The Prince in the Tower by Lydia M Sheridan Page A

snapped out this speech, the major reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a folded document, which he handed her with a greasy smile.
    Kate took it gingerly.  It was signed and covered with official looking seals, and the mai n thrust seemed to be that the major had a warrant, allowing him to search her home and grounds and to question anyone he saw fit.
    “I have my men searching the grounds even now--”
    “How dare you?  Have you any idea with whom you are dealing?”  Kate spat.
    “I most certainly do.”
    Kate looked at him, all the loathing she felt in her eyes.  Then she began to smile, a slow, sneering smile, her eyes narrowed.  “No,” she said softly.  “You can’t even begin to imagine.”  Filled with righteous outrage, she stalked to the door of the salon, opening it with such a flourish that Lu and Caro tumbled into the salon like a couple of puppies.  Behind them stood Lady Alice, quivering in righteous fury.
    The two young officers braved the wrath of the commander and rushed to assist the girls to their feet.
    “A unt Alice, would you be kind enough to rouse Bertie from his bed, where a growing boy should be, and ask him to come downstairs to answer these ridiculous charges?”
    Lady Alice nodded and headed upstairs. 
    “Caro, please inform Curtis that we shall be needing the services of Mr. Gibble at his earliest convenience.”  Caro nodded, scampering off in bare feet. 
    Lucy looked from one to the other, her eyes painfully large in her stunned face.  “Is it true?   About Adam?” she whispered.  Kate put her arm about the stricken girl.  Lucy reached her hand up to clutch Kate’s.  She looked up as if she would be able to read the truth in her sister’s eyes.  Kate nodded.  Lucy gulped and blinked back tears.
    “It will be alright, Lu.  Everything will be fine,” Kate murmured to her sister.  Lucy started to shake.  “Everything will be fine.”  All the while the inane words were coming out of her mouth, Kate knew everything would not be fine.  There were some things in life she couldn’t solve, not matter how much her heart ached for her sister.
    Ignoring the men, she guided Lu to the divan and pushed her down gently.  The young officer handed her a glass of cordial.  With a nod of thanks, she pressed it into Lucy’s hand.  She sipped obediently and a bit of color came back to her cheeks.
    Caro skidded back into the room, her hair standing every which way, her blue eyes, so like Mama’s, Kate thought with a pang, wide with excited apprehension.
    “Kate, there are more soldiers!  They have--”
    Kate heard nothing else, for behind Caro was a soldier with an armful of what looked like rags.  Covered in briars and leaves and dirt, it gave off an aroma of wet earth and horse and wool.  On top lay a crushed hat, its remaining plume forlorn and bedraggled and broken.  He set it down on the table.  For a moment they all stared at the unappetizing heap, then a bit of what looked like drowned rat rolled soddenly off the top of the pile, landing on the carpet with a squelch.
    No one spoke.  They all stood and stared, till Caro giggled, giddy with nerves.  Before the major could speak, Lady Alice entered the salon with the mien of an avenging angel.  Behind her followed Bertie, sketchily dressed in a nightshirt tucked hastily in his breeches, his nightcap still on his head. He reached up and pulled it off as he walked nervously into the salon.  He stood, between a boy and a man, nervously twisting the offending bit of cloth in his hands.
    When had he grown so tall, Kate wondered, her throat aching.  He had the Thoreau height.  At twelve, he stood almost as tall as Lady Alice.
    Please, Holy Mother, don’t let anything happen to him.  I promise I’ll go to Mass every day and devote my life to your service, she promised wildly.  And this time, she meant it with all her heart.  But God was either not listening or unimpressed, for Major Goodwillie licked