Ball Side Thread: Midnight Meeting- Xmas 1677

[Charles Whitehurst]

It still seemed sloppy of the killers, but perhaps there had been a greater danger of discovery back then. Perhaps the passageways had been guarded better then.

 

"So, it is a key to a chest of letters at a place they used to meet," Charles summarized. He gave a nod to Susan as she was helping with the clues. "Now we need to determine where they used to meet. He said it was not at the palace or at his home," he mumbled to Susan as he was thinking of alternatives.

 

"It was in the city of London then?" he asked the spirit. If it was outside London, it would require a trip that might make it so Susan could not participate. "Saint James Park?" That was just outside the palace, though it was not open to the public then. "Perhaps somewhere along the river," he mumbled. "She was a lady to the Queen, so she could not go far from the palace. She was also married, so perhaps it made it doubly so. Perhaps a house of a friend?" That sounded possible. "Or a rented cottage?" It was what he had done for secret assignations. Surely others had used the same idea.

[Aria]

Susan thought it was rather strange that the spirit didn't know whether there was treasure hidden in the chest along with the letters. As Charles focused on where the long-dead lovers used to meet, she pondered various possibilities.

 

The lantern blinked once when asked if the chest was in London. All of his other questions were answered with two blinks, each one a bit higher than the last. “I think he's getting frustrated,” Susan commented.

 

Without any warning, the letters they had been reading burst upwards as if lifted by a gust of wind and scattered around the room. They rained upon Charles and Susan, eventually scattering upon the floor. "Whatever is that supposed to mean?" the young blonde asked.

[Charles Whitehurst]

They had narrowed the target down to London. That was hardly reassuring for the would be treasure hunter.

 

When the letters went wild, Charles pondered as to the meaning. "It could be frustration," he admitted, "or it could be the signal that the location of their meeting place is contained in the letters, if we read them more carefully." He paused to see if his speculation was greeted with affirmation by the spirit. More reading. Charles hoped he could rely on Susan to do most of the library and reading work. Slowly he moved to collect the letters. "Perhaps I give you the letters this time. I fear I have not read them closely enough."

[Aria]

The flame flickered once to Charles' speculation. So the location of the chest and the gate was mentioned in the letters. Susan helped Charles gather them up, trying to remember some of the things she had read and hoping he didn't see the uncharacteristic blush that blossomed across her fair face. You're not supposed to be thinking of those parts, she admonished herself. She needed to think about where they did those things.

 

Just as Charles suggested that she take the letters, her face lit up. “I'll take them, but I think I know where the chest is. The inn! Remember, Charles? They met at an inn that has now been turned into a residence.”

 

Again, the lantern blinked one time.

[Charles Whitehurst]

The letters were collected as Susan made reference to the inn. Of course. He had been thinking of London landmarks instead.

 

Hating to ruin the mood, given the late progress, Charles could not help but observe "it has to be unlikely that the chest is still there then. Surely the innkeeper or home owner found the chest and burst it open. One does not need a key if one is willing to break the chest." He rubbed his chin absent-mindedly as he tried to think of ways it might have survived.

 

"Was it hidden in a secret room or false wall?" he found himself asking the lamp. "If so, that might give us hope." If not, then Charles was pondering a simple visit to the residence. He supposed he could just be forthright and ask the owner if he had discovered a locked chest.

[Aria]

Susan reached for the letters Charles held, planning to add them to her stack. There might be some other useful information in them and now that they could communicate with the spirit of the Lion, he could clarify anything that she didn't understand. Assuming that Charles would bring her back to this room and that the spirit would still be able to answer their questions. She had heard stories where ghosts were only able to make contact with the living between one year and the next. With any luck, those tales had no basis in reality.

 

“You're probably right,” Susan sighed. “Whatever was in it was probably sold or destroyed.”

 

Yet the lantern flickered once to Charles' next question. The chest had, apparently, been hidden in some secret place. “The house was recently renovated, but maybe they didn't knock down the walls. I don't know much about inns, but do you think that they could have secret passageways too? The current owner might not be aware of them and the chest could still be there. It's worth checking out, but first we need to find out more about your dagger and who is looking for it. We don't want to put the owner of the house in harm's way as well.”

[Charles Whitehurst]

The first problem was to find a way inside the house. It did not take Charles long to conjure an answer.

 

"I'll round up some loyal troopers, knock on the door and tell him that we are looking for chest that was hidden by a enemy of the Crown. I could say it was the French, or Catholics ... or both," he improvis "We can look for a secret compartment.: The question was where to look.

 

"We will need some help," he told the spirit. "Was it upstairs? Down? Near the front door? The rear? An interior wall I assume?" This would help limit the range of his search. "Was there a knob or lever to pull?"

 

As for finding more about the dagger, Charles was unsure why that was important. It seemed that the chest was more important. "First we need the real name for the Swan," he commented. "That will help us find her resting place so we can reunite the two. The rest is secondary." That should please the spirit. "As for the dagger, I too am curious why anyone should care after so long; but, I shall question and threaten the armsmith until he says what he knows."

[Aria]

Although she didn't say anything, Susan thought that Charles' plan would only work if the owner had not found the chest and discovered there were love letters inside. If he had, he would think that the King's life guards were a bit strange to see love letters from the previous century as a threat. However, she supposed that they could be, if they were written by important personages. As they had only been signed with nicknames, maybe that was what the owner would believe.

 

With any luck, though, the chest was still hidden in a secret part of the house. The flame flickered once, then twice, twice two more times, once, and then twice again. “So it's upstairs behind a wall but there's no knob or lever. Maybe you have to push the wall in a certain place to get in.”

 

Susan thought the dagger was more important because she didn't like the idea of being in peril just because she knew of it. Until that particular part of the mystery was solved, she would be looking over her shoulder all the time, wondering if she was being followed. Even more terrifying was the notion that the Queen could be targeted because one of her ladies was associated with the dagger.

 

“I'll go back to archives and search for her as soon as I can.” she promised both Charles and the spirit. “They will be together soon.” The flame suddenly flickered brightly. Susan and Charles would feel a sudden cool breeze waft over them, and then the lantern burned normally and the air seemed a bit warmer. “I think he's gone,” Susan whispered.

[Charles Whitehurst]

"Very well then. We have our marching orders." It was easy for a soldier to use a military metaphor amid any planning.

 

The spirit was gone at last. "I only hope we can contact him again in the future." Maybe there was something special about the last hours of a dying year that made the contact possible. Would that be possible again for a year? They had learned enough that there was little else they needed from the spirit, though Charles was fairly certain that there would come a time where they would need confirmation of something.

 

"Maybe we meet after church, in the library?" Charles suggested. He was planning to attend and it would be innocent enough to visit the library afterwards. Few others would be thinking of academic pursuits so soon after an abundance of libations.

 

"Let us collect our things and get ready to leave." Charles paused to see that Susan had the letters. He placed the skeleton key in a pocket and looked about for anything else. He placed the dagger back in his coat pocket. "Shall we sneak out by the river entrance, or try our luck going back the way we came?"

[Aria]

“So do I. We'll probably have more questions for him and maybe we can figure out a better form of communication. He can move the dagger so perhaps we can write each letter of the alphabet on a piece of paper and he can point to them to spell out words.” Susan was hoping for an answering flicker from the lantern, but there was nothing. The spirit was truly gone.

 

“The Queen usually lets some of us have some free time after church, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to get away sometime in the early afternoon.” She hoped to start her research as soon as possible, while everything they had learned tonight was fresh on her mind.

 

Once Susan had all the letters, she slid half of them into one of her petticoat pockets and half into the other. The thick bundles made her skirts look a bit fuller, but they were so light that she could forget they were there. Picking up the ring from beside the lantern, she slid it onto her finger. “Let's go back the way we came. I have to go back to the ball anyway, and if we leave by the river entrance, the bottom of my gown might become muddy and however will I explain that to my brother and the Queen?”

 

She grinned at Charles mischievously. “Unless, of course, you want to carry me ...”

[Charles Whitehurst]

He found himself nodding.  A return the way they came would mean less mud and dust.  The only risk was encountering someone as they emerged from the passageway into the palace hall.  It was only her brother, the crazy one, that he feared to encounter.  Most any other person he could handle, or so he told himself.

"While I would enjoy carrying you," he replied playfully, "the spirit might find a way to bring the dagger back to life and it could stick you."  He was oblivious to the sexual innuendo of his jest.

So it was that Charles opened the secret door, emerging into the passageway to make sure there was no one lurking, before inviting Susan to join him.  He then escorted her back towards the secret door to the palace passageway, pausing to brush dust and cobwebs from her, if she so wished and she could do the same for his uniform.  He  would be careful not to touch any private part of her person if he assisted her.  It was mostly the hair and shoulders that concerned him.  Once ready, he emerged first, just to look who might be in the corridor at the time.  If it was safe, he could bring Susan forth and they could part quickly.

[Aria]

Susan was too innocent to understand the innuendo in his jest and thought that he was just making up an excuse to get out of carrying her. She hadn't expected him to do it anyway, but it would have been fun if he had. “I could hold your dagger for you. It won't be able to stick me if it's safe in my hands.” The double-entendre in her own words was completely unintentional.

 

Lord Langdon opened the door and she waited to step into the corridor until he motioned to her. There had been other people in the passageway earlier and they couldn't risk being seen together. As one of the Queen's ladies, she was a familiar face at court, and she didn't want anyone telling Philip that she was skulking about in the dark with a gentleman. By making sure there was nobody about, Charles was not only protecting her reputation but saving his own skin.

 

She was silent as they headed back to the secret door in the palace. Their footsteps echoed eerily through the empty hallway and the sound seemed to bounce off the walls. Something scurried over her shoe and she kicked it away. Rats weren't frightening to a girl who had just communicated with a spirit.

 

When the Earl paused to brush the cobwebs and dust from her hair and clothing, Susan did the same for him, smiling as she ruffled his dark hair and running her hands over his the jacket of his uniform. She had hoped for a parting kiss, but Charles didn't linger, opening the hidden door and stepping into the corridor.

 

It wasn't empty. Two tipsy ladies giggled past him, too intent on staying upright to notice that a door had opened in the wall. Further down, a couple was locked in a passionate embrace on a bench. They were so engrossed in each other that they didn't see Charles either. The ladies disappeared around a corner. There were no other people in the corridor, but voices raised in merriment could be heard in the distance.

 

[Charles Whitehurst]

It seemed that the passageway was clear.  That is good.  Susan's brothers were celebrating elsewhere and Davina was otherwise indisposed.

Charles signaled for her to join him in the passage and he pulled the door closed behind them.  Not wishing to leave her alone, even though it was but a short distance to the Queen's apartments, Charles walked with Susan.  "I'll escort you to your quarters," he announced.  He did not act overly familiar as the silly couples were doing in the hallways.  If someone that knew them encountered them, Charles wanted it to appear that his escort was more an act of gallantry than gluttony.

"I'll see you Sunday afternoon in the library," he whispered as they walked.

[Aria]

Susan stepped into the corridor when he beckoned to her. “I need to go back to the ballroom so that nobody suspects me of mischief. The Queen has probably already retired but my brothers will still be celebrating. I can say I rang in the New Year with friends in one of the other rooms and it won't seem strange if we met while I was returning and you decided to escort me back to the ball. My brothers may look favorably upon you for seeing to my safety.”

 

Charles kept his distance, which was disappointing but expected. As they walked, they passed a few more courtiers, none of whom paid them any mind. “I may not be there right after Church, but I'll get away as soon as I can. I hope I'm not too tired. I'll be attending the Queen during the gift-giving ceremony and I've heard it often runs late into the night.” This was Susan's first Christmas as the Queen's lady and she was not sure what to expect of tomorrow's main event.

 

She idly fiddled with the Swan's ring on her finger.  Now that she was back in familiar surroundings, it seemed strange to her that they had actually communicated with a spirit.   "What happened tonight ... it feels so unreal now, doesn't it?  It's as if we had a shared dream."