She went to a cupboard and I followed her. It was like a small room, that cupboard, and I imagined it was an almost exact replica of the one which contained the coats.
This cupboard was lined with shelves and in it was an array of bottles neatly labelled. There was no extra door.
She took one of the bottles and gave it to me.
‘Here you are, Mistress Bersaba. She’ll sleep well on this. Just the one dose will do it. But don’t let her take too much. There’s always a fear that you’ll take a dose, get sleepy and take another without knowing it. It’s been done more than once. Now that’s something I wouldn’t like to speak for.’
‘You can trust me, Mrs Cherry,’ I said. ‘I shall see that she only takes it when it is absolutely necessary and I’ll keep it in my room.’
I took the bottle into my room and put it into a cupboard. When I saw Angelet I told her what I had done.
‘Where is it?’ she asked.
‘I’m keeping it,’ I told her. ‘When I think you really need to be put off to sleep, I shall use Mrs Cherry’s Soother …’
‘Let me have it, Bersaba.’
‘No,’ I said firmly; and she laughed and was happy in my care for her.
I couldn’t wait to explore that part of the grounds around the kitchens, for I wanted to discover if there was a door there which could be the one in the cupboard.
It was dusk and there was no one about when I strolled out in my cloak, for it was chilly, and made my way round the house.
This was where the kitchens would be. There was the window which I knew was there, but I could not find a door. I wondered whether there had been one once and it had been blocked up. If so, there should be some sign of it, but there was nothing.
I looked behind me. The wall of the mock castle was very close and the discovery I did make was that this was its nearest distance from the house. If it is a ruin which might crumble at any moment, is it safe to allow it to remain so near the house? I wondered.
Clearly I could discover nothing there, so I went back to my room, but I kept thinking about it.
How long the evening seemed. Angelet sat idly, for she could not see to embroider by the candlelight, and I fancied that when Richard was not there she did not feel the need to be busy.
We talked of old times and Trystan Priory and wondered what our mother was doing at that moment. Then when we mentioned Castle Paling I was reminded of my exploration that afternoon, and said: ‘When I went down to the kitchen to speak to Mrs Cherry I noticed a cupboard I had not seen before. I looked inside and there was a door which was bolted. Where does it lead?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ replied Angelet.
‘You’re the mistress of the house. It shouldn’t hold any secrets from you.’
‘I never interfere in the kitchen.’
‘It’s not interfering … just to find out why there should be a door in a cupboard.’
‘Did you ask Mrs Cherry?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Well, if you’re curious you could ask her.’
‘Why don’t we go down and see?’
‘To ask them, you mean.’
‘I don’t want to ask them. I want to find out for ourselves. It’s rather mysterious, I fancy.’
‘Mysterious? How? Why?’
‘How? That’s what we have to find out. And why?—well, something tells me it is.’
‘What do you want to do?’
‘Explore.’
Her eyes shone. It was almost as though we were children again and I knew that that was what she was thinking. Hadn’t I always been the one to lead the way when we did something wild and extraordinary?
‘Well,’ she said, ‘what do you suggest?’
‘We’ll wait until they’re in bed and then we’ll go down to the kitchens and see what’s behind that door … If there is anything.’
‘What if we’re discovered?’
‘My dear Angelet, what if we are? Are you or are you not the mistress of this house? If you wish to explore your kitchen in the dead of night, what right has anyone to stop you?’
She began to laugh.
‘You haven’t grown up at all,’ she accused.
‘In some ways I may have retained my childishness,’ I admitted.
The evening passed slowly; we went to our rooms and to our beds because I had said that neither Meg nor Phoebe should suspect anything. This was our adventure.
It was just past midnight when we wrapped our robes about us and took a candle and made our way to the kitchens.
Angelet kept close to me. I sensed that she was a little nervous, and I wondered whether I should have suggested she share the adventure. Cautiously I opened the kitchen door and, lifting the candlestick, shone the light over the wall, past the great fireplace to the shelf on which stood the pewter goblets.
‘There’s the cauldron which fell the other night,’ I said. I lowered the candle. ‘And there’s the door. Come on.’
I went to it. It was shut and there was a key in the lock. I turned it and the door opened. I was in the cupboard.
‘Hold the candle,’ I commanded Angelet, and when she took it I pushed aside the coats and revealed that other door. The lock had not been mended, but the heavy bolt was drawn across it.
‘What are you doing?’ whispered Angelet.
‘I’m going to draw the bolt,’ I said.
It moved easily which surprised me, for I had imagined it might be impossible to move if it had not been drawn for a number of years.
I opened the door and as I did so there was a rush of cold air. I looked into darkness.
‘Be careful,’ cried Angelet.
‘Give me the candle.’
It was a sort of corridor. On the ground were stones and the walls were of stone too.
I stepped forward.
‘Come back!’ screamed Angelet. ‘I can hear someone coming.’
That brought me out into the cupboard. I too could hear footsteps. I shut the door behind me. As I did so Mrs Cherry came into the kitchen.
She gave a little scream and Angelet said, ‘It’s all right, Mrs Cherry.’
‘God have mercy,’ she whispered.
I said quickly: ‘We thought we heard someone down here—and we came to investigate.’
Mrs Cherry’s eyes had lost their bland benignity. She could have been very frightened.
‘It’s all right, though,’ I went on. ‘It must have been mice in the wainscot or some bird outside …’
She looked round the room and I noticed that her eyes went to the cupboard.
‘I reckon this comes of people not putting up cauldrons in their right places, that’s what I reckon. People get nervous … that’s what, and then they mistake noises in the night.’
‘I suppose that’s what it was. But we have satisfied ourselves, Mrs Cherry. So there’s no need to worry.’
‘I wouldn’t like to think of anything wrong in my kitchen,’ said Mrs Cherry.
‘There is nothing wrong. We’ve satisfied ourselves. We’ll say goodnight now, and I’m sorry you’ve been disturbed.’
I slipped my left arm through Angelet’s right and, holding the candle high in my right hand, I led my sister out of the kitchen.
When we were in the Blue Room I set down the candle, sat on her bed and laughed.
‘Well, that was fun,’ I said.
‘Why did you make up that story about hearing noises? Why didn’t you tell her what we were looking for?’
‘I felt it would be more fun not to.’
‘What was it you found, anyway?’
‘The door opens on to a sort of alcove with a stone floor.’
‘Well, what’s so interesting about that?’