Page 31 of Mesmerized

“True. The intelligent thing would be to take it off in the garden and leave it. Hide it, because you don’t want the thing found, for then it’s clear that it was a person, not an apparition.”

“Right.” Stephen grinned at her. “So you scout out a place to hide it before the event, then go there, put the thing away, and go back to retrieve it later.”

“The next day?”

He looked thoughtful. “I think tonight, don’t you?”

Olivia nodded. “Yes. He is bound to realize that you will start a massive hunt for it tomorrow. So he would not want to leave it. We are much more likely to find it in the daylight, so unless it is in an excellent hiding space, we might very well come upon it. I wouldn’t take the chance if I were he.”

“Then he will sneak outside tonight to retrieve his robe, if we are right in our assumptions.” Stephen’s eyes brightened. “What would you say to keeping a watch on our guest Mr. Babington? We might follow him to the hiding place and catch him red-handed.”

“I think it’s an excellent idea.” Olivia smiled back, excitement fizzing up inside her.

They left the study and climbed the stairs, going down the hall past Mr. Babington’s room, treading with extreme softness. Stephen stopped in front of the door across the hall and down one from Babington’s and silently turned the knob. He opened the door, and they slipped inside, leaving the door open a crack.

The room in which they stood was clearly unused, its furniture hidden under dustcovers, and it was a trifle chilly in the late August evening. Stephen looked around the room, lit only by the crack of light from the hall, then moved about, locating a stool in front of the vanity, which he brought back and set down for Olivia to sit on.

The minutes passed slowly. The house was quiet, no one stirring. Olivia began to wonder if they had thought of Babington’s going out to retrieve the robe too late. Or perhaps they had it all wrong, and it had not been Mr. Babington in the garden this evening at all. She shivered in the growing evening chill and wished she had thought to go to her room and get a shawl before coming here. Indeed, it would have been a good idea to change out of her evening dress altogether, for while its wide, open neckline might set off her chest and shoulders admirably, it did little to keep her warm.

Stephen removed his jacket and draped it around her shoulders, and Olivia looked up, surprised. The coat was still warm from the heat of his body, and she noticed that it smelled like him, a clean, crisp, indefinably masculine scent. She thought of yesterday when he had kissed her, and looking at his face, she was suddenly sure he was thinking of the same thing. Her breath came a little faster in her throat, and she rose slowly to her feet.

The soft click of a door closing in the hall broke in on her consciousness, and she turned back quickly to look through the crack of the door. Howard Babington was walking the hall, his steps careful and soft.

“He’s leaving,” she hissed, and Stephen opened the door a little wider so he could also see.

Their quarry started down the main staircase, and they left the room, following him with equal quietness. At the top of the stairs, they paused, watching as Babington crossed the large room below them and entered the hall leading to the conservatory and the back door. Stephen, more familiar with the house, went down the stairs first, with Olivia right behind him. The large, open area below them was lit dimly by a few of the wall sconces, their wicks turned so low that Stephen and Olivia were barely able to see their way. They reached the bottom of the stairs and started to tiptoe across the marbled floor in the direction Babington had taken.

At that moment a woman walked across the room. Olivia and Stephen came to a dead halt, staring at her.

She wore a long, narrow dress, belted with a chain of gold rings around her hips and falling straight down the front almost to her knees. Her hair was hidden under a veil that fell back from a low headdress. She did not turn her head to look at them as she moved across their path. It was as if she was the only person in the room. Nor did she pause as she neared the wall. Instead, she walked straight through it and disappeared.

Chapter Six

OLIVIA LET OUT a squeak and leaped across the space separating her from Stephen. His arms went around her tightly, and for a long moment they stood, staring at the spot where the woman had disappeared.

“Bloody hell!” Stephen exclaimed softly. “What was that?”

Olivia could only shake her head, unspeaking. A shudder shook her body, and he squeezed her more tightly to him. They looked at each other, and it struck them, finally, that they were standing in each other’s arms in full view of anyone who might happen to come by.

Suddenly embarrassed and awkward, they let their arms fall away from each other, and they stepped back. Olivia felt very cold, even inside Stephen’s jacket, and she wished she were back in his arms once more.

“Did you see—” he began and stopped, searching for the right words.

“A woman?” Olivia offered. “Yes, I did.”

“And did she pass right through that wall?”

Olivia nodded.

“Well, at least I know I’m not mad, unless we’ve both been struck at once.”

Stephen went to a table and picked up a candle, lighting it from one of the sconces, and walked over to the part of the wall where the woman had disappeared. Olivia joined him, though she wasn’t entirely sure whether it was from curiosity or from a distinct desire not to be left by herself in the middle of the room.

He held the candle close to the wall, moving it from side to side and up and down, looking for some sort of crack or opening. Olivia shivered.

“It’s freezing,” Stephen said, and, amazingly, his breath hung on the air for an instant like mist.

They looked at each other again in consternation. It was August, not nearly cold enough for one’s breath to condense in the chilled air. Olivia shook her head, as if to disown the reality before them. They moved away from the wall until they reached a place where it was no longer cold.