The Dashing Thief of Her Dreams

by Alice Kirks

  Chapter 17

  The morning after Geoffrey paid a visit to Lord Alymer to settle things in regards to the theft, he and Henry set off to locate the missing jewels. They rode in one of Geoffrey’s carriages to London to see a man named Phineas Rook. Rook was a shady dealer of antiques, who Henry had admitted selling the jewels to. Geoffrey knew that if they wanted to stand any chance of getting the jewels back, they would have to hope that Rook hadn’t sold them to anyone else yet.

  The carriage ride up was pleasantly silent, as Geoffrey did not feel like going over the developments that had occurred yesterday in regards to the theft. He was still furious that Henry had so badly fumbled the whole operation with the jewels. When they pulled up in front of Rook’s shop, Geoffrey exited the carriage quickly so that he did not have to speak to Henry. He did, however, wait for him outside of the front doors of the shop so that they could devise how they were going to speak with the man.

  “I shall do the talking,” Geoffrey told Henry, “for you have already fouled up so much of this.” Henry looked sheepishly at Geoffrey and nodded, saying nothing in return.

  They stepped inside Rook’s shop and Geoffrey had to stop himself from gasping. Every single surface in the small shop was covered with antiques of all varieties. There was so little room to move about because of all the items that Geoffrey was not sure they would be able to traverse the shop together. In his line of vision alone, Geoffrey could see everything from rusted teapots to fine china to elaborate lanterns made of gold. He looked about to see if there was anyone around, but he saw no one. “Good day?” Geoffrey called into the piles upon piles of goods.

  From somewhere deep in the shop, Geoffrey heard rustling. A muffled, high-pitched voice called out, “I will be with you momentarily!” Geoffrey looked to Henry, who looked slightly less surprised than Geoffrey did, and then the two men continued to try to discern where the voice was coming from.

  Soon enough, Rook emerged from behind a very tall stack of books. He was a very small man, no taller than five feet, with even smaller spectacles balanced on his nose. He had a very bushy, greying moustache that curled up at the ends and hair that matched. Today he was wearing a brightly coloured vest with a white shirt and black pants, and he held an assortment of serving trays in his hands as he came out.

  When he saw the two young men, he squinted his eyes and gave them each a thorough looking-over. “Do I recognise either of you?” The little old man asked in his high-pitched voice that very nearly made Geoffrey laugh.

  Henry nodded. “Yes, sir, I was here last week and sold you the Stanhope jewels,” he explained. Geoffrey looked at his cousin quizzically, for his tone denoted that the little man made him nervous. Why that was, Geoffrey could not discover.

  Rook looked away from the men, lost in thought, and then nodded. “Ahhh yes, the Stanhope jewels, of course. I’m surprised to see you back here. Do you need more funds for the orphanage?” Rook joked, laughing to himself. “You’re Henry Partridge, and you,” Rook said, pointing a shaking finger at Geoffrey, “must be Lord Geoffrey Nott.” Rook suddenly looked as though he had remembered something very important, and added, “I was sorry to hear of your father’s passing, Lord Geoffrey. He was a kind and fair man, even in his dealings with me.”

  Geoffrey gave the little man a curt nod of appreciation. “Thank you, Sir. We actually came here today to see if it would be possible to buy back the Stanhope jewels,” Geoffrey said firmly.

  The old man cocked his head to one side and looked at Geoffrey as though he had a second head growing out of his ear. “Buy them back?” Rook asked, skeptically. “Why would Henry Partridge and Geoffrey Nott be interested in purchasing the Stanhope jewels back after they were...” Rook trailed off, and then got a playful look in his eye. “Could it be that you two young men are interested in the two young, single ladies who those jewels belong to? I’ve heard the tales of the jewels’ origins and what they mean to the family, so I can only assume...”

  “You should assume nothing more than that I am a magistrate trying to fulfill my promise to the Stanhopes that I would return their jewels to them,” Geoffrey interjected seriously. He did not need any word of his feelings for Lady Bridget falling into the wrong hands and creating more problems.

  Rook looked at Geoffrey suspiciously, but then replied, “In that case, it will certainly not be possible to buy back the Stanhope jewels. I am a pawn broker, my good man, not a money lender. As soon as I got a hold of those jewels, they were out of my hands like hotcakes. You didn’t expect me to sit on something as valuable as that for long, did you?”

  Geoffrey’s heart sank. He knew that the chances of Rook having the jewels on hand were slim, but up until now there had still been some small part of him that had believed they would be easy to get back in their possession. Once they were, all of Geoffrey’s problems would have been solved and he could have gone back to living his normal life. Or, rather, as normal a life as he could lead at this point.

  “Mr. Rook, I’ve brought you many great pieces,” Henry suddenly interjected, “is there no way that we could go about getting them back?”

  Rook laughed so heartily that he began to have a hacking coughing fit. Geoffrey reached out to him to see if he was alright, but Rook swatted away his hand, saying, “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Rook coughed a bit more, and then finally straightened up and looked at the two men. “What makes you think that a man like myself would be able to do any special favours for you two? Do you think that having two noblemen in my store is unusual? Hah! You certainly do not know the ruling elite that well, then!” Rook had another good laugh, and then looked to Geoffrey.

  “Can we not ask you who bought them, then? Might we get in contact with them ourselves if you won’t assist us?” Geoffrey was trying to stay calm and not become upset at the old man, but as their visit went on, Geoffrey was finding this more and more difficult.

  Rook sighed. “You young men have such an idealistic view of what I do. What makes you think that I have the contact information of the lady who bought these, hmm?” Rook asked them.

  “Considering the fact that you just revealed to us that the buyer was a woman, I have a feeling that her transaction was an unusual one and so you were encouraged to take down her information,” Geoffrey said plainly.

  Rook looked unimpressed by Geoffrey’s observation. “Fine. Suppose I did know who this lady was. Suppose I did get in contact with her and tell her that you would like to buy the jewels back.” Rook leaned nonchalantly against a stack of books to his right and crossed his arms. “What would I receive in return?”

  “Mr. Rook, you know that is not how I do business with you,” Henry said firmly. “We did not come here today to make an offer, and should I ever acquire any more stolen goods-” but Henry stopped himself mid-sentence and looked to Geoffrey, embarrassed. Geoffrey gave him a hard look, and Henry amended his sentence, saying, “I have shown you nothing but good business, and this is not how you treat a loyal customer.”

  Rook raised an eyebrow in Henry’s direction. “Mr. Partridge, I am not sure if you are aware, but an ingenious man like myself dealing in the goods that I do does not care about the ‘loyalty’ of his customers,” Rook said seriously. “There are always other individuals looking to get rid of valuable goods; I do not need a man such as yourself to ‘keep me going.’” Rook gestured around his shop with his hand. “See? I have plenty of business. If you do not want to meet with my demands, there is the door.”

  Rook struggled to walk away from the men through the mess, but as he was retreating, Geoffrey had an idea. “Wait!” Geoffrey called after him, and Rook froze. “My idiotic cousin here likes to talk a lot; he did not mean what he said.” Geoffrey shot Henry a deadly look that said, What did I say about letting me do the talking? Henry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, but said nothing in return. Geoffrey turned back to Rook, who was now facing him.

  “Go on...” Rook encouraged him.

  “As magistrate, I have the ab
ility to either investigate an incident when I hear about it, which is what I am likely to do whenever I hear of lost, stolen goods. On the other hand...” Geoffrey trailed off and looked at Rook in a leading way.

  Rook cocked one eyebrow at him (the other one, this time, not the one that had been quizzical of Henry before). “Lord Geoffrey, are you saying that if there were a certain item that you were aware had come into my possession, you would be willing to look the other way?”

  Geoffrey nodded. “Mr. Rook, I know that there are a great many stolen items that come into your possession, so I cannot say that I would be able to turn a blind eye to every one of them. I can, however, tell you that I would be able to ‘overlook’ one of them,” Geoffrey explained. Rook looked delighted by that possibility, and Geoffrey was not lying. However, what Geoffrey did not have to explain was that while he would overlook Rook’s involvement in their next thief investigation, he would not allow his constables to do the same.

  “Fine. I shall set up an arrangement with the woman who made the purchase, but I make no promises about my ability to get her to return them to you, Lord Geoffrey,” Rook said. “I will not have you faulting on our agreement simply because the lady does not make good on any promise I make you. I can contact her and set up a meeting, but that is all.”

  Geoffrey nodded and smiled at Rook. “If that is the most you can do, that is fine with us,” he responded. Rook and Geoffrey shook hands, but when Geoffrey looked over at Henry, Henry looked unsure. Geoffrey was sure that once they were inside the carriage, Henry would have some things to say about the decisions Geoffrey had made. But that made no difference to Geoffrey; Henry had already fouled up this intrusion in so many ways that he did not get to have an opinion on how the rest of it would fall together.

  “In that case I thank you both for stopping by, and I am sure our paths will cross again soon,” Rook remarked as he turned on his heel and disappeared into his shop. As the small man went away, Geoffrey took another moment to look around the shop. He was sure that if he stayed here for much longer, he would have been able to locate quite a few items that had ‘gone missing’ from town. And so, as he did not want to become any more involved with Rook than he was already, Henry and Geoffrey left the shop and returned to their carriage.

  Chapter 18

  The next day, Geoffrey decided to take the morning off. It had been such a whirlwind of events since his father had passed away that he hardly had a moment to himself. It was a stunningly gorgeous spring day, and so Geoffrey decided to sit out back and get lost in a Shakespeare play he had not yet read. His choice for this morning: As You Like It. He knew it would surprise most Shakespeare buffs to know that he had not read it yet, and so that was why he decided to dive into it this morning.

  However, just as he was beginning the play, a servant interrupted him. “I’m sorry to bother you, Lord Geoffrey, but you have a visitor - would you like me to bring her to you?” he asked.

  Geoffrey put down the play and looked quizzically at the servant. “Her? Who is my visitor?” Geoffrey asked.

  “One Lady Bridget Stanhope of-” The servant was about to continue, but Geoffrey did not need him to.

  “Yes, yes, certainly, please admit her!” Geoffrey said, suddenly excited. The servant seemed surprised by his excitement but went off to collect Bridget. While the servant was away, Geoffrey put the play on the table, straightened his clothes and ran his fingers through his hair to ensure that it was not too ruffled. When he was fixing his hair, however, the servant returned with Lady Bridget in tow.

  When Geoffrey saw her, he yanked his fingers out of his hair and gave her a big smile. She returned the look happily, and when the servant saw the looks on both of their faces, he retreated quickly. Lord Geoffrey was so surprised and delighted to see her that he had forgotten to stand up, and so he quickly rectified his error and bowed to her. “Lady Bridget, what an honour it is to see you this fine day,” Geoffrey said to her.

  “I am very glad that you were willing to admit me when I had not warned you I would be calling upon you,” Bridget replied, curtseying. “My sister came with me, but she curiously became distracted by your horses so I do not think that she will be joining us.” She smiled slyly at Geoffrey, and he understood what she was suggesting.

  “Wonderful,” Geoffrey replied simply. “Won’t you sit down with me?” he asked, motioning to the chair at the table beside him. Bridget came and sat next to him, and looked out over the vast, lush lawn as they spoke. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today, Lady Bridget?” Geoffrey asked with great curiosity.

  “I simply wanted to... ask about the lead you were following,” Bridget said. Geoffrey could tell by the pause mid-sentence that she’d had to come up with that reason on the spot, but he did not say anything about that. The fact that Bridget had come to visit him of her own accord was enough to keep Geoffrey happy for quite some time.

  “Yes, of course,” Geoffrey responded professionally. “After the events that transpired at your estate two days ago-”

  “Are you reading As You Like It?” Bridget asked Geoffrey suddenly. He was so surprised that she had noticed the play right away that he simply looked at her, slack-jawed for a moment.

  “Yes, yes I am. Would it surprise you to learn that I had not read it yet?” Geoffrey asked her.

  Bridget’s eyes widened. “You have not read it yet?” she cried, grabbing the play and flipping through it. “This play is my favourite, second only to The Winter’s Tale, which you already know. I simply adore the speech that Rosalind gives to Phoebe in act 3, scene 5.” Bridget seemed to want to go on, but she stopped herself. “I apologise. I do not want to frighten you with my zeal for Shakespeare. My sister says that once I begin talking about one of my passions, it is often very difficult to get me to stop!”

  Geoffrey chuckled, but insisted, “I would certainly love to hear more about your adoration for As You Like It. You spoke so well of The Winter’s Tale that I cannot imagine a more perfect way to learn about a play I have yet to finish.”

  Geoffrey looked at Bridget with such earnest admiration that she continued. “Alright then, but if you become bored of my analysis, this is all your own fault!” Bridget responded. She began to delve into why she admired so many of the characters and how they were written. As she spoke, Geoffrey realised that despite Miles’ many outlandish attempts to catch her attention during the ride two days prior, Lady Bridget seemed interested in him alone.

  Geoffrey also knew that if Bridget had really got a good look at the thief, she would have seen his eyes. From that alone she could have deduced that the intruder was not Miles, as he had said it was. He did, however, hope that Bridget’s viewing of the intruder had not been so good that she would be able to say for certain that it was Geoffrey.

  “And that is why I believe that Rosalind and Orlando are the best pairing in the Shakespearean Cannon,” Bridget finished. She beamed at Geoffrey, who grinned right back at her.

  “I cannot see why your sister would say that listening to any of that would become tiresome,” Geoffrey assured her, “for that was more interesting than any scholarly lecture on Shakespeare that I have ever attended.”

  Bridget’s smile suddenly disappeared from her face, and she looked rather shy. “Thank you, Lord Geoffrey,” she said gratefully, “I have not received a compliment as meaningful as that one in quite a long time.”

  They looked at each other for a moment longer and then, not wanting to seem as though they were just sitting there gazing at each other, Geoffrey suddenly suggested, “Would you like to go for a horseback ride with me? I should very much like to make it up to you after the rather unfortunate ride we had two days ago.”

  Bridget nodded emphatically. “I would enjoy that very much, thank you, Lord Geoffrey,” she responded. And so the pair set off together for the horse stables, and about thirty minutes later they were each atop a horse, riding towards the back of the estate.

  Geoffrey was concerned that their
conversation would drift back to the missing jewels, which he hoped he did not hear more on for quite some time. To his delight, he found himself instead discussing their siblings and their frustrations with them. “Lady Deborah has a bad habit of chewing with her mouth open,” Lady Bridget told him. “And no matter how many times I bring it to her attention, she will not change her ways! When we are having dinner anywhere in public and I notice that she is doing it, I feel utterly embarrassed.” Bridget shook her head in shame as she described her sister’s habits to Lord Geoffrey.