Page 49 of Mesmerized

“A gold cross?” Belinda asked. “I don’t understand. Are you saying the spirits want a gold cross?”

“I don’t know,” Lady St. Leger said doubtfully. “Do you mean the Martyrs’ cross?”

“I do not know, my lady,” Madame Valenskaya said. “I saw only gold, much gold—and a cross.”

“I think it is clear enough what she is talking about,” Stephen said, looking at Madame Valenskaya. “It is the Martyrs’ treasure you are speaking of.” He looked from her to Irina and Babington and back. “Isn’t it?” He leaned into his chair, his face disdainful as he went on. “I presumed you would ask me for money to ‘lay’ these restless spirits. But obviously it is the Martyrs’ treasure you’re after.”

Madame Valenskaya bridled at his words. “I am not ‘after’ treasure. I speak for the spirits.”

“Stephen!” Lady St. Leger admonished. “Really! How can you say that? Of course Madame Valenskaya doesn’t want any money from you.”

Olivia, watching the medium, noticed that Madame Valenskaya did not echo Lady St. Leger’s words.

Madame Valenskaya laid a hand to her forehead, saying, “I am so tired. Ferry, ferry tired.” She held out her hand, and Mr. Babington took it, helping her up solicitously.

“These sessions are very debilitating for Madame Valenskaya,” he said. “She must rest now. It takes too much out of her.” He turned to Lady St. Leger. “Perhaps it would be best if we were to return to London.”

“What!” Lady St. Leger exclaimed, horrified. “No, you mustn’t. Oh, please, Madame Valenskaya, don’t do that.”

“I am ferry tired,” the medium said again in a weak voice.

“It is very difficult for Madame,” Babington went on. “The spirits drain her, and it is so much harder, having to fight against Lord St. Leger’s cynicism and suspicion. The spirits don’t wish to come into such an atmosphere, you see.” He cast a reproachful look at Lady St. Leger. “And, I fear, my lady, that you are letting yourself be influenced by your son.”

“No! Oh, please...” Lady St. Leger looked so forlorn and scared that it hurt Olivia’s heart. “Don’t leave. You know that I believe in the spirits and what they say. I know Roddy is speaking to me through you. You can’t, you simply can’t, leave now. What will I do?”

Babington made a show of looking uncertain. “I don’t know, Lady St. Leger. I cannot allow Madame Valenskaya to wear herself out doing this, especially when she is not believed.”

Olivia wondered cynically what he would do if Lady St. Leger simply acquiesced at that point, but, of course, Valenskaya’s group knew their victim better than that. After more pleading and a little more dramatic indecision, Madame Valenskaya agreed to stay.

* * *

“NO SURPRISE THERE,” Stephen said with a grimace an hour later, as he and Olivia sat in his study. It was becoming something of an evening ritual, their gathering there to discuss the events of the day and the progress of their investigation. Stephen usually poured himself a brandy, and once or twice Olivia had joined him.

“They certainly have their act down,” Stephen went on. “Pretending reluctance, then letting themselves be persuaded. It is one of the things that makes Mother feel they are perfectly honest. No one who was trying to trick or deceive her would decide to leave, she thinks. She doesn’t see how well they twist her around their finger, threatening to take away her access to Roderick so that she will abandon whatever doubts may have arisen in her mind.”

“She was beginning to doubt this evening,” Olivia replied. “She seemed somewhat offended at the idea that the St. Legers should repay the Martyrs for their loss.”

Stephen smiled. “That was a slip on Valenskaya’s part, I agree. Mother has always been fiercely proud of the St. Legers, and she loves Blackhope. She would not welcome any slight to them.”

“What is this ‘Martyrs’ treasure,’ anyway?” Olivia asked. “Why do they want it in particular?”

“It is something that was found after the St. Legers moved into this house, hundreds of years ago. The Elizabethans, you know, were great builders, and the first St. Legers here added on to the original house. Part of what we call the main wing includes the additions that the first earl made. They also renovated some of the original house. During the renovations, they discovered a secret room.”

“Really?” Olivia asked, intrigued.

He nodded. “A small room between two others. There was a hidden door, cunningly done, and it was only after they had broken through the wall and found the room that they figured out where the door was and how it worked. Anyway, in this room, they found a small box, and in it there were various gold articles, as Madame Valenskaya hinted, including a large gold cross with a cabochon ruby in the center of it. They realized that it must have belonged to Lord Scorhill, the Catholic who was martyred, so that is how it got the name ‘Martyrs’ treasure.’ The secret room might have been a priest’s hole, or perhaps he built it for the express purpose of hiding the jewels. No one knew, of course. I presume that Scorhill must have hidden his treasures there, believing he and his family would eventually be released and would be able to return to their house and recover their wealth. Of course, they never had that chance.”

“How sad.” Olivia thought for a moment. “But why does Madame Valenskaya want that particular treasure? Why not ask for money or other jewels?”

He shrugged. “I suppose this treasure makes a good story—the martyred family, the ghosts not being able to rest, and so on, and they need to draw us into a good romantic story. It has a certain logic, more so than asking for the family silver or the St. Leger emeralds. The casket and its contents are not really as valuable as the jewel collection in the safe, but they do have a certain degree of notoriety that the others do not. And since they are over three hundred years old, that would doubtless add to their value.”

He paused, then went on. “However, they have made a mistake in choosing them.”

“What?”

“For one thing, they are not Mother’s to give. She has several necklaces and rings and such that my father gave her, but like the heirloom jewels, the Martyrs’ treasure belongs to the present earl. It is passed down from generation to generation. The first earl decided to keep the secret room, with its cunning door, and he left the casket in the room. Only the lord of the house knows where that room is or how to enter it. It is a bit of knowledge that is passed down from the earl to his heir as soon as the heir reaches maturity.”

“So it is a treasure that one would hold on to even more than others.”