‘But it will not be ours,’ she reminded him.
‘It was not yours in the first place,’ he reminded her. ‘Nor was it your grandmother’s, when she sold it. And the new Earl would not know it from a hundred other similar vases I have seen in shops all around London. He would likely be grateful to have it replaced so that at least one thing in his home does what he expects it to do.’
‘You cannot possibly understand,’ she said. ‘We are attempting to maintain the history of the family.’
‘Of course not,’ he said with a grimace. ‘Since I have no family to claim me, I am forced to live in a nice house with modern conveniences and undamaged goods. In turn, your cousin has come all the way from Philadelphia to live in a house full of useless and broken items, kept for the sake of posterity. Do you not see the madness of this plan? If you cannot, I suspect Comstock will notice it when he arrives at the manor.’
‘You have no idea what the new Earl will or will not think,’ Hope said, growing more annoyed by the minute.
‘Haven’t I?’ Gregory said, trying to be patient, so she might find the truth on her own. ‘I am not the one who has been building Miles Strickland into some kind of saviour who will fix all the problems of the family with a wave of his hand.’
‘No, you haven’t. You tried to make him into a villain because you were jealous,’ she reminded him.
‘I did,’ he agreed. ‘Nor did I tell you that the other half of the task put to me by Leggett was to disabuse you of the notion that marrying him would solve all problems. He even gave me permission to lie to you, just the way I did.’
‘So you blame my brother-in-law for your bad character?’ she said, shocked. ‘Did he tell you to seduce me as well?’
‘I blame no one but myself,’ Gregory said, his face hardening. ‘I refused his suggestion and planned to reason with you instead. But at the ball, I was willing to throw away my principles for one moment of your attention. Today is proof enough that reason would have been pointless. I will never be able to change the mind of a woman who chooses to ignore what is right under her nose.’ He pointed down to the box at her feet, wishing that she could see it as he did.
‘I have no idea what you mean,’ she said, honestly puzzled.
‘Have you never wondered why, when it came time to rob the entail, your grandmother chose the things that she did?’
‘Because she was selfish and did not think of the future difficulties it would cause,’ Hope said, without thinking. And that was the problem. She did not dare think. She was afraid to.
‘I have been to the manor with you,’ he said, walking her through the steps to the truth. ‘A single chair from the dining room would be worth more than all the things we have recovered. Can you not see what she has done?’
‘She stole things that did not belong to her,’ Hope said, stubbornly. But there was something in her eyes that flitted on the edges of awareness, crying to her that something was not right. He had but to get her to listen to it.
‘She did not take a chair because to do so would devalue the set. Instead, she sold rubbish. Dented candlesticks. Paintings too ugly to hang. Broken vases.’ He waved his hand. ‘And that abomination in the box. Comstock was right. It is a wonder that we common folk do not rise up like the Americans did and wrest power away from the nobles, for no sane family would want to preserve such detritus, much less punish one who disposes of them.’
‘You have spoken to my cousin,’ she said, taking the wrong message from his last words.
‘Because I wished to confirm that what I suspected was true,’ he said. ‘It was and he has my sympathies. The poor fellow has only just begun to realise the misfortune that has befallen him.’
‘He is heir to an earldom,’ she said, shaking her head against what she must know was the truth.
‘And head of a family that cannot pay their bills,’ Gregory said, making no effort to blunt his tone.
‘If Grandmother had not taken the diamonds, he would not have reason to worry,’ she snapped.
‘If you search your heart, you will know that that cannot be true,’ he said. ‘One of the smaller stones in the tiara would have been enough to run the estate for a year. The lavalier would have been enough for a decade. If she had sold off the diamonds, why have you been scraping by with half a staff? Why has the Dowager resorted to pawning small things that no one would miss so there might be food on the table?’
She was shaking her head, as if she still did not want to believe. He could see the truth rising in her mind like a bubble in stagnant water.
Before she could speak, he did, so she did not have to say the truth aloud. ‘There were no diamonds. There never have been. If ever they existed, they were sold off generations ago to support a decaying system that is finally about to fail. God help Miles Strickland, who has traded a perfectly good life in America for ruin and heartache with a family who refuses to admit to themselves or the rest of the world that they are poor.’
‘Poor.’ She said it very softly as if the word itself were the problem and by speaking it the situation would be made real.
‘You have kept hope alive by thinking that it was temporary,’ he said. ‘That all problems would be solved when the heir arrived. That as long as he was happy with the three of you, he would set things right and you need never worry again. But what good will it do you to marry the Earl of Comstock if there is no money at all to unencumber?’
‘We are poor,’ Hope repeated, as if still trying to grasp the thought.
He nodded encouragement. ‘I have the proof of it here.’ He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. ‘My job was not finished until I kept my promise to you and settled the matter of the diamonds. You know I would not leave you without keeping my promise.’
‘You have found them?’ He could see the hope coming back into her face like rising colour.
It broke his heart to have to dash it again. ‘I found an explanation for their absence. I know nearly as many jewellers in London as I do pawnshops. I made enquiries after we returned to London.’
