Page 19 of The Wise Daughter

Aaron followed Ruthers inside, aware that Nora was keeping pace. I can keep her safe in my castle, he told himself over and over, trying not to fear what might happen to her if the men who had beaten him were inside.

“It’s the chimney sweep,” Ruthers said, winded from rushing. “We caught him trying to rush off with a handful of your best silver. Vander and I had to hold him until we could lock him up.”

“Does this castle actually have a dungeon?” Nora asked, looking at him curiously.

“Nothing so dramatic.” Aaron was too upset with Ruthers for ruining his moment with her to explain that there was a rather plain holding cell where criminals had once been held in generations past, but no one had been put inside for decades.

“He’s in your mother’s music room, Your Grace.”

Aaron’s muscles twitched. Of all the places to choose!

“He was already working on the chimney in that room. I reckoned if we just locked him in, there would be nothing else for him to take.”

Another thought that angered Aaron. His mother’s music room deserved more attention, but he reluctantly accepted Ruthers’s logic. “And I suppose the silverware is in your safe keeping?”

Ruthers stopped for a moment, looked at him as if he had just said something curious, then nodded. “It’s safe.”

When they reached the music room, Chuff stood ready with a key and unlocked the door. Inside, with empty walls, missing instruments, and scratched floors, the chimney sweep stood trembling.

“Y-your Grace.” The man dipped into an awkward bow and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t.

Aaron steeled himself for the task ahead. His father would have known what to do if he were here. Aaron had never dealt with a criminal before, but he had obligations as the duke and master of his household to restore order.

Chuff handed Aaron a soot-covered satchel. “This is the man’s bag.”

“See for yourself what’s inside, Derricott.”

Aaron looked inside. His mother’s favorite spoons, forks, and butter knives, all of the finest silver, though tarnished, sat in a jumble inside.

Could the chimney sweep have known they were heirlooms that had been in the family for generations?

Aaron didn’t know how often his father had used them, but as a child, Aaron remembered his mother requesting them for only the most special occasions.

“I-I don’t know how those ended up in my satchel, Your Grace. I swear. I only brought a few tools in there. I-I’m a simple sweep. I’m no thief.”

Ruthers related to Aaron exactly what had happened, how the sweep had been asked to work on the chimney, but shortly after, he was seen leaving with his bag clanking and the evidence too apparent not to investigate.

Aaron took a deep, regretful breath. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rowe. I have no tolerance for thieving. I must see that you are met with justice.”

“Please, Your Grace!” His pleading eyes grew large. “My wife just gave birth to our fourth child. Our oldest is not yet eight. They’ll have no way to support themselves if anything happens to me.”

Aaron frowned. This was the part of being a duke he had dreaded.

Respect and authority were fine and grand until he had to proclaim such a consequence on the head of a poor man and by extension, his innocent family, in such a pitiable state.

Aaron made a note to see that his wife and children had what they needed.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Rowe, but stealing from me is no way to provide for your family. If only you had come to me to begin with. I might have been able to do something for you, but now…” He trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence.

“Your Grace?”

A light touch landed on his arm. He had almost forgotten Nora was witnessing everything.

“I have a few questions for Mr. Rowe.”

“Of course, Nora.”

She clasped her hands in front of her. “Mr. Rowe, we’ve heard Mr. Ruthers relate what he saw, but would you please tell us what happened from your perspective? Start with when you arrived at the castle, right from the beginning, who you spoke with, who showed you here, and such.”

Facing Nora, who looked perfectly at ease, the chimney sweep’s shoulders relaxed, and his breathing visibly slowed.

“I met Mr. Chuff at the door. He showed me here. I was surprised because I had worked on this chimney not long ago. It seemed too short a time to be clogged again. Never minding, though, in case I didn’t clean it thoroughly enough last time, I set to work.

I soon saw there wasn’t much to do. It really didn’t need my help after all.

I don’t think a fire’s been lit here for some time. ”

Aaron looked at the fireplace for the first time since coming in. The sweep was right. The grate looked fairly clean and free of ash. No smoldering logs or coals warmed the chilly room nor did any sit unused.

Nora nodded. “Yes, go on.”

Mr. Rowe swallowed. “With the intent to leave, I gathered my things. I had all my tools, but I couldn’t find my satchel.

It wasn’t anywhere in the room. I stepped out to look for Chuff in case he saw where I might have misplaced it, or I thought maybe someone had come in and cleaned it up while I was at work, not realizing it was mine.

But Chuff didn’t have any clue where my satchel was.

I checked in here one more time and found it in the corner. ”

“Does that sound accurate to you, Chuff?” Nora asked.

Chuff arched a brow and sniffed. “Yes.”

Nora nodded. “Do you think, Mr. Rowe, that you merely hadn’t noticed your satchel in the corner earlier?”

Mr. Rowe looked between Aaron, Ruthers, and Nora. With a short frantic head shake, he said, “No. I don’t think so. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe a maid took it in her tidying, then returned it. Maybe my satchel was confused with another. I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” Nora tapped her chin. “Your Grace, how far away are the kitchens and scullery from this room?”

“Two floors down at the opposite end of the castle.”

“Mr. Rowe, how long have you been at work in the castle today?”

The sweep swallowed again. “Wasn’t even an hour before Mr. Ruthers took hold of me.”

Ruthers stepped closer and grumbled. “He had more than enough time to make his visit to the silverware cabinets.”

“Yes, he likely did have time.” Nora agreed, a small smile sitting confidently on her lips.

“That is, if he went straight to work navigating through these corridors to arrive, swipe the silverware and make his return. But if you look at the floors, I can see that Mr. Rowe is leaving footprints. I mean no disrespect, sir, but you are also shedding a light dusting of soot as you move.”

“Forgive me, Your Grace. A messy work, cleaning chimneys.”

Aaron realized the man was addressing Nora as if she were already the duchess. Other than a slight pause, Nora gave no indication that she thought anything of it or had even noticed.

“Ruthers,” she said, “would you check the floors in the corridors that lead from here to the kitchens for any sign of soot?”

Ruthers bowed and left, leaving Aaron and Nora alone with the chimney sweep.

Aaron didn’t know what to do or say, but his thoughts were swiftly turning against the idea that they had caught a thief.

The chimney sweep fidgeted with his cap in his hands, opening and closing his mouth as if trying to speak.

Nora, however, turned to him as if he were her new confidant.

“Mr. Rowe, who invited you here today?”

“Same man who always hires me for a job. Mr. Carver.”

Aaron could have told her that, but he didn’t want to interrupt. Nora was at work, clearly enjoying herself.

“Other than Chuff, when he showed you in, did you see or interact with anyone else in the time that you were here?”

Mr. Rowe shook his head. “I nodded a greeting to a passing maid. Beyond that, no, Your Grace.”

Ruthers rushed back in. “No soot on the floors except on the way he came in, Miss Lacy. Sorry, Derricott. It’s possible I missed something in a dusty place like this.”

Mrs. Manning scrambled in after him. “I would have known the second that man had been about these corridors. Every time he comes, I send my maids sweeping up traces of his footsteps. As soon as he leaves, they’ll be cleaning his trail again.”

Mr. Rowe’s eyes glistened. He straightened his back, but one glance at Aaron had him slouching again, spinning his cap, and stuttering. “I-I can’t help it. Dirty occupation.”

“No one is blaming you for the soot, Mr. Rowe,” Nora reassured him, despite Mrs. Manning’s looks of disagreement. “Today, it is your friend.”

Mrs. Manning curtsied. “Forgive my interruption, Your Grace, but I thought you should know the key to the silverware’s cabinet is missing.”

“What? How can that be?” Chuff exclaimed, looking truly upset. It was the most Aaron had ever seen him react.

Aaron resisted the urge to massage his temple where a headache was coming on. “Thank you, Mrs. Manning. You have given us another interesting piece of this puzzle.”

Mrs. Manning curtsied again and left with Chuff following closely behind.

“Your Grace?” Nora placed her hand on his arm. “I see no reason why we need to take any further action against our friend, Mr. Rowe. You haven’t lost your mother’s silver after all, and I believe the circumstances strongly suggest that someone else is at work here.”

Aaron closed his eyes, took a breath before opening them, and nodded. “I agree.”

Ruthers lifted the satchel full of silverware that he still held.

“I’ll take care of this, Derricott.” He took off his coat and emptied the silverware into it, using it like the satchel, and handed the old satchel back to the chimney sweep.

“Sorry for the mistake, Rowe.” With the corners of his coat bunched in his hand and the silverware lightly clinking, he left the music room.

Aaron turned to the chimney sweep who awkwardly shifted from foot to foot. “I apologize for the trouble we’ve put you through today, Mr. Rowe. I was obviously too hasty. I hope this mishap will not discourage you from returning next time we need your assistance.”

“Not at all!” The quivering shadow lifted off the chimney sweep’s brow. He bowed deeply, and took hold of Nora’s hand, leaving streaks of soot on her. “Thank you. Thank you, Your Grace. Oh, forgive my soot! You’ve made a friend forever in me.”

“I have no doubt. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.” He next shook Aaron’s hand, and though the shaking was not as energetic, his relieved smile looked genuine.

After the man left, leaving Aaron and Nora alone, he ran his fingers through his hair despite the grains of soot he still felt on his skin. To think, he had come terribly close to sending an innocent man to a criminal’s fate. If it weren’t for Nora, he might have bungled the whole thing entirely.

“Nora, you should have been a barrister or a captain or…” He laughed but stopped when he saw her serious countenance. “Nora?”

Her features suggested she was deep in concentration. “Why do you think our poor chimney sweep was targeted like this? Someone must have wanted you to believe you caught the one responsible for the thieving while the real culprit goes undetected.”

“I know. I almost made a terrible mistake today.” Aaron strolled around the room, his legs suddenly restless. “Again, you have saved me.”

She ignored the praise. “Wouldn’t Chuff be the one responsible for the silver?”

“I believe so.”

“And he was the one who showed Mr. Rowe in.” She tapped her chin.

“So you now think Chuff might have been involved?” He could sense her mind rushing down its own course, and he wasn’t keeping up.

“Maybe. Your Grace, what did Mr. Ruthers mean when we first arrived? He rushed out to our curricle and said Carver was right.”

He ran a tired hand down his face. “Carver told me days ago that he suspected the chimney sweep.”

“I see. And he was the one who invited Mr. Rowe here today when the fireplace clearly did not need the attention.”

He knew what she would conclude from that. “I cannot believe Carver would ever orchestrate something like this.”

Nora paced across the room, eyeing the pianoforte before circling around again. “Hmm. So Mr. Carver planted the suspicion in everyone’s mind, but Ruthers could have taken advantage of that.”

“But Nora, these are my friends and most trusted servants.” Accusing them was like having the carpet pulled from under his feet.

Nora’s brows knit together. “I know, and I’m sorry. I’m not sure who is at fault, but these are things we cannot ignore.”

His stomach sank, but he did not disagree.