Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter

by Sylvia Andrew

  They put the picture on the table and examined it. It was painted just as badly as the others, and like them it had no frame, but consisted simply of a canvas on a stretcher. A large nine had been scribbled on the back.

  Rosa had been feeling round the edge but she suddenly exclaimed, ‘Ouch! That hurt!’ She examined her fingers. ‘But it hasn’t broken the skin. What is it?’

  William was already examining the edge of the stretcher, and passing his finger to and fro over something underneath. ‘It’s a very small piece of metal like a flat hook. You must have pinched your finger on it. It’s very firmly fixed.’ They crowded round to look.

  ‘That must be some sort of mechanism,’ Emily exclaimed. ‘It will act as a key, I know it will! I can’t wait to take it to Charlwood to try it.’

  Philip’s handsome face had a look of concern on it. ‘Emmy, aren’t you for get ting how dangerous these people are?’

  ‘No, but they won’t suspect what we’re doing, will they? William, let’s go tomorrow. Let’s all go!’

  William looked at her. Recently Emily had been subdued in his presence, had spoken to him always with a touch of reserve. They had both been at fault, he knew. But tonight she was as eager as she had been months ago when he had first shown her Charlwood and its gardens. The memory of her eagerness, her openness then, was very sweet. On the other hand, Philip was right. With people like Kidman there was always a risk. He knew that Philip would never let Rosa anywhere near the place at the moment, whatever Rosa felt, and he had no wish to start an argument between them. He said slowly, ‘I think you and I could go, Emily. It would be quite natural for us to have a look at what is being done there. But if we go tomorrow, I’d like to leave the children behind in the care of Philip and Rosa.’

  Philip was by no means happy with the idea of Emily going to Charlwood but, after a certain amount of discussion, he eventually agreed. The trip would ostensibly be to inspect the house and the fountain court, where Emily would plant a few bulbs. She would have with her a basket of small gardening tools and bulbs, which William would carry for her.

  ‘There’s just one thing,’ he said, somewhat hesitantly. ‘I…I may have given our Maria the impression that you and I…’

  ‘That we had fallen out? How unlikely!’ said Emily.

  He nodded. ‘She thinks you still regard me as a fortune hunter. She doesn’t know about the money.’ He regarded her sardonically and said, ‘So, if we meet her, it would be better if you managed not to regard me too affectionately, and even bring yourself to address a few sharp words to me—I know how difficult this will be for you, but you must try, for the sake of verisimilitude.’

  ‘I think I shall be able to manage that,’ Emily said with a slight edge. ‘Easily.’

  The next day they set off in the gig. They were both dressed suitably in old clothes and stout boots, the perfect picture of a couple interested in doing some gardening. After she was seated, William handed Emily a large basket and climbed in beside her. He said, ‘I apologise if it spoils your dignity to keep hold of the basket. I’ve wrapped the picture up and put it under that sack of bulbs. And if all goes well, on our return we might be carrying it and seventy thousand pounds’ worth of extras. One wouldn’t wish to leave such a load lying in the back of the gig.’

  ‘You really think we shall find the jewels, then?’

  ‘Do you know, Emily, when I look at you now in those dreadful boots, with your hair scraped back and your dress so drab, looking so like the girl who tried to pull the wool over my eyes, and compare that with how lovely you can look—inspecting my gardens in an apricot dress, talking over dinner in the candlelight at your grandfather’s, or, most of all, en chanting me on a hillside in May—I am encouraged to believe that anything is possible.’

  ‘William! Please, you mustn’t tease me. I know what you think of me.’

  He stopped the gig and turned to face her. The road was deserted, and Emily was just about to ask what was wrong when he pulled her to him and kissed her hard. ‘Believe me, Emily,’ he said as he released her, ‘you have no idea what I think of you! But I have no intention of telling you at the moment, either. Walk on!’ And, before Emily had recovered her breath, the gig set off again.

  ‘What do you mean by that? This is not what I came with you for, sir! How dare you kiss me so roughly and then…and then… What do you mean?’

  ‘Not at the moment. We have business on our hands.’

  Emily was incensed. ‘Let me tell you, William, I don’t need any encouragement at all to speak sharply to you. It comes quite naturally. You are the most disagreeable man I ever met, the most in sufferable…’

  He only laughed. ‘Excellent! Keep it up!’

  When they arrived at Charlwood, Emily jumped nimbly down from the gig without waiting for William’s help and walked off, back straight, and chin in the air, not even turning round when William called to tell her she had for got ten her basket. This amused him so much that he had difficulty in keeping a frown on his face, as he picked up the basket and strode in pursuit. No one watching their manner could doubt that there was something very wrong with their relationship. Once inside, Emily turned to him. ‘William, someone was waiting at the top of the drive! I saw him as I got down.’

  ‘Two, in fact. Barnaby Drewitt and friend. Don’t worry about them. They’re here in case of trouble. Where is that picture?’

  They went into the parlour and, after William had put the basket on the floor, Emily care fully took out James’s picture. William was examining the ones still on the wall, and re-hanging them ac cording to the numbers on the back. When he reached number eight he found Emily waiting for him with the ninth in her hands. ‘Now!’ he said, and hung the picture of the fountain in its square. Nothing happened.

  ‘It’s not fully inside its panel,’ said Emily. ‘Press it in harder.’

  He pressed, and with the slightest of whispers the panel slid back. They looked at one another in awe. ‘It worked!’ said William. ‘Emily, it worked!’

  ‘I can’t believe it could be so simple. Is there…is there anything inside?’

  William put a long arm inside the hole, and, not without difficulty, drew out a canvas bag. ‘It’s devilishly heavy,’ he said. ‘No, I’ll put it down. You couldn’t hold it.’

  When the bag was out on the floor beside the basket, William undid a knot or two and, when it was open, held it out to Emily. ‘You look,’ he said. Emily peered into the bag, and drew out a chain. It was of heavily worked gold links, set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Even in the dimly lit parlour, the stones were dazzling, sending out sparks of fire. Emily whispered, ‘How in credibly beautiful!’

  ‘There’s a lot more here, too. I think we may safely say we’ve found the Valleron jewels, don’t you?’

  Emily was still gazing at the chain. ‘William, I’m frightened. I hadn’t realised… This alone must be worth hundreds, if not thou sands, of pounds. What are you going to do with it?’

  ‘Pack it up as quickly as we can before anyone else sees it. Get it back to Shearings safely. I shall take it to a bank in London as soon as possible—perhaps even tomorrow. Then I shall see it is eventually returned to the Valleron family. Don’t you agree?’

  ‘Yes, yes. I want it out of our hands as soon as possible—it frightens me. It has cost too many lives already. Let’s go, quickly.’

  ‘Not yet. First we have to put things back as they were. Put the jewellery and money into this sack.’ He emptied out the sack of bulbs, which, to Emily’s surprise, also contained quite a number of pebbles. ‘Then put the bulbs and stones into the canvas bag and tie it up as it was.’ As she looked at him, amazed, he said, ‘Don’t waste time, but do as I say! Right! Hand me the bag.’ He put the bag, now heavy with bulbs and pebbles, back into its hiding place, and care fully pulled the picture, together with its piece of panelling, back into position. When he heard the click he took the picture away and handed it to her.

  ‘Back i
n the basket with this and the sack, and then we put the tools on top. Don’t worry—I’ll carry it. We mustn’t let it appear to be heavier than it was before, and you would find that difficult. Seventy thousand pounds’ worth of gold and jewels is quite literally a heavy responsibility.’

  On the way down the drive Emily said, ‘I’m impressed with the way you planned this. Do you always think it all out be fore hand—the stones, the sack, all the rest? And I notice that we now have protection in the form of Barnaby Drewitt not far behind.’

  ‘It’s just a habit. Sometimes in South America my life depended on it. In the past I’ve enjoyed adventure.’

  Emily sighed. ‘And now, I suppose, this adventure is all over. The jewels are found and will soon be back with their rightful owners.’

  ‘It isn’t over yet. There’s still Kidman and his gang. And look over there at the Dower House. Someone has to pay for that. No, it isn’t over yet, Emily.’ Suddenly he put his hand on her arm and said very quietly, ‘Maria Fenton! She’s over there at the Lodge, and she’s seen us. Remember to act up!’

  As they got nearer, he added, ‘Act, damn it!’

  Emily took a breath and launched into an attack. ‘Must I tell you again, sir, that I will not have you speak to me like that! You may have no money, but you could at least have some manners! The sooner you find someone else to put up with your insults and look after your brats, the better! I cannot imagine why you insisted on bringing me here today at all. The garden is very well as it is. What are you doing now?’

  William pulled up at the Lodge and got down. ‘Why, good morning, Mrs Fenton!’ He bowed and raised his eyebrows. ‘May I help you?’

  ‘Good morning,’ Maria said. ‘I…I think I may have lost something yesterday. A…a button. I was asking the man here, but he’s new and doesn’t know anything about it. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but its design was unique.’ She looked pale and worried—quite unlike herself.

  ‘Why would you think you had lost a button here of all places, Mrs Fenton?’ asked Emily coldly.

  For a moment Maria Fenton looked blank, then, with a flash of her old spirit, she said, ‘Why, when dear William showed me round the house before it was burnt down, of course! Did you not know?’ She turned to William. ‘Have you heard any more about my picture? I can’t believe it is lost for ever.’

  ‘William, Rosa has been looking after your children for long enough. We must hurry back,’ Emily said impatiently.

  William frowned, shrugged his shoulders and, with an apologetic bow, said, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.’ With a glance at Emily, he went on, ‘You must excuse me. Emily is right, we must go back. But you must feel free to look for your button here if you wish.’ He called one of the men over and said, ‘Give Mrs Fenton as much help as she needs.’

  ‘William!’ called Emily sharply.

  As they drove off Emily looked back to see Maria in conversation with William’s man. ‘It’s Walter’s button, of course, but he can’t look for it himself in case someone recognises him,’ she said.

  ‘I wonder why she’s so very worried,’ said William thoughtfully. ‘She isn’t a woman to panic lightly.’

  ‘Don’t tell me you’re sorry for her!’

  ‘Not in the slightest. Congratulations on your playacting ability, by the way. I’d be sorry for myself, if the way you spoke to me in front of Maria Fenton was a sample of the way you would speak after we’re married,’ said William. ‘If I thought it was real, I’d call off the engagement tomorrow.’

  After a silence Emily said care fully, ‘What engagement?’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘What engagement?’

  William shook his head ruefully. ‘I’m sorry. I forgot. It isn’t a real engagement at all, is it?’ Emily held her breath. He waited then asked again, ‘Is it, Emily?’

  ‘I…I suppose not. You…you said we should not suit. You said it was done with.’

  ‘Well, if that isn’t just like a woman! You were the one who broke it off, not I! I thought we had an agreement, you and I. I realise now it wasn’t ideal, but it was what I would call a gentleman’s agreement. A reasonable, rational contract. You promised to marry me and look after the children, and in return I offered you an establishment of your own and independence to run it. Then suddenly for no real reason you tell me in the unkindest possible terms that you won’t marry me! Is it any wonder that I told your brother we should not suit?’

  ‘I’ve said I’m sorry that I misjudged you!’

  ‘So you should be.’

  They drove in silence for a while. Then, in a small voice, Emily said, ‘Are you going to forgive me?’

  ‘I already have,’ he said curtly. He looked at her. ‘I’ve come to under stand why you acted the way you did.’

  ‘I’d still like to hear the rest of what you said that day. Will you tell me now?’

  He didn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about. ‘If you must know, I was angry with both the Deardons for re minding me of the stupid remarks I made before I knew you. Strong-minded you were. Plain you could never be. I told them so. I said I was proud of you, and very proud that you had agreed to marry me. That you were the most intriguing woman I had ever known. That I couldn’t imagine anyone else as my wife.’

  ‘Oh, William, did you really?’ She stopped to swallow a lump in her throat. ‘What a fool I was! I lost so much by running away too soon.’

  The distress in her voice touched him. He said more gently, ‘Not everything. In spite of it all, we’ve managed to work together. And I’m hoping that, when this business is all over, we might begin again, differently this time.’ Till now he had been serious, but William never allowed himself to stay serious for too long. He looked at her sideways and smiled irrepressibly. ‘But I’d like to begin again with the oak tree. And the hollow. I liked that girl, Emily.’

  As soon as they were back at Shearings, William spoke to Philip and Rosa and spent a short time with the children. Then he gathered his things together, put the Valleron treasure in a more fitting container and, after collecting Barnaby Drewitt, left for London. He planned to put the Valleron treasure safely under lock and key, but had decided not to return it to its owners immediately. That was bound to be a long and complicated business, and, in the present circumstances, would keep him away from Shearings for too long for his peace of mind. Even so, it meant that he would have to spend two nights in London and could not hope to be back before late afternoon of the second day.

  After his departure Emily took the children riding. Philip had recently offered a pony to each of the children and they were very eager to exercise them. They had a good ride, but she kept them inside Shearings’s fences. James’s picture of the fountain had brought the deaths and dangers of the Valleron robbery too close to home, and until Kidman and his friends had somehow been disposed of, she didn’t feel like straying too far, especially as William was not available to call on for help.

  Meanwhile Maria Fenton had continued to search the ruins of the Dower House for the button her brother-in-law had lost. Her mind was not fully on the search. She was far more seriously worried about the disappearance of the picture of the fountain. Since the day before that had become a very serious matter indeed. It occurred to her that some of the men now at work on the Dower House might have worked on the main house too, and might have seen the picture there. She decided to ask them, but without letting them suspect how des per ate she really was. ‘I seem to be having such bad luck at present,’ she said lightly. ‘First I lose a button off my pelisse, and then a picture I particularly wanted, and which Sir William was ready to sell me, seems to have disappeared. He tells me it might be on a rubbish heap some where. Could you ask if anyone has seen it? It was a picture of the fountain in the garden. I was so disappointed when he told me it had gone.’

  She shuddered inwardly as she said this. Disappointment was hardly the issue. She was very afraid it might be more a question of life or death. Why o
n earth had she not realised that Kidman was in the house when she had come back from her excursion to Charlwood with William Ashenden? Now, as she watched the men, a picture of the scene from the day before was vivid in her mind. She had arrived home and Walter had asked her where she had been…

  ‘To Charlwood with William Ashenden. If you must know, I was looking once again for the Valleron jewels, though he didn’t know that, of course.’

  ‘I thought you had given him up? As I remember it, you called him a conceited oaf.’

  ‘Yes, well, he came here today while you were out and started making up to me again. He still doesn’t know I’m not as rich as I pretend, and he’s fallen out with Emily Winbolt.’

  ‘Sis, it’s time you stopped thinking about Ashenden and concentrated on the Valleron stuff instead.’

  ‘If you were to ask me, Walter, I’d say that Ashenden might be a better future prospect for me than the “Valleron stuff”, as you call it. That won’t be found for years. If ever.’

  ‘What the devil do you mean by that? Why not?’

  Her angry frustration had caused her to be less cautious than usual. ‘Because the key to it has probably been thrown on the rubbish heap, that’s why!’

  A different voice, and one to be dreaded, asked softly, ‘What’s this about a key, Maria?’

  She whirled round in shock. Kidman stood in the doorway. Staring at him, Maria was not deceived by his dispassionate look of enquiry. She had once seen him, with just the same look on his face, using his own methods to question a man until he was screaming for mercy.

  ‘Kidman!’ she exclaimed nervously. ‘How…how wonderful to see you! I…I was just about to say I wished you were here. We need your help.’

  ‘What key?’ He took a step closer, and this time his voice was even softer. ‘Tell me.’

  Maria did the best she could in spite of the shivers running up and down her spine. ‘I…I’ve been thinking and thinking about those last hours with Edric. It…it was all so confused, and I…I was distressed. Very distressed. It’s not surprising I didn’t remember it all at once. It was so…so p-painful that p-perhaps my mind didn’t want to remember. You can under stand that, can’t you?’ He stared at her in silence and she tried not to stammer as she went on. ‘I t-told you he had mentioned the fountain.’