" 'O mistress mine! Where are you roaming?' " he murmured as he went to investigate.
Megan heard his steps and glanced back. She saw his faint outline again as he passed a thin sliver of moonlight that found its way between some poorly drawn curtains, and she wondered why she could see him sometimes but not always. Edward sensed nothing as he conducted her through the kitchens, where he extinguished the candle, then out into the walled garden. The night was bitterly cold, and the clear sky was filled with stars, except to the north, where a bank of cloud lay low in the heavens.
The ghost's steady tread followed, and Megan heard him mutter another quotation. " 'Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.' "
She halted in front of the summerhouse, where Oliver still waited in the shadows. "You wished to see me?" she said.
"Come inside, and keep your voice down. Sound travels on a night like this."
Reluctantly she did as he asked, and he reached out to pull her right back behind the bench. Then he glanced out at Edward. "Stand away now, for this is not for your ears. And be sure to keep out of sight from the house."
"Yes, Mr. March." Edward hurried toward the black shadow cast by the garden wall.
Oliver then looked at Megan. "Now, coz, we have things to clear between us," he said softly.
"You have already made your wishes very plain, sir."
"I need to be certain that not a word of our past dealings will come to light."
"Our past dealings? Sirrah, you were the only one who dealt anything!"
He smiled. "I was within my rights."
"Legally, maybe, but certainly not morally! You didn't even want my father's estate, for it brought you little in the way of income, and you certainly did not desire to live in it. Berengers has been left vacant and crumbling ever since you evicted me, and I despise you for that more than you will ever realize!"
"Oh, I realize, my dear, I realize." Still he smiled.
"In spite of that, you may rest assured that I have no intention of saying anything to anyone."
His pale eyes flickered. "I'm not foolish enough to trust your word alone, so let me remind you that I know the full lurid details of your shocking little escapades in Bath."
"Ralph Strickland hasn't told the truth."
"Oh, I do not doubt it, but as far as everyone here is concerned, his account will be the truthful one."
"You are too late, sir. Lady Evangeline already knows what happened, and she heard it from Lady Jane Strickland herself."
It wasn't the response he had been expecting, and he turned slightly away. For a long moment he was silent, then he faced her again. "I am prepared to pay you handsomely to quit Lady Evangeline's service and disappear."
She stared at him. "You cannot be serious!"
"Never more so. I will advance you your wages for a year-half now, half when you have done as I wish."
Rollo heard. " 'I like not fair terms and a villain's mind,' " the specter breathed.
Suddenly Oliver caught hold of Megan's arms, his face only inches from hers. "Be warned not to decline my offer, for if you do it will be the worst for you. Cross me at your peril, coz," he breathed.
This was too much for Rollo. It was bad enough that a man should lay hands upon another and utter such threats, but that he should do it to a woman was intolerable. "Vile knave! Insect of insects!" he cried, and fixed his attention upon the path that ran around the lawn as he willed some of the gravel to fly through the air and strike Oliver. But although the tiny stones rustled and jumped about a little, they certainly didn't obey his will. Uttering a curse, the spirit bent to seize a handful and hurl it at Oliver, who suddenly found himself being rained with tiny sharp missiles.
"Great God above!" he gasped, instinctively backing away. More gravel struck him, and he ducked, clutching his top hat on his head for protection.
Megan whirled about to look where she knew Rollo to be. She could see a vague shape bending to gather more ammunition. More gravel hurtled through the air like grapeshot, and Oliver whipped around to look ferociously at Edward, who immediately threw up his hands in alarm.
"It's not me, Mr. March! I swear it!"
"Then, who-?" Oliver yelped as more gravel found a target. By the direction from which it came, he now realized Edward could not be throwing it, so he cast around for the culprit. "Who's there?" he cried. More gravel struck him. "Help me, damn you!" he begged Edward, but the terrified footman couldn't move.
Rollo, well into his ghostly stride now, decided that Edward needed a little punishment too, so he tossed some ammunition at the young man's bare shins, yelling. " 'Out, damned spot! Out I say! One; two; why, then, 'tis time to do't!' "
Edward gaped foolishly down at his stinging legs, and choked back a frightened sob. Then at last he found the wit to take to his heels and make a dash for the house as if someone had set fire to his nightshirt. But as he sprinted for the kitchen door, another barrage of gravel scored a bull on his posterior.
Rollo gave a triumphant snort of laughter, then returned his attention to Oliver, who had begun to back toward the ladder against the wall. The wraith wasn't having any of that, so he ran to cut off Oliver's escape, then hurled gravel again. Oliver made a sound that resembled a squawk, and hastily backed the other way, but whichever way he went he was assailed by the flying gravel. At last he fled headlong toward the ladder, but in his haste he dislodged it, and it toppled over, striking him on the head and knocking him out.
Rollo wasn't in the least concerned. "Ha!" he declared, and as he strode over to examine Oliver, he rubbed his spectral hands together for a job well done. Then he prodded the unconscious man with his foot. " 'O Mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?' "
Oliver didn't move, in fact he was so still that Megan was apprehensive. "He-he isn't dead, is he, Master Witherspoon?" she asked, going closer.
"Nay, mistress, he is just-" Rollo broke off in astonishment as he realized she had addressed him. "Thou canst see me, sweet lady?"
"Sometimes, but I always hear you."
"The saints be praised, now I have two angels to save me! Oh, blessed, blessed fortune. They say miracles are past, but it is not so! he cried, and snatched off his plumed hat to sweep her an eloquent bow. Then he came to seize her hand and shower it with kisses. His touch was strangely warm and firm, like that of a living man.
Oliver groaned a little, and Rollo returned to him. "We will speak again, mistress, but I pray thee do not tell anyone of me. Certainly do not speak of me to the Lady Evangeline."
"But why, if she already knows about you?"
"She hath a special task to perform, and it must be done without her knowing why. Consultation might lead to full understanding, and that she must not have."
"Can you tell me about this special task?"
"No, mistress."
"Why?"
"It is ye unwritten rule, dear lady. A spirit must not explain reasons to the living, except sometimes when the living are unconscious."
"That's silly." She glanced at Oliver, who stirred a little more.
"I will not argue, but nevertheless it is so. I cannot and durst not transgress, for to do so is to be certain of a lonely eternity, and no spirit wishes that. Our existence is made bearable only by the constant hope of redemption."