Max— she’s pretty good looking!’
‘Oh yes, she’s as pretty as can be— pretty conniving, pretty unscrupulous, and pretty wicked! But she’s good-wicked, and that’s the worst part! Wherever she goes, she does some good-mischief— nobody can blame her for her motives, and everybody thanks her for her good works —but she goes about them in such a cunning, minxy way, there’s no trusting her! You might be hell-bent on espionage, poisoning and blackmail, but she intervenes, and before you know it you’re healing the sick, raising the dead and walking on water.’
‘Sounds like she must have conned you into doing something decent, once— no wonder you resent her for it.’
‘Excuse me, Hamish, but she’s never tried her wiles on me yet —which is why I’m alarmed that she’s asked for me! I’ll have to be extra cautious. That woman’s as tricky as a— well, a trick.’
‘I wouldn’t mind being tricked by her,’ mused Hamish. ‘She’s always sweet to me. I should have married her instead of Elizabeth.’
Max shook his head. ‘Oh, no —she’d have married you.’
‘Do you really think so?’ Hamish perked up brightly.
‘Not if she has any sense —and she has too much! What I mean is, nobody would marry her —nothing happens unless she contrives it, and she always gets her own way. She’d do the marrying, whether the man liked it or not.’
‘So you don’t think she’d have made me happy?’ returned Hamish wistfully.
Max rolled his eyes. ‘She’d have made you so happy, every day, that your friends would have thrown up every time they saw your grinning face! No-one would stand it— you’d be disowned.’
Hamish chuckled. ‘You really do hate her, don’t you?’
‘Not at all,’ returned Max. ‘I just see her for what she is —wicked through and through— and I’m the only one who does.’
‘Why’s that? Why do you see what nobody else can?’
He grinned. ‘Because I’m just as bad myself.’
Following this conversation, the road became narrower and less brightly lit, until eventually they were pursuing the coastal lane to Brackley Castle. That noble pile now appeared before them— or rather, some lights twinkling in the near distance portended that it was ahead— and they soon passed beneath the great arch of the gatehouse and parked in the yard. The habitable apartments occupied the seaward-facing buildings; the remaining ramparts and structures were entirely at the disposal of the crows and seagulls.
The friends proceeded into the Victorian-baronial hall, a bright and cheerful chamber in spite of the antlered heads and painted ancestral faces gazing down from every side. No sooner were their coats off than Mina appeared, quite as charming and winningly lovely as any young lady with looks, wit and will should be.
‘Hamish, I’m so glad you’re here!’ she cried in some distress, hurrying to kiss his cheek in welcome. ‘What a terrible situation!’
‘What is the situation, though?’ demanded Hamish then, newly alarmed. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Now, now, don’t upset yourself. You must be prepared for a shock.’
This statement only induced him to anticipate the shock by feeling it in advance. ‘Oh my God— Elizabeth! What’s the matter with her? Tell me! Oh, Elizabeth!’
Mina could not help but smile. ‘Dear me, Hamish, there’s no need to panic! I’m afraid she’s been taken rather badly, but it’s nothing that working yourself into a state will help. Calm heads and sensible behaviour are what we need now. Do you think you can manage it?’
Hamish took a deep breath and nodded. ‘I’m ready.’
‘Good,’ she beamed. ‘Then I’m certain you’re just the fix Elizabeth needs.’
‘And I’m certain the whole business is a fix, and you’ve fixed it,’ muttered Max.
Mina turned to him with a raised eyebrow and pursed smile. ‘You only say these things to get attention, Max,’ she reprimanded, giving him a kiss of his own; then she sized him up. ‘You’re looking well!’
‘I should think I am! And what’s more, very well.’
‘You’ve a very high opinion of yourself.’
‘Not at all— just a very good mirror.’
‘That’s as it should be. A man like you needs a decent mirror, since you must spend so much time gazing into it. But really, it’s a blessing you’re so fond of looking at yourself, Max, because it saves everybody else the trouble of noticing you.’
‘Ah Mino, just a spoonful of sugar to help the vitriol go down.’
‘It’s only the truth that tastes unpleasant, Maximillian.’
‘There must be a great deal of truth in you, then.’
‘Why? Because I’m so unpleasant?’
‘Because you use so much sugar to hide it.’
‘You don’t have a sweet tooth, I suppose?’
‘No, I do! It’s just that I get such a bitter aftertaste from you— I can’t take your sweetness for long without getting sick of it.’
‘Then I’ll have to make you into my best friend, and hopefully you’ll die of it, too.’
‘I’d never die to please you, Mino. I’d survive just to spite you.’
Hamish interrupted irritably. ‘There are more pressing matters than your squabbling,’ he said.
‘Quite right, Hamish,’ resolved Max, clapping him on the shoulder. ‘We mustn’t be distracted just because Mino’s putting me into a bad temper.’
‘I think you’ll find I only ever put you into a good temper,’ she replied, ‘which is so unusual for you that you mistake it for a bad one.’
‘Well, in that case, I’ve never been happier, and felt more fed-up, since I met you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ she smiled, and took Hamish by the hand. ‘Forgive me getting carried away, Hamish. You must want to see Elizabeth now.’
‘Of course I do,’ he answered, following as she led. ‘But where is she?’
‘Downstairs.’
‘Downstairs? But there’s no downstairs— we’re on the ground floor!’
‘She’s in the vault under the castle.’
‘The vault? I didn’t know there was any such thing! I’ve never been down there.’
Mina sighed. ‘You wouldn’t have. The vault contains the Hargrave family crypt.’
Hamish exchanged surprised glances with Max. ‘What’s she doing in the crypt?’
Mina sighed still more dejectedly. ‘I’ll tell you as we make our way down.’ —with which word she conducted them out of the hall and through a series of dark rooms, until they paused in a little passage at the foot of a spiral staircase. The sea could be heard churning heavily outside the narrow window. Mina turned the handle of a low door that opened near the steps, and a freezing draught rushed up from the shadowy aperture this disclosed. Her next task was to take a candlestick from the window ledge, and light the wick.
‘This is all very gothic,’ Max murmured. ‘I suppose we’re to expect vampire bats and giant spiders down there?’
‘I hope not— or you can go first!’ laughed Mina. ‘I’m afraid I can’t find a torch, so candlelight will have to do.’
Hamish shuddered. ‘What’s Elizabeth doing down there? Has she lost her mind?’
‘Well,’ said Mina resignedly, ‘yes, I’m afraid so.’
Hamish gaped at her in confusion. ‘What do you mean? You’re joking.’
‘I wish I was, Hamish, but wishing doesn’t change the fact. I arrived a week ago for my usual autumn visit, and found her in a terrible state— howling and tearing her hair like a lunatic.’
‘Sounds familiar,’ intoned Max. ‘It must be the effect you have on women, Hamish.’
‘Impossible— Elizabeth? No!’
‘Steady yourself, Hamish,’ comforted the lady, touching his arm. ‘Naturally I calmed her down, but she’s been decidedly odd ever since. I called the doctor, but she refused to see him. That was Friday morning, and she got worse as the day drew on. By the evening she’d started acting more strangely than ever.’
Mi
na turned her face away from the light, as if too moved to continue, but Hamish begged her to go on. She rallied, and Max tried to catch her eye, but she held the candle between them so that he was dazzled by the glare.
‘I went to check on her before going to bed on Friday night, and she’d disappeared. Of course I was alarmed, and ran all over the castle, calling out again and again, but got no answer. Then, as I was running down these stairs from the bedrooms, I noticed this door was open. I’d never seen it unlocked before, so I shouted over the threshold— but I couldn’t hear anything, and decided to venture down.’
‘What an intrepid friend you are,’ Max remarked.
‘Yes, yes, and was she there?’ pressed Hamish, breathlessly.
‘She was— and is. I found her among the tombs, almost delirious. She’s been down there ever since. I tried all night to bring her out, and all of yesterday, and last night too, but it’s no good. She won’t come.’
‘This is crazy!’ Hamish cried.
‘It certainly is,’ Mina agreed.
‘But what’s she doing down there?’
Mina lifted the candle above her head and turned to duck into the doorway. ‘You’d better follow me. Mind the steps in the dark.’
All three of them descended, while the uncertain light wavered around the rough stone walls. Before long they emerged into a large, square, vaulted chamber, in which two tall-standing funereal candelabrum were blazing eerily. The men peered about in dismal anticipation. Black exits, barred with iron gates, pierced every wall, and in the centre of the flagged floor, on a marble bench, a weighty casket lay with its lid open. Hamish timidly peeped inside, but it was empty.
‘Where is she?’