Married By Midnight(20)

“Perhaps it would be better to do this during daylight hours?” she found herself suggesting, just as Rebecca had earlier.

“It wouldn’t make any difference,” Charlotte replied. “It’s just as dark down there during the day.”

None of them said a word.

“Where do the tunnels lead?” Rebecca asked.

Devon slid an arm around Rebecca’s waist. “The corridors twist and turn, and fork off in different directions. It’s rather like a maze down there, but there are only two ways out, as far as we know. Here in the chapel, and another door a few hundred yards away in a thick grove of junipers.”

“We couldn’t possibly return that way.” Rebecca said. “It’s too cold outside and we’re not dressed for it.”

“We will retrace our steps back to this door,” Devon replied.

Charlotte turned to explain more to Anne. “Some say the corridor was dug out by the canon who wished to sneak out to meet his lover in the village.”

“That’s devotion by any standard,” she replied. “Imagine how long it took him to tunnel such a distance.”

“That’s just a romantic legend,” Garrett said. “The passages have been here since ancient times, probably as an escape against invading Vikings or Norman conquerors. Though I don’t doubt the canon used it to meet his paramour. How else could he have managed the affair without anyone learning of it until the woman gave birth to a child?”

Again they fell silent as they stared down the steep steps and Anne contemplated the lengths the canon had gone to in order to be with the woman he loved.

“Shall we march on?” Charlotte asked. “I am brave enough if the rest of you are.”

That was a challenge none could refuse. Anne nodded gamely at her future sister-in-law, and together they led the way.

The deeper they went, the chillier and damper it became.

“What’s that smell?” Rebecca asked. “It’s rather disgusting.”

“It’s just your husband,” Garrett whispered, and laughed as Devon shoved him into the wall of the stairs.

When at last they reached the bottom, Charlotte held up her candle. “The passageway goes straight for some distance, then it forks to the left and right. Shall we proceed?”

Anne winced as a cold drop of water went plop on her forehead. There were a number of shallow puddles at her feet, but at least they weren’t frozen solid.

They continued moving forward together until they reached a T at the end.

“Left or right?” Charlotte asked. “I cannot remember the correct way to reach the other door. It’s all very vague in my mind.”

“If I remember correctly,” Garrett said, “both tunnels lead there eventually, but we might go around in circles for a while before we reach the other side.”

“Then we will have to find our way back here,” Anne mentioned.” With a shiver of apprehension, she glanced back in the direction of the chapel door. “That won’t be locked when we return, will it?”

“I have the only key right here,” Garrett replied, patting his waistcoat pocket.

“Then I shall stay very close to you,” she replied, slipping her arm through his.

“There, you see?” Devon smiled at Rebecca. “You ladies are quite safe with us.”

Charlotte elbowed him in the ribs. “Speak for your wife, not me. I am not frightened in the least. Here is what I propose. Garrett and Anne—since you are newly engaged—you must test your togetherness by taking the left corridor, while Devon, Rebecca and I will take the right. The team that reaches the other door first wins.”

Garrett held up his candles. “I accept the challenge. Let’s go.” He grabbed hold of Anne’s hand and dashed off to the right.

“Wait a minute!” Charlotte shouted after them. “You were supposed to go left!”

“Too late!” he called over his shoulder. Anne laughed and followed.

As soon as they reached a fair distance, they stopped at another T in the tunnel and paused to catch their breath.

“Which way?” he said, swinging the candelabra left and right, and creating an eerie yellow glow that danced and glistened upon the damp walls. “You choose.”

“Let us go left this time,” she said. “But look at this.” She touched the rough bumps in the wall. “Try to remember this shape in case we end up here again.”

“It looks like the letter A,” he mentioned.

“You’re right.” She clasped his hand as he led her down the corridor that was narrower than the first. Eventually it curved to the right and brought them to another fork, where they turned left again.