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Judith crossed the room.

As she reached the threshold, Lady Dunsmore caught her arm. The movement was surprisingly swift.

Judith twisted away, but the older woman seized the leather book and pulled it from beneath Judith’s arm. In the same instant, she shoved Judith across the room and backwards through a narrow doorway that was concealed behind a panel beside the fireplace.

Judith stumbled into darkness. The door slammed and the panel shifted closed.

For several moments, she stood motionless, scarcely able to comprehend what had happened. Judith had known of the priest’s hole, but she could not find the release in the dark. She struck the door with both hands. “Lady Dunsmore, open this door at once!”

The older woman’s voice came faintly through the wood. “You should have left matters alone, Miss Finch.”

“You cannot keep me here!”

“I require only sufficient time to depart.”

“Major Baines will find me.”

“Perhaps so, but I should not rely upon his doing so before evening.”

Footsteps retreated.

Judith pressed her ear against the door.

Silence followed. She stepped backwards and forced herself to examine the walls with her hands. The concealed room was scarcely larger than a dressing closet. A narrow ventilation opening admitted a thread of cold air, but no daylight.

She searched the inside of the panel as carefully as the darkness permitted, running her fingers along its edges and testing every projection in the wood. There was no handle, keyhole, or fastening she could reach. She pressed her shoulder against the door, but the heavy panel refused to move.

The ventilation opening was far too narrow to offer any means of escape, and the thick walls muffled her calls. She could only hope that someone would come for her before Lady Dunsmore succeeded in leaving Blackthorn.

Judith closed her eyes. She had been a fool.

CHAPTER 21

Baines had faced enemy fire, and ridden into engagements from which sensible men had retreated. He understood danger, and experience had taught him that allowing apprehension to interfere with judgement generally produced the very disaster one hoped to avoid.

Unfortunately, none of those lessons had prepared him for the prospect of losing Judith Finch.

By the time Renforth and the others arrived at Blackthorn, Baines had searched enough of the house to appreciate that its size and peculiar arrangement presented an almost insurmountable difficulty. Judith might be concealed in any one of a dozen unused rooms, and the passages connecting the older portions of the building offered innumerable opportunities for someone to move without being observed.

He met the troop at the side entrance, where Simmons had been instructed to admit them without announcing their arrival.

Renforth took one look at his expression and dispensed with the customary greetings. “What have you discovered?”

“Nothing that satisfies me. Judith has not been seen since early this morning. Her maid confirms that she dressed and left her room, but no one knows where she went. I have questioned the servants and searched the principal rooms.”

“Are the guests aware of her absence?”

“Most appear entirely unconcerned. Lady Dunsmore and her sister were together when I questioned them, although Miss Hammond behaved rather strangely.”

“In what manner?” Stuart asked.

“She appeared frightened when I enquired whether she had seen Judith. Afterwards, I overheard Lady Dunsmore reprimanding her for concerning herself with matters which did not involve her.”

Manners removed his gloves. “That could describe almost any conversation between those two ladies.”

“Precisely. I might have dismissed it under ordinary circumstances, but there was something about Miss Hammond’s manner which troubled me.”

Renforth considered the information. “We shall speak with her. Meanwhile, we must determine whether Judith has entered the concealed passages.”