla’s hand and ducked as he started to make his way through the crowd, directly away from the rapidly approaching Josiah.

Camilla was as hungry as
Arnold
, but now she had a plate in each hand and no way to eat the food on her plate.
‘Damn you, Arnold Tompkins’
, she thought irritably.

“Good evening, Miss Smith,” Josiah said mere inches from the back of
Cam
’s head.
Cam
jumped in shock and only just managed to keep the food on the plates. “I thought I saw your brother Arnold with you only a few moments ago. I was hoping to ask him a further question on heat engines.”

“Ah, that explains it,”
Cam
said quietly as the penny dropped.

“Explains what, Miss Smith?” Josiah asked in a puzzled tone.

“Nothing of importance, Mr. Green,”
Cam
said quickly. “Could you hold onto this plate for me a second? It is
Arnold
’s, and he is sure to return for it momentarily”

Cam
pressed the plate onto Josiah and grabbed a large piece of cheese from her plate and bit into it. The desire to eat had become overwhelming as the smell of cooking food had wafted past her. When she finally managed to swallow, she tried to be polite, though what she really wanted was to devour the chunk of cured ham that waited on her plate.

“Is your lady wife present tonight?”

“Alas, we did not feel that this occasion was suitable for Janice and so Elsie chose to stay home and nurse her. I would not have come myself, but Elsie was insistent that one of us must go. She did not want to convey the impression that we are standoffish.”

“I am sure that no one could ever accuse you of that, Mr. Green,”
Cam
said with sincerity.

“I only hope Lord McBride agrees with you,” Josiah said, worry etched into his every word. “This job is an opportunity beyond my imagining and I must not fail in it, if only for the sake of Elsie and Janice.”

Cam
had bitten into the ham while Josiah was talking and so was unable to respond for a while.

Ebb moved effortlessly between the lumbering bodies of the adults while Tricky stumbled after him, saying ‘sorry’ to someone every other step. The hall around the tables was thick with people and the boys decided to retreat towards the stage where it was less crowded. Both carried large quantities of food on them, but neither had bothered with the niceties of plates.

They found a place to sit at the bottom of a stone spiral staircase. Tricky sat on a step and screeched as the cold stone sucked heat from his poorly protected backside. He looked around and saw that Ebb held his kilt against the back of his legs as he sat.

“Seeing the future is worth somethin’, I suppose,” Tricky grumbled.

“I still felt it the once, just like you,” Ebb complained. “Its bin easier since Tom ‘ealed me though, less real like.”

“These skirts are good for somethin’,” Tricky pointed out. He had spread his legs wide and dumped the food he had been carrying onto his kilt.

“Dunno ‘bout that,” Ebb muttered, “Me legs are freezin’.”

The two boys dug into their food with a gusto, being every bit as hungry as
Arnold
and
Cam
. As they were finishing up the last scraps, Ebb put his hand up in the air and waved without looking up.

“Well, ‘ere’s a nice howdy do,” a familiar voice said sarcastically. “Never thought I’d see you two wearing skirts like little girls.”

Tricky looked up to see
Alice
staring down at him with her hands firmly pressed against her hips. She had three other girls with her who were staring at the boys and trying not to giggle.

“You knocked me out with your mind shoutin’ this afternoon,” Tricky replied vindictively, ignoring her remark, “And that after me and Ebb chased after you, all the way up ‘ere.”

“What are you doin’ ‘ere?”
Alice
asked. “I thought you got away from Smee’s men

“Come ‘ere to save you, we did,” Tricky replied, “Can’t think why now, given ‘ow yers all dressed up and all and got yer little gang with you.”

The girls moved closer until they were in a tight huddle with the boys.

“I ‘opes you came up ‘ere with a plan,”
Alice
told them, “Because me and me girls want out of ‘ere, desperate like.”

“We brought some spies with us,” Ebb said, speaking for the first time. “Adult ones, they aint very bright, but me and Tricky bin steering ‘em outa trouble.”

“They came looking for the Spellbinder and Tom. You aint seen them anywhere around ‘ere ‘ave you?” Tricky asked.

“They split us up last night,”
Alice
explained. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were somewhere at the dance. This ‘state is full of crazy people who let their prisoners wander about without so much as a backward glance.”

“Are you going to introduce us properly or what?” Gwendolyn asked in annoyance. She was not used to being left out of a conversation.

“I suppose,”
Alice
replied. “These boys in skirts are me mates, Tricky and Ebb, what were locked up with me in Smee’s house before we were sold. They got away like, an’ never got sold, but it looks like they ended up ‘ere anyway.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Edith said politely as she stuck out her hand towards Tricky.

“Very lardydar,” Tricky said as he briefly touched Edith’s hand. “Did you get bought by his lordship too?”

“We did,” Lucy said. “Me and Gwen were sold at Smee’s. Edith was sold by her parents to settle a debt with Lord McBride.”

Edith’s face clouded with pain at Lucy’s word, but she made no attempt to correct or deny her words.

“That’s all right,” Ebb said brightly, “She can come and stay at ours. Me mam’s always wanted a daughter.”