“Mmm,” he said.
The woman said nothing.
The second item proved to be a small polished stone of a smoky color, with three rectangular faces, the ends cut as triangles. The rectangles were covered with intaglio designs. Buttersworth’s pulse quickened. It was a Minoan prism seal from Crete, Bronze Age, perhaps fifteenth century B.C. It was rare, quite rare, and very beautiful.
With growing excitement, he unwrapped the remaining three pieces and held them in the palm of his hand. They had the polished sheen of semiprecious gems, and each bore intaglio engravings. He recognized them as Hellenistic seal-stones, the red cornelian, the green olivine, the blue chalcedony. Fine pieces, very fine indeed, and Buttersworth felt an intense stirring of desire, of the sort that some men felt for beautiful women. He should certainly be pleased-more than that, he should be thrilled-to have them in the Ashmolean’s collection.
He repocketed his jeweler’s loupe, replaced his spectacles, and managed to refocus his attention from the specimens to the woman-now, with more than a little curiosity. These stones did not have the look of a casual collection. Their appearance in a group suggested that the person who assembled them had possessed a well-trained eye, the patience of an experienced collector, and rather a lot of money.
Buttersworth felt a flutter of unease. He had learned to be careful when it came to business of this sort. One of his jobs was to protect the museum from any threat of scandal, a task that he had recently to undertake. “How did you say your mistress came by these?” he asked tentatively.
“I did not say.” If the woman found the question offensive, she did not reveal it. Behind her veil, her expression was unperturbed.
“Do you know if she has similar pieces?”
She gave a slight smile. “Perhaps,” she said, in a tone of ambiguous promise. “I cannot be sure, but I think it likely.”
So there were others! Buttersworth almost stammered in his eagerness: “And… and it is her intention to… to sell them?”
But of course one had to be careful, oh, yes, indeed, very careful. The museum had all too many critics these days. One had to be absolutely certain that any acquisition was appropriately documented and came without even a whisper of illegitimacy. Even as he reminded himself of this, however, Buttersworth was mentally reviewing the possible sources of funds by which the Ashmolean might acquire these pieces, and the others-oh, yes, the others, certainly-before they vanished into the greedy hands of a private collector, as had the Marlborough Gemstones some thirty years before. The Ashmolean had wanted desperately to acquire that marvelous collection when the seventh duke sold them, but had unfortunately lacked the funds. Christie’s had knocked them down to thirty-five thousand guineas.
At the thought of the Marlborough Gemstones, Buttersworth’s fluttering uneasiness began to take on a more solid form, and he frowned. Was it possible that these gemstones were He reached for the Minoan prism seal to have another look, but the woman was already rewrapping the pieces and replacing them carefully in the leather pouch.
“I cannot speak to my employer’s future intentions,” she said. “But I assume from your look of interest that these items are of some value. I was asked to inquire how much they are worth.”
“I am unable to say exactly,” Buttersworth replied warily. “The individual items would be worth more as part of a collection, the value of which of course depends upon its breadth and scope. However, you may tell your employer that if she wishes to dispose of them, the museum might be willing to make an offer.”
Might be willing? John Buttersworth almost betrayed himself with a guilty chuckle. He would give his eyeteeth to have those seal-stones.
“Thank you.” The woman put the pouch into her purse. “I shall report your interest to the Duchess. That is, to my employer.” She bit her lip in sudden vexation at the slip of tongue that gave too much away. Coloring, obviously flustered, she raised her chin. “Good day, sir.”
Buttersworth stared at the closed door. The Duchess. The woman could only have been speaking of the Duchess of Marlborough, whose residence, Blenheim Palace, was not above seven miles away. And then a thought struck him, a thought of such enormity that it fairly took his breath away. Perhaps the entire collection of Marlborough Gemstones had not been auctioned, as was thought! Perhaps there were others. Perhaps He frowned. But why should it be the Duchess of Marlborough who was making this inquiry, when the gems-if these were indeed part of the original collection-had belonged to the family of the Duke? And how would the Duke respond if he were to discover at some later date that the Duchess, unauthorized, had sold his family heirlooms? Given what he knew about the Duke’s efforts to reestablish the Marlborough treasures after the reprehensible spoiliations of his father and grandfather, he doubted if the response would be favorable.
Upon reflection, John Buttersworth began to feel that the Ashmolean might not be so anxious, after all, to possess those classical gems.
CHAPTER TWO
Friday, 8 May Blenheim Palace
Some respectable looking young women, in the service of middle-class and fashionable families, are connected with burglars and have been recommended to their places through their influence.
Kitty had finally learnt to make her way about the great house without getting lost.
When she first came into service at Blenheim some three months before, she could go about only in the company of one of the other housemaids, and she was frequently turned around. The Duke’s house-the palace, everybody called it, which in Kitty’s opinion it certainly was, being an awfully grand place, filled with enormous paintings and all sorts of ornaments on the walls and shelves-was a confusing labyrinth of corridors and rooms, and rooms inside of rooms. She so often found herself turned around when she went out of one and into another that it was like riding on a merry-go-round, and when you got off, you were dizzy and had not an idea in your silly head where you were.
Kitty, of course, was not new to service, although she did not intend to make it her life’s work. She had been employed in several great houses-not very long in any, to be sure, but long enough to get a good character and not call attention to her departure-and Blenheim Palace was like most of the others, except in one important regard. It was seriously understaffed. Even Mrs. Raleigh, the head housekeeper, had admitted the difficulty, when Kitty, during her interview, expressed some surprise that there were only ten housemaids. Ten!
“Why, at Welbeck Abbey,” she had said, nodding at the letter of character signed by the Duchess of Portland’s housekeeper, “we had fourteen housemaids, and the house was ever so much smaller than… this.” The words this monstrosity had been on the tip of her tongue, but she thought it better to keep her opinion to herself. Still and all, why anybody should actually want to live in such a place was beyond her imagining.
“The family is small,” Mrs. Raleigh said in a conciliatory tone, “just the Duke and Duchess and their two little boys. And of course we always bring in help from the village when we have a large number of guests.” She brushed back an escaped wisp of sparse, graying hair. Quite an elderly, frail-looking woman she was, Kitty thought, to have charge of such a large house, especially without the staff to keep it proper.
Mrs. Raleigh was continuing in a sniffy tone. “All the housemaids gladly share the work. I feel sure that you will not find your duties exceedingly arduous.”