Part 14 (2/2)
”I told you it wasn't funny, Darcy,” I snapped. ”I know exactly how she felt because the same thing happened to me the night before.”
”Who was it? I'll see to him.”
”n.o.body I knew,” I said, secretly delighted by this response. ”In fact I think it might have been a vampire.”
I saw the smile spread across his face.
”Don't you dare laugh,” I said and hit him. He caught my hand in his and held me, looking down at me.
”Come on, Georgie. I know this is Transylvania, but you don't believe in vampires any more than I do.”
”I didn't, until I came here,” I said. ”But there was definitely a strange young man bending over my bed, smiling at me and saying something in a strange language, and when I sat up, he just melted away into the shadows.”
”Then I'd have to say that he was probably in the wrong room and got as big a shock as you did when you sat up. That sort of bed hopping goes on quite a lot in places like this, you know. Or perhaps you don't. You've led a sheltered life.”
”But he looked just like the man in the portrait on my wall,” I said. ”Only last night the portrait had been changed, and someone was climbing up the castle wall. . . .”
”Up the wall? That's a pretty suicidal thing to do.”
”Well, someone did it and there was a cloak in the chest in my room, with snowflakes still on it, and then it vanished.”
”Dear me, it all sounds very dramatic,” he said.
”Don't you believe me?”
”I'd suspect that the rich food has given you vivid dreams, my sweet.”
”It wasn't dreams,” I said. ”I've felt a sense of danger since I came here. Lady Middles.e.x's companion said that she sensed death as we arrived. And explain to me why all these other strange things have been happening.”
”What strange things?” His tone was suddenly sharp and his grip tightened on my wrist.
”Well, to begin with there was someone spying on me on the train. He tried to come into my compartment and then at the station-” I broke off because he was grinning again. ”What now? Don't you believe me?”
”Oh, absolutely. I have to confess something. The person on the train was I.”
”You?”
”Yes, I got wind of which train you were traveling on and I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on you. I hadn't counted on the old battle-ax keeping me at bay.”
”But wait a minute,” I said. ”If you were on the same train as us, how did you get here? An avalanche blocked the pa.s.s right after we came through.”
”It certainly did,” he said. ”By the time I'd found a car willing to drive me to the castle, the wretched road was blocked.”
”So how did you manage to make it here?”
”Used my initiative, my dear. Got a lift as far as I could, then bargained for some skis and skied over the pa.s.s. I must say it was a delightful run all the way down to the castle.”
”You're pulling my leg.”
”Absolutely not. Would I lie to you?”
”Sometimes, I'm afraid.”
He was still holding my wrist and we stood there, staring at each other. ”I don't ever remember lying to you,” he said. ”Omitting some of the truth, maybe, on occasions when I wasn't allowed to tell you everything.”
”So tell me the truth now. Are you here because Nicholas invited you to be his groomsman, or to keep an eye on me, or because you decided to crash another wedding?”
Darcy smiled. ”What would you do if I said I couldn't tell you?”
”I'd say you've probably been sent here, by somebody you can't tell me about. Undercover, for some reason.”
”Something like that. Let's just say that certain people felt it would be good to have some eyes and ears on the spot, in case of trouble.”
”So you were expecting trouble?”
”Come for a walk with me,” he said, taking my hand.
”Where?”
”In the castle grounds.”
”There is deep snow, in case you've forgotten.”
”Then go and put on your boots and coat. I'll meet you down here in five minutes.”
”But I haven't had breakfast,” I said, looking longingly at the spread on the sideboard.
”Breakfast can wait. We may not have another chance to be alone together. At this minute Their Royal Highnesses are greeting their respective parents and relatives, so we can slip away undetected.”
”All right,” I said. ”Just let me pour myself a cup of coffee.”
I gulped it down, then hurried up to my room, where, of course, I discovered that Queenie had forgotten to return my overcoat and thus had to wait while she went to her room to find it. Darcy was waiting impatiently at the foot of the stairs. The guards at the door saluted us as they opened it. Snow had been cleared from the courtyard, where the various motorcars now stood. We crossed it to the big outer gates. The gatekeeper looked at us with surprise when we indicated we wanted to go out. Much snow, he said in German. And n.o.body was to leave.
”We just go for a small walk. English people need fresh air,” Darcy replied. So having decided we were mad English people, he opened a small door beside the big gates and we stepped through into the outside world. Pristine snow stretched before us. The boughs of the fir trees were bent heavy with snow and every now and then there was a soft whoosh and thud as snow slid off to the ground below. It was so bright that it was dazzling. Darcy took my hand and we crunched across the snow, keeping to the tracks the motorcars had made until we were among the trees at the base of the great crag on which the castle stood. An icy blast whistled down from the pa.s.s, freezing my nose and ears. The silence was absolute, except for the rattle of a dead branch in the wind.
”This is nice,” I said, my breathing hanging like smoke in the chill air. ”Nice but cold.”
”I wanted to talk to you away from prying eyes and ears,” Darcy said. ”I wanted to sound you out on Pirin's death. Nicholas's parents arrived this morning. His father will want to know the truth sometime. Nicholas can't keep on pretending forever, and I'd like to have found out who might have killed Pirin before then, so that hopefully an international incident can be averted.”
I nodded.
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