“I was not thinking principally of Mama, but yes. His pretense of deafness is a perfect nuisance, and he is utterly incorrigible. However, I was speaking of his vases. I caught him painting another one today.”
“Oh, dear. How long do you think before he manages to sell this one?”
“Who knows? A month? A year? I am more concerned with ‘to whom’ and ‘for how much.’ One day, he will sell one of his ‘ancient artifacts’ to someone who will have it examined, and I fear the higher the price he demands, the sooner that will happen.”
Jane nodded thoughtfully, cradling her teacup in one hand. “But he is only amusing himself by selling vases to his friends for ten or twenty pounds. ‘Tis a large sum for many, but to the sort of people buying his vases, it is but a day’s entertainment. Surely, once they have admired it a little, they put it on a shelf and forget all about it.”
“And what happens when Uncle Gardiner gets a touch too enthusiastic about one piece or another and promotes it to the wrong person? Many there are in London who could uncover Papa’s forgery and blast our family’s reputation. Only think of it! If one is found out, the rest will surely follow until nothing is safe from scrutiny. No respectable man would ally himself with one of us after that. And think of Uncle Gardiner!”
Jane drew a long sigh. “It would be the worst of all things. No one cares if a gentleman defrauds the poor. They become terribly indignant if a man of lower station should swindle the rich. There could be no forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness! One has to survive to be forgiven, and I am certain we could not. But the trouble is, I am almost beginning to believe Papa wants to get caught.”
“Why in heaven’s name would he want such a thing?”
“For sport, what else? Because he has got big-headed with how many people he has hoodwinked, and he thinks his talents are a match for any expert.”
Jane shrugged. “Are they? Papa spent years studying ancient ruins. He probably knows what they look like better than any man in England.”
“That is just what he would like to think, but I tell you, there are men who make it their object in life to know more than he does. And it is not just the vases. Last week I found him with that sculpture on his desk, and he was writing a letter to someone about it.”
“Sculpture?” Jane repeated, her voice heavy. “You don’t mean…”
“The only valuable sculpture we have. The one of Eros and Psyche where they are…”
“Please! I know what they’re doing. But what was Papa doing?”
I shook my head. “I do not know, but Jane, I’ve a terrible feeling about it. As he was scrawling out his thoughts, I heard him mutter 'His Highness'.”
“He wouldn’t! No!” Jane looked horrified, then laughed. “I am sure you must be mistaken, Lizzy. Why would His Royal Highness receive a letter from our father? It is beyond imagination.”
“Unless Papa claims to have brought something back from Greece during his travels that no one else has. It doesn’t even need to be addressed to the Prince Regent. He will learn of it soon enough if Papa directed his letter to someone of high enough rank. Have you not heard the tittle-tattle or read the broadsheets? There is considerable interest in gathering the classical sculptures out of the hands of private collectors and placing them in the keeping of the Kingdom.”
Jane fell silent. “Well, what of it? If Papa can sell it—”
“He will bring more attention to his collection of vases.”
My sister paled. “Oh, dear. Truly?”
“Positively. And who is to say the sculpture itself can withstand scrutiny?”
“You do not think it’s a forgery? Impossible! Papa never learned to carve marble. He only dabbles in pottery.”
“I don’t know. It might be genuine, it might not be, but I doubt Papa cares about the truth in any case.”
“So, what do we do?”
I finally stopped pacing and dropped onto my bed. “I have tried for years to make him stop. Since I was old enough to know what he was doing in that hidden woodsman’s cottage of his. Nothing has worked so far.”
“Well… what if we were to tell Uncle Gardiner?”
“Oh, Jane, never! Poor Uncle could not live with himself if he ever found out. Oh, it is terrible of me, but I would not do that to his conscience. Surely we can think of some way to stop Papa without tormenting our uncle.”
Jane set aside her cup and pulled a pillow into her lap. “Well, Lizzy, you’re the clever one. You’ll have to think of something, or we may all be ruined.”
Darcy
“Whata…charmingtown.”I took my walking stick from the carriage and turned about, surveying all that fell before my eye. There was a smallish town square with brick pavers, though the streets surrounding them dissolved into packed dirt. The paths were lined with various street hawkers, a speckling of red-coated militia officers, a two-story inn—hardly worth calling an inn—and two or three modest shops with children’s handprints all over the windows.
