"Do you think Lady Richardson believes there was more to Lady Catherine's death than first thought?" Mary asked, frowning at me.

"I don't know. It certainly seemed like she thought there might have been more to her behaviour in her last few days. The painting definitely made her seem scared."

"Or it's just a painting that has no real meaning. Maybe Lady Catherine broke something."

"If that were true, why would she change her mind if she heard someone coming?" I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it was that."

Mary sighed and collapsed back against her bed. After I returned from Lady Richardson's art room, I immediately sought out Mary to tell her what I had uncovered, not that it was much. Neither of us could figure out why Lady Richardson thought Lady Catherine looked scared on one of her final days and our guesses were less than helpful. We considered writing to Molly again, but both of us were scared she would tell Lond Richardson as we hadn't taken her advice and handed over the journal. The only person who really knew what Lady Catherine was feeling was her, and we couldn't ask her.

The journal put us no closer to uncovering who the suitor was and we were both getting tired of reading it and not getting any more answers. Although I had been so determined from the start to uncover the secrets the journal might hold, it had started to become a little tiresome. With our chores increasing and our free time almost nonexistent, reading the journal at any great length was near impossible. It would take another month at least before we finished it and, even then, we still might not know who the suitor really is.

Part of me just wanted to throw the towel in and move on, to focus on work rather than the contents of the journal, but I couldn't do it. There was something strange about it that I couldn't quite work out and I felt like I needed to find the answers. The journal had been hidden for a reason. If we could just open the locket, we might be closer to our final goal, but the locket still wouldn't open.

"Mary, can I talk to you for a second," Jasper said, his head appearing around the door. Neither of us had even heard it open.

"Yes, of course," Mary said, smiling.

"I'll just go and find something to do."

Mary offered me a sympathetic smile as I stood up and left our room. Jasper slipped in and closed the door behind him, breaking one of Mrs Channing's most sacred rules about male and female staff members being alone. I walked down the hall to Jasper and Luke's room, not all that surprised to find Luke sitting on his bed throwing a paper ball into the air. He gestured me inside, the door remaining open.

"I take it the lovebirds have kicked you out of your room," he said.

"I offered to leave."

"You've made a big mistake there, Jane. Just wait, you'll never be allowed in your room again." He laughed. "Any sign of your journal?"

I shook my head. "No sign of it. Mrs Channing said she'll do the searches tomorrow evening if it doesn't turn up."

"It must make for some interesting reading if someone's risking dismissal for it. I'm sure it will turn up."

"I hope so."

The journal certainly did make for interesting reading if the person knew just what it was they were reading. All my journal consisted of were a few notes about Lady Catherine and a list of gardeners. As far as I could remember, there was nothing in there that directly related to Lady Catherine's journal or its discovery. I hadn't even included the locket. My reasoning had been that someone might read it over my shoulder or come across it and I didn't want anyone else to know what I was up to.

There was only one person who might have an understanding as to what the journal was really about, and that was the suitor. I hoped that Mrs Channing would be able not only to find my journal but to also uncover who the suitor was. They were the only ones who would keep my journal for so long. Perhaps my journal would be the key to uncovering who the suitor was.

If the journal wasn't found, someone would have gone to a lot of effort to hide it. Were that to be the case, it would solidify in mind that I had been close to uncovering the truth about the suitor. Either that or they really didn't want me to find out it was them.

"How long are they going to take?" I asked

Luke shrugged. "I have no idea. Jasper just said not to wait for him so they might be a while."

"Great. I thought they were finally going to let us sleep at a decent time."

"Well, let's see if we can make the most of this time." Luke scrambled off his bed and crossed the room. He knelt down beside his dresser and routed around in the bottom drawer before pulling out a board game. "Jane Wexler, are you ready to play draughts against the reigning champion?"

I laughed and nodded my head. "Definitely, but where did you even get that?"

"I have my ways."

Luke grinned and rushed back over the room to his bed where he placed the game and started to set it up. I watched, half amazed that someone could be so excited about a game of draughts, but also glad that I ended up spending time with Luke over everyone else. He certainly appeared more interesting than any of the other boys in the Richardson's service.

We spent almost half an hour playing draughts whilst we waited for Jasper and Mary to emerge. In that time, I beat Luke twice out of a possible five games with the reigning champion continuing his reign for a little while longer. We spoke as we played, talking about days and our lives in general. I found out far more about Luke than I thought I would and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with each other.

By the time Mary and Jasper we finished talking and I could return to my room, I didn't want the games of draughts to end. I enjoyed the time spent with Luke. He was easy to talk to, easy to be around, and he could act like a complete idiot without caring. In truth, I wanted to spend more time with him than we had been able to.

"You and Luke looked rather comfortable," Mary said as we changed into our nightgowns.

"We were just playing draughts whilst we waited for you and Jasper to finish what you were doing," I said.

"Maybe I was right about him liking you. He certainly appeared smitten."

"He wasn't smitten."

"You keep telling yourself that, but if Lady Catherine's journal has taught me anything, it's that love can sneak up on you when you least expect it."

Mary winked and then climbed into bed. I stared at her, trying to understand just what she was getting at.

I didn't like Luke like that. Did I?

~~~

First Published - February 23rd, 2022