5. Virtue's Reward

Getting the chain wasn't a problem. Thomas felt a pang of guilt for having Edith pay for it when she didn't even know if she'd profit of her investment in any manner. Not that it was an amount of money that could hurt her. Also, he thought savagely, getting his paws on her money had been the plan anyway. He had no right to that sort of pride all of a sudden.

A careful nudge at the side brought him back to the present, their ascent back to Allerdale Hall. 'Where were you?'

'Hating myself,' he said. 'Edith, I always thought of you as an intelligent and sensible woman. I'm starting to doubt the latter. A sensible woman wouldn't be here with me, having this conversation.'

'Probably not.' She smiled slightly. 'A sensible woman would probably not have married you so soon to start with. And you're difficult to hate.'

'I can manage fine.'

'Don't. You've got a lot of good in you. If you didn't, I wouldn't be alive, and neither would Alan. You were just …'

'Weak.'

'Enthralled.'

'Trust a writer to find a good euphemism.' He saw the shift in her expression. 'What did I say?'

'Nothing. It's that … she burned my manuscript. All of it.'

'I … oh God. I am so sorry.'

She smiled slightly. 'So that wasn't all pretence.'

'No.' He became aware that he was fumbling with the chain, twisting it, trying to gauge how much it shortened by locking the links. Only it wasn't anything useful he was doing, just anything other than facing what he'd done. 'Edith, I love you. I've loved you longer than you can possibly believe. Way before the depot. And I loved your writing the moment I saw it. You know that. I had no idea who you were when I said so.'

'That is hard to argue against.' She was still smiling, but it had become sad. 'I waited for you. When you told me I could leave. I waited by the elevator.'

'And I never came back for you.'

'I'd been scared beyond words. But when I realised you must be dead I got just … wild beyond reason. I can't even tell you. I couldn't feel the pain in my ankle, just this anger, as if I was driven by some outward force.'

'I'd call that a survival instinct.'

'Partly. Also … it seemed so unfair. You'd finally chosen to own up to what had happened and …'

'And failed when I was face to face with Lucille.' His hand clenched around the metal in his hand so hard his knuckles stood out white as bone. 'I am no hero. I saw her injured and failed to do what I'd known I'd have to do. Still wanted to get us all out of this alive. She had no such qualms, of course. She was furious that I didn't plan to leave you behind. Couldn't bear the thought of me loving you. I should have known this. I did know this, but I failed anyway and nearly got you killed after all.'

'You could have easily kept that bit from me. I admire your honesty.'

'I can't keep lying to you. I want you to know what you're getting yourself into.'

'That makes you braver than you realise.' She shuddered. 'How do we make sure that Lucille doesn't get you?'

'I've been thinking about that. You know, I think she had only one shot. Because I know what she wants to do now. I noticed that I suddenly felt extremely tired and dizzy. Next time, I'll be on my guard when that happens.'

'That is an incredibly dangerous course you're suggesting.'

'Edith.' He let go of the chain he'd curled loosely around his neck and took her hands. 'Edith, I need to prove to myself if not to you that I am not a complete waste of human life. That I can do something on my own.'

'Let me at least stay near you. Please.'

Thomas smiled at her, unable to stop himself. 'Gladly.'

Ϡ

Being Carter Cushing's daughter, Edith was intimately familiar with various constructs. But the things Thomas's mind came up with were always different. A pulley should be a pretty straight forward thing, and at first sight, it was. But he had made modifications to the chain, link by link, with precision and absolute focus. What they were supposed to do was beyond her until he showed her how he turned a small crank, and the chain shifted, locking the links together to form a stiff rod.

He looked at his creation with detachment before locking his gaze on Edith's. 'Now let's see what that does for us.' He brought it down to the mine and lowered it into the first vat before he turned the crank. He adjusted another wheel that shifted the position of the upper part of the contraption, moving chain and hook deep in the vat, searching for purchase. He paled suddenly and simultaneously turned the crank back and started pulling up the chain with a larger winder. 'I've got something,' he said quietly.

Edith watched the chain, red with wet clay, snake its way up, dripping where it wrapped around itself in a coil. And up came a skeleton. Red as the ghosts that had frightened her at first, stained by its time in the clay, stripped of skin and flesh. Thomas's face was a rigid mask as he lowered it to the ground. 'Do you need a name and a story with it, or will that do?'

'It will do.' Edith barely recognised her voice.

Thomas's eyes closed in a tortured expression. 'This is not your fault. I am so sorry.'

'I know it's hard.'

'I'll try if there's more in here.'

There was not. Nor was there in the next two vats they tried. Thomas had gone deathly pale with each failed attempt and she decided to put a stop to this. 'It's getting late, Thomas. Let's go up.'

'I want this to be over with.'

Edith put a hand on his shoulder. 'I know. But I want you to be able to defend yourself, and you look so horrified, right now, that I'm afraid for you. You've done enough today.'

Thomas looked at the heap of bones they had brought up first. 'Not enough. It will never be enough.' He lowered his voice. 'Pamela. She was in a wheelchair after an accident. Lucille lost her patience with the poison and strangled her when I was out of the house.'

Edith remembered vividly how a ghost, unable to walk, had crawled towards her, a rope from its neck. Gently, she guided Thomas away. It truly was enough for one day.

((The chapter heading is, of course, a play on Samuel Richardson's (horribly pretentious) novel Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. I am quite aware that this is evil, but I can't think of anything else.))