Pandora(112)

‘Yes,’ she whispers, ‘keep going,’ and he does, but after a few minutes he begins to lose momentum. Surely all he is doing is moving the soot around?

But then …

‘Edward!’

Dora is looking at a section of wall that comes level with his knees. Together they bend. Together, they see what appears to be a small oval recess in the stone.

‘What is it?’

Dora reaches out a finger. Then, very slowly, she presses her fingertip into the nook, brings it away again.

There, on the pad of her finger, is the black outline of a face.

The face of a bearded man.

‘Impossible,’ Edward breathes.

Dora looks at him. She is smiling. It is, he thinks, the first time he has ever seen her truly smile.

‘Do you know who this is?’

‘The old man,’ he says, as if there can be no other answer.

‘Edward. It is Zeus!’

He blinks at her. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘It’s a key!’ At his blank expression she gets to her feet. ‘Look,’ she says, striding over to the Bramah safe. She pulls out the key from its lock, brings it back for him to see.

‘My parents had this safe installed years ago. It’s fireproof and self-locking, so they knew that anything they put in there would be protected. The key to it is gold and black. Hezekiah asked me about a gold-and-black key. This key, I thought,’ she says, holding it up. Edward looks at it. Gold, filigree detailing on the stem, a revolving oval jet disc. ‘And I bet anything that this is the key Hezekiah tried. But it didn’t work. He tried the wrong one! He didn’t realise, did he, that there were two. He must have been trying to access the chamber from above but when he saw it was sealed in stone—’

‘He tried to break his way through.’

‘Exactly.’

‘All right,’ Edward says. ‘So where is this second key?’

Dora immediately turns away and disappears up the stairs.

‘Where are you going?’ he shouts after her. ‘Be careful!’

‘I found it,’ she is saying from above, ‘weeks ago, when I was looking for some of my father’s old wares! A gold-and-black key, a key I used to play with as a little girl. I didn’t remember at first, I couldn’t think clearly, couldn’t understand what my uncle meant …’

He hears frantic jangling, the sounds of objects rolling across the floor, and then she reappears, almost skips down the stairs, and Edward watches her with his heart in his mouth.

‘For God’s sake, Dora,’ Edward groans, ‘be care—’

She is holding out her hand.

In her palm is a key, almost identical to the safe key clutched in her other hand. The only difference … He takes a deep breath.

Imprinted in the jet is the face of a bearded man.

The face of Zeus himself.



It fits perfectly.

There is a click, a series of whirrs, the heavy scrape of pulleys and weights. And then a door – large, two feet thick – slides back and then across, a deep rumble against stone.

Dora holds the candelabrum high, its candles flickering brightly. She steps forward and Edward follows, can scarce believe what he sees.

The chamber is filled to the brim with antiquities.

There are rows upon rows of ancient pottery, urns and amphorae of all shapes and sizes, hundreds of plates decorated in red and white and black. Minoan, Mycenaean. There are marble statues, glass chalices, porcelain busts, terracotta figurines. All the riches one could dream of, kept safe just for Dora, in this one hidden room.

‘Merciful heaven,’ Dora whispers. Her voice cracks. ‘How can this be? Is this really all mine?’

Edward shakes his head in wonderment. ‘They thought of you to the very end.’

Beside him, Dora takes a deep shaking breath.

‘Shall we?’ he says, taking her hand.

And together, as one, they step inside.





London

June 1799





Dear Mr Lawrence,

As Director of The Society of Antiquaries, I am desired by the President, to return you their Thanks for your Communication of A Studie of a Grecian Pithos on Friday evening last 14th. Another paper in addition to the one initially agreed upon was not expected and though the subject matter, in parts, digresses into speculative fancy, I am pleased to inform you that this paper, as well as your most excellent accompanying paper titled Forgeries and Black-Market Custom within the Antiquity Trade, has been accepted, and therefore your entrance to the Society has been successful, with votes a most healthy 30 to 5, and wish to congratulate you on your election to the Society as a new and respected member of our ranks.

The accompanying drawings in relation to the subject of your first paper are particularly impressive. We encourage your continued partnership with your fiancée Miss Pandora Blake for all future works, and look forward to seeing what you will contribute to the Society in the coming years. The Society think themselves much obliged to all who assist in promoting the useful purpose of advancing Science, for which they are incorporated, and I am

Sir

With much Respect

Your most Obedient humble Servt.

Somerset Place Richard Gough

19th June 1799