Page 96 of The Phantom Duke
“I stumbled upon this door and the staircase beyond. It leads to a cellar which I think must run beneath the entire house,” Ezekiel said, staring at the shadowed staircase.
“And in the cellar? I presume you saw something other than wine,” Maria said apprehensively.
Ezekiel nodded wordlessly. He took a deep breath as though summoning courage and stepped through the door. Maria followed. The wooden staircase wound downward, the only light coming from the lamp that Maria held. At the bottom, though, there came the gentle flicker of a candle. Maria saw it, lying on the wooden floor on its side in a growing puddle of wax. Ezekiel pointed. Maria stepped into the cellar, holding the lamp as high as she could.
At the edge of the light, against one wall, was a cage. In that cage was a man. He sat upon a straw mattress, wearing plainly made clothes and with several day’s growth of beard on his face. He watched Ezekiel and Maria with eyes that glittered in the lamplight.
“Who are you?” Maria demanded, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“My name is Charlie Moss,” said the man in the accents of the London streets. “Please, can you help me? I have been here for so long, and I am dreadfully sorry! Please, help me!”
“What are you doing here?” Maria asked, though she feared she knew the answer.
“I’m a poacher,” Moss said, his eyes darting about as though searching for some hidden foe. “I got caught and locked up here. The Phantom got me!”
Maria swallowed, her blood roaring in her ears. She wanted to believe that Damien would never do such a thing, but he must have. Her husband could not have possibly notknownabout a prisoner held in his dungeon. “The duke imprisoned you! For poaching?”
Moss nodded.
“How long ago?”
“For weeks, if not months,” Moss said. “I have had no means by which to measure the time. Please, let me go! I promise that I will never poach upon these lands again! I will tell no one what I have discovered here!”
Maria felt a sick sensation in her stomach. A landowner had the right to deter poaching. She knew that and could even mete out summary justice. But to imprison a man for several weeks seemed far in excess of what a landowner should be allowed to do. She stared at the man and tried to see him through Damien’s eyes.
Did you do this, Damien? Is this the man you truly are?
She cautiously approached the cage, rattling the bars. They were solid. A hefty padlock secured a door at one end.
“Have you been hurt?” she asked.
“No, my lady. Just confined,” Moss said, “and would dearly like to get out, but the Phantom keeps the keys on his person. I have seen him pocket them.”
“He comes to see you?” Maria said.
Moss nodded. “Once. To question me.”
“About what?”
“What I was doing on his land. What I was trying to find out. Whether I was a spy and, if so, for whom. He seems convinced that I am part of a conspiracy. But I’m not.”
Maria looked around the cellar, the parts of it that were visible in the lamplight. No obvious sign of a key.
“I will speak to him,” she decided.
“No!” Ezekiel cried. “That would be the most dangerous course of action. He is unpredictable at the best of times and quick to anger. Confronting him directly will only lead to the inflammation of his temper.”
“I cannot leave Mr. Moss to his plight. And the only way to free him is to plead with Damien directly. I can persuade him.”
I must persuade him. This cannot be allowed to continue. If it does, then our marriage must end tonight!
CHAPTER 25
Damien stared at the dark, wrought-iron key. It was as long as his hand, crafted more years ago than he had been alive. But the key and the lock that it was made to fit were still effective at their purpose.
“I should have made use of you when it first occurred to me to do so. Released the fellow. He has surely been frightened enough by now.”
Damien tried to push aside the thoughts that kept surfacing, but his gut told him that the prisoner, Moss, was part of a conspiracy against him.
