"Well my love, I suppose this would be a good time to ask you if you still think the medium is simply an entertainer or a true conduit to the other side," Eliza asks Colin as they walk in step through the dense forest back to Elsick House. The fluffy leaves covering the tree limbs provide shade for the couple, but Eliza is well aware that they need to be back inside before the afternoon heat smothers them as they stroll.
Colin purses his lips and tilts his head as he debates his answer and Eliza loves how the pinpricks of sun hit his deep blue eyes.
"Because it seems that Lady Dupree is willing to take Madame Bouchard's word as fact."
Colin sighs, "I know. She believes it is Rose speaking." He rubs a hand down his face and shakes his head, "I'm trying to find a motive here, but one alludes me."
"That is where I am stuck. Nothing seems to be gained from the death of a servant here." Eliza wanted to interview the cook immediately, but Lady Dupree wanted to give her a warning so she didn't burst into tears at the shock of a detective questioning her over her niece. Colin said he'd arrange for a proper interview after the ball and Eliza hoped he'd let her tag along again. She's found that she quite enjoys finding all the pieces to the puzzle and waiting for them to arrange themselves into a proper picture.
"Yes, perhaps Rose had personal issues that her employers were unaware of or enemies that have stayed in the shadows."
"Or," Eliza starts with her gloved finger pointed in front of her, "It was a shoddy ladder that simply broke. An accident, just like what was concluded a year ago." Colin nods and Eliza slips her hand into the crook of his arm as they saunter in silence. She looks around her and notices it's nothing but a variety of trees and dirt paths as far as her eye can see. She had no idea that Nottinghamshire was so heavily wooded.
"It seems that it is entirely plausible that I got so turned around in these woods. If you weren't here, I would be terrified to wander down the wrong path again."
"Now you know why I was so panicked. Nottinghamshire has over a thousand acres of forest, only those accustomed to the paths and property lines know how to travel about confidently here."
"Oh, and you are so confident?" Eliza teases and Colin grins while glancing down at her.
"Tristan and I would spend hours wandering the forest. It's quite famous for its legends you know? Ideal for young boys to investigate."
"Legends? Oh please don't tell me it's full of spirits of travelers who got lost and haunt the forest at night," Eliza pleads, bringing herself tighter into Colin's embrace. Colin lets out a laugh and then says, "I mean, that is possible, but I think this whole seance business has you in a dark mindset, darling. No, within this forest is the Major Oak tree. Robin Hood's hideout."
"Robin Hood? The outlaw from the folk tales?"
Colin nods, "The same. These are supposedly the woods where Robin Hood and his merry men lived."
"You jest," Eliza says with a shocked laugh.
"I do sometimes, but this is well known throughout Nottinghamshire and well, England really. Tristan and I were so caught up with the possibility that the legends were true that we'd travel to the Major Oak just to see if we could find evidence that it was not simply folklore."
"So you've been detecting since you were a wee lad then," Eliza jokes. "Your first case was Robin Hood and his hideouts."
"I never thought of it that way but yes. We'd also visit Robin Hood's well to look for clues, down there by the Abbey."
"Are you honestly telling me that we will be living on land that Robin Hood inhabited?" Eliza asks, still shocked at the absurdity of it all. "Perhaps he stole from one of your ancestors? Elsick House seems to have been here for centuries by the look of it, and I believe dukes would have been a prime target for a man like Robin Hood."
