Free The Convenient Arrangement by Jo Ann Ferguson Page A

for years.
    When Miss Urquhart did not pause as they passed yet another door, Lorenzo lingered and opened it. He sneezed.
    â€œDusty?” Valeria asked as she walked past.
    He did not reply to the obvious. Looking in and trying not to breathe in too much of the dust clumped in every corner, he saw the room was empty except for a wooden bed frame and what looked like a small table. Now this was interesting! He had not guessed until now that Moorsea Manor might have once been a monastery. Although the title was as ancient as modern England, he had no idea when this house had come into the family.
    His hand fisted on the dirty door frame. So many questions, and the only person who could answer them was an old woman who was half-crazy. He smiled. Mayhap Earl could shed some light on this. The old man seemed in full control of his brain, and he had owned that he had lived here for as long as Lorenzo’s uncle.
    Closing the door, he nearly bumped into David who was trying to peer past him. He gave the lad a chance to look in.
    â€œJust like all the rest,” David grumbled. “I thought there would be something interesting out here.”
    â€œI find this interesting.”
    â€œThat’s no surprise.”
    Trying to disregard the youngster’s petulant tone, Lorenzo said, “You may not be surprised, but I am.”
    â€œAt what?”
    â€œThat you don’t find this interesting.”
    â€œDirt and dust and broken furniture?”
    â€œBut it’s more.”
    â€œHow is it more?”
    He continued with the boy along the corridor. He had piqued David’s curiosity, so now might be the time to win over the lad enough so that Lorenzo need not worry about coffee in his lap or a missing boot that somehow—and with David’s help, he suspected—had found its way out onto a window ledge where it had collected an inch of rain last night. The leather was already hard and threatening to crack.
    â€œThis is the oldest part of the house, David. Who knows who might have stopped here? Mayhap Vikings who terrorized the coasts so many centuries ago, or Henry Tudor on his way to battle the forces of Richard III at Bosworth Field. It appears that this building caught the attention of Henry’s son, for I believe these doors we are passing once led to the cells of monks.”
    â€œCells? Like dungeon cells?”
    He shook his head and watched as David’s enthusiasm drained away. “Cells were what the monks called their private chambers. This might have been a monastery before it was taken over by Henry VIII and sold to my ancestors.”
    â€œDo you think there’s a dungeon in here?” Obviously the boy had a single thought in his mind, and he would not be budged from it.
    â€œI believe you found it last night.”
    David scowled. “I did not!”
    â€œFrom what Gil told me while he was searching for you the first time, the wine cellar might once have held prison cells.”
    â€œI didn’t see them.” He grinned. “But I can show you the way there now, and—”
    â€œWhoa! We need to take the ladies into consideration. Miss Urquhart may not be able to manage those twisting stairs.”
    â€œShe’s doing pretty well over there on those stones.”
    Lorenzo looked past David and groaned. Miss Urquhart was trying, despite Valeria’s pleas not to, to climb a pile of rocks to peer into a hole near the ceiling. Why was she interested in this when she had not stopped at a single door along this corridor? Mayhap she had dragged them all through here just for this. He could not allow her to break a limb or her neck, so he rushed up to her and took her arm.
    â€œLeave off, my boy,” she ordered. “I want to see what is beyond.”
    â€œIt is too dangerous.”
    â€œDon’t treat me like a child.”
    â€œI’m not.” He turned. “David, come here!”
    â€œLorenzo,” Valeria said,