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“I understand that ten pounds is not much to you, but surely you can manage.” Mr. Larson sounded both uncertain and incredulous.
“I am a baroness, and my husband did not leave me destitute. I refuse to live impoverished, beneath my station in life. Do you understand that?”
Diana thought Mr. Larson sighed as he answered, “Yes.”
“Do what you must before my daughter’s dowry is exhausted. She knows nothing of this.”
“I shall, my lady.”
Diana quickly moved away from the door when she thought the conversation had ended and went to find Abigail. She was in the kitchen, and the instant she saw Diana in the doorway, she came to her and they walked to the end of the long hall, away from the eyes and ears of the other servants.
“There’s a letter for you,” Abigail told her.
“Truly?” Diana felt her eyes widen in anticipation. Perhaps it was the response she had waited endlessly for from her parents.
Abigail retrieved the letter from the bag attached to her dress and gave it to Diana, who quickly checked who the sender was and found only her name and address.
“Is it from your parents?” Abigail asked because she was also hoping, for Diana’s sake.
“I’m unsure,” Diana murmured, disappointed. She was sure it was not from her parents. Maybe it was from her late uncle’s solicitor, although she doubted he had any cause to write to her, at least not until she could claim her inheritance.
She returned to her chamber to open the letter, and every part of her grew rigid immediately as she began to read:
My dear Diana,
Remember what you must do to keep my silence. We certainly would not want the duke to give you a cut-direct if he learns who you truly are, now, would we? Don’t think I have not been paying attention to your rendezvous with the man at the theater, or how you both coincidentally disappeared during the dinner at Kendall Castle.
Now, there is a park four miles from Kendall Castle. Meet me there at sundown tomorrow, and be sure you have what I want.
Sincerely,
Your adoring friend
Diana raised her head and stared out her bedchamber window, seeing nothing but the misery Crawford wished to plunge her back into. ‘I hope you will be clever enough to make the right decision this time,’ he had said to her the night they had dinner at the castle. However, she was unsure what the right decision was at this very moment.
He certainly had not been jesting when he said that he required her to pay him, but she had no money to give him. She was entitled to pin money from what her father sent her aunt, but she had never received a penny. She began to pace her room, Crawford’s letter in hand, as she thought of what to do.
She could expose him if she was assured that her aunt would be cooperative, but after hearing that conversation with Mr. Larson, she would not be surprised if Margaret was an accomplice in this vile plan of Crawford's. As she walked past her dressing room, she caught a glimpse of a jewelry box atop the vanity and immediately remembered something. She had money!
Diana had her dowry, which was in her aunt’s care. She could borrow some of it and pay it back once she was in possession of her inheritance. Not that she would ever really need it, for she was still convinced she was never to marry. She stopped pacing and took several deep breaths as she made a decision.
“Where is he?” Matthew heard Albert ask Glover. He had not left his chambers today after being tormented by nightmares the night before. He thought his mind was healing, but he was no longer sure of that.
Albert walked in a moment later, looking as worried as he usually did whenever Matthew sequestered himself in his chambers. “I went to Ramsgate,” he said, coming to sit in a chair close to where Matthew was at the bureau, in the sitting room that adjoined his bedchamber. Albert knew not to ask him questions that would bring him discomfort, and he greatly appreciated it.
“What did you find?”
“I did not get a name or a face, but I found a fisherman who told me that he saw three men hauling crates onto wagons one night. He did not interfere because he was told the orders to move the crates had come from you.”
“So people were not paid as we thought but simply convinced that I was conducting business,” Matthew mused, closing the book he had been reading to keep his thoughts occupied; an exposition on the fall of the Roman Empire. “Did you meet Sawyer?”
“I did, and he seemed to be as surprised as I was when the fisherman spoke to us. That does not prove anything because this theft was done under his watch, but I think Sawyer is innocent.”
“We will know in time. I sent word in the morning to Crawford to come to the castle when he finds the opportunity, but I was told that he is in London presently.”
“Well,” Albert shrugged, “let us hope we find the thief before he returns.”
“It would be unfortunate if he ceases doing business with me, but I am prepared. Besides, I have other businesses to look after.” Matthew stood.
