“I just noticed that there is wax here on the cave floor. Why would there be wax?”
“Why don’t you stay right here and think of new disciplines for me? I will just walk back into the cave and see if perhaps someone has been sleeping here.”
He heard her muttering as he walked toward the back of the cave. Then he stopped cold. He couldn’t see a foot in front of him. He had no candle. He began to laugh as he walked back to his wife.
He stopped abruptly and stared at Reverend Titus Older, who was standing over Helen.
Water was dripping off him, but he looked triumphant, joyous. What was going on here?
“Reverend Older,” Lord Beecham said as he carefully stepped toward him. “It is raining. Is it not strange for you to be out strolling in this inclement weather? You wished to see us that badly? This is an odd visit, surely. Perhaps you would like to tell us why you are here, in this cave?”
Reverend Older pulled a gun from his capacious coat pocket. He aimed it directly at Helen.
“Lord Beecham, such a pleasure, my boy. Come and join your lovely Amazon. Yes, that’s right, just sit right there beside her. I wasn’t sure that I should come in on you. I feared that you would be in an intimate way, if you know what I mean. Not that there is anything wrong with that, don’t misunderstand me.”
Helen eyed that gun he held, then focussed on his face as she said, “What are you doing here, Reverend Older? You haven’t, by any chance, been sleeping in this cave, have you?”
“Well, yes, my dear, for the past three days. You see, my once-sweet wife-to-be, Lilac, has kicked me out of her bedchamber. She doesn’t want me anymore. She has even told all her friends that she doesn’t wish to marry me, and thus I was forced to come here, to Shugborough, where I heard you were still in residence.”
He paused a moment, looked around at the grim walls of the cave, and sighed. “This is not a comfortable place. Even with six blankets I could not get completely warm at night, you know? There is just something about the insides of caves, even small ones like this, that freezes the bones. But I came here because I heard this was where you found the magic lamp. I hoped that perhaps I would find another lamp, perhaps a sister lamp. What do you think?”
Lord Beecham and his wife just stared at Reverend Older.
“Not again,” Helen said.
“I didn’t find anything, of course. Now, why are you in residence here, my boy, and not back in London?”
“We both like it here. I see no reason for Helen and me to go to my country estate in Devon just yet. Lord Prith likes to have us staying here with him. Why did Lady Chomley not wish to marry you, sir?”
Reverend Older sighed deeply and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. “The sweet lady discovered I had, er, temporarily removed one of her brooches from her overflowing jewelry box. I had lost a wager, you see, and as a gentleman, I had to pay it. Actually, she had postponed our wedding several times over the past months. Perhaps she distrusted me.” He sighed.
“Very unreasonable of her to rid herself of you,” said Helen, and Lord Beecham saw the calculating gleam in her eye. He knew that gleam well. She would tackle the good reverend in the next two
minutes. He was terrified and pleased. But he couldn’t let her have her fun. No, he couldn’t take the chance of her possibly being hurt. It curdled his belly. She was his wife and Jordan’s mother.
“What do you want with us, sir?”
“I want the lamp, my lord. Nothing more, just the lamp you and your wife found here. Oh, yes, this bloody cave is becoming quite famous. I know that others have tried to steal the lamp from Shugborough Hall. I am smarter than that. I waited until I got the two of you alone. Now I will hold one of you here whilst the other returns to the hall and fetches the lamp back to me.”
Lord Beecham said, “Yes, we do have the lamp. However, it is simply a very old lamp. It does nothing at all. It just sits where you place it. There is no magic to it.”
“I am a man of God. The lamp was meant for a man like me, not for common Philistines like you. I have the spiritual depth and the incredible insights of a true churchman. The lamp will guide me to further greatness. The lamp will perform for me.”
Lord Beecham said slowly, “I don’t know what you mean. Did you say ‘further greatness’?”
“Very well, I was speaking prematurely. The lamp will guide me to beginning greatness. Greatness has eluded me until now. But with the lamp I shall find my way. I shall perform feats not even dreamed about.”
Helen yawned, then cocked her head to one side. “I cannot imagine any greatness springing from you, sir. You are a villain, nothing more, and a thief—just ask Lady Chomley. Did we nearly catch you in your hidey hole?”
“I was watching you on the promontory. When you came here to escape the storm, I followed. As I said, I have great insight. I knew that the storm was meant for me, that it would force you here, that you would then give up the lamp to me, its rightful possessor.”
Helen yawned again. “It is nasty weather, is it not, Reverend? And you are an elderly man. It is likely you will catch an inflammation of the lung. Let us go now. You will return to London. You may not have the lamp. Go away.”
Reverend Older frowned. “I don’t like this,” he said slowly, looking from Helen to Lord Beecham. “I had not expected you to be so very rude to me. Now, my lord, you will return to Shugborough Hall and fetch the lamp. I will keep Lady Beecham here with me. I will not harm her if you are quick to bring me back the lamp.”
Both of them just looked at him.
“I must have the lamp, else I will be in dire straits.”