Page 58 of The Nature of a Lady
The taller of the brothers snorted. “It could have been anyone, Perry. Any time.”
It could have been Beth. That was surely what Oliver and Mabena were thinking. But how could they ever know?
Oliver cleared his throat and put a stern expression onto his face, though the boys could no doubt see as easily as she did that it was more obligatory than meant. “And what exactly are you three doing here when you ought to be at school? What would Mr. Wearne say if he knew you were here?”
Whether they saw his mixed feelings or not, they reacted as any lad would when faced with the consequences for his truancy. Their faces morphed immediately into pleas. “Aw, come on, Mr. Tremayne! You won’t tell him, will you?”
“We’ll head right back. We promise!”
“It was such a beautiful day....”
Oliver just lifted his brows. Given the twitching at the corners ofhis mouth, she suspected he said no more simply to keep laughter from his voice.
The lads huffed out matching sighs and pushed back to their feet, shoulders sagging. The taller of the brothers muttered, “We’ll just get back, then.”
“You certainly will,” Mabena put in with gusto, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. “And you can be certain we’ll be watching those blue sails of yours all the way back to Tresco. Now get on with you.”
The trio scuttled away, though the wind brought snatches of their murmuring to Libby’s ears.
“He wouldn’t ... Mr. Wearne ... don’t even like each other.”
“But she’s his girl!”
Libby sneaked a glance at Mabena to see what she thought about being known as Casek Wearne’s girl by the schoolchildren on Tresco, but she didn’t seem to be paying them any heed. She’d moved closer and was frowning down into the hole. “Did you see this, Oliver?”
“The hole?”
“No.” Mabena knelt down, reached into the hole, and came up with something thin and colorful dangling from her fingers. “Beth’s bracelet.”
“What?” Oliver took it from her, his arm drifting away from Libby’s back. An absence she felt like a blow. He flipped the beaded length over, fingering the frayed end with a frown. “No surprise it came off—she was losing it all the time. But it isn’t dirty. Not like it would be had it been in that hole for months, getting rained on and muddy.”
Mabena huffed. “And if it was coming off all the time, why didn’t she take it to Mam for fixing?” Her gaze flicked to Libby. “I made it for her—my first attempt, using my mother’s jewelry-making supplies. No surprise the clasp wasn’t as secure as it ought to have been, but Mam would have fixed it for her.”
So Mabena and Beth were good enough friends that her first jewelry-making attempt was a gift for her—another piece to thepuzzle Mabena seemed set on keeping her from putting together. Libby made a mental note.
Oliver shrugged. “You know Beth. She hates to part with a trinket she loves, even for a short time.”
“And look where that’s got her.” Mabena took the bracelet back. “So, she was here recently then. Probably since the last rain. But the hole doesn’t look freshly dug, so she was investigating one she made earlier, or one someone else—perhaps Johnnie Rosedew—had put here.”
Libby stepped around the hole, only wincing a little when she put weight on her foot. The twinge was minor, really. She’d be right as rain in a few minutes. “So that leaves us ...?”
“Absolutely nowhere, other than certain Beth’s still about—as we more or less knew anyway.” Mabena huffed again. “Come on, then. Let’s see what else the island has to tell us.”
Oliver moved to Libby’s side and offered an arm, eyes twinkling. “For support, my lady? We don’t want you tumbling down any rabbit holes into Wonderland.”
She smiled and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. She didn’tneedthe support. And he hadn’t needed to offer. But he had, so she’d take it.
And she wouldn’t even investigate that cracking sound she’d heard from her bag. No sense in ruining the moment.
15
28 JUNE1906
Mabena had lain awake for hours already, her mind twisting and turning like waves in a gale. She tried to calm her thoughts through reason, through willpower, even through prayer. But nothing helped.
And how could it? They had only three days left before Libby was expected to meet that blighter in the caves, and they still hadn’t a clue what silver he wanted them to deliver—or how they were supposed to find it. They couldn’t even be entirely certain that “the large cave” meant Piper’s Hole on Tresco, though it was their best guess, as it was the largest one to be found in the Scillies. They didn’t know what he might do if she didn’t show up in the right place with the correct silver. They didn’t know if Beth actuallyhadthe correct silver. They’d spent the last two weeks scouring the islands and the books she’d left here, but both searches had been frustratingly futile.
People had been looking for Mucknell’s treasure for generations. How could she and Oliver and Libby just snap their fingers and find it? And if Beth had, if she knew where it was, she obviously still had information they lacked.
