Page 44 of Hold Me Fast
They split upin Launceston, Tammie, and Evangeline heading for the drapery and the men to collect the mail and to run a few errands that took them to, among other places, the saddlery, the wheelwright, and the blacksmith.
When Jowan and Bran met the ladies for lunch, they were able to report they had several large packages to be collected but were finished with their shopping.
“We have, too,” Jowan said. “We managed to get most of the items on our list. The letter was a surprise. It was addressed to my father and signedPatricia Mayhew.”
“The solicitor’s cousin,” Tammie exclaimed. “The one you were going to hunt for in Plymouth.”
Jowan nodded, looking delighted at this turn of events. “As it happens, she has not changed her name,” he said, “so we probably would have been able to find her. It is good to be saved the hunt, though.” The news got better.
“She asks if my father wants papers with his name and address that have been discovered in records kept by Timothy Trantor, Solicitor, of London.”
Tammie exclaimed, “How fortunate. You do, of course. Oh, Jowan. I hope that those papers will help you recover your money!”
“I do, too,” Jowan said, fervently. “She said she wrote twice when the records were first sent to her after her cousin died, but received no reply. That must have been while Bran and I were still away at Oxford and my father was making a muck of things.”
Bran took up the tale. “Mrs. Mayhew is moving and cannot keep anything that remains of her cousin’s files. So, she thought she would make one more attempt. Jowan is going to let her know we are visiting Plymouth in a week and will call on her in Plymouth to retrieve the papers.”
Chapter Seventeen
They arrived inPlymouth in the middle of the afternoon and checked into the inn. The rooms they had reserved by letter were spacious and comfortable and included a private parlor where they could take their meals.
After refreshing themselves with a cup of tea and a wash, they sallied forth to tick off the first item on their list—a visit to the jeweler who Jowan thought would be the best to appraise Tammie’s jewelry. “You will come with me, will you not, Jowan?” Tammie asked. “I trust you to help me decide whether to accept the man’s offer.”
Bran and Evangeline declared their wish to join the expedition. “We are going to choose Evie’s wedding ring,” Bran explained.
The shop was larger inside than it appeared from the street and looked prosperous—all polished wood and plush furnishings, with the hushed air of a temple. The jeweler’s appearance and demeanor were reassuring. He was a man in his middle years and of average height and build, but he had kind eyes and a warm smile.
Tammie’s cynical side, the one fed by years of exposure to Guy and his cohorts, suggested that such an impression would be helpful in cheating his customers. When he heard what they wanted, he introduced Bran and Evangeline to his assistant, who took the couple to another counter.
He asked Tammie to show him the jewelry she wanted to sell, and she emptied the contents of her cloth bag onto the counter. He examined the items, one set at a time.
They were items that had been gifted to her by Guy, by other lovers, by theatre managers for particularly memorable successes in ticket sales, and even by theatre followers who hoped for a closer relationship. They were part of the history she would prefer to forget, or at least move past.
The jeweler was putting them into three piles, and once he finished, he explained why.
Of the first pile, he said. “These are not particularly valuable pieces. The workmanship is not outstanding, and the items themselves have little intrinsic value, being of inferior materials.”
The second pile, he said, was, “aesthetically pleasing and well made, though unlikely to command the highest of prices because the jewels are paste.” Both piles, he thought, could appeal to some buyers. He would take them on commission and sell them.
That left the third and smallest pile—a diamond and pearl necklace, a ruby and diamond parure, several lesser necklaces, bracelets, and rings, a tiara, and a handful of jeweled hair ornaments. The value he placed on each had Tammie’s eyes popping. Over one hundred pounds for the diamond and pearl, nearly as much again for the parure, and five pounds apiece for the pins.
“That, you understand, are the values you would insure them for, Miss Roskilly. If you wish to sell them on commission, I shall set the price at that level, but take thirty percent of the sale price as my fee. If you wish to sell them immediately, I hope you shall give me the right of refusal. My price will be the stated value less twenty percent.”
They left the shop with the jeweler’s promissory note for three hundred pounds and another eighty pounds in bank notes—more than sufficient to cover the cost of fabric for new gowns and to make a start on the repairs and alterations at the cottage. And Bran and Evangeline had chosen and purchased a wedding ring.
Very pleased with the outcome of the errand, they walked together back to the inn, Evangeline on Bran’s arm and Tammie and Jowan a few paces behind the other couple. Suddenly, Tammie felt sure that someone was watching her. She wanted to discount it as her feelings and emotions had been unpredictably divorced from reality in recent years. Rather, she thought, make that in the past seven years, ever since Guy pretended to befriend her and then took her away from everything and everyone she knew.
She looked around, and no one was there. Of course. But the feeling persisted. Wait, wasn’t that Guy’s valet Marco, just twenty paces away on the other side of the street? He appeared out of nowhere as if the thought of Guy had conjured him up.No.He must have stepped out of a building, for when he saw her watching him, he stepped backward and disappeared again.
Her heart began to pound, and she wanted to run away, as fast and far as she could. But she forced herself to remain calm, or at least appear so. “Marco is here. Guy’s valet,” she told Jowan.
Jowan stopped, his arm tensing under her hand. “Where?”
“Just up ahead. I saw him, but just for a moment, then he moved backward. Into a building, I think. No, look!” They had walked another dozen paces, and Tammie was now close enough to see a narrow alleyway opening into the street just where Marco had been standing.
“He must have used that alley to get away,” she said.
Jowan and Bran exchanged glances. “You escort the ladies to the inn,” Jowan told his brother. “I’ll see where this goes.”
