Chapter 26
Tatscombe Hall, Wealdshire. 1517
Josie and Chris waited in the wood while Sarah went into Tatscombe Hall to talk to Elizabeth. They expected to wait for a while because Sarah would need to relate all that had happened and then convince her mistress that the twins really did want to help — and could be trusted.
'Here they come,' announced Chris.
'Are you nervous?' asked Josie.
'No! Of course I'm . . . yes, I am a bit. I've not met the daughter of a Sir before, especially one who has probably been dead for over four centuries.'
Josie gave Chris's hand a squeeze. 'Thou must have courage, my brother. Hang in there.'
'Okay. I'm hanging.'
'She looks unfazed,' Josie said, referring to Elizabeth. 'She's not throwing up her hands in horror at our nakedness. Sarah must have warned her that we're not in the habit of covering our arms and legs. Uh-oh, here we go.'
Elizabeth approached the twins, introduced herself and said that she was pleased to meet them. She certainly didn't appear to be frightened of the strangers but, every now and again, Josie saw a flicker of fear in her eyes and got the impression that Elizabeth was really much less self-assured than she appeared to be. Chris saw nothing of that. He was too busy studying the two girls. He couldn't help thinking that while Elizabeth, with her long flame-coloured hair, green eyes and ground-length gown looked very appealing, he would much prefer to be with Sarah. Seeing that her brother was busy in his head, Josie took the initiative and said that although Sarah had told them much, perhaps Elizabeth could provide a bit more information about the situation. Elizabeth told them that there was still no sign of Caleb although her father had sent out search parties. Indeed, all the menfolk were out looking for him at this very moment.
'Do you think that your brother may have stolen the goblet?' asked Josie.
Elizabeth lowered her eyes. 'It grieves me to think that my brother may be a thief, but I fear it must be so.'
Chris spoke. 'What do you think he will do with the goblet?'
'I think he will sell it. He loses much at cards and cockfights.' She gestured towards the house. 'As you can see, we are not very rich. Our last house was of a goodly size but, after my father was ruined by a rogue, we had to come to this cottage. My father pays Simon's debts, but I fear he cannot do so for much longer.'
Resisting the temptation to suggest that Elizabeth's concept of a cottage differed greatly from his (and, he was sure, Sarah's and Josie's), Chris asked how Simon would be likely to dispose of the goblet. Elizabeth had to think about that. Eventually, her eyes lit up and she said, excitedly, 'Thomas Poulet is visiting our house this evening. I do not like him. I think he doth lead my brother astray. Mayhap Simon will give the goblet to Thomas to sell on his behalf. Or it may be that Simon is in debt to Thomas.'
'Ah-ha!' said Chris. 'I think I have a plan. Can we go to your brother's room?'
With a little bit of craftiness and a great deal of luck, the four teenagers were able to creep up the wooden stairs to Simon's room without being seen. Lady Jane was taking an afternoon nap and Elizabeth and Sarah found excuses to send the servants on errands to other parts of the house. However, as the men who were out searching for Caleb could return at any time, they needed to be quick.
Chris and Josie looked around the room for a place where they could hide the camcorder. 'There isn't anywhere,' lamented Chris. 'Wherever we put it, Simon is sure to see it. If we were professionals we'd hide it behind the oak panelling. But we're not, and we don't have much time. We can't put it inside that chest or cupboard. We can hardly leave it on the bed.'
Josie tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. 'No, Chris, but we could leave it under the bed.'
'That won't be any good. We wouldn't get a clear view of Simon and his friend.'
'It doesn't matter. All we're interested in is what they say, not what they look like.'
Chris held out his hand. 'Put it there, sis. You're a genius and I don't have a brain. I bet you didn't bring the remote.'
Josie dug into the camcorder bag and pulled out the remote controller. 'This, you mean?'
'Cool!'
(They didn't notice Sarah whispering a translation into Elizabeth's ear.)
Chris took the camera, knelt on the floor, and reached under the bed. 'If I push it near to the wall . . . no- one will see it. Now, I need to turn it so that the sensor is facing the door.' Having switched the camera on, he wriggled out, took the remote controller from Josie and went to the door. He stepped outside and closed the door. Noticing that there was a large gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, he lay down and looked under the door. Heck, it may be possible, he decided. He lay the controller on the floor, pushed it under door as far as his fingers would allow, adjusted its position until it pointed towards the camera, and pressed the 'start/stop' button. Eat your heart out Simon-goblet-nicker, he thought as the red light on the camera began to glow. I've got you. Now all I've got to do is teach a girl from the sixteenth century to use a video camera!
Elizabeth was a quick learner. Although she had no idea what she was doing, she followed Chris's instructions to the letter. Despite the restrictions of her clothes, she was able to lie on the floor and switch the camera on each time she tried. Where she did have problems, though, was in trying to understand why they wanted to put the strange box beneath the bed. When Chris said that it captured people's voices, she drew back with a look of horror and muttered something about sorcery. He assured her that no sorcery was involved although, when he thought about it, he realised that the inner workings of the camcorder were probably as much a mystery to him as they were to Elizabeth. He had intended filming her and then letting her see herself through the viewfinder, but decided that might not be such a good idea. I'd probably get accused of witchcraft, he thought. In the end, he simply said, 'Trust me. No magic. No sorcery. No witchcraft. This is science.'
He turned to Josie. 'Will the battery last long enough?' he asked.
'Should do. It'll record for four hours so that'll be plenty. The tape will be the problem — it's only a two- hour tape.'
'We'll just have to hope he confesses his sins early on, then.'
Holding out the remote controller to Elizabeth, Chris told her to keep it in a safe place. He checked that she knew she had to turn the camera on as soon as Thomas entered the room. 'Are you sure you know what to do?' he asked.
'Oh yes,' said Elizabeth, 'Thou needst not worry. I will be cool —'
She froze as she heard her father's voice. 'Oh no! My father has returned! He will discover us.'
Chris did some rapid thinking. 'Josie and I will wait here. You go to the stairs and tell us when it is safe for us to leave.'
Elizabeth, her face drained of all colour, left the room and walked to the head of the stairs. If she was pale when she left, she was positively bleached when she returned a few moments later.
Shaking like a leaf, she pointed at the door and had trouble forming her words, 'A . . . a . . . ghost. A b . . . black ghost. A ghost in a b . . . black robe. It . . . it spoke to me. It said that the twins must r . . . run to their hob . . . hobby horses.'
Chris and Josie looked at each other. More men in black robes? they thought, but they didn't think for long.
'We will see you tomorrow,' Chris said briskly. 'Let's go.' Grabbing Josie's hand he pulled her towards the door. He was relieved to see there were no menacing spectres lurking outside. 'The ghost said to run — let's go for it.'
'Where shall we meet?' called Sarah as the twins left the room.
'In the wood — at midday.'
As the twins raced down the stairs, they were confronted by a well-dressed, rotund person with a ruddy face and beard. His eyes opened so wide in astonishment that they looked as if they were about to pop out. Chris raced past Sir James on one side and Josie dashed past on the other. They sprinted through the open door and hared off towards the wood without looking back once. If they had, they would have seen the rather large gentleman leaning against the wall, hands clutched to his heart as if to stop it bursting from his chest, and with his mouth opening and closing like that of a fish stranded on a beach.
'Phew! That was close. I thought he was going to to explode. Did you see his eyes?'
The twins were racing back to the time gate as fast as they could pedal. Every now and then, they looked back over their shoulders to check that they weren't being pursued. They knew that Sir James had stables, so it wasn't out of the question that someone was galloping after them twirling a sharp blade and looking for young necks to sever.
'I hope we haven't given the old geezer a heart attack,' said Chris.
'What did Elizabeth say when she came back into the room? Did she say, 'The twins must run to their hobby horses', or did I imagine that?'
'I thought that was what she said. Weird, eh? If there was someone there, how did he know that we'd been calling our bikes hobby horses?'
At that, they both looked behind them and felt a shiver ripple up and down their spines. 'Who . . . or what . . . do you think she saw?'
Chris shook his head. 'I dunno. We certainly didn't see anyone. I'm just glad that Elizabeth's ghost seems to be on our side. If I thought that it was against us . . . I think the chances of my coming back here would be zilch.'
'She said it was wearing a black robe. Sarah said she saw men in black robes as well.' Josie took another look behind her. 'This is freaky.'
'Elizabeth's old man certainly looked freaky,' laughed Chris. 'I wonder what he thought we were?'
'Maybe we'll find out when we go back tomorrow.'
'We could make it tomorrow today — if you fancy doing a fast-forward when we get to the time gate.'
'Uh-uh. No thanks. I need a day or two to recover from this. I can wait to find out what old Sir James thought we were.'