“Carlotta? Carlotta!”

She could not have been more surprised if she had tripped over the crown jewels. She was too shocked to notice the coldness of the stone floor she had fallen against, and almost too shocked to notice the energetic voice that was calling to her. Almost.

The blackness fled from her vision at last, and she opened her eyes to look up at Zeke’s warm face.

“Carlotta, I knew you’d come back...”

“Zeke--am I dreaming?”

“If you are, then so am I.”

“But you were dead!”

A look of quiet memory came to Zeke’s face. “In a way, I guess.”

Carlotta was suddenly overjoyed. She raised her head and kissed him. “Oh, Zeke, it’s so wonderful to see you again.” She drew back to look at him. “To see you, to feel your--hands?”

It was then that Carlotta noticed Zeke’s hands, bound with ancient shackles that hung from the dungeon wall. And then it all came into better focus, and Carolotta realized that Zeke was not in the best condition. He looked as though he had been in that place for weeks, or more.

“Yes, that might pose a problem,” said Zeke lightly.

“Zeke, what’s happened?” Carlotta gasped.

Zeke was silent for a moment.

“It’s Willmonte, isn’t it?”

At first Zeke wanted to nod, but restraining himself he shook his head. “No. No, I can’t tell you. But I’ve already said too much...”

“You can trust me, Zeke. I don’t understand...I don’t want to lose you again.”

“I--I can’t tell you. They’ll find out--” Zeke stammered. “Willmonte will know, and he might be down here before long.” He looked discouraged. “You’d better go, Carlotta. I love you.”

“I won’t leave you to that horrible man. I won’t leave you again.”

“Then you may tell me how you got here. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Oh, no.” Carlotta knew she must be honest, even if he wouldn’t. Something told her he was afraid, and at the sight of his fear her heart melted. So she told her story, from beginning to end. When she got to Jake, she didn’t stop. “I thought I had fallen in love again, Zeke. But it wasn’t love, it couldn’t be. Even now I’m beginning not to trust him--how can I trust him? Please forgive me, Zeke. Now I see that this kind of love only comes once, and it’s meant to last.”

Zeke’s deep brown eyes didn’t harden. “Of course I forgive you. I’m sorry I’ve hidden everything, but you must understand, I’m in danger if I tell you.”

“You’re in no danger as long as I can help it,” said Carlotta firmly. “Please--what have they done to you?”

Zeke paused. “You’re right, Carlotta.” He smiled a little. “I’ve lived to see you once more, and that’s enough for me. Willmonte thinks he can frighten me with threats. But I’m not afraid of pain, Carlotta. Pain goes away, eventually. What have I got to lose?” He sighed. “It was the night I proposed to you. Two men were waiting just outside my house, and when I was walking there they came from behind and knocked me out with something. I don’t know how long I was out, but when I woke up I was down here.”

Carlotta thought for a moment. “Then...you weren’t dead when I found you. Willmonte--or that crazy old man--someone must have taken you into my apartment...set you up so it looked like you were dead.”

“Yes, that must have been it. Willmonte did not explain much. He kept trying to get something out of me, but I don’t know what it was. I don’t know how I could have it. And then he was after you.”

“What did he tell you, though? What was he asking for?”

“A large amount of money was stolen from the French government. Somehow, it had something to do with me, or you, or...I don’t know...”

“But I don’t know anything about that! What could Willmonte want with me?”

“He wants you because you’ve been with me,” Zeke muttered quietly. He hung his head. “He wants to use you as a bribe, hold you at bay until I give him what he wants. I can’t. I can’t, Carlotta, you must get away before he finds you--” Zeke broke down helplessly, limp in the chains. Carlotta could only try to comfort him, caressing his hand, stroking back his curly hair. She whispered to him gently.

“We’ll be all right, Zeke. We just have to think through this until it makes sense. Then maybe we can give Willmonte what he wants, or die keeping it from him.”

Zeke scrubbed away a shameful tear against his shoulder. “Doesn’t sound like a very cheerful plan,” he laughed.

“Come on, I’m in this with you, either way. Now--Willmonte must be a government official of some sort. Someone you know, or knew, stole money from him. Or someone in your family. Can you think of anyone?”

Zeke shook his head morosely. He sat for a long while in thought. Carlotta could feel something was close upon them, but she didn’t know what. A tense urgency was building up inside her, when suddenly Zeke pounded his fists loudly against the stone wall and cried out.

“Carlotta! That’s it!” He was laughing, almost crazily. “It all makes sense now!”

“What?” Carlotta demanded eagerly. “What’s ‘it?’ What makes sense?”

“The engagement ring I gave you. Do you still have it?”

Carlotta heard the earnestness in his voice, and she drew out the pocket that she hid under her gown. She was about to take out the ring, when Zeke spoke again.

“No, no--don’t take it out. But you have it?”

“Yes, of course--”

“That ring’s the key to all of this, Carlotta!” Zeke exclaimed. “I always thought my father had gone away before I was born, but he must have been the one with the money in the first place. He hid it by buying a ring--an engagement ring--and gave it to my mother.”

“But why would he steal from the French government?” Carlotta interrupted.

“I don’t know...unless he didn’t really steal it at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t really know who or what Willmonte is working for, do we? And it doesn’t seem like anything good. Maybe it was Willmonte’s own money--or maybe it was my father’s. All I know is that my father gave his life to keep that ring away from Willmonte. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Willmonte must have killed him.”

“But how do they know that I have it?”

Zeke paused before answering, quietly. “Roger. He found it was missing, and they traced it to you.” He looked at her. “Everyone you have met or seen these past few weeks may not be what they seem, Carlotta.”

Carlotta was overwhelmed. Then my suspicions were right, she thought. Jake is working for Willmonte.

She sighed. “We can’t hang around here now,” she said. “Is there any way to get you out of here?”

Zeke smiled. “The ring. I think it works as a key.”

“What?” Carlotta took out the diamond ring and studied it between her fingers.

“Willmonte had the locks made specially. I wouldn’t be freed, he told me, until you came here and gave him the money--and that means the ring. Try it.”

Carlotta fitted the diamond to the tiny keyhole in the shackles around Zeke’s wrists. They came loose when she turned it.

“Come on,” said Carlotta. “I’ll get you out, and we’ll have to slip through a back way to leave the Manor.”

“You’d best be careful,” Zeke told her. “Willmonte will be looking for us. If he finds us, just keep going without me. I’ll do my best to fight him off.”

“A heroic statement, Mr. Pellin.” The menacing voice suddenly rang out deep and clear in the dungeon. “But it will not save you.”

Carlotta and Zeke stopped dead. Willmonte held a pistol aimed at Zeke.

“If you will come over here, now, Carlotta, I would be most pleased.” He paced toward them, still holding the gun in its fatal position. Then he jerked Carlotta back by force, and held the pistol to Zeke’s head.

“First I must thank you for solving this mystery for me,” Willmonte sneered, “although I had already solved it myself, long before now. You have served your purpose here, luring this young lady down to us.” He glanced back. “I advise you to turn away, Carlotta. You won’t want to see this.”

Carlotta heard Zeke’s shout. She did not turn away, though, and she saw the entire ordeal as Zeke grabbed one ancient chain from the floor and swung it around to strike the pistol out of Willmonte’s grasp.

“Run!” Zeke yelled to Carlotta. He stumbled after the gun, but Willmonte got to it first. Zeke twisted back Willmonte’s wrist, and two shots were fired at the ceiling. Then Carlotta felt a hand pulling her back, and she spun around to face Jake.

Terror filled her eyes. She struggled but soon Jake was pulling her toward the staircase by her wrists, his hand covering her mouth.

Carlotta could still hear the chaos in the depths of the dungeon as Jake dragged her up the stairs. Jake was trying to speak to her.

“Don’t struggle, Carlotta, please don’t...”

Carlotta twisted free. “Why shouldn’t I? You lied to me. This--everything was a lie!”

“Carlotta, I know it was, but that’s over. I’m taking you out of here. I’m not serving Willmonte again.”

“It’s too late for that,” Carlotta cried. She ran alone up the staircase, away from him.

“You’ll never get out that way,” Jake persisted. “I know another way out. I can take you there.”

Another shot below them caused Carlotta to jerk. “What about Zeke?”

“I’ll go back for him. There’s nothing left for you to do here--Zeke can take care of himself. Let me see you out safely, please, Carlotta.”

Carlotta no longer made any struggle, but she stared at him sadly. “I don’t understand why you would...” she began faintly.

Jake held her hand and led her quickly up the stairs.

The bridge was pale white in the starlit night, and the sparkling river stretched wide beneath it, glinting like liquid silver. Out of the gratings of a low chamber window came two elusive figures, running from the mansion to the bridge.

“This is far enough, isn’t it?” Carlotta panted, out of breath. “Go back for Zeke. I’ll be fine here.”

“Willmonte will be looking for you. You’ll have to hide.”

“I know.” Carlotta was no longer worried about herself. “Hurry.”

She embraced him. Jake held her as though he might lose her when he let go. Then, feeling that his own traitorous hands spoiled her purity, he let go and turned to head for the mansion.

He stopped. A third figure stood at the end of the bridge. Light from the house silhouetted him in the fog, but both Carlotta and Jake knew who it was.

Alfred Willmonte held his pistol aimed at Jake, ready to take his life as easily as he had taken Zeke’s.

“So we come to the last stage, Mr. Pullingham.” The Frenchman gave a slight laugh of satisfaction. “And I expect you have not failed me this time?”

Jake fingered the diamond ring he held, the ring he had slipped out of Carlotta’s hand when he was leading her to their escape. His last act of treachery.

“The diamond, Mr. Pullingham.”

Jake closed his hand tight. He took a step, but Carlotta held him back. She had seen the gun. She had also noticed that her ring was no longer in her hand.

Jake pulled himself from Carlotta’s grip, and kept walking until he was nearly face to face with Willmonte.

“Do you mean this ring?” He held it just out of Willmonte’s grasp, turning it luringly between his fingers.

“You have already doomed your lady friend,” said Willmonte lowly. “One more second you withhold that from me, and I will kill you first.”

Jake reached for the pistol in Willmonte’s hand and pulled it up against his chest. “Fine. I’ve done too much for repair here, but I will not let you have it. For Carlotta’s sake...”

Carlotta saw him hold up the ring. She saw him throw it with all his strength, far out over the river. She watched it falling down and down, but instead of the expected splash, a piercing shot rang out on the bridge.

“Yes,” Willmonte said. “For her sake.”

Jake fell at Willmonte’s feet. Carlotta, suddenly realizing what had happened, came running to Jake, despite Willmonte’s intimidating shadow.

“Why?” she cried. “Why have you done this?” She didn’t want an answer, though. She wanted Jake to wake up again, and she wanted Zeke to come back.

“I want that diamond, Miss Fitzhugh. But if certain hindrances remove that opportunity, I will take that which is second best. The life of a traitor, for example. The life of Mr. Pullingham, and the life of Zeke Pellin...and who am I forgetting?” He stepped over Jake’s motionless body and held the gun to Carlotta.

Carlotta felt the cold steel against her head and she shut her eyes. If it meant she might be with Zeke again, she didn’t care that he would take her life. The shot echoed, and she shuddered.

Alfred Willmonte laughed to himself, a cruel smile on his greedy face. He laughed at his catch now slain, laughed until the blood caught in his throat, until he turned and saw the man who had died before his very eyes.

Zeke dropped the knife over the side of the bridge. He gripped Willmonte stiffly and rammed him against the railing.

“Go to the devil,” Willmonte hissed.

“Go to your diamond,” said Zeke, and let go. Alfred Willmonte stumbled and fell back over the bridge, falling down toward his treasure and his doom.

Zeke wasn’t watching.

“Carlotta? Carlotta, are you all right?”

He let her fall against him, and sat there in the middle of the bridge, holding her. She seemed almost paralyzed. Zeke stroked back her hair and saw where the bullet had grazed her forehead.

“Carlotta, please...”

He received no response. Gently he smoothed her hair again, then he pulled her in close, letting a tear fall.

When Carlotta opened her eyes she saw Jake still lying near, and pain shot through her head once more. But now she felt someone’s warm arms around her, and she looked up to see Zeke.

“How many times have we met this way now?” she smiled faintly.

Zeke’s face changed to an expression of relief. “Carlotta.” Strange, he thought, that more tears would fall from happiness.

Together they stood up slowly, and gazed out over the bridge.