The Forest - Edward Rutherfurd [344]
Adelaide sat in complete silence for some time, while Mrs Pride hovered behind her. Then, at last, whether to the housekeeper or only to herself it was hard to say, the old lady finally spoke. ‘If he saves her she’ll marry him.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘Oh, my poor mother. Poor Alice. Better she died than that.’
It was at that moment that Mrs Pride saw what she had to do.
Martell and Gilpin sat late together in the vicar’s library that night, discussing what to do.
‘I want to go,’ Gilpin said. ‘And I have no doubt Fanny would see me. But two questions remain. With the old lady so implacable, would my presence create still more confusion? And besides, it is you she needs now, Martell, not me.’
‘I have no qualms about the old lady,’ Martell responded. ‘I shall go first thing in the morning. But I still have to gain admittance to her. I can’t break in the door of the prison.’
‘You shall take a letter from me. I shall beg her to see you. I can tell her you speak with my blessing. That may help.’
Gilpin had just sat down to write the letter and Martell begun to read a book when there was the sound of someone arriving at the door. Moments later the manservant entered and came to murmur something in Gilpin’s ear. Gilpin got up and went into the hall, disappearing for a minute or so before he returned, in a hurry. ‘Get your coat, Martell!’ he cried. ‘We shall need you. The horses are being saddled.’
‘Where are we going?’ Martell called, as he ran up to his room to get his coat and boots.
‘Albion House. And there’s not a moment to lose.’
No one could say where or how it had started, for the whole house had apparently been sound asleep. So much so, indeed, that it was only when the one manservant happened to wake on the top floor and hear a strange crackle that he realized anything was amiss. As soon as he came out of his little room, however, he found the passage already filling with thick smoke. A second later he encountered Mrs Pride, who had obviously just awoken too, in her nightclothes.
‘The whole house is on fire,’ she cried. ‘Quickly, find all the servants. The back stairs are clear. Take them all to the stables, then make sure none is missing.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To get the old lady. What else?’
The smoke was already choking as Mrs Pride made her way to the main landing. She went swiftly along to the chamber where Adelaide slept, walked in and went to the bed.
It was empty.
She cast around the room swiftly. Nothing. She tried the next chamber, found that empty too, went to the stairs.
Fire was licking up a tapestry. At the bottom of the stairs she saw flames coming out of the parlour. She ran down and tried to go in but the heat was too intense. She opened the main door and went swiftly out.
‘Has anyone seen Miss Albion?’
The entire household was assembled in the stables now. No one was missing. The men were already gathering buckets in the hope of making a chain down to the river. She could see it would be useless but did not try to dissuade them.
No one had seen the old lady.
‘She must have got up. She may be outside,’ offered one.
‘Perhaps she started it. Fell over with a lamp,’ said a housemaid.
‘No one is to go inside,’ ordered Mrs Pride and went back to the house.
The roof had started to smoke, now, and flames were leaping from some of the upper windows. The cottages in Boldre had obviously seen the flames because men were running along the drive. She directed them to help with the buckets. Someone had already gone to tell the vicar.
‘Search for the old lady outside,’ she told the cook and the other women. ‘She may have wandered out.’
By the time Mr Gilpin and Martell arrived the flames were leaping high from the roof and cinders poured upwards into the dark night sky. The doorway, surprisingly, was still passable, but inside there was only a strange flickering darkness.
All searches for Adelaide had proved fruitless. No one could guess where she had gone. If to the parlour, then she must be burned to a cinder already.
‘She could have fallen,’ Gilpin said. ‘It is possible she is still