Eloisa's Adventure by Rebecca King

open – with nothing but trees to
shelter in; trees that their intruder could also hide in. They
could be hunted down like foxes and nobody would be any the wiser
unless a hunter found their bodies in the spring.
    He
wasn’t sure now whether it would be safer to stay where they were
until someone came to look for them, or better to get out of the
house now, while their intrude was also running. The sudden
increase in ferocity of the rain that pelted the window made that
decision for him.
    I hope the bastard drowns out there, Simeon thought in disgust.
    “So,
what do you want to do now?” Eloisa asked when he neither moved nor
spoke.
    “We have
to secure the house. Lock everywhere up. Check that all the windows
are locked and he can’t get back in. He is going to have to break
in if he wants to take shelter here. Then we can wait until morning
and leave at first light. This storm should have gone by then. We
will have to walk into town though, so get plenty of rest.” He eyed
her dress somewhat doubtfully but didn’t say anything. He could
tackle that little problem when the need arose. “For now, let’s go
and find the Dowager’s room.”
    Rather
than follow him though, Eloisa remained where she was.
    When he
reached the door and realised that she wasn’t following him, he
turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?”
    “You
chased the man upstairs,” Eloisa declared quietly.
    “Yes,
there is a third floor, but it is dustier than this floor. The
Dowager’s old rooms are at the other end of this
corridor.”
    Eloisa
nodded. “There is another flight of stairs?”
    “Yes,
the old servants’ stairs. I used them when I chased him,” Simeon
replied. “Why?”
    Eloisa
walked slowly toward him. Even standing next to him made her feel
infinitely safer. “Because when you chased him upstairs, he came
back,” she nodded in the direction of the Dowager’s rooms. “He came
from that direction.”
    Simeon
frowned at her. “He didn’t come down the main stairs? I thought he
must have doubled back on me.”
    Eloisa
shook her head. “He came from down there. Now, I am not squeamish,
you understand, but I think that the hidden corridor, or stairs, or
whatever, must be down that way somewhere. I just have no intention
of sleeping alongside it.” She glanced at the room behind her.
“This will be fine for me.”
    Simeon’s
mind raced with possibilities and, not for the first time that
evening, he cursed the fact that there was very little light within
the house.
    “If I
need to leave in a hurry, I can either use the main stairs, or the
servants’ stairs, which I presume will take me back down to the
kitchens?” She lifted her brows and watched him nod. “Then I would
prefer to stay here.”
    Simeon
opened his mouth to argue, but couldn’t really fault her logic. “I
will take the room directly opposite then, but will leave the door
open. If anything happens, anything at all Eloisa, just
scream.”
    “I hope
he has gone for good,” Eloisa replied with a shiver.
    “I am
sure he has, darling,” Simeon murmured soothingly, although rather
doubted it. “I am going to secure the house though, so will take
this candle and leave that one with you. Keep the baskets in here
with you and lock the door.”
    While he
spoke, Eloisa began to knock on the walls.
    “What
are you doing?”
    “Searching for empty spaces,” she replied reasonably. “A
secret passageway would make the wall sound hollow, wouldn’t
it?”
    “Well,
yes, but -” Simeon frowned as he studied her. Rather than argue
though, he started to knock on the walls and slowly began to make
his way around the other half of the room.
    Neither
of them had found anything untoward by the time they met beside the
windows.
    “It’s
safe,” she declared with no small measure of relief.
    “Just
keep your door locked, and don’t open it until I knock three
times,” Simeon ordered. He turned to make his way toward the door
only to stop and look back at