“Oh.”
“I have accepted, of course… unless there is some reason that I ought not to do so?”
With a sigh, Henry shook his head.
“No, there is no reason to refuse him. Mr. Brackwell is an excellent gentleman and, though he has had some trials, he has worked very hard to resolve them, and now his estate is doing marvelously because of it.”
“You speak very well of your cousin.”
Henry nodded, wishing that he did not have to talk of his cousin, not when he was walking arm in arm with Miss Bosworth. He did not want her to think well of Mr. Brackwell, to think highly of him. Instead, he wanted Miss Bosworth to think only of himself rather than being eager to discuss another gentleman.
“He is a good fellow, I think. I do not know him very well, but from the time we have spent together this Season, I would think he is an excellent man.”
“Then he could not have taken the ring from you?”
With a jolt of surprise, Henry turned his head to look at Miss Bosworth, seeing her smile. She had not been asking about his cousin because of any interest in him, then but rather because she had been thinking about him in terms of the lost ring.
“My father’s ring?”
Miss Bosworth nodded.
“Yes.”
With a shake of his head, Henry shrugged.
“I do not think so. He was not in London when my ring was taken for the first time and–”
“That you are aware of.”
A frown wrapped itself around Henry’s forehead.
“What do you mean?”
“Simply that,” Miss Bosworth continued, nonchalantly. “If your cousin had not introduced himself to you, would you have known who he was? Would you have recognized him?”
Slowly, Henry began to realize what she meant… and the thought was a troubling one.
“No, I do not think I would have done.”
“Then is there not even the smallest chance that your cousin could have taken the ring? I do not say such things to lay the blame at his feet, but simply because it must surely be a consideration!”
Henry thought on this for some moments before he replied. Time and again, he looked at Miss Bosworth, worrying that she found his silence concerning, but she merely smiled at him whenever he caught her attention. Letting the idea play through his thoughts, trying to understand it all, he considered carefully.
“It would be foolish of me to suggest that there was no chance of my cousin being involved in this affair, certainly.” Speaking slowly, he nodded, but kept his gaze to the path now. “Though my inclination is to say that it could not be him.”
“Which I quite understand. But it is only right to consider that he might be the one involved in this affair, before discounting that possibility out of hand.” Miss Bosworth’s hand tightened on his arm for a moment. “What would his purpose be in taking it, it ifishe who is the guilty party?”
Considering this, Henry’s frown quickly returned.
“It has my father’s crest on it, though it is not the one that I use for my correspondence and the like. I had a new one made.”
“Which bears a similarity to the old one?”
“A great deal of similarity,” Henry agreed, chewing on the edge of his lip.
“I see.” Miss Bosworth’s murmur sent a coldness running through Henry’s frame as he understood now what Miss Bosworth meant by suggesting such a thing. If the crest was similar, then his cousin might take his father’s crest and use it for his gain – or, at the very least, attempt to do so.
“Though my cousin, as I have said, is a good fellow. He is a hard-working sort, who has removed his name and his family from whatever difficulties his father had left them in. I would be surprised if he went to such lengths to cheat me out of such a thing as my fortune.”
