Justice Hall - Laurie R. King [163]
They left, the clamour from the Hall rising and cutting off abruptly with the closing of the stout door. I felt the packet of papers through the layers of fabric I wore. My immediate impulse was to shut myself into the nice heated lavatory and read every word on every page, but I had to let go that impulse almost as quickly. The papers belonged to Marsh; it was his decision if any other eyes saw them. Irritated at my sense of fair play, I settled the papers more firmly in the inner pocket, and went to find Marsh.
There had to be two hundred people already in the jungly Great Hall, spilling among the papyrus and shouting at each other beneath the suspended ibises. Bare arms on the women, bare torsos on some of the men (including a number who really oughtn’t have), colours and face paint and an impressive effect overall.
And daunting. How was I to find Marsh in this crush?
I spotted a vaguely familiar face, smiled, and then turned back so hastily my head spun: Ogilby, wearing what appeared to be the contents of a washing-line. In fact, all the servants in sight were in similar raiment, Phillida’s decorous version of an ancient Egyptian servant’s uniform. I looked closely at the two figures standing beneath an arching silken palm tree, and recognised the hair-dressing Emma talking flirtatiously with a similarly draped individual who was not, I thought, one of the Justice staff. One of the strong young men borrowed from the neighbouring houses, no doubt. I settled my head-wrapping and went over to the house-maid.
“Emma, have you any idea where I might find Lord—I mean, His Grace?”
She did not notice the familiar face under the costume, even though I had retained my own spectacles, and responded as to a stranger’s enquiry. “I don’t believe he’s come down yet, sir. I mean, effendi.”
“Er, thank you.” The strange servant—whom I now recognised from the day of the shoot, his crooked nose being unmistakable even if the rest of him was hidden by costume—had faded away into the fronds with his drinks tray as soon as he saw me approach. He moved with a slight limp, which spoke eloquently of toes crushed by the guests; I was grateful Holmes had not inflicted sandals on me. Emma, too, took up her tray again and pushed into the throng. I, however, turned towards the peace of the old wing and made my way up the 1612 stairway to Marsh’s door.
“Who is that?” he called in answer to my knock.
“Mary,” I answered. Iris opened the door to me, with a drink in her hand; neither she nor Marsh were in costume, unless she proposed to join the party in lounge pyjamas. She looked at me uncertainly, then her face cleared with delight.
“Oh, that is very good, Mary,” she exclaimed. “You look like a boy.”
“When first she wore that clothing,” Marsh remarked, “looking like a boy was the idea.”
“It certainly succeeded. And that knife looks fierce.”
“I borrowed it from the Armoury,” I said to Marsh. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.”
“Which is where I found this.” I fished the packet from inside my robes.
He unfolded the top page, saw the writing, and sat down abruptly. I poured myself a large dry sherry and took a chair while I waited for him to read it. When he looked back at me, his eyes took some time to come into focus.
“Have you . . . ?” he asked.
“No, just enough to see what it was.”
“Where did you find this?”
“Straight out of The Purloined Letter—one hides a thing too close for the person seeking it to find. In this case, it was inside that enormous studded chest in the Armoury. There are some old hangings or curtains or something inside—it doesn’t look as if it’s been opened for half a century, other than to deposit those.”
He looked at the papers in his hand without seeing them. “We used to hide things in the Armoury,” he mused, not really thinking about what he was saying. “In Long Tim’s helmet, inside the chest. All the time. When we were boys.”
Iris could take no more. “Marsh?” she asked. “What is it?”
Mutely, he handed the papers to her. She took them, looked curiously at the ribbon-bound packet, and then opened Gabriel