This story has become quite the runaway train… It always manages to take me somewhere I didn't plan! I can't tell you how much the encouragement to continue has meant to me. I am having so much fun with this and hope that you are too! :-)
As always, they most definitely are not mine, but I do love borrowing them!
Store Cupboard Spies – Chapter 4
Now it was Charles's turn to laugh.
"How can you laugh at a time like this," she hissed, her breathing starting to become uneven.
"I believe one of your favorite phrases comes to mind, my dear."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?"
"What's good for the goose, is good for the gander."
Elsie struggled to shift herself in an effort to break free and throttle the man, only managing to get further wedged in to the increasingly tight space.
"I do admit that I was quite trying a few moments ago, but this is certainly much worse," she relented, her head the only part of her body now able to move.
She looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Charles. I'm having trouble catching my breath."
He reached over and placed a gentle hand on her neck, the only space open enough to allow him any access to her. "Dear Lord, you must certainly are stuck, aren't you?"
"Did you think that I was pulling your leg, because I can assure you that I most certainly am not!" The ever calm and methodical Elsie Hughes was beginning to panic. Charles could see it plainly written across her increasingly tensing features.
He would have to get her out of here and quickly. Unfortunately, everything he could think of would require a great bit of risk. He could seek out Mr. Bates or Anna; goodness knows that they were both capable of keeping quiet about such matters and would be willing, but he was still reluctant to let anyone else in on their secret.
"I just told Daisy that I would be setting a trap in here. If I don't leave and come back, things will look suspicious."
"I think we are well beyond things looking suspicious at this juncture!"
"You don't think they believed me, then" Charles wondered, a bit of hurt springing forth in his voice.
"Charles, I could care less if they bought your silly tale at the moment. I rather value the ability to breathe a bit more!"
"You thought my story was silly?"
Oh this was beginning to be too much. The man's ego! "You do understand that if you don't get me out of here, and soon, you'll be visiting me at my grave and not in my bed."
Charles never knew Elsie to be claustrophobic. They had been together in small spaces before, the obvious being the habitual one they were caught in now. The truth of the situation was that the mixture of physical constraint and loss of control was sending Elsie over the edge.
"I'm afraid I must leave and come back," he told her gently as he smoothed the errant strands of hair that had fallen over her brow. He bent to kiss her forehead and stroke her arm in an effort to calm her a bit before the inevitable. "I'll be as quick as I can. I'll run out to the shed and grab something, anything, which might look passable for a "trap." I promise, Elsie. I'll be but a moment."
Tears rarely beckoned at Elsie's eyes, but the desperate nature of the situation started to overtake her ever steady, rational countenance. "Please hurry, Charles," she begged. "Please. Hurry. And for the Lord's sake, don't shut the door."
"I have to," he sighed, "but I'll be quick about it." He kissed her softly, never letting his eyes leave hers as he crossed over and gently closed the door, blanketing the room in complete darkness.
The keys.
He had forgotten the keys. The panic started to rise up into her throat until the sensible side of her mind took over, telling her that the door was incapable of locking without a turn of the key.
True to his word, Charles was back within minutes. Minutes that seemed to stretch on for hours, for both of them, but minutes nonetheless.
He turned the knob and pushed against the door, only to find that it failed to open. His grip tensed as he furiously started turning, left then right, pulling the knob first up then down, and finally forcefully jiggling the wood in the frame. The door refused to budge.
He couldn't help but feel cursed by the fates for telling Daisy that stupid tale about the knick in the slide.
Daisy.
She might just save them.
Elsie could hear Charles struggling with the door. What now? Had they not endured enough this evening? The sounds of his frustration coupled with the mounting terror of being trapped in a plague of constricting darkness awoke a new fire in her. She gathered up all her might to twist and push, fighting to break free. She would get out of this herself come hell or high water.
Charles had hustled down the hallway, praying that Daisy was still up and about and had not retired for the evening. He found her in the servant's hall, sweetly nodding off to the sounds of William's soft piano. Luckily most everyone else had already retired, save Mrs. Patmore who was working away in the kitchen and would surely come to order Daisy to bed at any moment's notice.
"Daisy, could I see you for a moment please," Charles asked, stoutly and officially as ever.
Daisy hopped up in her chair, obviously startled. "Yes, Mr. Carson" she replied quickly, but sleepily. It was true that she often got things wrong and caused a lot of anxiety towards the efficient end of things, but she had an unfailing way of remaining endearing.
Charles ushered her out into the hall, gulping down the knot that had started to form in his throat. He was never nervous about addressing the staff, but if he didn't get this just right, it could shatter everything they had worked for. Luckily, it was Daisy he was dealing with; this gave him the confidence he needed to push forward.
"Daisy, do you think you could show me how Mrs. Patmore broke open the lock on the storage cupboard?"
"I'm not sure that I could Mr. Carson. I didn't see what she was doing very well because I knew it was wrong and didn't want to get into trouble…"
He stopped her nervous rambling by placing a hand on her shoulder.
"It's quite alright Daisy. You aren't in any trouble here. Do you know what she used?"
"She used one of my hairpins."
"Would you mind giving me one to try? You see, the door swung shut when I went outside to obtain the trap for that pesky rat I mentioned, and I cannot seem to get back in." He silently prayed that this was working as he hurried her along with him down the hall. "I would like to take care of the vermin before any more trouble is caused."
"Sure, Mr. Carson," she replied as she started to extract a pin from her hair. He did seem to be in an awful hurry, she thought, but was too tired to dwell on it. This is exactly what Charles was counting on.
She handed the hairpin over to him as they approached the store cupboard door, which promptly swung open with a bang.
Elsie Hughes looked a right wreck. Her hair had become loose, her face red, and here she stood in front of her nerve-ridden love… and Daisy?
"Mrs. Hughes," Daisy squeaked. "Are you alright?"
Trying furiously to quickly piece together her normal steady visage, Elsie nodded slowly. Normally quick to make a comeback, she was unable to find any words.
"You must have seen the rat then," Daisy replied, very seriously.
All tension left Elsie and Charles as they both struggled not to laugh. The desperation had surely lifted.
"Oh, yes, and a frightful thing it was, too. Gave me quite a scare."
"It certainly looks like it," Daisy said, turning red again, always managing to embarrass herself with her unfailing honesty.
Charles decided to save her a bit, ever thankful for her innocence.
"That will be all Daisy. Thank you for your help. I really must get to setting that trap… and fixing this door apparently. Why don't you go on up to bed now. You have an early day, and I wouldn't want Mrs. Patmore pointing that out to you."
Daisy nodded quickly and hurried over to the stairs, ultimately taking them two at a time in an effort to avoid any further admonishment from Mrs. Patmore.
"What the hell happened with the door," Elsie exclaimed as quietly as she could whilst still getting her exasperation across.
"I have no idea! I'm a bit suspicious of the fates for providing a bit of payback for that story I told Daisy. They say lies have a way of catching up with you, you know."
"Well we're certainly due to be in a world of trouble then aren't we," she said, letting the relief of breathing fresh air into her lungs overtake her.
"How are YOU? How in the world did you manage to get yourself out of that situation," he asked gesturing towards the space that he now saw was much smaller than he had originally thought. How did she ever fit in there in the first place?
"You know me, my dear, a fighter till the end. I managed myself just fine, but I cannot say that my dress fared the same," she sighed as she turned around, revealing a very sizable tear in the fabric of her dress, stretching from her waist down to her knee, right over the center of her backside.
"Is it bad?"
Charles was horrified. "Bad is an understatement."
"I contorted myself in ways that not even you have witnessed, dearest, and was rewarded by falling flat on my face on the floor there, but not before I heard a great ripping sound. Where is it?"
"You don't want to know."
"No bother. We are all susceptible to the occasional tear. I'll mend it later," she said dismissively, not realizing the extent of this new problem. She moved to push past Charles into the hall, when he surprisingly reached out and firmly grasped both her shoulders .
"If you think I'll allow anyone else to get a proper look at my wife's knickers, well then you don't know me at all," he grumbled, his voice incapable of a true whisper.
"Hush now," she shushed as he allowed her to peek her head out into the hall. "Well I certainly am glad that no one is hanging about to hear your easy confessions! Is it really that bad?"
"Stem to stern, I'm afraid."
"Bother! I just fixed this hem too."
Charles reached out to grab her wrist tenderly. "Most of the others have retired, but there are some still lurking about. Unless you want to wait them out entirely, I suggest that you allow me to CLOSELY follow you up the stairs and to your room." He would not allow anyone to see her in such a state of undress. That was a privilege held sacred for his eyes only.
She shook her head. Could the man think of nothing else?
"And no, I am not trying to seduce you, my dear," he added, keenly able to read her mind as only he could.
"Fine then," she relented, tiredness seeping in. "I do feel a bit done in after all this excitement."
"Not too done in, I hope," he said with an amusing lilt which earned him a sound slap on the shoulder.
They climbed the stairs in silence, both offering silent prayers that all who had retired were already tucked into their own beds and well asleep. He kept his promise to stay close to her, almost tripping several times as they found themselves rounding the corner at the end of the female servants' quarters. "I don't think it's necessary for you to be THAT close, Mr. Carson," she whispered through a smile. "And I think you're quite wrong, Mrs. Car- HUGHES," he almost shouted as they ran headlong into Anna.
Anna nearly jumped out of her skin. "Mr. Carson, Mrs. Hughes! Forgive me, but you made me jump!" Anna could only speak through a giggle, forced out of nervousness. She had only just left her room to get a glass of water and surely didn't plan on running, quite literally, into both of her superiors.
Especially Mr. Carson. That was odd, indeed.
"No, forgive us Anna. I was just escorting Mrs. Hughes to her room as she had a bit of a turn and I didn't feel it right to let her ascend the stairs alone." The excuses were coming easier and easier these days.
"You should have called on me, Mr. Carson. I would have come down right away." Anna was the young mother hen. She certainly held Elsie's most cherished attributes. Charles always thought so.
Anna reached out to take Mrs. Hughes's arm and lead her down to her room. "I'll take over from here, Mr. Carson."
Oh God. What now?
"That's quite alright Anna. There's a matter that we needed to discuss that simply cannot wait until the morning. I'll see to make our meeting short and get her into bed post haste."
Elsie bit the inside of her cheek hard to keep from smiling. "I bet he will," she thought, thankfully not aloud.
"If you're certain, Mr. Carson. Please let me know if you need me to take on any extra duties for you tomorrow Mrs. Hughes." Anna offered a sweet smile, but her eyes almost betrayed her. She knew something more was going on here, but she didn't dare breech privacy. She was good at that, and she knew it. She would keep her own wonderings private as well. Curious, but private.
"I will Anna, thank you," Elsie tried to sound as weak as possible, fighting the amusement that plagued her in the moment.
"Goodnight then," she chirped as she took the stairs, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"How many close calls are we in for tonight," he wondered aloud as they quickly made their way to her bedroom door.
"That, I cannot say, but you did tell Anna that we had matters to discuss… in my room," she said, the laughter now sparkling from her eyes instead escaping her lips.
"That I did, and so we must," he said gleefully as she opened her door, grabbed the lapels of his coat and pulled him in forcefully.
He took the keys from her pocket, gently closed the door and locked it, giving the knob a little twist for good measure.
A/N Little things are starting to leak out, bit by bit. I hope you stick with it; hopefully all will be worth it in the end!
