Grace (The Daughters of Allamont Hall Book 5) Read online

  “George! How delightful!”

  “Uncle Jasper! What are you doing here?”

  His uncle smiled, but Lady Graham said, “Really, George! Must you come in here smelling of horse? And where are your manners? Greet your uncle properly.”

  “Ah, no need for formality, Julia. I am glad you are here, George, for this is a family matter, and you should know of it. Your great-grand-mama’s will has finally been located—”

  “Good Lord!” George said. “After all this time! Wherever was it?”

  “Behind a loose brick in the stables, would you believe.”

  George gave a bark of laughter. “I would believe anything of great-granny. That is just like her, to hide it away somewhere it would likely never be found.”

  “Indeed. It was fortunate that my new hunter took exception to one of the grooms, and lashed out with a hoof in just the right place, else we might never have found it. But it confirms what you have said all along, Julia, that the necklace is to go to you.”

  Lady Graham inclined her head graciously. “She always said so, but of course without a will… But I imagine that Lilian will say she was not of sound mind when she wrote it?”

  Her brother had the grace to look embarrassed. “Lilian did say something of the sort, I confess. She set her heart on that necklace long ago, and heaven knows she deserves it, given what she has had to put up with from the old lady. My wife has the patience of a saint. But the law is clear, and the necklace is yours.”

  “The famous diamonds — shall you wear them?” George said gleefully. “How splendid you will look!”

  “Regrettably, no one will wear them,” his uncle said. “The diamonds have disappeared. Lilian has scoured the house from attic to cellar, as you may imagine, but without the slightest success. The maid has insisted all along that they were lost, and the worst of it is, she says that the last time she recalls seeing them was here in this very house.”

  “Really?” Lady Graham said calmly. “I cannot say when I last saw her wear them.”

  “Do you mean,” George said breathlessly, “that the Durmaston Diamonds may be somewhere in this house? Or behind a brick in our stables?”

  “It is entirely possible,” his uncle said.

  “Famous! We must begin a search at once!” George said, with a wide grin. “A treasure hunt — what could possibly be more amusing?”

  “Oh, George,” his mother said, shaking her head sorrowfully. “So frivolous! Sometimes I despair of you. When will you ever grow up?”

  His father raised an eyebrow languidly. “It will do no harm. Let the boy search if he wishes. He must be bored now that all his friends are occupied elsewhere.”

  “Occupied?” George said. “Tied down, I should rather say. Dragged off to the continent, like old Wilson, or worse, to Scotland, like Macintyre. Poor Lannington is to be fitted up for a cleric’s coat, and never was a man less suited to the profession. And the rest of them married, or as good as. Leg-shackled, and at only twenty-five. Desperate indeed.”

  His father smiled fondly at his wife. “It is not so terrible a fate, being leg-shackled, as you will find out one of these days, George. But by all means look for the diamonds if you will. I daresay you will find nothing but a great deal of dust.”

  “There is no dust in this house, you may be sure of that,” his wife said, bridling. “Nor is there any corner neglected by the servants where a diamond necklace may be hiding.”

  “Then George will be disappointed,” her husband said. “But it must not be said that we failed to look for the necklace, knowing it to be missing.”

  “Exactly!” George said gleefully. “I shall start at once — in the attics, I think.”

  He raced off to begin, his mother’s protestations fading into the distance behind him.

  2: Searching

  Two days of scrabbling round in the attics left George with no very pleasing impression of his mother’s housekeeping.

  “Do you never throw anything away?” he asked her as he joined them in the saloon before dinner. “Furniture with woodworm, gowns that went out of fashion a hundred years ago, samplers whose creators must surely be long dead and the most appalling thing I have ever seen — all feathers, quite hideous! It made me sneeze so hard I thought my head would fall off.”

  “Oh, that must be the cloak that dear old Uncle Samuel brought back from — well now, I forget where. Some island or other. He was in the navy, you know, working his way up from Midshipman. He became something very grand at the Admiralty eventually, until a runaway fish cart finished him off. But he went all over the place when he was younger, and acquired some amazing things from the natives.”

  “Amazingly hideous, if you ask my opinion,” George said. “Which you did not, of course,” he added hastily, seeing his mother’s face darken.

  “So have you found any sign of the necklace?” his father said, his lips quirking in amusement.

  “Not so much as a single glass bauble to raise my hopes,” George said gloomily. “But I have not the least idea what I am looking for. What is it like, this necklace?”

  “It was a monstrous ugly thing, in all honesty,” his mother said. “A high choker, not at all fashionable these days. I should never wear such a dreadful piece. But the diamonds were worth a fortune, and I never brought much money of my own to the marriage. Your papa has never reproached me for the lack, but I always felt it keenly. Not for your sake, of course, but it is pleasant for a mother to be able leave something to her daughters.”

  “And you have no idea where it might be?”

  “Do you not imagine that it would have been found by now, if it is indeed here, or anywhere else?” Sir Matthew said. “A diamond necklace is a rather conspicuous item. It lay in a sizable wooden box, as I recall, not something that might slip into a pocket, or fall down the back of a dresser.”

  “I should not be at all surprised if Aunt Lilian had found it long since and hidden it away,” George said. “That would be just like her! And then she would deny any knowledge of it, naturally.”

  “That is a scurrilous assertion, George,” his father said, with a frown of disapproval. “But even if your aunt’s morals may be open to question — and I do not say that they are, but let us make the assumption for the moment — your uncle’s are not. If the will gifts the necklace to your mama, you may be quite certain that Jasper would abide by that. No, if he says the necklace is not to be found, then we must believe him, and knowing how well hidden the will was, it is to be supposed that every brick of the stables has been examined.”

  “But no one has examined every brick in our stables yet,” George said. “The necklace could be anywhere, and great-granny was so forgetful, she would have had no notion where she had left it.”

  “Hmmm… it is possible, I suppose,” his father said doubtfully.

  “Really, George!” his mother said. “What are you planning to do, dismantle the stables brick by brick?”

  “Not dismantle, no. That would be dreadfully inconvenient. But I might go and poke about a bit, perhaps.”

  His mother tutted at him, and shook her head.

  ~~~~~

  The Allamont carriage slowed and then rolled gently to a halt. The groom jumped down to open the door and let down the steps for the occupants. Lady Sara emerged first, statuesque, serene, her gentle smile unwavering as she gazed about her, looking up and down the ivy-clad walls of Graham House, almost as if she had never seen it before. But then it was indeed many, many months since she had called on her neighbours. Grace jumped down from the carriage, tripped on the hem of her gown and almost tumbled over. Behind her, Hope giggled and descended more slowly by way of the steps. By this time the butler and footman had emerged, and the three ladies proceeded up the entrance steps and into the hall.

  Graham House was very old, much added to by each successive generation, so that the exterior featured four different styles at least, and the interior was a warren of long passageways, unexpected stairs and room
s tucked away in half-forgotten wings. There were reputed to be secret passages and sealed-up rooms, but such was said of any house with the least degree of antiquity. Sir Matthew had inherited the house fifteen years earlier with the baronetcy, and apart from joining two rooms together to make a larger dining room, had made no changes.

  Grace rather liked the place. It had so much more character than the blandly modern Allamont Hall. She and Hope had been intimate with Lizzie, the eldest daughter, before her marriage, and they had spent many a happy hour tapping the walls of this room or that. Sadly, they had never found a secret passage — only a long-forgotten broom cupboard, with a shelf full of fossilised blacking for the grates and brushes brittle with age.

  But if the house was interesting, the residents were less so. Lizzie was gone, and the next sister, Alice, was not yet out, so there were only Sir Matthew and Lady Graham to talk to, and they were no fun. There was no fun to be had anywhere, Grace thought glumly. Her four older sisters were all married now, their thoughts entirely taken up with husbands and babies and difficulties with the servants and the price of wax candles and lace. Grace and Hope were quite left behind, with only Mama and Miss Bellows for company. It was too dreary for words. How Grace longed for a little excitement!

  As if to complete Grace’s misery, when the ladies were shown into the saloon, they found Mr and Mrs Wills already established there. Grace sighed inwardly, and fixed a false smile to her face. Mr Wills had once been a suitor to the eldest Allamont sister, Amy, but when that had not answered, he had gone to Bath and found himself a different sort of wife. Grace tried her best to be charitable, but Mrs Wills had neither face nor figure nor demeanour to please. Nor did she play or paint or sing or draw, for her fortune appeared to be her only accomplishment. Had she been blessed with children, perhaps her manner might have softened, but as it was, she saw it as her business to interest herself in the marriage prospects of every unmarried woman in the county. Grace had not taken two steps into the room before she was accosted by the lady in shrill tones.

  “Ah, Miss Allamont! Just the person I’d hoped to see. What is this I hear about a certain person, who shall remain nameless but we all know who I speak of, I am sure!” She cackled gleefully. “Sent away without ceremony, or so a little bird told me, in the strictest confidence. Poor man, so fond of you and yet dispatched without a shred of hope. Do sit by me and tell me everything.”

  Grace would have done anything rather than comply, but she could think of no reasonable excuse for refusing. So she sat beside Mrs Wills, rather overpowering in puce bombazine, with a hat of many feathers which waved distractingly at the slightest movement, and tried very hard not to reveal any information about the young man that would denigrate him or herself.

  Meanwhile, her mama was smiling happily, engaged in lively conversation with Lady Graham and almost — could it be possible? — flirting with Sir Matthew. Grace was too diverted to pay attention to Mrs Wills, answering more or less at random. Mama was strange these days. She went away so often, and when she returned home, there was no knowing whether she would be happy and relaxed, as now, or silent and withdrawn.

  After a while, just as Grace was beginning to cast about in her mind for an excuse to change her seat to obtain more congenial company, George came in, looking rather dishevelled, with wisps of straw in his hair.

  “Really, George!” his mother said. “Where are your manners? Could you not have changed to greet our guests? Look, here is Lady Sara returned from London, and you look like a goat herder.”

  “Do I? What does a goat herder look like exactly?”

  She clucked impatiently. “Make your bow to Lady Sara.” He did so, and a delicate little cough from the other side of the room directed him to Mrs Wills, who smiled benevolently and would have urged him to sit beside her, had George not spied Grace nearby.

  “Grace! Just the person! We have had the most enormous fun here, you cannot imagine how exciting it is.” He explained to her all about the famous Durmaston Diamonds, and his fruitless search.

  “Where have you looked so far?” Grace said.

  “The attics and the stables, but no luck in either. I shall start on the cellars next.”

  “The cellars? Was your great grand-mama accustomed to wander about the cellars?”

  “Well, no, but—”

  “Then she could hardly have left her diamonds there, could she? You should start with the rooms she used when she stayed here, and then widen the search to include all the public rooms she might have used.”

  “Oh. That makes sense,” George said. “You are clever, Grace. I should have asked for your advice right from the start. Will you help me search? You can make sure I am looking in all the most likely places.”

  “I will, if I am allowed. Mama might not quite like it.”

  But Mama smiled and inclined her head graciously. “How kind in you to offer your help. Perhaps if Lady Graham does not dislike it, you may stay here for a while? I can send the carriage for you at… five o’clock? Would that suit?”

  “We would be delighted to send Miss Allamont home in our carriage,” Sir Matthew said affably. “No need to take your horses out twice.”

  Amidst the smiles and little speeches of gratitude and obligation between her mama and the Grahams, Grace slipped out of the room with George.

  “Come on,” she hissed at him. “Let us get away from them before they change their minds, or decide that it is improper for us to be roaming around the house alone.”

  George stopped. “Oh. Maybe it is improper.”

  “Fustian! As if we have not known each other for ever. We are like brother and sister. Besides, if Mama sees nothing wrong in it, then there cannot be the least objection.”

  “Lady Sara is in a good mood today,” George said in surprised tones.

  Grace shrugged. “Her last trip went well, I suppose. Where are the old lady’s rooms? Let us begin there.”

  George led the way up the main stairs and along a series of corridors, then through a door into an older part of the house, with rough druggets on the floor and a damp chill in the air. Their footsteps raised a small cloud of dust.

  “Phoo! Look at all these cobwebs,” Grace said, waving her arms like a windmill to break a way through. “We shall look like ghosts before long. Are you sure this wing is habitable?”

  “It was when great-grand-mama last stayed with us. Mind you, that was years ago. Here we are.”

  He threw open a door, and led the way into a spacious sitting room, with panelled walls painted a pale colour, and warm velvet curtains. The furniture was old-fashioned but expensive, and Grace guessed it must have been the height of fashion at one time.

  “This is a pleasant room,” Grace said. She ran a finger along a side table. “At least the housemaids get in here occasionally. Not a cobweb to be seen. What is through that door?”

  Exploration revealed a small dining room and serving room, a smaller sitting room and a bedroom and dressing room.

  “And everything is as it was?” Grace said. “The furniture is just the same as when your great-grandmother was here?”

  “Exactly the same. Nothing has been touched at all, as far as I can tell,” George said. “This will be easier to search than the attics. Look, all the cupboards and drawers are empty.”

  “That does not mean that the diamonds are not here. If they were hidden intentionally, and not simply lost, they could be in a secret drawer, or fixed to the underside of something. We must check all the floorboards and wainscoting too, and on top of the wardrobes, and around the windows. It is astonishing where small hiding places may be found. Papa left money concealed in all sorts of odd places, you have no idea.”

  “Oh.” George’s eyes were round. “You really think…? Well, let us begin.”

  They worked methodically from room to room, starting with the dressing room and bedroom, which seemed the most likely places. Grace had rarely spent a happier afternoon than now, crawling about on the floor lifting
rugs, pulling out drawers, examining every little space for hidden compartments, and even tapping the walls for possible secret spaces. George employed his greater height to good effect by stretching to see the tops of the wardrobes, peering behind the pictures on the walls. He drew the line at looking up the chimney, however.

  “If ever great-grand-mama put her hand up the chimney, then I am a Chinaman,” he said. “She was the most fastidious old stick I ever did meet, and her maid even had to spread honey on her bread for her, in case the slightest stickiness should attach itself to her. No, I draw the line at the chimney.”

  “Belle found a money box in the chimney of our book room,” Grace said. “There was a special compartment made just for hiding valuables. That would be the perfect place for the necklace, and the maid could easily have put it there, if the old lady was too fussy to do the job herself. We must look, and if you will not do it, then I must.”

  “Grace, I do not think—” he began, but she had already pushed up one sleeve and stuck her hand up the bedroom chimney. A cloud of soot flew out, coating Grace, George and a fair amount of floor.

  “Oh,” Grace said. She looked at George, and then at herself, and burst out laughing. “We look like street urchins! To be sure, if I fail to secure a husband, I shall have no trouble finding employment as a chimney sweeper.”

  And then they both laughed until tears squeezed out of their eyes.

  “Lord, but my sides ache!” Grace said, sliding across the floor to sit with her back against the wall. “I have not been so well entertained since that time Lady Harrison fell down the steps at the assembly and showed the world a great deal more than she intended.”

  “I remember! That was… very educational for a gently brought up young man. I always thought ladies wore drawers or some such.”

  “Well, some do…” Grace began, before realising the impropriety of discussing such an intimate matter with a man. “But never mind that. Do the bells work? We should get the servants up here to clean up this mess.”

  Just then a timid little tap on the door was followed by the angelic face of sixteen-year-old Alice Graham, her features surrounded by a halo of blonde curls fetchingly bound with a pink ribbon.