Chapter Ten
The morning dawned clear and cold. It hadn’t rained in several days, and Louisa wanted to take advantage of the good weather since it wouldn’t last forever. She had risen early and donned a riding habit, hoping she and Thornbrook would have time to speak with Mr. Jeffers this morning and possibly do a bit of exploring before their guests awoke. Given their late arrival and Lady Phoebe’s tendency to lounge around, Louisa figured they wouldn’t see them until at least noon.
She strode across the room and opened her door, stifling a scream. “Thornbrook! What are you doing? You nearly scared me to death.”
“I was coming to fetch you so we can speak with Mr. Jeffers.”
“Well, I was about to do the same.”
“You were coming to get me?”
She nodded. It was odd to her that he seemed surprised she had planned to include him in the meeting. “I sent Eliza to change so she can accompany us. She’ll meet us at the stables after we speak with Mr. Jeffers. I asked him to come to the house to meet with us.”
He followed her down the corridor to the staircase. “Aren’t you afraid he might tell your father what we’re about?”
She shook her head. “We should be done searching by the time Papa returns. Besides, there’s no reason for him to be suspicious of our motives. We’re simply enquiring about the water sources on the property.”
They negotiated the stairs and Louisa led the way to the library, where the land steward was already waiting for them.
“Mr. Jeffers, thank you for meeting with us on such short notice.”
“Of course, my lady. I received your note and I must say I’m intrigued. It is my understanding that you are interested in knowing of all of the water sources at Walsley, whether natural or manmade?”
Louisa nodded. “Yes. I recently discovered a poem written by my great-great-grandmother that makes several references to water, and we hope to be able to identify all of them with your help, even though some may no longer be serviceable.”
“Clever,” Thornbrook whispered in her ear.
Jeffers moved to the table and rolled out a large document that appeared to be a diagram of the property. “The River Wye is clearly marked, as are the tributaries that branch off from it. You can see that there are a handful of bridges spanning the many streams and creeks.” He slid his hand across the paper. “This is an intake grate, meant to help slow the flooding when the river rises.” He looked up and met Louisa’s eyes. “Is this the sort of information you want, my lady?”
“Yes, we appreciate anything you can tell us. To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m looking for. I just hope to be able to identify the locations mentioned in the poem.”
“Excellent. Just tell me if I wander off track.” He gave more information about several of the tributaries, then touched two small circles on the paper. “These are ponds, one of which is natural, and the other dug to hold overflow. Unfortunately, no one marked which was which.”
Louisa blew out a long breath. They had much ground to cover. “So there is the river, the tributaries, and two ponds. Oh, and the grate.”
“Yes, my lady. And…I’m not sure if these interest you, but there are no fewer than five wells on the property, though not all of their locations were documented.”
“That’s rather unfortunate,” Thornbrook whispered so that only Louisa could hear.
Jeffers pointed to a place on the diagram. “We know that there is a well here. His Grace had it added to the diagram of the property after Lord Kenworth discovered it last year.”
“Actually, I believe it was Lady Kenworth who should be given credit for locating the well,” Thornbrook said.
Louisa noted that the trail they’d seen was not marked on this diagram. At this point, she didn’t think it was worth possibly arousing his suspicion by asking about a path that he likely had no knowledge of since it appeared to belong to the neighboring property.
Jeffers bit back a smile and continued. “In any case, another well has been located over here, though it seems to be dry, so probably not what you’re looking for.”
Louisa exchanged a look with Thornbrook, then asked, “Do you happen to have a copy of the diagram we can borrow?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid not, my lady. It’s possible His Grace has a copy of his own.”
“If you don’t mind waiting for a few moments, I can make a rough sketch.”
“Of course, my lord,” Jeffers said.
“Is there any paper in here, or should I go get my portfolio?” Thornbrook asked.
“Let me look.” Louisa rushed to the desk and began opening drawers. “There’s a canvas here if that will work.”
“Canvas would have to be tacked down. I’ll be right back.”
He rushed out of the room, leaving Louisa alone with Mr. Jeffers. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Jeffers. I appreciate it. I’m sure you have other things you’d rather be doing.”
“Not at all, my lady.”
Thornbrook returned much sooner than she had anticipated. He removed a paper from the portfolio and set it aside.
Louisa watched in fascination as he carefully but quickly recreated the diagram. Even Mr. Jeffers seemed impressed. Though the paper from his portfolio was smaller, he kept the perspective at an even scale. When he had finished, it looked like a miniature replica of the original document.
“Well done, my lord. I daresay if you ever fall on hard times, you could support yourself with your artistic skills.”
Louisa grinned and raised a brow at Thornbrook. Mr. Jeffers had confirmed that her praise of him was justified and she would no longer allow him to pretend otherwise.
“Mr. Jeffers, thank you for your time and assistance today.” She held out her hand and he bowed over it, then shook Thornbrook’s hand before departing with his diagram.
Louisa leaned to study the drawing, and Thornbrook moved up beside her. “Do you think it safe to assume that there is nothing hidden on the bridge that connects the gardens? I feel certain you and your brothers and sisters have explored every inch of it.”
“Yes, I believe so.” She studied the diagram. “What startled me the most is the second pond and the intake grate.” How could she have spent all of her life living here and not have known about either of them?
A small structure caught her attention and she leaned closer. “What is this? I didn’t notice it on the other diagram.”
“I took it to be a small gazebo of some sort.”
“It’s just sitting in the middle of a field?”
“So it would seem.”
“I’m beginning to feel quite foolish for never noticing any of these things.”
“It’s a large property and I daresay you weren’t allowed to wander unattended, so it’s no wonder you aren’t familiar with everything. Would it make you feel better if we go out now and see what we can find?”
“But won’t the ink smear if we move your drawing before it dries?”
“Well yes, but given that you have guests to entertain, I doubt we could manage more than one location today anyway. Where would you like to go?”
“Why don’t we ride along the river and stop at the pavilion. Given the speed of the water flowing down river, it’s unlikely anything would have been hidden in it, but perhaps there are other things we’ve never noticed before.”
“I will go to the stables and help James saddle the horses while you find your maid.” He moved quickly, then stopped on the threshold. “Thank you for allowing me to join your quest.”
“As if I could have stopped you.” She didn’t understand why he sometimes seemed so vulnerable. They’d been working together for days. Why would he doubt she’d want him to accompany her?
“Still, it was nice not to hear no from you for once.” He touched her hand for a mere second—just long enough for the heat of his fingers to send longing swirling through her.
He shot down the corridor before she could reply. Had she really been that hard on him? Probably in the beginning, but certainly not recently. It was time for her to either risk alienating him forever by telling him the terms of her inheritance, or simply to choose to stay at Walsley and not risk her heart. Either way, one of them had to make a difficult choice.
…
Gavin stood outside the stables holding the reins of both Louisa’s mare and a large gelding. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only fifteen minutes, she and her maid approached. James led another mare over to Eliza, and Gavin waited as patiently as he could for Louisa to join him. Now that he’d spent several days with her, he could hardly stand to be away from her for any length of time. In fact, if anyone cared to devise a competition to determine who was the most besotted man in England, he would win it, hands down. She could be so fierce one moment and so vulnerable the next, and it was an intoxicating combination.
“Is everything all right at the house? Lady Phoebe hasn’t made an appearance?”
Louisa shook her head. “Thankfully not. It’s far too early for her to be up and about.”
“Then let’s make our way down the river to the pavilion. This might be our last morning of peace before more guests arrive.” Having more people in residence at Walsley would likely curtail their ability to meet privately, so continuing their early morning rides might become imperative.
As had become their routine, he lifted Louisa and gently placed her on the saddle, taking the time to ensure that one leg was placed properly over the pommel and the other in the stirrup. Someday, hopefully soon, he would be able to see the delicate turn of her ankle, and the arch of her foot, but for now he would content himself with his imagination. His very vivid imagination.
He mounted and glanced back to make sure Miss Eliza was ready, then they began to follow the river to the north toward the pavilion.
“I have a confession to make,” Louisa said.
“Oh? Do tell.”
“I fear the poem has nothing to do with the missing jewelry. What if we’re wasting our time?”
Would that she had made a confession of her undying love for him, but he supposed that was too much to hope for. “Do you have something more important you need to do?”
She shook her head.
“Then there’s no point in worrying about it.” One of the many small bridges on the property came into view. Felled branches and debris were caught in the underside of the bridge, confirming his assumption that there either weren’t any clues hidden near the river, or if there had been, they had long since been swept away. He voiced is opinion to Louisa.
“I think we can rule out finding any clues in the river or near the bridges. It makes the most sense to focus on land-based structures like the pavilion, the grate, and the two ponds.”
“Then let’s go.” She took off upriver, and he was more than happy to chase her as long as she eventually let herself be caught.
The moment her horse reached their destination, she hopped down and waited only long enough to hand her horse over to Eliza before going to investigate the structure. He followed more slowly, circling around the pavilion and knocking on boards at its base to determine whether there were any hollow spaces that could be used to hide something. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Thornbrook?”
“Yes?”
“I think I may have found something.”
He joined her inside the pavilion.
“Look.” She pointed up at the underside of the roof. “See those boxes under the eaves?”
He nodded. “They might be structural, to support the beams, but—”
“They’re not placed consistently.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you think something might be hidden inside them?”
“There’s only one way to find out, though I suspect it’s unlikely. I’d be more apt to agree if there was only one box.” He ought to have thought to bring some tools with him. Given the height of the sun, there wasn’t time to go find a crowbar and pry open all of the boxes before they would be missed at the house.
“Maybe she had multiple boxes made for that very reason. A decoy so as not to arouse suspicion.”
“Perhaps.” He took a closer look at the placement of each of the boxes. “One thing is for sure. They don’t serve any structural purpose. They’re attached to the bottom of the support beams.”
“You do realize what this means, don’t you?” Louisa practically shivered with excitement.
“What?”
“If we do find a clue or clues in the boxes, I get the credit for finding them. That puts me one step closer to winning our wager.”
He frowned. It would be disastrous for him to lose. “But that only matters if the clue leads to us finding the jewelry, so there’s no reason to gloat yet.”
“What if the jewelry is hidden inside the boxes?”
“I’m afraid we won’t find out before tomorrow. We need to get back to the house before we are missed.” As much as he wanted to find the jewelry, he would rather fail than lose their wager. He ought never to have suggested the silly bet, but of course, he’d never expected her to claim the truth as her spoil.
Louisa let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I suppose you’re right, but if Lady Phoebe is still asleep when we return, I’m going to drag her out of bed myself.”
He raised a brow. “Can I watch?”
“You’re incorrigible,” she called over her shoulder as she approached her mare.
“I’ve been called worse.” He lifted her up and placed her in the saddle.
“Of that I have no doubt.”