Page 85 of The Hidden Heart

“Yes!” she cried. “Yes, I will marry you. I only hope you will not regret it.”

“I know I will never do that,” he responded, and closed her lips with another kiss.”

CHAPTER 19

Jessica gave herself a final look in the mirror, experiencing a moment’s doubt that she looked the part of a duchess. Perhaps Rachel would take pity on her and guide her through it.

She smiled a little to herself. She was still fizzing with excitement inside. She imagined she probably would be for a long time.

Jessica walked over to her dresser and looked down at the box the General had left her. What had interested Lord Kestwick so about this box?

At that moment there was a tap on the door, and Jessica called, “Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Richard standing there, dressed for supper. “I thought I would escort you down to the dining room. What are you doing?”

“Just looking at this box, wondering why it held such meaning for Lord Kestwick.”

“And have you arrived at any answers?”

“No. Not really.” Jessica opened the box, and Richard came over to look down at it. “Except, perhaps, this locket.” She reached in and picked up a locket which, when opened, revealed a lock of blond hair. “I think this might have belonged to Lord Kestwick’s mother. The general was in love with her all his life, you see. He told me so just before his death—except at the time I did not know that she was Lord Kestwick’s mother.”

“Surely that would not be enough to cause Kestwick to murder people—or even to try so hard to get the box,” Richard said reasonably. “No one would know to whom the hair belonged.”

Jessica pulled out all the contents of the box one by one and piled them on the dresser, saying, “Perhaps there is something else here, something that we cannot see.”

“A false bottom perhaps?” Richard asked, trying to slide a fingernail between the felt-covered bottom and the side. “You know, it does look rather larger on the outside than what it seems inside.” He closed the lid and turned it over, looking for some sort of join on the bottom.

“Perhaps that is why Kestwick smashed my jewelry box. Perhaps he took it apart looking for a secret compartment. It wouldn’t have to be large, you know. It could hold a—maybe a letter. Maybe Lady Kestwick wrote the General a love missive, which Kestwick was afraid would cause a scandal.”

She subsided. “That seems a trifle strange, too, doesn’t it? How horrible a scandal could it be? Anyway, why would it get out? Even if I had found it, I would never have revealed anything that would have hurt the General’s good name.”

“Kestwick would not know that. I imagine he judged the world by his own standards, and obviously he was wicked enough to ruin a name or anything else.”

“That’s true.”

Cleybourne rapped his knuckles sharply against the bottom of the box, working his way across. “It sounds rather hollow.”

“Are you looking for the secret compartment?” came a voice from the door.

Richard and Jessica swung toward it in astonishment. Gabriela was standing in the door, watching them.

“There’s a secret compartment?” Richard asked.

“Oh, yes, the General showed it to me once. It’s terribly clever.”

“Obviously we should have let Gabriela attend the discussion this afternoon,” Richard said ruefully.

“Yes, you should have,” Gabriela agreed, coming across the room to join them. “Why?”

“There is something important about this box. It is why Lord Kestwick tried to kill me…well, one of the reasons.”

“He thought the General hid something in this box?” Gabriela asked, wide-eyed. “What?”

“We don’t know. That is why we were looking in it.”

“See, this piece of wood moves.” Gabriela pushed her finger against one piece of the inlaid wood, and it slid out, revealing a tiny lever. “Then…”

Gabriela tugged at the lever, and a hidden drawer in the bottom of the box glided slowly out. Inside the drawer lay two folded packets of papers. One was addressed to Jessica in the General’s shaky, aging hand. The other was addressed to the General, also in a hand Jessica recognized.