“A treasure hunt?” Louisa repeated. “We have not done such a thing in years!”
Theodore frowned, confused by the words. Margaret moved to his side and whispered to him.
“It was something we did a lot when we were young. I think Evelina did it to distract us from any worries we ever had. She’d choose a treasure and lay it in hiding somewhere in the house, then we’d run around madly to try and find it.”
“Sounds like happy memories.” He nodded at the smile on her face. “You seem lighter in spirit than you have seemed in days.”
“Do I?” She blushed a pleasant shade of pink.
“I’d love to do another treasure hunt!” Penelope declared eagerly. “Can we? Please?”
“This is not our home,” Alexandra answered her with urgency. “It would be an imposition.”
Theodore wasn’t sure what made him say it. Perhaps it was the smiles of all the sisters, the excitement, a feeling that had not often been in this house, though he thought it had much more to do with the way Margaret was looking at her sisters and just how much she smiled in their presence.
“You can have a treasure hunt if you like.” Theodore turned toward the mantelpiece. He selected a small golden bird, an ornament he had not paid much attention to in years, then proffered it forward. “I shall ask Mrs. Lancaster to hide it. Then in half an hour, your treasure hunt can begin.”
Penelope clapped her hands together excitedly as Alexandra smiled. Even Louisa nodded, betraying her own intention to play.
“Will you play with us?” Evelina asked from where she had taken a seat in the corner of the room.
“It is your game.”
“And we are inviting you to join us,” Maggie said softly. “Will you join us?”
I don’t play games.
The words were on the tip of his tongue. Out of nowhere, he found different words tumbling from his lips.
“If you wish.”
“How many hiding places are there in this house?” Theodore muttered in irritation as he heard Maggie giggling in the room next door.
“Have you forgotten what a large house you have?” she called to him.
“It suddenly seems much larger when looking for something so small. Where have your sisters gone?”
“I believe they have gone upstairs to search. Mrs. Lancaster has certainly outfoxed us all with her hiding place. We have been here for hours!”
“Indeed.” Theodore grunted, marching back down the corridor. He opened the hall table and checked the drawers, but he only found them neatly packed with their usual contents.
Maggie appeared in the doorway behind him. Her sudden gasp made him whip around.
“What?” Theodore looked straight at her.
She tore her gaze from somewhere she had been looking.
“Nothing.” She pinkened. Then slowly, she tried to tiptoe past him, heading toward the corner of the hallway.
“You’ve seen it, haven’t you?” he whispered. “You know where it is.”
“No, no.” She adopted an innocent tone.
“You’re not convincing me.”
“But I truly have no idea!” she insisted.
“Your ability to lie is getting worse by the second.” He closed in on her, sensing an opportunity.
