‘I might have to ask you for those if my search turns up no clues.’
The cottage had two rooms: to the right, a kitchen that doubled as a sitting room, to the left, a bedroom.
‘I hope you do not mind the impropriety?’ He opened the door to his sleeping quarters.
‘We are here on business, sir. There is no impropriety.’
‘Quite so.’ He didn’t sound convinced and stood well back to let her pass. ‘I’ll remain out here.’
Suppressing a smile, Dora went inside and searched the room. It didn’t take long as it only contained a bed, chest of drawers, valise and desk. The contents of the valise were already scattered on the floor.
‘You kept the manuscript in your luggage?’
‘Yes, it was on the top– it’s a bundle of notebooks containing the fair copy of the poem.’
‘When did you last see the bundle?’ She began picking up the clothes he had tossed about, shaking them out then replacing them neatly in the valise.
‘Miss Wordsworth asked me the very same question. I don’t open that often as it contains my town clothes, but I did so on the night I dressed for the Rydal Hall ball. I wanted a silk cravat. That was when I noticed the Wordsworth notebooks were gone, but I was late, and I thought I’d wait until daylight to make a proper search.’
‘When did the ball take place?’
‘Three nights ago.’
‘Then you first noticed they were gone three days ago?’
‘Just so. As you might imagine I spent the following day searching, feeling terribly cut up about it, then the day after that I walked to Grasmere to confess to Miss Wordsworth. Last night she sent a note suggesting that we should ask for Dr Sandys’ help, which brought us to your door this morning.’
Dora checked for any hidden pockets but found none. ‘How long had the manuscript been in there?’
He grimaced. ‘Three weeks.’
‘I thought you loved Wordsworth’s poetry?’
‘I do– I really do, but there was a lot of it, and I wasn’t in the mood to give it serious attention. I was saving it for a rainy day with no company.’
A three-week window of opportunity was unhelpful. Many people could have come and gone from the cottage in that time.
It wasn’t among the clothes, but she hadn’t really expected that to be the outcome of her search. She moved to the chest of drawers. The everyday clothes were neatly pressed and folded.
‘Do you have a servant?’
‘Not at the cottage– there’s not much to do. I send my laundry to the big house and it comes back in a basket.’
‘And you put it away?’
‘Correct.’ He watched her closely as she felt around the drawers, even taking them out to check nothing had fallen down the back. ‘I really don’t think I would’ve put the manuscript in there. I’d worry I’d crease the notebooks when I took things in and out.’
‘I realise that, sir, but it’s wise to be thorough. Even the best of us can have our absent-minded moments.’ Her search did not reveal a bundle of papers anywhere in the room. ‘What about your guests? Might they have picked it up and forgotten to return it?’
‘But it was inside my valise, not out for any Tom, Dick or Harry to paw. That was the point of putting it away. I’d promised on my honour to look after it and not share it with anyone.’ He paled at the reminder of how much he stood personally to lose.
‘Did any of them know you had it?’
He rubbed his chin, thinking. ‘I really don’t think it came up and I wouldn’t have ventured the subject in conversation. Some would be jealous, and the others tease me unmercifully for my unfashionable enthusiasm for Mr Wordsworth’s verse. Half of them side with the majority and are admirers of Byron and Scott.’
‘Still, you’ve had people in and out of your cottage. I’m going to have to follow up with them.’
He groaned. ‘Will you be discreet?’
