Page 22 of Once Upon a Midnight Dream

Hmm, might he be a contrabandist?

With that eyepatch, he resembled a pirate.

And undisguised relief softened the hard contours of their patient’s features.

“I suppose it is just as well for now.” She tore her attention from the mystery man and seized Charles’s arm, practically dragging him from the chamber.

Wearing a befuddled expression, Charles permitted her to tow him along.

After pulling the door closed behind them, she continued several feet down the corridor until she was certain the prisoner could not overhear them.

“Whatever has taken hold of you, Lil?” he asked, using his nickname for her since they had been children.

Despite not being related by blood, Charles was her brother, and she was his sister, in every other way. Both had arrived at Kelston Hall as toddlers and, for whatever reason, Miss Davenport had taken a personal interest in them.

“Shh, Charles.”

“Why was your chamber locked from the outside?” Charles scraped a hand through his already tousled locks. “And why is it just as well the sheriff did not pay a call today?”

“Please lower your voice, Charles.” After assuring no children or staff lurked nearby, Lilly dropped her voice to a whisper. “It occurred to me today, that we literally know nothing about him.”

She gave a pointed look at the closed door.

“For all we know, he might be a criminal.” She drew herself up to her full height, all five feet seven inches. “So, I decided until we know exactly who our uninvited guest is, to protect everyone, my chamber shall remain locked. I explained my reasons to him earlier, and he was surprisingly amenable.”

Cupping his nape, Charles scraped the toe of his shoe along the floorboard. “I s’pose you are right. He just does not strike me as the unsavory type, though.”

“I understand, Charles.” She peeked around again to ensure their privacy—a rare commodity with this many people under one roof. “However, appearances can be deceiving. What is more, he is extremely worried that I shall notify the sheriff that he is here, and he told me earlier that he believes he was abducted.”

That jerked Charles’s attention from the scuffed floor to Lilly’s face. “Abducted?”

Nodding, she withdrew the paper where she had jotted the notes down about him earlier in the day, sans the additional detail: he slept nude. “Here is a list of things he can remember. It is not much, but there are some interesting details that might be useful to help identify him.”

She passed the creased foolscap to Charles, who swiftly perused the short list.

A thoughtful expression crossed his face, and he wiggled the sheet in the air, causing it to rustle with the motion.

“May I have this? I believe I heard something several days ago in…” He frowned, in concentration, his eyes distant behind his spectacle lenses. “Devil take it, I cannot remember if it was in Hexham, Alnwick, or Morpeth. The tidbit did not register as important, but now…”

“Yes, you may have it. I can make another copy from memory.” She glanced out the window and skimmed the landscape—a habit from years of overseeing children.

Miss Sanders crept from the tree line, then dashed behind the henhouse.

From the corner of her eye, Lilly watched the teacher’s stealthy progress until she disappeared around the back of the house. She was probably using the servants’ entrance to sneak upstairs.

Well, Lilly would be waiting for her.

“I would wait to inform Wrottesley.” Charles rubbed his chin. “We know he is an untrustworthy sot and that he takes bribes. If our friend,” this time it was his turn to focus on the closed bedchamber door, “was indeed abducted, then Wrottesley may well know who was behind it, and in truth might be in cahoots with the blokes.”

That thought had crossed Lilly’s mind as well.

Arms folded, she tapped the toes of one foot. “And in the meanwhile, we do not know whether we can trust our ‘guest’ in the least.”

“He is still in no condition to be much of a threat,” Charles assured her with a kind smile. “I promised him a game of cards this evening.”

“Gads, I forgot.” Chagrin stabbed Lilly. “I promised to bring him a book or two and a few news sheets. I shall fetch them after I speak with Miss Sanders.”

“Letting her go, are you?” Compassion darkened Charles’s brown eyes.