He smiled impatiently. “Yes, yes, by all means. Please take your time, and let me know if I can help you.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Susannah took her time and slowly walked around the shop, Mrs. Princeton following her every move like a dutiful companion. Occasionally, Susannah would pick up a fine china figurine and examine it closely, or touch the rough fabric of an old tapestry, or stop and admire a painting on the wall. But she was always cognizant that Mr. Smith and his colleague were pretending not to watch her every move.
“I don’t think this is the kind of place you should be in, Your Grace,” Mrs. Princeton whispered when they were quite a distance from the two men.
“Perhaps not,” Susannah whispered, “but nonetheless we stay here until my business is concluded.”
On a side table, beside a miniature statue of Athena, she saw several old music scores on torn and tattered pieces of aged parchment.
She carefully picked them up. Looking at the notes, she could see the melody was intricate and complicated. She tried to sound the notes in her mind. Learning new music was always a challenge, and she desperately needed something to take her mind off Race. She had not come to shop, but there was no way she could pass up the music. Playing the pianoforte always calmed her, and finding these old, rare copies gave her a new confidence to finish the task at hand.
Susannah handed the scores to Mrs. Princeton to hold, and then she headed over to the magnificent desk where Mr. Smith stood looking at an account book.
“Yes, Your Grace,” he said with a wide smile. “I see you found something of interest.”
“I do have a penchant for music played on the pianoforte.”
“Excellent. How else may I be of service?”
As casually as she could, Susannah said, “I noticed on your shop window that it says you deal in jewelry, but I don’t see any here in your shop.”
He lifted the spectacles from his nose and laid them on his desk. He smiled cunningly and said, “Oh, my, yes, Duchess, I have some exceptional gems and gold pieces. I acquire precious stones from all over the world, but of course because of their value I must keep them in the safe in my office. I’m happy to bring them out here one at a time and show you what I have, or if it’s more comfortable for you, you and your companion can join me in my office where it will be more private and you can look over all that I have for as long as you want. Mr. Helms will watch the shop for me.”
Susannah’s stomach jumped at the thought that he might actually have the pearls, yet she had an innate reluctance to go to the back of this man’s shop. Instinct told her this was not a man to trifle with. She had to calm herself. Finding the pearls could not be as easy as simply having this man present them to her, but oh, how she would love it if it turned out to be so.
Swallowing her hesitation, she said, “Of course, we’ll follow you to your office. I would very much like to see all that you have.”
“Certainly.”
Mr. Smith picked up his spectacles as he nodded to Mr. Helms. He then turned back to Susannah and said, “This way.”
Susannah and Mrs. Princeton followed Mr. Smith down a dimly lit corridor to a small, damp room that held an oak desk with baroque, trumpet-shaped legs. It was littered with papers and books. Mr. Smith walked over to a skirted round table that stood against a far wall. He pushed the lamp and a small statue of David to one side and lifted the hem of the brown brocade cloth and bunched it up on the table. Susannah briefly saw what appeared to be a large iron safe with two key holes in it, one underneath the other, before Mr. Smith knelt in front of it.
Her gaze darted to Mrs. Princeton, who was standing near the doorway, stiff with apprehension, holding the music to her chest as if it might somehow protect her from whatever it was she feared. Looking back at Mr. Smith, Susannah watched him pull a ring with several keys on it from his coat pocket and unlock the top lock.
He rose and said, “Excuse me. I have to get the other key from another room.” He went back out the door. Susannah glanced at Mrs. Princeton and raised her eyebrows in a hopeful gesture.
“There, that didn’t take long,” Mr. Smith said, hurrying back into the office. “For safety purposes, I have to keep one of the keys hidden, you understand.”
“I can see the wisdom of that,” Susannah said calmly, even though she felt as if all her insides were quaking. And she didn’t exactly know why. It wasn’t as if Mr. Smith or his associate had said or done anything to make her fearful of them.
When she first walked into the shop, the scent of the citrus incense was pleasant, but now, with the pressure of what she was doing, it was beginning to give her a headache. Knowing that there was the slightest possibility she could find the pearls kept Susannah’s mind occupied and her hands calm.
Mr. Smith quickly cleaned off an area of his desk and slid an oil lamp over. He pulled a camel-back chair around and said, “Please, Your Grace, sit here where you can be comfortable and see well. I’ll bring everything to you.”
She accepted the chair and stared as he knelt in front of the safe again and put the key in the bottom lock and twisted the handle. The heavy door swung open. With his hand, he pulled out several velvet boxes and two trays filled with an assortment of jewels and carefully put them all on the desk in front of her. She was amazed at how he managed to do so much with just one arm and hand.
Susannah took her time and calmly looked at everything Mr. Smith spread before her. He showed her elaborate gold and jeweled crowns, large diamond necklaces, and loose rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. She complimented exceptional pieces and asked questions about others until her head began to pound. When she felt she couldn’t look at another gem, she said to him, “I haven’t seen any pearls, Mr. Smith. Do you have any?”
His brow wrinkled, and he pursed his lips. “I did, but not now.”
Susannah tensed but hoped it didn’t show on her face. “What do you mean?”
Disappointment flashed in his eyes, as if he could see a sale slipping through his fingers. “I had some of the most beautiful pearls in the world a couple of weeks ago, but a gentleman came in and purchased them all.”
“A gentleman bought them all?”
