Candle in the Darkness - Lynn N. Austin [137]
“How did they manage to escape?”
Turner shook one of the drapes as if Robert might flutter out of it like a moth. “I think you already know the answer to that, Miss Fletcher.”
“How dare you accuse me?”
“I dare because the escape tunnel they dug was precisely placed. They obviously had outside help.”
“I have never liked you, Major,” I said coldly. “Tonight you have insulted me and offended me. I’m allowing this search because I have no choice. But you can be sure I’ll be speaking to your superior officer tomorrow morning about the way I was treated. Instead of wasting your time here, perhaps you should find out which one of your guards is accepting bribes.”
Turner closed the piano lid and stared at me darkly. “I know you helped him, Miss Fletcher.”
“Is that so? Well, if you think I’m smart enough to plan a prison escape, then why would I be stupid enough to hide my cousin here?”
He didn’t reply. “Upstairs,” he said, motioning to his aide. The search seemed to take forever. When the guard finished down in the basement, he and Gilbert were sent up to the attic. One of the guards from outside came in to report that they hadn’t found anything in the yard or outbuildings.
Finally, Turner went into my bedroom. I could see that he was growing angrier by the minute as his search proved fruitless. He poked inside my wardrobe and under the bed, then started pulling linens out of my hope chest. But when he pulled back my bed curtains to peer at my rumpled bed, I lost my temper.
“How dare you! You are a pervert, Major, and certainly not a gentleman! Are you going to paw through all my unmentionables, as well? I’ve had quite enough of this! Eli, go fetch Mr. St. John. We’ll see what my fiance é’s father has to say about the way you’re treating me.”
Turner saw that he had pushed me to my limit. He told Eli to wait and quickly searched the rest of my bedroom, then left without a word of apology. But before the front door closed, he made certain that I heard him say to one of his men, “Stay here day and night if you have to, but watch this house.”
I shook with anger and relief. It was after six o’clock by now, but the dawning sun hid behind a gray, overcast sky. Eli and Gilbert went outside to begin their chores.
“Why don’t you crawl back into bed and lie down until we get the fire going,” Tessie told me. “It be a lot warmer under the covers. You shaking like a leaf.” We started up the stairs together.
“Where’s Robert?” I whispered, even though the major and his men were gone.
“I don’t know, honey. Want me to go ask Eli?”
“No, he’s right. It’s probably better if we don’t know. It must be a very good hiding place, though. Turner was very thorough.”
“He sure was. I holding my breath till I almost forget to breathe.”
I walked into my bedroom and yanked the bed curtains open, angry all over again when I recalled how the major had dared to leer inside my private sleeping place. I pulled back the covers to lie down, then let out a startled shriek.
A pair of frightened eyes looked up at me. The lump beneath the quilt at the foot of my bed was Robert. I had to grab onto the headboard to keep from falling over.
“How on earth did you get in here?”
“It was Eli’s idea. He said a true Southern gentleman would never look in a lady’s bed—and he said if the major turned out not to be a gentleman, you would have his hide before you would ever let him touch your bed. It turned out Eli was right.”
I remembered how close Turner had come to finding Robert and I began to tremble all over again. “No, stay there,” I said when Robert started to climb out. “It’s the safest place.”
“I’ll give you fleas.”
“It’s a little late to worry about that now. If the fleas are smart, they’ve already escaped.”
Giddy laughter suddenly bubbled up inside me at the absurdity of it all, a laughter born of exhaustion and fear and weary relief. Robert began laughing, too, as he lay back down on the bed again.
“Oh, Caroline . . . Oh, you have no idea how good this feels!”
“To lie