The Earl Steals a Heart

CHAPTER8

The next afternoon,Susan was lounging on the settee in Billington House’s drawing room, reading over, for what felt like the hundredth time, the copy of the riddle which Edward had made for her when Edward and Lady Eugenia came in, both looking a bit glum and tired. Focusing on the riddle, and thus someone else’s problems, had been doing a commendable job of keeping Susan’s mind off her own problems, at least most of the time.

“It’s back to the drawing board on the riddle, I’m afraid,” Edward sighed, slumping down into an armchair close to the fire. He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if trying to fight off the beginnings of a headache.

Frowning, Susan straightened up, making room for Lady Eugenia on the settee.

“You’ve checked all of the paintings of your grandfather in London?”

“Every single one,” Lady Eugenia groaned.

“To absolutely no avail,” Edward chimed in.

“Well, that is positively awful news,” Susan groaned. She shook the riddle clutched in her hands, as if she could somehow shake the answers out of the scrap of paper. “It says right here, ‘In London if your mind you wrack, you’ll look behind a grandfather’s back. Oh!”

Susan passed Lady Eugenia the riddle and started pacing in an effort to untangle her thoughts as she silently repeated the final lines of the riddle in her mind.

“What is it?” Lady Eugenia gasped. “What have you realised, Miss Wingfield?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t catch it before,” Susan groaned, winding a strand of her hair which had fallen loose from her hairpins around her finger, twirling it tighter and tighter.

“Didn’t catch what, Susan?” Edward prompted, leaning forward in his armchair, resting his forearms on his knees as he watched her pace and twist the loose strand of hair.

“The riddle says ‘behind a grandfather’s back,’ not ‘behind your grandfather’s back.’ How many of the portraits you own contain grandfathers in general, as opposed to your grandfather, specifically?”

“Dozens, probably,” Edward murmured. “But we’ve already eliminated all of the paintings of our grandfather, so that helps, and it is a place to start, at least.”

It was Lady Eugenia’s turn to jump up off the settee. She extended a hand to Edward, to help him up, too.

“We should start with the remaining paintings here in Billington House, since this riddle was intended for you. It would make sense for him to have left the clue in London in Billington House because he knew it would be yours someday.”

“Good idea.” Edward gave a firm nod. “We shall need help from the staff again to check them all. It could take hours, if the correct painting really is in Billington House at all.”

“Then we had better get to work sooner rather than later.”

Lady Eugenia swept out of the drawing room, then, motioning for Edward and Susan to follow.

Susan couldn’t help smiling and Edward slid her a sidelong glance, his own mouth curling up slightly at the corners.

“What?”

His voice was warm, kind, maybe a little bit exasperated, but it was exactly what Susan had always thought a brother’s voice should sound like. Not for the first time, she wished that she, Georgiana, and Eliza had had a brother who could have inherited the Gainsbourne title and entailed estates instead of Wadham.

“It’s just… kind of lovely, how you let your sisters have so much agency and freedom to be who they are — to be in command of their own lives — within the walls of your home. And you do the same for Eliza and me, since Georgiana married you. It’s very different from the way that the rest of our world usually treats women. I appreciate it, Edward, truly.”

Susan gave him an unsteady, wavering smile.

Edward seemed dumbstruck for a moment, standing there with his brow furrowed, his lips tugging down at the corners in a bewildered frown.

“I am honoured to provide all of you with a space in this world where you feel safe and secure enough to be who you are and do as you please. It is how my father has always treated my mother, for as long as I can remember, and I cannot think of a better legacy for him to have passed on to me.”

“Your Grandfather, too.” Susan pointed to the riddle in her hand as they stepped out onto the upstairs landing together. “He could have just taken the whole treasure for himself and passed it all on to his firstborn son, rather than splitting it with his sister and ensuring that all of his grandchildren — and hers, too — would receive a fair measure of all that wealth. No one would have batted an eye if he’d done exactly that, regardless of his sister’s help in finding the treasure or not. Your grandfather started something truly beautiful for the Calthorpe family when he set up a treasure hunt which would benefit all of his grandchildren, and not exclusively the firstborn son of a firstborn son.”

Lady Eugenia rushed back up the stairs then, with Williams and a herd of footmen in tow behind her. Her brown eyes burned with excitement as she joined Edward and Susan, motioning for her older brother to tell the townhouse’s staff what they wanted done.

They had been through almost every single portrait of Edward and Lady Eugenia’s male ancestors in Billington House’s upstairs gallery, and Susan was beginning to wonder if they would ever find the clue for the treasure hunt, or if it was irrevocably lost. But when the footmen eased down a tall, stately portrait of Edward’s grandfather’s grandfather and turned it around for Edward, Susan, and Lady Eugenia to examine the back of the painting, hope stirred again.

Her gaze scanned over the portrait’s massive frame, then Susan’s heart stuttered. Her whole body went taut, the air around them humming with excitement as she pointed to the bottom right corner of the back of the portrait’s large, heavy frame.

“There!” Susan cried. “Look! An oilskin pouch tacked to the frame!”

Lady Eugenia let out an excited squeal, one which almost deafened Susan for a moment, as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Edward crouched down and detached the pouch from the portrait’s frame.

“You were right, Miss Wingfield!” Lady Eugenia squeezed Susan’s arm, practically vibrating with excitement. “I can’t wait to see what’s inside the pouch!”

“Nor can I!”

Susan returned Lady Eugenia’s gentle squeeze on her arm.

Edward straightened up, then, his hands shaking with excitement as he opened the oilskin pouch and pulled out a sheaf of very official-looking papers. Susan squinted at the papers.

“What is it, Edward?” Lady Eugenia gasped, giving voice to the very question that Susan was dying to know the answer to, as well.

“It’s a deed for a property.” Edward smiled over at Lady Eugenia and Susan, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “The property is called Galleon Chase. I’ve never seen a record of the property before, but I’ll have to talk with Mr. Wentworth about the property and make sure that the deed is valid and still stands.”