CHAPTER 21

Bella squinted at the address on the letter. It was so badly written that if she hadn't already known it, she wouldn't have had a clue. But since her trip to London, the location of the madhouse Lady Mary had spent her last few days in was engraved on her memory.

With shaking hands, she turned the letter over again, carefully broke the seal and looked for a signature. As she'd immediately guessed, the letter was from Percy and for the merest fragment of a second the room seemed to shimmer and realign, and Bella glimpsed a different reality lit by candlelight, where copper pans hung from the ceiling and an empty glass and an old fashioned quill pen were lying on the table in front of her.

But before she even had time to think, the picture rippled and dissolved, like a pebble dropping into a pool of water, leaving Bella staring down at just the letter. And not sure if she'd really seen anything at all, she quickly smoothed out the folded pages and began trying to decipher the words.

As if the black scrawl wasn't already difficult enough to read, in places the ink was smudged, and the lines dipped down on the right hand side of the paper, as though the writer was drunk, or half asleep, and the effort of writing was almost too difficult. But when Bella began reading, it became clear that Percy had in fact been desperately ill.

My Dearest Darling Wife,

I know not how this Missive, entrusted in Haste to our most Goodly and Obliging Friend, Piers Trevanion, may find thee, My Beloved.

Tho' be Assured that by some Blessed Miracle, having but lately Escaped the Fate which threatened to Consign me to my last Resting Place, by the Grace of God, the Brain Fever, which even now Clouds my Senses and steals the Strength from my limbs, lessens its most Pernicious Hold.

God willing, having dispatched our Loyal Ally Piers betimes, I follow to London on the Morrow, with as much Speed as my feeble body may Command, though never so sick at Heart and Afeared at what may have Befallen thee at the hands of so Villainous a Scoundrel and withal so far from Home and kindly Company.

Since waking this day from Lethe's dreadful Slumber, but to find thee, My Darling Wife, Absent from my side, I tremble still, in the thrall of such Dire and Dreadful Imaginings and Curse the facility with which thy Cousin James hath prevailed upon thy Esteemed Parents with weasel words & in the surest Belief of my imminent Demise, to convey thee, in the depths of thy Misery and uncontrollable Ravings, to a place of Containment, & that this be so speedily Accomplished.

Be Sure that my Heart is ever thine, My Dearest, and wheresoever thou shouldst find thyself, I beg of thee be Strong, in the certain Knowledge that thy Friends make Haste to Discover thee and that thy Cousin James, may he ever be Damned, shall most certainly Re-pay an Thousandfold all Ill that be done.

Dream of me my Sweetest Darling and I pray that God keep you Safe in his Care.

Thy most Devoted and Regretful Husband,

Perceval

Bella wondered why the letter had never been sent, then looked at the date at the top and saw that it was several days after Mary had died. Poor Percy must have received the news of her death - through her parents perhaps? - almost as soon as he'd finished writing and before his friend had had time to set off for London. And then the letter had lain forgotten somewhere, hidden from sight for all these years.

She couldn't imagine how Percy must have felt when he'd realised it was already too late to save his beloved wife. Presumably he hadn't even been able to get to London in time to attend the inquest, or the funeral. It would have taken at least four or five days to get there on horseback, even for someone who wasn't recovering from what sounded like a very serious illness.

James Trevear had also died the following year and Bella just hoped that Percy had tracked him down to wherever he'd fled to on the continent and challenged him to a final duel. It was obvious that assuming Percy was about to die, James had resurrected his plan of marrying Mary and quickly separated her from her family. He might even have had something to do with Percy falling ill in the first place.

Bella had to sit down, because her heart was galloping from the shock of the discovery and especially James's involvement. The whole thing was just horrible to think about, especially as Lady Mary had become so much a part of her life over the last few months that Bella felt as if she almost knew her.

She hoped that at least Mary knew that Percy hadn't deserted her. It was even more upsetting to think that perhaps James had convinced her otherwise, or told her that Percy was already dead, and that in her confused and vulnerable state she'd drowned herself to evade James's clutches, or to escape the terrible knowledge that her husband and three children had all died within the space of barely a year.

But in a way Bella had already been prepared for bad news and she'd always felt that some of the sadness that lingered in the house had partly been due to Lady Mary. She'd suspected there wasn't going to be a happy ending to the story when she'd first found out that all the children had died and the fact that there was a ghost story in the first place hadn't exactly been a good omen.

But at least she knew what had really happened now, or as much as anyone was ever likely to find out. It was doubly sad and unfair that poor Percy, who loved Mary so much, had been identified as the villain of the piece for centuries. But now she knew about James Trevear's part in the story, Bella could do something about that. The family myth would be replaced with the truth and the essay she was writing and the evidence that went with it, would be the proof for future generations and historians.

The fact that she could put things straight made Bella feel a little better. But meanwhile she couldn't ignore the present either and she needed to get ready for her shift at the pub. So she put the cardboard box and the yellowing unused stationary in the recycling and gathered up the remaining, mainly 1940s, letters and cards and put them on the dresser, ready to properly read through and slot into the archives the next day. Then taking the precious letter from Percy with her, she went upstairs to get changed.

As good as his word, a few days after he'd moved in Edward had found a local restorer to clean and repair Percy's portrait, and both the pictures had recently been re-hung on the stairs, facing each other on opposite walls of the half landing, with the stained glass window between them.

Percy looked a lot more presentable now and when Bella stopped on her way upstairs, she imagined that Mary and Percy were smiling at each other and she hoped that even if Lady Mary's ghost was still doomed to walk the grounds, somehow, somewhere, she knew about the letter's existence and that Percy had stayed true to her memory for the rest of his life.

The atmosphere in the house had already lifted slightly since Carlisle's funeral, but now it felt almost cheerful again for the first time in weeks and once Bella had discarded the two sizes too small t-shirt that Mike had handed out for her to wear and substituted it for one of her own, she went off to work looking forward to showing Edward the chandelier and the letter when they both got home later.

-ooo-

When Bella walked through the kitchen door, Edward had already started cooking supper and she thankfully kicked off her shoes, flopped into a chair and poured herself a drink. Her next shift started at eight, so she only had a couple of hours before she had to wade in again.

Edward took his eye off the steaks he was frying and fetched a bowl for the salad. 'How did it go?'

'Not too bad. It's been a while since I've pulled pints and the cash register took a bit of getting used to. But it was easier starting on a quiet afternoon shift than being thrown straight in at the deep end, I suppose.'

'This is just about ready, you'd better make the most of your break and put your feet up while you can.'

She looked at him gratefully. 'Thanks, split shifts are such a pain. I won't be volunteering for too many if I can help it.'

She rubbed her aching legs and wriggled her toes and decided not to say anything about Mike. The worst part had actually been that Jessica had gone to visit her mother for a few days, leaving him in charge. But although Bella had had to put him in his place a few times, mentioning anything to Edward wasn't likely to help, so she changed the subject.

'Oh, apart from the chandelier I texted you about, I've found a really interesting letter, from Perceval Cullen no less. I'll just go and copy it a minute, so the original doesn't get food stains all over it.'

When she came back, supper was on the table and she sat down and handed the copy of the letter to Edward.

He grimaced when he finished reading and passed it back to her, 'I assume Percy got his revenge, but I think I'll be making doubly sure to avoid anyone called James in future.'

'It's good the truth is finally out though and we can put a stop to that stupid story about Percy locking Mary up in the cellar and driving her mad to get hold of her money.'

'But there'll be no one to care or remember if we lose the house and I had a rather depressing interview with the bank manager today.'

Bella's face dropped,' Oh, about the mortgage?'

'The offer's dependent on a full survey and I'm a bit worried about what that might turn up. There's that chimney for a start and I can't even get anyone to come and look at it for at least a fortnight.'

'Maybe the surveyor won't notice.'

'Unfortunately the roof will be the first thing he'll look at and I can't see him missing the fact that one of the chimneystacks is about to come down. However valuable your chandelier is, you'll need to unearth a few more to fund a new roof, not to mention a new damp course, plumbing, electrics, replacing rotting timbers. And those are only the things I know about.'

'So the value of the house is mainly in its development potential then?'

'Yes, but as we want to live in it as it is, the amount of repairs will definitely be a problem as far as getting a mortgage is concerned.'

'Emmett's going up on the roof tomorrow, so I'll ask him to have a go at patching up the chimney again anyway.'

Edward looked even more worried, 'Try to make him be careful for chrissakes, the last thing we want is Emmett crashing through the roof, or falling off it.'

After supper they brought the chandelier down from the attic and carefully took it out of its cardboard box. It was just as large and magnificent as Bella had remembered, but unfortunately just as dirty and in need of restoration as she'd suspected and that was going to be another expense before they had any hope of making any money out of it.

Bella sighed, 'Well, your buried treasure looks like our only chance then.'

'Unfortunately that was entirely Grampa's invention. I was mad about pirates when I was four, never went anywhere without two or three plastic swords tucked into my belt and he spent hours inventing bedtime stories for me,' Edward smiled at the memory.

'So if fictitious pirate treasure isn't going to save the day, we'll just have to hope there's something lurking in the nursery wing tomorrow.'

'No pressure then.'

-ooo-

Bella had to rush off to her second shift at the pub soon afterwards and although Edward made a valiant attempt to stay awake, when one of her co-workers dropped her off in the early hours of the morning, he was fast asleep on the sofa.

When Bella woke him up he looked so exhausted that she shooed him off to bed, promising to join him in a few minutes. Her evening shift had been hectic, not helped by the fact that pervy Mike had been in charge again, and she needed a while to wind down.

She made herself a soothing drink then looked at the pile of correspondence on the dresser. The kitchen wasn't the best place to leave them, so collecting Percy's letter on the way, Bella took everything up to her old bedroom, which she'd been using as a study since she'd moved in with Edward.

She put the letters down on the desk then fished about in the drawer for the plastic wallet she kept all the original documents for her dissertation in. They would need to go back in the archives as well at some point and she really needed to get a move on with finishing everything off. For obvious reasons she'd neglected her studies lately, but she'd fail her degree if she missed the final deadline for sending in her essay at the end of the month.

She leafed through the folder of garden designs, comparing the handwriting to Percy's letter. Although the writing on the plans was much tidier, it was unmistakeably the same and there was no doubt at all that Percy had drawn them up. Bella felt sad again when she looked at the accompanying drawings, not only because of Mary and Percy, but also because Carlisle had joked about getting enlargements done as a wedding gift.

Not wanting to get upset about Carlisle too, Bella hurriedly put the garden designs away and took out the bill from the madhouse to check the dates with the letter. She hadn't really examined it closely since she'd first found it. But when she re-read it, she realised what had been staring her in the face the whole time – the bill was actually made out to James Trevear.

The name had meant nothing to her when she'd first found the documents and even present day James, James Romano, hadn't yet made an appearance in her life. She remembered how unhappy she'd been at the time, over Edward, and suddenly all she wanted to do was climb into bed and snuggle up against his warm body and forget about everything.

She walked over to the window to draw the curtains before leaving the room and looked up at the full moon. It was quiet and still outside. The trees were motionless and the sea was calm, a sheet of softly undulating silver under the white moonlight and the bright stars.

An owl hooted and a bat flickered past the window, but Bella's thoughts were elsewhere when she turned to join her sleeping lover, as so many generations of women in the house must have done before her.

But as she stepped away from the window, her eyes were drawn to the familiar cross etched into the window sill. One of the witches' marks, some old and some new, which were all over the house in front of doors, windows, and even chimneys, as protection against evil spirits entering the building.

Bella still found it odd that Alice had made Edward help her draw some of them and that she'd blamed Lady Mary for it. It was a strange thing for an eight or nine year old child to have known about, but then Alice had also told Edward that Lady Mary was her friend. Bella shivered when she suddenly remembered Rose telling her about Esme setting two extra places at the table after Alice drowned, one for dead Alice and one for a friend.

But that reminded her of something else. If Alice had been eight or nine when she told Edward to make the marks, it must have been the same summer that Edward and Alice had been separated so traumatically and just before Alice fell out of her bedroom window and badly broke her arm.

And suddenly Bella knew... The witches' marks were a failed attempt to keep James out. Just as Lady Mary must have tried to keep him away in the 18th Century, so had she tried to keep Alice safe centuries later.

Bella looked out of the window. It was a long way down, and on the other side of the house where Alice's childhood bedroom was, there was a path around the house which led towards the cliff. If Alice had landed on a paving stone instead of the grass, she would probably have been killed.

Bella was absolutely convinced now that both Mary and Alice had been James's victims and when she thought about how she'd let him touch her, her skin crawled. At the very least, she owed it to them not to let James win this time and somehow she had to make absolutely sure that the house was safe and he never came back.

-ooo-

Bella crept into bed and spent a sleepless night, tossing and turning and listening out for every small sound, until she'd almost worried herself sick. But in the morning sanity prevailed and whatever the cause of the panic she'd got herself into, probably stress and overtiredness, she didn't mention anything to Edward.

But she was still just as determined to get rid of James and before Edward had even left for work she was up in the attic combing through the former governess's bedroom and sitting room, and when Emmett arrived at nine she was about to move on to the nursery.

Emmett had already texted to warn her he was on his way, so when she heard heavy boots on the uncarpeted nursery stairs, followed by his cheerful voice loudly calling her name, she shouted back to let him know where she was.

His grinning face appeared around the door,' What's up? Found anything yet?'

Bella sneezed, 'Plenty of dust and cobwebs, but that's about it. Someone's already had a good clearout in this wing and most of the cupboards and drawers are empty.'

'Well, I'll be up on the roof then. Give me a shout out of the window if you need me.'

Emmett disappeared, leaving Bella to face down the scary one-eyed rocking horse, the almost bald dolls and the threadbare teddy bear which were staring at her from across the room, and get on with her search.

A few minutes later she heard Emmett clambering over the roof looking for loose slates, then banging and clattering as the half a dozen broken ones they'd spotted and a few more, were removed and replaced.

At one point, judging by the heavy thump it made, he dropped his hammer and when she heard him lose his footing and scrabble to regain his balance, she stopped and held her breath in trepidation, until the sound of swearing followed by another slate being tapped into place confirmed her friend was ok.

Not long afterwards she heard him making his way back across the roof, then there was silence for a few minutes before a ladder appeared outside the window, banging and scraping across the wall as it was manoeuvred into position.

When Bella gingerly opened the window and looked down, Emmett was already halfway up the ladder carrying a bag with more tools and building supplies in it.

The ground seemed a very long way away and she was scared that he really would have an accident, 'Shouldn't someone at least be standing on the bottom rung?'

'Nah, it's fine. Look, barely moving. 'Emmett bounced up and down making the ladder creak and bend alarmingly, 'I've wedged it against the garden wall. Safe as houses.'

Bella decided she'd just have to take his word for it, 'What are you doing anyway?'

'Having a look at that chimney,' Emmett pointed to somewhere above her head.

'Oh, I didn't realise it was the nursery chimney that was falling down.'

'Yeah, there's not a lot I can do, the bricks are crumbling and it needs totally re-building. I can see a hole at the bottom from here. Maybe I can put some flashing over that.'

'Ok, but don't take too long, you're making me nervous.' She flinched as Emmett fumbled with the mallet he was holding and it went hurtling to the ground.

'Don't worry, nothing's going to happen.' He grinned confidently and waved her away, 'Seriously, just carry on with what you're doing, I've been up here loads of times.'

Not entirely convinced, Bella went back to searching through the very last cupboard and tried to ignore the cacophony of noises from above her head. The roof was higher on this part of the building, so there were proper ceilings in the nursery wing, with a narrow roof space above, which was accessed through a hatch over the stairs.

There were only a couple of feet between the joists and the roof though; enough room to crawl through but not to stand up in and they'd already checked it was empty apart from some First World War era camping equipment.

The noise of Emmett working right above was already quite distracting, but suddenly there was a louder clatter and something almost burst through the wall next to the fireplace as it fell, then landed with a thump somewhere below.

Emmett shouted down the chimney and Bella crouched in front of the grate and shouted back at him. 'What?'

'The hammer slid through the gap. Has it done a lot of damage?'

'No, I can't even see it. It sounded like it went right past and landed further down somewhere.'

'I can't see anything from this end. Can you open the window and I'll come back inside.'

Bella went over and raised the sash window and stood back while Emmett appeared on the ladder then clambered over the sill, holding a torch.

'The chimneys are all inter-connected, maybe it's ricocheted off the side and fallen down another one. We'll check the rest of this floor then go down to the ground floor and work our way up again.'

-ooo-

After checking all the attic rooms in the nursery wing, then the ground floor, including the kitchen, they went up to Bella's old room, then along the corridor until they reached the bedroom at the far end, which was directly below the nursery.

There was still no sign of the hammer and Emmett scratched his head. 'Where the hell's it got to? It can't have vanished into thin air and there's nowhere else to look.'

'If it's any help, upstairs it sounded as if it was falling inside the wall next to the chimney, not inside the chimney itself, if that makes any sense.'

Emmett put on a scary voice, 'Not unless there's a secret cavity behind the wall.' And right on cue, a sudden knocking sound followed by an eerie whistling noise from the chimney made them both jump. Bella had been scared stiff in here the night she found the bat, but it was broad daylight now and Emmett looked almost as frightened as she was then.

Pulling himself together, he crouched down and shone the torch up the chimney. 'No, I can't see anything up there.'

Then to humour Bella, he tapped the adjacent wall to see if it sounded hollow. And no-one could have been more surprised when he leant against the wainscoting and a section next to the chimney breast suddenly opened inwards like a door.

Bella and Emmett looked at each other in complete disbelief, both excitedly thinking the same thing - 'treasure.' - and Bella was halfway through before Emmett could grab her arm and stop her.

'Hold on, let's just check how it works before we get trapped inside.'

By trial and error they found the place on the dado rail above the panelling which released the simple catch, then checked how the latch worked on the inside. Satisfied that they could get out again, Emmett picked up the missing hammer which was lying on the ground just in front of them and squeezed through the narrow entrance.

'Ok, Bella, it looks like it's safe. But leave the door open just in case.'

Bella followed Emmett into a small space which felt a bit like the bottom of another chimney. Above their heads it was pitch black, apart from a small patch of daylight twenty feet above them, which they realised must be the gap at the bottom of the chimneystack.

Emmett pointed the torch upwards, just as a gust of wind disturbed a sheet of plywood suspended halfway up the wall, not far above their heads. That explained the mysterious banging anyway and the whistling must be caused by the wind blowing through the holes in the chimney.

But Emmett's torch had also revealed something else - metal rungs in the wall, which led upwards.

-ooo-

Handing the torch to Bella, Emmett stepped onto the first rung and holding onto another at head height, put all his weight on them to test if they were secure.

'They're not budging, so I think it's safe. But just let me make sure, before you have a go.'

Bella trained the torch above Emmett's head to where the ladder stopped just below the loose plywood which was hanging at an angle off the wall. It looked as if there was an alcove behind it and Bella was excited all over again at the thought of forgotten treasure.

Unable to wait, she started climbing up after Emmett, who'd come to a stop at the top.

'Bella, give me back the torch a minute, I need to see what's behind here…'

And almost immediately after she'd handed it to him he disappeared into the gap in the wall which the plywood had been concealing, and feeling more excited than ever, Bella climbed up the last few rungs and followed him.

But the small room they were standing in was anything but a treasure chamber and as Emmett shone the torch around, it didn't get any better. The room was tiny, not much more than a bolthole, squeezed into an attic space between the chimneys and the top of the stairs and extending into the end wall of the nursery.

There was just room for a small straw mattress, but the rain had got in through a gap under the eaves and black mould had spoilt the attempts someone had made to brighten up the space with a floral throw and colourful velvet cushions.

A neat stack of books and a pack of cards next to a supply of candles had suffered the same fate and when Emmett pointed the torch at the ceiling in the far corner and revealed a colony of tiny bats, they realised it wasn't just mould but bat droppings.

Bella's voice sounded loud and she felt as if she should have been whispering, 'That solves the mystery of how the bat got into the bedroom that night then. It must have taken a detour down the chimney.'

'Yes, what with the hole in the eaves, the gap in the chimney and what I assume is supposed to be a door, hanging off its hinges out there, they've got plenty of ways in and out.'

'Maybe we should do something about getting rid of them. Although they don't seem to be doing any harm, or taking over the rest of the attic. Perhaps this space is all they need.'

She bent to examine the books, 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', 'Wuthering Heights' 'Jane Eyre', 'The Inheritors', The Story of an African Farm' and an early Ian McEwan. Not exactly the most cheerful reading matter.

Edward had said Alice used to disappear sometimes and this must have been where she'd gone, right up until just before her death by the look of it. The windowless bat-infested room felt dirty and oppressive and Bella just wanted to go. There was no hidden treasure here, just sadness and secrets, which were probably best left alone and both Emmett and Bella couldn't wait to leave.

-ooo-

When Bella returned from her afternoon shift at work, she still felt sad and the thought of Alice hiding away from James made her blood boil. She wasn't looking forward to showing Edward what they'd found this time, because she knew it would make him sad and angry too. And unable to face cooking anything, she'd asked him to pick up some fish and chips from the village on the way home.

Feeling more and more jittery as she watched the minute hand on the kitchen clock edge further towards six thirty, and expecting to hear Edward arrive at any minute, she opened a bottle of wine, poured herself a glass and switched on the small television Mrs Cope used to watch while she was doing the ironing.

She channel hopped until a programme about a house renovation caught her eye - they had bats in the attic too. And when Edward walked in ten minutes later, she was suddenly all smiles.

Edward raised his eyebrows,' What's made you so happy? You sounded really down earlier on.'

'No, I think everything's going to be fine now. We've got bats.'

He looked at her as if she was mad, 'Bats. So…?'

'I've just been checking on the council website. It looks as if no one thought of it when James enquired about re-developing the site, because this isn't their typical habitat. But along with the stream that runs down into the valley, planting the trees and having the gardens here for so long has created a micro climate.'

Edward looked completely puzzled, 'What?... Why?...'

Bella looked as if she'd just had another light bulb moment, 'It might even be worth having a full ecological survey done as well as the bat survey. You never know what else that might throw up.'

'Bella please, what are you going on about?'

'Oh, didn't you know?' She said airily, 'Bats are a protected species and it's a criminal offence to interfere with their roosting sites. According to the websites I've looked at, it's a hell of a job to get round all the legislation and it will almost definitely prevent the house being knocked down.'

'Wow, that's fantastic.'

'And if we're even more lucky and something in the rare flora and fauna line turns up, which wouldn't be surprising considering most of this area is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, there'll be so many restrictions on development that James won't be able to touch it.'

'So there'll be no point going to court over the house, because there won't be any huge profits to be made?'

'Exactly, and James Romano can just piss off.'

Next chapter should have been the last, but if it gets too long I'll have to split it. Whatever I can fit in will be posted in 2 weeks!

Thanks for reading

x Sue