The corridor was bare and did not look like the rest of the house. The floor sagged in places, and the walls were dull and bare of wallpaper or paint. Which door could be Rogers’s?
Three of the doors were the same distance apart, with a fourth and fifth closer together. Could the closer doors be single rooms instead of for multiple occupants?
Julia stepped forward, listening at the first door. Her heart was beating so hard it seemed to affect her hearing. Still, she didn’t hear anything, so she tried the doorknob. It turned freely and opened, creaking slightly.
“Anyone there?” Julia said softly.
No one answered. She entered the room. It was very neat, with everything in its place. Surely this was Rogers’s room, as he seemed like such an immaculate and meticulous person. And there, on the wall near the small, narrow bed, was a metal ring of keys.
She could hardly breathe, her chest was so tight, but she walked toward the ring, reached out, and took it carefully in her hand, trying not to rattle it too much. She held it tight to her breast and turned to hurry away. She stepped out into the corridor and closed the door behind her and then scurried toward the stairs.
Still no one was around as she made it safely to the first floor with the keys in her hand.
She reached the door and quickly tried the first key. It did not fit. Her hands shook as she tried the second one, the metal keys rattling against each other.
Someone was coming. Footsteps sounded from the back stairs.
Julia hid the keys in the folds of her skirt and turned to walk down the corridor. She met Betsy, who dropped a quick curtsy.
“Good morning, Betsy.”
“Morning, miss.” Betsy continued down the corridor.
Julia slipped into the sitting room, closing her eyes and pressing her hand against her chest where she could feel her frantic heartbeat. When she had caught her breath, she stepped out into the corridor and made her way back to the door. Not sure which keys she had already tried, she fumbled until she managed to insert one into the lock. It wouldn’t turn. She tried another and another. Finally, after the fifth one, she was able to turn a key in the lock. It clicked and unlocked the door.
Julia pulled out the key, held the ring close to her, and entered the room, closing the door behind her.
Her knees were weak as she pressed her back against the door, peering around her in the semidarkness of the room. Even though it was morning, this room faced west and the windows therefore let in very little light. But Julia’s eyes adapted quickly, and soon she was moving toward his desk.
Several papers lay stacked there. Julia looked at them, but mostly they were receipts for household items and lists of recent expenses. Nothing looked important.
She opened a drawer and began looking through it, lifting out ledgers and loose papers, but nothing resembled a secret message or code. She did her best to put things back the way they were. Finally, she remembered that desk drawers sometimes had false bottoms where one might conceal something thin, a few sheets of paper, for instance.
She opened another of her uncle’s drawers and felt around the bottom of it. Suddenly, her finger touched a tiny knob, which she pressed, causing the bottom of the drawer to swing down. When it did, a paper fell out, folded into fourths.
Julia picked up the paper and unfolded it. She tried to read it, but it did not make sense. There were letters on the page, but they only formed nonsense.
Julia sat down and took a sheet of her uncle’s paper. She picked up his quill pen and dipped it into the ink and began copying the sheet as quickly as possible. She forced her hand to steady and her mind to concentrate. After what seemed like a very long time but was probably only a few minutes, she finished.
Julia folded the original piece of paper and put it back in its hiding place in the drawer. She quickly folded the copy she had made into a very small square and held it in her palm. Too nervous to look anymore, she closed the drawer and stood up, grabbing the keys off the desk. She strode to the door and listened. Not hearing anything, she carefully opened the door.
She looked both ways in the corridor and then stepped out and closed it behind her. She still had to take the keys back to the valet’s room. She started toward the stairs and then remembered she ought to relock the door.
Her heart pounded as she went back and started fumbling with the keys, making them jingle in the stillness of the empty hallway. Finally, she found the right key and locked the door and then hurried away, clutching the keys against her thigh to keep them quiet.
On the top floor, Julia moved quickly to Rogers’s room, hung his keys where she had found them, and turned to leave. If anyone found her now, she’d never be able to explain what she was doing in her uncle’s valet’s sleeping quarters. She hurried to the door and stepped out, closing the door behind her.