“Perhaps, but I would never forgive myself if something happened to you when I could have prevented it.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me, Lord Garretson. There has not been another missive. In fact, nothing strange has occurred in the past sennight except your gardeners have taken an unusual interest in this side of your estate.”
“The necklace,” Stella said from just inside.
Eliza’s jaw tightened as she closed her eyes for a moment. Likely trying to control her anger.
“What necklace?” Lucian asked.
“One given to her by her brother. It has gone missing.”
“I had difficulty with the clasp. No doubt it fell and will be located in the house, or in these gardens.”
“That is not all, Lord Garretson,” Stella said as she stepped outside. “A stocking, glove, and handkerchief have gone missing since we arrived.”
“It is not unusual for any of those items to be misplaced,” Eliza argued.
“Is it your fear that the person may have been in the cottage and taken them?” he asked Stella.
“Yes,” Stella answered just as Eliza said, “No.”
Eliza was correct in that these lost items were not unusual. He had lost several gloves in his life as well as handkerchiefs. Was Stella now just overly fearful or was Eliza not being cautious enough?
“I can assure you that nobody has been inside this cottage other than Stella, Saul, myself, and occasionally you.”
She was likely correct, but Lucian had been unable to shake his unease since he had read the missive. The fact that Eliza was showing no concern was alarming.
She reached forward to lift her teacup and winced before setting it back down and stretching out her hand, making a fist, and stretching again. “I will not be writing anymore today and the reason I have come outside.”
“Are you in pain?”
“I fear it is a symptom of my profession. I can only write so long before I begin having difficulty.”
“Is there a poultice or cream that would help?” Lucian asked.
“Not that I have found.”
“Perhaps you should hire a secretary who could write for you,” Lucian suggested.
“I have engaged Stella in that very position in the past. She has excellent penmanship and can keep up with me as I dictate the words.”
“I assume that she was unable to be of assistance today?” Lucian asked.
“I am currently rewriting and making edits to a story that I wrote long ago, and it is tedious. If I was working on a new novel, then I would have her set laundry aside.”
He’d had to make changes to his official correspondence, writing a novel must require several. Though, how she could keep the story in her mind as she wrote an entire book was beyond him.
“How come it was not published if it is an earlier book?” he asked.
“I did not know how it would end,” she answered with a smile. “I had to wait until I knew.”
“Do you now know?”
Eliza tilted her chin and smiled at him. “I have an idea.”
Lucian had always assumed when an author sat down to write a story that they knew what the ending would be and what would happen from beginning to end. Apparently, that did not occur.
“Lord Garretson, I do appreciate your concern for my well-being, but it is not necessary.”
