Radiance (Diamonds of the First Water #3)

Chapter Eight

U nbelievably, Edward was going to keep company with Lady Radiance as he went to his assured demise. After donning his hat, he reached for his gloves, finding only one on the hallstand. Glancing up, he saw her taking in his every movement. She stared at the single glove he held with a measured gaze.

In some ways, she was an annoying woman. Having called for her maid to rejoin them, Lady Radiance stood in his entrance hall, scrutinizing his life. She glanced at the runner on the main stairs, up at his hanging lamp, and even at the hall mirror at her own reflection.

Their eyes met, for he was looking over her shoulder. When they did, she whirled around to face him. In the morning light, her eyes were more of a beryl green than the dark emerald he’d noticed previously in the lamplight of his parents’ dinner party.

Shaking his head, he shoved his hands into his coat pocket, only to come up with the other glove.

“Ah-ha!” he said aloud and tugged both on before opening his front door and gesturing for her to precede him.

However, when he saw the luxurious carriage with the coat of arms, he stopped.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Just admiring your father’s carriage.”

The lady looked at it as if seeing it for the first time.

“That is quite an insignia,” he said, staring past her at the Diamond crest.

Lady Radiance shrugged. “My father is the Earl Diamond, after all. Do you know I have a brother and three sisters whose names would also amuse you? Shall I tell you?”

Speechless, Edward could only nod. For while he’d belatedly recalled the existence of Lord Diamond the evening before, he knew nothing of the man’s offspring, except for Lady Radiance.

She went toward the carriage, where a footman held open the door.

“Mr. Lockwood will give you the address,” she told the man before climbing in. Her maid followed.

Edward told the driver Mr. Hope’s address on the corner of Piccadilly and Down Street and then joined them, making himself comfortable on the buttery soft seat.

“Do you know he is our neighbor?” Lady Radiance asked.

“I did not. Your home is ... ?”

“Farther along the park,” she said as the carriage lurched into motion, “toward Bolton Street.”

He had gone past it a hundred times, not realizing a family of Diamonds were inside.

With a steady hand, she checked her pale-yellow hat and smoothed her skirts with the other.

“My eldest sister is Clarity. She is married to Lord Hollidge.”

Edward could think of no response except to nod, waiting for her to continue.

“The next eldest is Purity. She is married to Lord Foxford.”

Edward had heard of him, considered something of a rake a few years earlier.

“My brother’s name is Adam, which you may recognize comes from adamas , as being derived from —”

“From Latin for hard stone,” he finished.

“Exactly. Then in birth order, I come next, followed by my younger sister, Brilliance.”

“Unusual names for an unusual family,” he offered, almost ashamed to tell her his only sister’s ordinary name.

Lady Radiance shrugged delicately. “I am not sure we are unusual except for our names, but I dearly love my brother and sisters.”

“I have only the one sister with whom you may have become acquainted at the dinner party. Her given name is Lillian.”

“Indeed, I did. Miss Lockwood has your same hair and unusual eye color. She was clever and fun, too.”

He wondered if Lady Radiance was thinking of the correct female. And then, as they were swiftly approaching Hope’s new mansion, what everyone called Hope House, his brain dismissed anything but thoughts of the diamond. Edward was deep in the suds and no mistake.

He could not possibly have imagined when he awakened that morning, looking forward to a cup of coffee and some buttered toast, that he would be riding in an earl’s carriage with an earl’s daughter, no less.

Yet here he was, and there she was — across from him!

Moreover, he never would have dreamed he could be responsible for having lost the famous diamond belonging to a parliamentary statesman, who was not only formerly the Groom of the Bedchamber for both King George IV and his successor, William IV, but had also aided Prince Albert in organizing the Great Exhibition the year before.

Beyond that, Mr. Hope had been something of a mentor to Edward.

“Do not worry,” Lady Radiance said. “Although, I confess, it feels as though we have entered the pages of one of Sarah’s adored penny dreadfuls .”

The maid flinched, and her eyes grew as large as saucers, staring at him. He had never read one but knew they held all sorts of criminal activity and even supernatural and monstrous beings, such as vampires. The illustrations that drew people to give up their pennies revolted him with their callous disregard for decency and human life. They always seemed to drip blood or show someone being hanged.

Still, as the Bard said, to each his own, and he sent the maid a nervous smile. Unlike him, she and her mistress had nothing to worry about.

“Do you know Mr. Hope?” Edward asked Lady Radiance.

“My parents have dined with him, but I have never had the pleasure.”

“A fascinating man,” Edward mused, “from a successful and industrious family. Dutch bankers, interior designers on a grand scale, financiers of the Dutch East India Company, travelers of the globe, art collectors, and of course, diamond and gem dealers, too.”

“And this Mr. Hope has been a member of Parliament, if I’m not mistaken,” she added, “although not in the same House as my father.”

Almost too quickly they turned onto Piccadilly, heading west toward the mansion that Henry Thomas Hope had commissioned a mere two years earlier to house his father’s and his own vast art collection. Everyone agreed the beautiful stone and metal exterior, created in the contemporary French style, was a magnificent edifice.

If not exactly friends, Edward and Henry Hope were mutual admirers, who enjoyed talking about rare stones and gems. Besides the famed blue diamond, Hope had also inherited from his uncle several other valuable jewels.

Thinking of how little sentimentality the man had displayed over his boyhood London home near Cavendish Square — ordering it demolished without even preserving its memory in oil paint — Edward wondered what his own fate would be, having somehow lost the precious stone.

In no time, as if traffic parted for a wealthy man’s carriage, they were at their destination, Hope’s new mansion. Edward didn’t even bother to protest when Lady Radiance told her maid to wait in the carriage. For an instant, he felt sorry for the young woman until she pulled a magazine with a lurid illustration on its cover from her pocket and buried her nose in it. Not a bad way to earn a living, he supposed. At that moment, with the task ahead, he would gladly trade places.

They were shown directly to Mr. Hope’s welcoming and well-lit reception room, in which Edward had been a dozen times. Exquisitely furnished with Hope’s own family-designed furniture and pieces from his art collection, including Old Masters as well as a few pieces of ancient Greek sculpture, the room was a model of understated taste and wealth. Moreover, its cream-and-gold walls and tawny carpet with the most muted of patterns let the furnishings make the room’s statement.

“Lady Radiance, this is Mr. Hope,” Edward introduced, giving her the honor of both her sex and her title, rather than presenting her to the great renaissance man, as Edward thought of him.

In his early forties, Hope was currently a member of Parliament and greatly respected, although everyone knew he had attempted yet failed more than once to obtain a title of his own. He bowed to Lady Radiance.

In return, she offered him a sweet smile.

“Lady Radiance trains with the jeweler Mr. Bonwit,” he added to avoid any misunderstanding as to why he was accompanied by this particular female.

“Is that so?” Mr. Hope looked dumbstruck. “The Earl Diamond’s daughter is an apprentice.”

“Not really an apprentice, sir,” Lady Radiance answered, taking the seat she’d been offered, “although I am learning the craft.”

“Indeed.” Then he turned his attention to Edward. “I assume you have my precious stone.”

“To tell you the truth, sir, I don’t believe I do.”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Hope relaxed against the wingback chair and crossed his legs.

Edward wondered at the man’s calm manner. After all, they weren’t speaking about some pea-sized gem.

“I have seen the Hope Diamond enough times to be certain it has no inclusion. And yet, the stone I currently have in my possession has one. I cannot explain it, sir. I swear to you that I never let the diamond out of my sight.”

To Edward’s amazement, Mr. Hope’s face broke into a broad smile.

“Well done, young man. I am sorry to have perpetrated a deceit upon you, but I needed to be certain I could trust you.”

Edward’s heart, which had been racing with worry, thudded uncomfortably in his chest. “You knew I had a fake.”

“Indeed, I did. I gave it to you myself. Yet you not only discerned that it wasn’t my diamond, you didn’t try to return it to me without mentioning it.”

“How could I?” Edward asked. It had never crossed his mind to do so. “That would endanger my reputation, not to mention open me to an accusation of thievery.”

“True. Thus, you have exceeded my expectations on both fronts.”

Edward had to tell the entire truth. “To be honest, sir, I hardly looked at the diamond. As per usual, it remained secure until I drew it out to show those in the lecture hall, and then I returned it to its pouch and box.” He drew it out of his satchel and placed it on the table between them. “It was Lady Radiance who spotted the flaw and did so after a remarkably quick scrutiny.”

“Did she?” Mr. Hope turned to her. “And how did you come to be so close to the stone that you could see the inclusion?”

“I attended Mr. Lockwood’s lecture, sir. And when I answered a geology question correctly, he gave me the privilege of taking a closer look at the diamond. I was shocked to see the flaw.”

“How clever of you! I am only glad to hear you didn’t have access to the diamond because you are Mr. Lockwood’s special friend.”

“Indeed not, sir,” Edward exclaimed. “I would never do such a thing.”

“Simmer down, Mr. Lockwood. I was teasing. My trust in you is obviously well-placed. Now, do you wish to hear why I did it?”

“I do,” Lady Radiance said before Edward could answer. “And how did you create such a near-perfect replica?”

Mr. Hope smiled, then said to Edward, “I like this lady. She’s beautiful and intelligent. You should keep her around.”

Edward glanced at Lady Radiance, hoping she wasn’t offended, but she returned his look with utter placidity.

Then Mr. Hope snagged his attention again. “A skilled jeweler who had previously worked for Rundell and Bridge before it dissolved — such a loss! — he made it at my request and created the flaw precisely as I asked because Queen Victoria has a problem. And when the Queen has a problem, then we all have a problem.”

“The inclusion was put in as a trap?” Edward asked, not too happy about being doubted.

Mr. Hope tilted his head. “Honestly, it was a test. And you passed. Or more precisely, your lady-friend did by noticing it, but you passed with your forthrightness. I would say the two of you make a solid team, one who may solve the Queen’s dilemma.”

“Which is?” Edward prodded, ignoring Hope’s implication that he and Lady Radiance were joined in any way.

“Someone is switching the royal jewels for fakes.”

Lady Radiance’s gasp sounded extraordinarily loud in the vaulted room.

Mr. Hope nodded. “Some trusted jeweler, and currently the royal family uses only two firms, has a thief working in its midst.”

“Or the trusted jeweler himself is a thief, perhaps,” Lady Radiance mused.

“Absolutely not!” Mr. Hope said. “I know both of the master jewelers personally. But someone who works for one of them, someone with access to the jewelry when it is being cleaned or repaired and who has the necessary skill. It has happened twice that we know of.”

“Did you think I might have been the thief?” Edward couldn’t help asking.

“No one is above suspicion, and you have access.”

Edward shrugged. “Access, perhaps, but not the skill. I couldn’t make such a forgery as you created.”

“I could,” Lady Radiance said softly.

Edward watched Mr. Hope’s head turn slowly toward her.

“Could you?”

“I have a knack for exacting detail, although I prefer to create original pieces. Mr. Bonwit trains his apprentice, and myself, by having us recreate his finer works. And with learning to cut a gemstone, he has us substitute, for example, a garnet for a ruby, a blue topaz for a sapphire, and so on. If the apprentice ruins the gem with a poor cut, it is not so costly. Once we can cut and polish well enough to sell our work, then we set it in a ring or as a pendant necklace for a customer who cannot afford the more expensive stones.”

Edward remained silent. He had nothing to add as he knew little of how a jeweler trained. He was more interested in why Hope had involved him.

“Sir, are you tasking me with something?” Edward asked.

Mr. Hope steepled his fingers together and considered for a moment.

“No, Mr. Lockwood. I believe I am tasking both of you with discovering who has stolen two of the Queen’s jewels. In fact, with Lady Radiance’s help, you may have this all wrapped up by the time the Lammas bread is baked.”

“Sir,” Lady Radiance interrupted. “I do not understand. How can I help?”

“At the very least, two pairs of eyes are better than one, and no one will suspect you of knowing anything about gemstones. Pretend you are there merely as an interested observer, as Mr. Lockwood’s lady-friend.”

“Where, sir?” she asked.

“At the Palace. If you are willing, you may accompany Mr. Lockwood to an upcoming meeting of those involved in recutting the Koh-i-Noor.” Then he looked at Edward again. “You may have already received the summons, yes?”

Edward nodded, still thinking about taking Lady Radiance with him as his “lady-friend.”

“The Queen and Prince Consort wish to speak with you prior to the meeting. One man, Mr. Minton, an employee of the Crown Jeweler himself, is already in jail. Will you help?”

“We shall do our best,” Edward said, glancing at the lady and receiving a nod of agreement. “Are you directing the investigation, sir?”

“No, on the contrary,” Mr. Hope said. “There is no investigation, and I am in charge of absolutely nothing. Almost no one, not even those involved in improving the Koh-i-Noor, knows that anything is amiss. Yet the three of us and the Crown Jeweler, Mr. Garrard, know differently. The community of goldsmiths and jewelers in London is relatively small, so you cannot tell a soul. But we must help the Queen.”

Lady Radiance rose to her feet, and Edward followed.

“We shall help Her Majesty,” she declared. “Won’t we, Mr. Lockwood?”

“We shall,” he agreed.