AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then I will take them upstairs where nothing was stolen,” Lady Harper suggested, and without waiting for a reply she dragged Ben inside. I hurriedly followed them and she guided us upstairs to the large sitting room attached to her boudoir. Our hostess gestured to a few seats while she took one on a long couch. “You must forgive me if you find me distracted. A most horrible theft happened last night, and I still cannot believe none of us heard a thing!”
“Pray, tell us all that happened,” Ben requested.
Lady Harper took a deep, sighing breath. “The theft was discovered this morning by our butler. He was going about opening the windows when he noticed the. . .the empty cupboard which once held my grandmother’s prized silver supper set.” She placed a handkerchief to her lips and closed her eyes. After a moment, she took another deep breath and lowered the cloth. “He alerted my husband immediately and the other servants, and together they discovered that many of the fine paintings in the parlor and several antique vases had also been stolen. There is hardly a room downstairs which was not touched.”
“Are there any leads?” Ben asked her.
She grasped the handkerchief in her trembling hands and bowed her head. “Not one. The soldiers cannot even discover how the thief entered, or even if there was more than one ‘in on the job,’ as they tell me.”
“But everyone in the house is alright?” I inquired.
She lifted her head and gave me a shaky smile. “Oh, yes, quite alright. That’s kind of you to ask.”
“Where is your husband?” Ben wondered.
“When the inventory had finished he ventured out to meet with other families who have been burglarized of late,” Lady Harper explained as she cast a sad look out a nearby window. “He promised to be back by supper with good news, but I have little hope of that. These thefts have been unsolved for many weeks now, and I expect ours to join that long list.”
“Mother?” The tiny voice came from the doorway. Lew stood there with his hands clasped in front of him.
Lady Harper smiled at her son and opened her arms to him. “What is it, Lew?”
He shuffled into the room, keeping one eye on Ben and me, and moved over to his mother. “Have they found anything?”
Our hostess clasped his arms and shook her head. “I’m afraid not, my darling, but they are still looking.”
Lew hung his head so low his chin touched his chest. “Mother, about what I said earlier-”
She shook her head. “None of that now, Lew. Your childish ideas will not help us catch the thief.”
“Childish ideas?” Ben wondered.
Lady Harper smiled at us and shook her head. “It really is nothing, Your Lordship. Merely a child’s wild imagination.”
One of the soldiers appeared in the doorway and bowed his head to Lady Harper. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, My Lady, but we need descriptions for some of the more unusual items stolen, particularly those of a magical bent.”
Lady Harper stood and bit her lower lip. “Oh dear. I cannot give a good description of some of them, but I know there are pictures of those items in the library. If someone would but help me look through some of the older tomes I’m sure I could find them quickly.”
“I offer my services,” Ben spoke up as he stood. “I have a great deal of experience in searching through old tomes, and I read several languages archaic and modern.”
Lady Harper swept over to him and wrapped her arms around one of his limbs. “In my dire hour, I cannot do anything but accept your kind offer.”
Ben turned his head a little to one side and caught my eye before his own flickered to Lew. I nodded, and the pair with the soldier hurried from the room.
Lew made to follow them, but my voice stalled him. “Wait a sec, Lew. I was wondering what you were trying to tell your mom earlier.”
Lew bit his lip in the habit of his mother. “I. . .it’s nothing.”
I slipped over to the couch recently vacated by his parent and patted the empty spot beside me. “I like hearing about nothing.” The young lad’s eyes flickered toward the door, but he sidled up to me and gingerly sat down. “So what’s this about?”
He hung his head and a deep sigh escaped him. “The theft. . .it’s all my fault.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
I furrowed my brow.“Why do you feel that way?”
He pursed his lips before he rummaged inside his vest and drew out a deck of cards. I recognized them as the same ones the kids had been playing in the park. “Because of these. All of us have them. They’re the only thing that’s the same in all these thefts.”
“When you mean you all have them, you mean you and the kids in the other burglarized houses?” I guessed.
