Part Three
Rating: PG-13 for violence and language
Summary: Robbers murder a Duchess and her husband. Hours later, the Duchess reawakens and comes back to life but what could cause such a thing?
Disclaimer: The Doctor Who universe belongs to the BBC, and the various hard-working writers, actors and crews who created it. I don't make any profit from using it. The Duchess and Edwald are my own creations.

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It was late morning when Edwald approached a large, sprawling estate by himself. It took him several minutes to reach the front doors of the stately manor. He dismounted, tied the mare to the hitching rail and knocked on the large doors. The door was opened so abruptly that Edwald guessed that somebody must have already been waiting on the other side of it.

The prim looking woman who answered the door looked him up and down dismissively. The heavy metal keys the woman carried identified her as the housekeeper. Edwald hurriedly took off his hat and made sure that his jacket hid the stolen shirt he was wearing.
"Excuse me, ma'am," he said nervously. "May I speak with the kitchen maid, Bessie?"
The housekeeper sniffed, "You may use the servants' entrance around there."
"Thankyou ma'am," nodded Edwald.
The housekeeper looked at him again, as if she were about to send him away but at last she shrugged irritably and waved towards the side of the house. She shut the door in his face.

Edwald turned and made his way around the corner of the house to the servants' entrance. He rapped on the door. This time there was a pause before an elderly man answered the door.
"Yes?" he asked, puzzled to see Edwald there.
"I was wondering, if I might speak with your kitchen maid, Bessie?" asked Edwald, twisting his hat in his hands.
"You stay here, lad," said the old man. "I'll go get her for you. What did you say your name was?"
"Edwald," he answered. "But she won't know me."
"Hmm," said the old man suspiciously. "You just wait here."

The old man disappeared into the house, taking care to shut the door behind him. Edwald stood there patiently for several minutes, wishing he had brought Sherlock with him. The bird was better company than most people.

A young woman answered the door, wiping flour from her skirts.
"Bessie?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes, what did you want?" she asked directly. "Who are you?"
"My name is Edwald. I bring a message from your mistress, the Duchess," he explained.
"Why give the message to me? Why not to the housekeeper?"
Edwald paused, "Its difficult to explain. Come with me and the Duchess can explain it herself."
"Where is she?" asked the girl.
"Not far," promised Edwald. "It is urgent that you come with me, please."
The girl folded her arms and looked down her nose at him, "Why should I trust you?"
Edwald held out the Duchess' necklace. The girl took it and studied it closely before nodding.

"Very well," she agreed grudgingly.
Edwald smiled, "Good. I have a horse around the front."
She followed him out of the house to where the mare was tethered. She raised an eyebrow.
"That is one of the Duke's horses," she said suspiciously. "It drew the carriage when the Duke and the Duchess left yesterday."
"I know," agreed Edwald, trying not to look too guilty.

He helped her mount and then settled himself into the saddle behind her. The mare set off in a quick canter back down to the main road. In less than a minute they reached the secluded spot by the side of the road where the Duchess waited beneath the shade of a tree. As they drew closer, the Duchess stood up to greet them.

Edwald halted the mare at the edge of the road, dismounted and then helped the girl down. Ignoring Edwald, the girl marched straight up to the Duchess.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
The Duchess met the girl's challenge firmly, "You know who I am, Katherine."
"Katherine?" asked Edwald, puzzled.

"This is not, in fact, Bessie the kitchen maid, it is Miss Katherine my niece," explained the Duchess. "Who always did have a fondness for pretending to be things she is not."
The girl, Katherine, raised an eyebrow, "The housekeeper was suspicious of this Edwald - if that is his real name. I decided to come as Bessie, to find out what you were about. I was right to come. You are not the Duchess. I do not know you."
"Yes, you do, Katherine," the Duchess corrected her gently. "May I have my necklace back now?"
"Its not your's," said Katherine stubbornly.
"It is."

Katherine crossed her arms defiantly. The Duchess sighed.
"Much has happened during the night, Katherine. There has been both a great tragedy and a great miracle," she explained.
"A tragedy in which her Grace's necklace was stolen," snorted Katherine.
"Yes," said the Duchess. "Thieves and villains attacked the carriage as it returned. The driver, his Grace and his wife were murdered and their bodies robbed. But then a miracle happened. I do not quite know why or how. The Duchess returned to life and here I stand."
"No. I do not know why," said the Duchess. "Ask me any question you wish that only the Duchess would know the answer to. I tell you, I will answer them all correctly."

"This is ridiculous," said Katherine, turning away.
"So you said when the Duke announced his intentions to marry the daughter of a merchant," the Duchess called after her.
Katherine froze in the act of walking away. She looked to Edwald, who stood off to the side with the horses and Sherlock.
"Many people know what I thought of the Duchess before I knew her properly," objected Katherine but less strongly than before.
"But do many people know that it was her Grace who comforted you when Kenneth died?" added the Duchess.

Katherine turned to face the Duchess.
"It was not a death that merited any attention," Katherine said sharply.
"Not to anybody else, no," agreed the Duchess. "He was only an old hunting dog, half-blind and deaf and of no use to anybody. But he was close to your heart. You had a right to grieve for him."
"So the Duchess said to me," said Katherine, troubled and searching the Duchess' face. "I have long remembered that night as the first time I knew my aunt had a kind soul."

"My face may be different, dear Katherine," said the Duchess tenderly. "But I am the same soul, come to ask for your help."
Katherine looked as if she were about to answer but instead she ran the short few steps to the Duchess and embraced her. The Duchess wound her arms around Katherine, struggling to maintain composure in front of Edwald. Edwald respectfully turned his back and began to stroke Sherlock absent-mindedly.

When Katherine could speak again, she drew back and looked at the Duchess' new face.
"I like your new hair," she offered.
The Duchess laughed and Katherine joined in.
"Is it true that my uncle, the Duke, is dead?" she asked.
Not trusting herself to speak, the Duchess could only nod.

"He died heroically, Miss," offered Edwald from where he stood with the horses. "He tried to fend off his attackers. He killed two."
Katherine nodded, tears building, "I would not expect anything less from him."
"I need your help, Katherine," said the Duchess. "You father will come and take over the estate, as soon as he knows your uncle is dead. He will not care if I am alive or dead. You must go to the estate and get me some of my things. Then you can say that you heard a tale from Edwald here and send a party to discover your uncle's grave."
Katherine nodded again, "Whatever you need. Anything at all."

TO BE CONTINUED

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