Chapter 30
Tatscombe Hall, Wealdshire. 1517
Chris and Josie made their way to Tatscombe Hall and waited at the edge of the wood. They did not have to wait for long. They saw Elizabeth making her way towards them, every now and then looking back to check that she was not being watched or followed.
'I am so pleased to see you again,' she declared. 'I feared that you would not return — but when I thought of your box, I knew that you would.'
'How did it go?' asked Chris. When he saw Elizabeth's blank expression, he tried again. 'Tell us what happened.'
'What a creep!' snarled Josie when she had heard what happened. 'I'm sorry to say this, Elizabeth, but I think your brother is a pig.'
'Do not be sorry. He is a pig.' She opened her shawl to reveal the camcorder. She held it out along with the remote controller which she had been clutching in her hand. 'I do not know what your box will tell you — but I already know that my brother is the thief. With all my heart I thank you for trying to help Caleb, Sarah and me. I do not know what can be done now.'
Chris took the camera, and Josie put the remote in her pocket. 'Where is Sarah?' they both asked at the same time.
Elizabeth looked down at the ground. 'She must stay in her room. Father says she cannot leave until the matter is settled.'
'Surely he cannot think that Sarah had anything to do with the theft,' Chris said.
'He does not think that she stole the goblet but, because she loves her brother, he thinks she may have helped him to return it. It does not occur to him that Simon may be the thief. He thinks his son can do no wrong.'
'Yeah,' said Chris, 'we have an expression for that. We'd say that your father thinks the sun shines out of his —'
'Chris!' Josie warned, 'This time there really are ladies present.'
'Yeah. I know. All I was going to say is that we'd say her father thinks the sun shines out of his backside.'
Elizabeth forced a tiny smile. 'I will try to remember that. I must return to the house now — before I am missed. Thank you for helping.'
'Hey! Hold your horses!' cried Chris. 'We haven't finished helping yet.' He held up the camera. 'We must take this home and see if it knows anything which can be of use to us.'
Josie stepped forward and grasped Elizabeth's arms. Out of the corner of her mouth she said, 'Chris, go and pump your tyres up,' and was relieved to see him take the hint. 'Elizabeth — there is something I must ask you. Sarah told us that you have a friend — a friend who you write to.'
Elizabeth blushed. 'Yes, I do have such a friend. He is a dear friend and I fear that I will be unable to write to him again.'
'What is his name?'
Elizabeth looked puzzled. 'His name is Robin.'
Josie couldn't stop looking pleased with herself. 'I thought it might be.' She took a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and held it out. 'I think this may be for you.' Elizabeth opened the letter, and tears filled her eyes. Josie whispered, 'I am sorry that I read the letter. I didn't know it was yours.'
Elizabeth suddenly looked up from the letter. 'Why do you have my letter? Have you seen Caleb?'
Josie explained that Chris had found the letter in the wood.
'Do you remember where it was?' Elizabeth asked, her eyes gleaming with hope.
'Uh — yes. It was near a place where charcoal burners had been.'
Elizabeth's face fell. 'There are many such places.'
'Yes, but we can find it again. Wait while I talk to Chris. We may be able to think of something.'
Elizabeth kept glancing nervously towards the house while she waited for Josie to finish chatting to Chris. She looked relieved when they came towards her, smiles decorating their faces.
'We have a plan,' Chris announced. 'We will return in one hour. Can you meet us?'
'I will try.'
'Okay. We must fly. See you later.'
Elizabeth looked worried for a moment. Then, when she saw that they weren't sprouting wings and taking to the air, she looked quite disappointed.
An hour later, the twins were back. 'Which one do you fancy, then, Chris?' Josie asked.
'What?'
'Sarah or Lady Elizabeth?'
Chris tried to scratch his ear nonchalantly but, try as he might, couldn't prevent a silly smile appearing. 'Uh . . . well . . . I suppose that Sarah's quite fanciable.'
'Congratulations!' announced Josie, 'You have made the correct choice.'
'What are you on about?'
'Remember the letter you found? Know who it was for?'
It slowly dawned on Chris what Josie was saying. 'Oh! You think that the Elizabeth in the letter is our Elizabeth.'
'I don't think — I know. I gave her the letter and she said it was from her Robin.'
Chris laughed. 'Well that's a relief.'
'Why's that?'
'She obviously likes blokes who write poetry. I wouldn't have stood a chance.'
Josie looked thoughtful. 'I don't know,' she said. 'Didn't Shakespeare write some love sonnets or something?'
'Yeah. So what? We're talking about her falling for me — not William Shakespeare. Anyway, as he won't be born until she's ready to collect her old age pension, I don't think there's much chance of those two getting together.'
Josie shook her head and clicked her tongue. 'Sometimes, O brother, you can be so thick that I'm ashamed to admit I'm your twin.'
Chris pretended to be offended. 'Hey. Less of the thick stuff. Just tell me what you're on about.'
'Okay. Let me run this past you. Would Josie be impressed if someone sent her a Shakespeare sonnet?'
'Yeah. Course she would.'
'Is she likely to have read any Shakespeare sonnets.'
'No. Course not. She'll probably be dead and buried before he's written any.'
'So, if you sent her one of his poems . . .'
'Ah. I'm with you,' said Chris thoughtfully. 'It's not that I'm thicker than you.'
'No? What is your excuse, then?'
'The reason you thought of that scam and I didn't — is that you are so devious!'
'Okay. I enter a plea of guilty. Hush. Here comes Elizabeth. Do you want to slip her a quick poem?'
'Shhh.'
As Elizabeth drew closer, Chris put his hobby horse on its stand and removed something from the rack at the back.
'Is that another strange box from your strange country?' Elizabeth asked.
'You'll die when you hear this,' Chris announced as he placed the ghetto blaster on the ground.
Elizabeth stepped back. She wasn't ready to die yet. 'What do you mean?'
'Just listen,' he said.