"Maude broke into Kitty’s musings. ‘I could do with a drink, I suppose,’ she said.
‘And welcome to it.’
‘And may I drink to your rescue—and Kieran’s, too—from the curse the castle holds fast in its every stone?’
‘Drink. And drink again.’ Kitty made a low bow.
‘And drink as well to your protection when the stones fly heavenward and the tower topples as has been destined from the years long since?’
Now the woman’s smile became a benevolent laugh. And, to Kitty’s surprise, it seemed that handsome Maude McCloskey was transformed, for just that moment, into one of the more beautiful women the County had ever seen. Her skin was luminous with an inner glow, her eyes deepened with a sympathetic sweetness, her proud chin relaxed to a benign serenity. An almost tender sorrow crept into her voice as she said, ‘You know the story as well as any. Lord Shaftoe—what was intended for him may well come down to you. We’ve taken a chance, all of us, to be here now. Who knows when the moment will come? Before I speak another word? Tonight as you wrestle on the nuptial couch? At daybreak? At dusk? Tomorrow? A year from now? Others search for gold. Search, I tell you, for the gunpowder. It’s here.’
‘Nonsense. That was all cleared up years and years ago. They dug from here to there and there to here and found nothing.’
‘I know. That means it’s still here. But don’t let that interrupt the festivities.’ With that, her face reformed itself, and she became a handsome woman again but no longer a Seer transfigured. ‘But consider yourself warned. Watch you and Kieran both don’t go flying sky-high the way was intended for his Lordship.’
‘Maybe I look forward to the excitement.’
‘You won’t be looking forward. You’ll be looking downward—and from a great height and your eyes gone blind and not a limb left to scratch your nose or reach out and hold your husband’s hand. Well, at least you’ll be halfway to heaven. Whether you’ll go the rest of the way is anyone’s guess. And I won’t tell what mine is.” |
