Free Suzanne Robinson by The Treasure

been sitting and went to one of the glass display tables arranged around the room. His grandfather had brought back dozens of expensive curiosities from his travels in Russia. He paused beside a pedestal on which rested a sixteenth-century gold chalice decorated in a niello pattern of floral scrolls. It was mounted with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires; his fingers traced the rim. The antique gold reminded him of the highlights in Emily’s hair.
    “Stop it. She’s been here less than three weeks, and you’re behaving like a madman.”
    He wandered over to look at the
kovsh
, a sixteenth-century Russian dipper, in one of the cases. Silver, with a high, elongated handle, it was shaped like a wide boat and was engraved with lions and griffins. The rim was lined with pearls. He focused on the toasting bowl next to the dipper. He’d always liked it because it had a pointed lid and was decorated with a raised foliate pattern. It had an inscription that his grandfather had said translated, “True love is like this golden vessel. It never breaks, and if it bends, it can be mended.”
    “Love,” Valin whispered. “First you have to be worth loving before your love can bend or mend.”
    A knock sent him hastening for his chair. He satand picked up
The Times
as Thistlethwayte entered followed by a stranger.
    “Mr. Mildmay, my lord.”
    Valin had hired Ronald Mildmay upon the recommendation of a friend and hadn’t met the man before. He was surprised and impressed that Mildmay was dressed like a gentleman in a well-cut coat, silk tie, and boots obviously made in Bond Street. The inquiry agent had a dour, regretful manner, as if he were a long-suffering parent to the continually misbehaving world. He was slight, with sloping shoulders, thinning dark hair, and a nose shaped like the Russian dipper in the display case.
    Mildmay began immediately after the introductions were over. “Your lordship realizes that I needed more time. My report is extremely preliminary.”
    “Get on with it, man. You found nothing, did you? Well, I expected as much. A foolish whim on my part—”
    “Oh, no, my lord. I found something, or rather, it’s what I didn’t find that’s suspicious.”
    Valin went cold. He dropped the newspaper and rose. “Let’s have it. What did you find?”
    Mildmay opened a document case he had been carrying and referred to the papers within it. “From what my inquiries have uncovered,mylord, there is no such person as Miss Emily Charlotte de Winter.”
    “The de Winters are in DeBrett’s. My copy is old, so I assumed—”
    “No branch of the family has a daughter named Emily Charlotte, or even a lady of the right age,” Mildmay said sorrowfully. He sighed. “As you instructed, my agents were careful not to reveal their purpose when inquiring at the houses of the families with whom she’s stayed. However, we are certain that no one ever met Miss de Winter before a few weeks ago. Her only connection with society is the Honorable Miss Agnes Cowper, whom we cannot find, either.”
    “I told you, she’s in Northumberland.”
    “She’s not where we can find her, my lord. And an elderly lady like that shouldn’t be so hard to discover.”
    Mildmay closed his document case. “The details would bore you, my lord, but I may summarize by saying that I could find no tradesmen who could attest to Miss de Winter’s presence in London for more than those few weeks I mentioned. A respectable person of her position would have dealt with at least some of them—purveyors of fine lace, corsets, the more expensive fabrics and headgear. No blacksmith, livery, or domestic service agency has had anything to do with her.”
    “And that means?” Valin asked.
    Mildmay glanced around at the Russian gold. “It means, my lord, that it’s likely that the lady in question is an imposter, a refined adventuress out to steal from you, or—”
    “Or what?” Valin snapped.
    “Or she has grander designs.” Mildmay shook his head