Free Star of the East: A Lady Emily Christmas Story by TASHA ALEXANDER

have been most deceptive.”
    This brought Mr. Drayton to his feet. “I cannot stand by and let you criticize her—”
    “I would expect nothing less, Ned,” I said.
    “Mr. Drayton—” Now the maharaja rose from his seat and took two steps toward the young man.
    “Everyone please do sit,” I said. They all obeyed except Sunita. “After mulling over the facts, I have determined that we do not exactly have a thief among us.” I shot a meaningful look in Sebastian’s direction. “Sunita took her own jewels because she feared there was no other way to finance her education.”
    “Finance? Education?” The maharini reached for her daughter’s arm and pulled her back onto the divan. “What is all this?”
    “It is nothing,” Sunita said. Her tone was light and dismissive on the surface, but I could hear concern underneath her forced brightness. “Lady Emily knows not of which she speaks.”
    “What has troubled me from the beginning about the theft—if I may still call it that—is that the diamond was returned. Surely someone in need of money would not have done such a thing. And if, as I suspect, the tika was placed in my room in a desperate effort to remove it from the possession of someone else, someone who knew Colin was searching the house for it, why was the bangle not left as well?”
    I paused and studied my audience. They were very still. Sunita was looking at the floor.
    “You have already accused my daughter of the act,” the maharaja said. “Why would she not have simply returned the jewels to her own case?”
    “Because she no longer had them,” I said. “She had given them to Ned.”
    “I say—” He stood again.
    “Last night I found several interesting items in Ranjit’s and Ned’s rooms. Am I correct, Ranjit, that you are not studying any of the sciences at Oxford?”
    “One might accuse me of not studying anything at Oxford,” Ranjit said, “but no one could claim that I am supposed to be reading science. My course is history.”
    “Yet in your room you have Darwin’s Origin of the Species, two volumes of a text about the natural sciences, and a book titled Descriptive Astronomy .”
    “You were in his room?” Horror resonated in my mother’s voice. “This, Emily, is unaccountably rude, not to mention wholly inappropriate—”
    “We can discuss my many shortcomings at a later time, Mother,” I interrupted.
    Ranjit choked back laughter. “I have confessed to not studying science, Emily, but I do not recall mentioning it to you before now,” he said. “Why did you not assume the books to be mine?”
    “First—and do, please, understand that I mean no offense by saying this—because nothing about you suggested to me that you would have chosen academic texts for a pleasure trip. Next, the astronomy book is a secondhand copy from Mudie’s. Surely a wealthy Oxonian would have purchased his books new? Finally, I do not believe for an instant that you are reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Your sister, however, told me Miss Austen is her favorite author, and discussed Vanity Fair and Tess of the d’Urbervilles with me. It is clear that she is an intelligent young lady with an active mind. Knowing this, I deduced that all the books in your room, in fact, belong to your sister.”
    “Yes, I do greatly admire Austen,” Sunita said, “and I may have left that book in my brother’s room, but none of this proves anything.”
    “Mr. Drayton’s possessions proved nearly as revealing as your brother’s,” I said. “May I see your Kipling, please?” Ned handed me the book. I removed the slip of paper from it and spoke quietly to him. “Page fifty-two, and I promise I shall return it to the correct place.” I held the paper in front of me. “Four names are listed here: Anne, Hugo, Hilda, and Margaret.”
    “If it weren’t for the inclusion of Hugo, I should think my friend has a difficult decision in front of him,” Ranjit said.
    “It is not a list of