Chapter 4. Discovery in the crypt
By the end of the fourth week, the floor of the attic was reasonably clean and
most things had at least been looked at if not identified. Some items were is
such a bad condition or were so full of woodworm they were dumped but a great
deal still remained. They had been sorted into catagories ready for going to
auction as few at a time so the prices would remain relatively high. The dresses
on the stands were given to a local museum who were extremely grateful to
receive them even though the material was moth eaten and full of dust. They said
the museum had the means to preserve and restore them and were excellent
examples of early eighteenth century dress. A few items had already gone to
auction and had been sold for a better than expected prices, others were at the
auction house awaiting the right time to put them on the market. "We are at
least selling enough stuff to pay your wages, Gee," Roger remarked.
"Shall we start on the crypt next?" asked Geegee, "The stuff from there will
have to come up to the ground floor to get rid of it." Roger led the way down a
flight of rickety stairs to a cellar which was again full of junk or perhaps
treasure although this time it seemed more like old household items. At the far
end were piles of old rags and a wall covered with rotting tapestries and below
them an ornate bureau which was probably valuable. Roger stayed to help even
though it was now afternoon and he should have been writing. He felt responsible
for Geegee's welfare. Professional cleaners would have worn space suit type
protective clothing, Geegee and Roger made do with overalls, hats and face masks
to protect themselves. Even with two vacuum cleaners going to try and keep the
mess to the minimum it was a dirty dusty job. They pushed the bureau to one side
and behind it found a small locked door. None of the keys they had fitted the
lock.
"It's an Alice in Wonderland door," joked Geegee, "Perhaps we have to eat a
toadstool and shrink before we get through. "She used the small wrecking bar
they'd bought to open some of the other chests to force the door. Inside was a
sparsely furnished room. "This is the real crypt Rog." Gee remarked, "What we've
been calling the crypt was really just the cellar. It looks as if someone lived
in here too." Roger squeezed through the opening after her bringing one of the
floodlights with him.
As expected the place was covered with the dirt of ages but they could make out
a desk under a small window set very high in the wall, a window covered with
weed growth on the outside. Little light came though. In front of the desk was a
stool, and over in the corner, a large box full of rags. Some books, one of
which was obviously a large bible, sat in a pile by the desk together with an
assortment of small items hardly recognizable under the dirt. A large crucifix
hung on the far wall with a table underneath with two metal candleholders.
Alongside the wall by the door was a low wooden bench.
"This could be a room I think they call a priest hole, where people came to
worship in times when their religion was oppressed. Seem to remember being told
about them at school but it wasn't anything that really interested me at the
time. But I think we ought to leave this room until the morning, Gee. It's
getting dark and we're both filthy and need a bath before you warm up dinner."
"Yeah okay, let's just take these books up although they probably won't shed
much light on the history of the place." In truth she was rather disappointed by
the sparse contents of the room and tired from the exertions of getting to it.
She'd anticipated it being another Aladdin's cave of treasures.
That evening when Roger was working on his computer again, Geegee looked at the
heavy tomes they had brought down. The bible was a beautiful brass bound edition
with illuminated lettering and gothic print. It was nice but what interested her
most was the family tree on the first few pages ending with the birth of
Christopher Winterton in 1699. He had one older sister and she and his father
had both died in 1733 within days of each other. "Guess the same disease killed
them both," mused Geegee. His mother died two years later. Two other large books
seemed like Latin prayer books and because of their size, probably for church
use. The last of the four tomes was a ledger and after looking at some of the
entries Geegee guessed it had to do with the reverend's smuggling activities
from about 1740. In July 1750 the handwriting changed from a spidery scrawl to
neat copper plate lettering. Although faded it was still readable and showed
when contraband came in and who it was sold to. She was surprised they kept such
records but then discovered a payment to the Lord of the Manor each year as a
percentage of the total income. She guessed the Lord insisted on the records. It
took her a little while to realise some of the items recorded on the last pages
were those which she had found in the attic.
The records ended in May 1751 and Geegee assumed she had come to the end but
before she closed the book she turned a few more pages and found a story or
letter really, handwritten in the same neat hand. When Roger came down an hour
later, Geegee was sobbing.
"What's up Gee?" he asked putting his arms around her.
"We may have a girl's body in that room." She showed him the story. His eyes too
began to water even though he only skipped through the pages. "That's as good a
horror story as you'll ever write," Gee sniffled.
"No, Gee, that is a story you have to write. You can use it as the central part
of a book but you would need to find much more on the Reverend and the Lady and
the smuggling activities of that period. First though it would be a good idea to
type all of this story into your computer so you have it in a clearly readable
form. The pages of this book won't stand a lot of handling so it will be best to
preserve it."
"I can't write a book!"
"Why not?"
"I can't even type except with two fingers."
"There's programs for the computer that teach you to use all fingers or you
could go on a college course. We'll start in the morning after we get back from
town. Perhaps we'll look in on Miss Matthews just to see her face when you ask
for a typing course!" Roger cuddled her and tried to lift some of her gloom. "I
think we'll wait before we look further in that room. If we do find a body or
most likely after this time it will be a skeleton, then we'll have police and
forensics here nosing around. They do that even when they know the body is
hundreds of years old."
Geegee grinned at Baz sitting waiting for another interview with Biddy Bitch.
"Still nothing?" she asked him.
"Nah, still she gives me park work when she knows I'm not cut out for it. How
about you? Haven't seen yer here lately."
"Oh, I'm working for Roger here. Biddy only gave me the interview cos she
thought I wouldn't make it but I seem to be doing okay."
Miss Matthews smiled her 'I told you so' smile again when they entered. "Well
you made it through the month Miss Gerrart, so I suppose you want to go on the
dole again?"
"Nope! I need a typing course. My research work is leading on to writing a
reference book," Geegee said as loftily as she was able.
"You only lasted two days on the office training scheme we put you on....."
"Cut the sarcasm, Miss Matthews. I haven't time to waste. She needs to learn to
type. What can you offer?" Roger cut in.
"The only college course is three parts through," Miss Matthews turned to him
abruptly, "You may get private tuition at 'Computer and Business Services' but
they could be expensive."
"I can set it against my tax as staff training." Roger paused while Miss
Matthews scowling wrote the address on a slip of paper for him. When she'd
finished Roger asked, "Would you care to have dinner with us on Friday? I know
the office closes early on Fridays so perhaps I could pick you up at four and
then you can see the work she is doing. I am sure you are dying to know why she
has stayed with me. Perhaps you might then be a little less sceptical. It will
be very informal as the place isn't yet ready for dinner parties."
"You sod! Why'd you invite the biddy bitch for dinner? You virtually forced her
to come." Gee exploded when they left the centre.
"Gee, she can and will help you if she believes you are really working. I'm sure
she believes we are just man and whore."
"Well we are that too!" Gee laughed, "That's in my job description, isn't it?"
Roger arranged four two hour typing sessions for Gee on the mornings he would
normally be in town. They were expensive but he felt that once she got the hang
of using all her fingers, then practice and a cheap computer programme would be
all that was required. As luck would have it, they were able to arrange a one
hour trial session that morning.
Gee was eager to try her new if limited skills that afternoon and persuaded
Roger to set her computer up temporarily in the lounge. She couldn't access the
Internet or the printer from there but she could do the typing and save it to
disc.
"I have a book with practice exercises if you want," Roger offered but Gee
refused saying she wanted to get on with the story. "Well make sure you don't
wet the book with your tears."
Geegee started.
