The Secret of Willow Castle - A Historical Gothic Romance Novel by Nathaniel Burns

very moment, for this is Lady Rebecca Chastain!”
    Mr Naismith looked closely at me for a moment, then cheerfully congratulated me on my marriage into the Chastain family. “It is probable that your home sits above an unknown collection of caves, my Lady,” he said, “although they would be hard pressed to rival the magnificence of Poole’s Cavern. Perhaps someday we shall discover a route through the chambers as far as Willow Castle.”
    “ Then we shall be neighbours,” I smiled, “and we can meet halfway and take tea beneath the stalactites.”
    One by one we bobbed under the low lintel of the entrance and stepped back into daylight. The sky was the same dingy grey as it had been when we went in, but it seemed both painfully bright and distressingly mundane after the compelling weirdness of the cavern. I stepped aside and watched the others emerge, squinting at the brightness. My heart began to beat faster, my breath grew short and all of a sudden I felt tears pricking the backs of my eyes. I could not be back outside. I could not leave yet. I needed to be back in the cavern. I felt it dragging me back as strongly as if the underground river had risen in a great wave to sweep me off my feet and haul me away. As Mr Naismith appeared at the rear of the group I tore open my reticule and began searching frantically through it.
    “Oh dear,” I muttered as if to myself. “Oh no, where is it? I simply must find it!” I pulled its contents out one by one, trying to decide what item I would claim to have lost.
    Within moments I had Lady Cynthia fluttering round me. “Whatever is the matter, Lady Rebecca?” she twittered.
    “It’s my… comb!” I flannelled. “Sir Montague gave me the most beautiful little tortoiseshell comb, I had it in my reticule when we were on our way here and now I can’t find it! Oh, I hope I haven’t lost it – I think it used to belong to his Mama, he will be so angry with me… I’ve had it such a short time, he only gave it to me before we came here…” I gave the rest of the group a glance of despair.
    “ Oh my dear!” Lady Cynthia responded at once to the threat of marital discord. “Of course we must find it. Where did you last have it?”
    “ Just before we went into the caves,” I groaned. “Mr Naismith, I am terribly sorry to impose, but would you mind lighting my way for a moment while I look for it?” I smiled apologetically at the rest of our party. “I’m so sorry.”
    Mr Marsden suggested that he should go in and look on my behalf, or that we should all go back and look together. I quickly dismissed both suggestions. “I’m sure I shall find it easily,” I said, “since I know what I am looking for. If we all go back in then we shall be searching amongst shoes and skirts and it will be easy to miss – perhaps it shall be swept off the path and never found at all! No, I am sure that it will turn up within a few minutes. If not, I promise I shall not spend too long looking for it. I shan’t delay our departure too long.”
    I ducked back under the lintel and shuffled into the darkness, sticking close to Mr Naismith as he followed me with the candles. I turned around, all set to continue my pretence of searching for a fictitious comb, but the old man was grinning at me, his eyes alight with mischief.
    “ Lady Chastain,” he enquired, “would I be right in thinking that we might have some difficulty finding this lost item of yours?”
    I smiled sheepishly. “Perhaps a little,” I admitted. “I am sorry.”
    “I understand,” he smiled. “The Cavern called you back, did it not? It does that to many people. They visit here once and become fascinated. I was one of them – my eldest brother brought me to see this place when I was only up to his knee and I never could resist an opportunity to return.”
    “ Will you keep my secret and let me have another look round?” I asked.
    “ Of course I will.” He held up the candelabra and we made our way back