Nobody save Lord Burke seemed to understand this interesting speculation.
“My God,” Lord Burke said to Dalton, “I believe you’re right.”
“What bedpost?” Daisy said. She was certain it was not any bedpost in this house. The thing was horrid-looking and would haunt a person’s dreams.
“The day we went into your father’s room to search for letters,” Lord Dalton said, “we found it in complete disarray. Not searched, as your library had been, but just unkempt. I noted at the time that even a bedpost was missing.”
He pointed at the picture. “Thatwas the one that remained.”
“So the Dagobert is a scepter, and it has been here all along,” Daisy said softly.
Lord Bartholomew said, “But why should Childress have got himself involved with stolen crown jewels?”
“I cannot answerwhy,” Lord Dalton said, “but I know that he had. I found letters in the cottage that indicated that smuggling was his primary business. I did not say anything of it because I did not wish to frighten Miss Danworth, as there has been some contention, and some dirty-dealing, over it.”
“What do you mean by contention?” Mrs. Jellops said. “What was there in it to frighten Daisy? Certainly, nobody can hold Daisy responsible for anything Lord Childress had ever done.”
“The lady lands right on the point,” Mrs. Phelps whispered approvingly to her new friend. “A daughter cannot control a father, it is very well known.”
“Farthmore claimed the Dagobert had been delivered,” Lord Dalton said, looking not very eager to convey the details. “Lord Childress claimed it had not. The lord had initially, at least from what I can gather…Farthmore thought he was to marry Miss Danworth in exchange for the Dagobert. Later on, there was some kind of altered agreement that they would wait until she had reached her majority, though I do not understand what could have been promised.”
“Hateful man,” Lady Bartholomew said softly. “There is no soul in a father who would bargain his daughter.”
Lord Bartholomew nodded and he and his lady looked fondly at Miss Minkerton.
Daisy felt a little pang at noting their affection for their daughter. It was clear that Miss Minkerton had grown up protected and loved. Daisy could hardly imagine how it had been. Her own house had always given her the feeling of being an intruder in enemy territory.
“Of course,” Lord Burke said to Lord Bartholomew, “any right-thinking father would only wish that his daughter marry someone who can give her a good life, and treat her well, and honor her in every way.”
Miss Minkerton gazed up at the lord admiringly.
“My father,” Daisy said, “was many things. He was not, however,right-thinking. But, for all his penchant toward lowness of all sorts, he did have an almost obsession with rank. He would have never connected himself to Farthmore through marriage. Not even to punish me in some fashion.”
“I agree,” Lord Dalton said. “And that is why I cannot imagine what he promised to fend Farthmore off for a few years. That must have been his purpose, to delay him for a period of time. I had assumed, not knowing what a Dagobert was but concluding it was some piece of art, that it had been long ago sold. I don’t know what Lord Childress’ plan was to deal with Farthmore, but he was just buying himself time. Perhaps he would have sold it and paid some of the money to his conspirator. It was Farthmore who got his hands on it in Spain. I do not know who originally stole it, because it likely changed hands a few times over the years. But I believe that the man who arrived to Tarragona with it was murdered by Farthmore.”
A cold began to run through Daisy’s veins, as if her blood were turning to ice. She was not particularly shocked to hear of the lieutenant as a murderer. She was not even surprised that her father had been involved in such a scheme or that he had dangled her as bait. But a terrible truth, far worse than any she could have imagined, had stolen over her. If her father had made a deal with Farthmore to wait until her majority, he could only have had one thing in mind—he wished to wait until she had her money. He would not, however, have waited until she’d composed a will. She would have conveniently died intestate, and then the money would go to him.
That was how he planned to pay off Farthmore, and they had both agreed to it. He would pay off Farthmore with part of her inheritance and then sell the scepter at his leisure. He was a high stakes gambler to the end. All his claims that she must marry high, and at the same time being sure to show her what men could be, exposing her to the lowest forms, keeping her as locked in as possible…it was all a delay tactic to be certain she was still unmarried when she came into her money.
Had her father lived one more year, it was not very likely thatshewould have lived much longer after that.
Daisy gripped the arm of her chair to steady herself as Lord Dalton went on with his speculations.
“There was some other fellow mentioned in the letters, a man named Jenkins,” Lord Dalton said, “though I am not sure what part he’s played in it. He seemed to be some sort of middleman. I also do not know why Childress should have left such a valuable piece posing as a bedpost.”
Daisy decided she would not reveal what she’d guessed of her father’s real plans. The company was already horrified by him and she somehow felt responsible for being related to such a man, as if the taint was upon her.
“I cannot be certain,” she said slowly, “but knowing my father, it would have amused him to use crown jewels as a bedpost. He would have felt superior to them, as he liked to feel about all things and all people. He would have felt powerful, hiding it in plain sight.”
“Though, perhaps he accidentally left it behind?” Mrs. Jellops said. “Remember Daisy, that very strange year when we were sent back to Shropshire quite suddenly, we were only given a day to pack. Then, your father was to remain here for another month, but arrived a week later with a black eye.”
Daisy nodded. “Yes, of course I remember, though I just chalked it up to his general capriciousness and assumed he’d been in a brawl in town. And that does not account for the other years. He left the bedchamber in disarray and left it behindlastyear.”
“We may never know what prompted his hasty exit last summer,” Lord Dalton said, “but from the state of his room it was indeed done at a run.”
“Those poor watchmen outside just now would be shaken right out of their boots if they knew they were guarding part of the French crown jewels,” Mrs. Jellops said.
“Indeed,” Daisy said, “they would be.” She paused, a sudden new idea filling her with dread.
