“By your own admission, you spent the majority of your time in your chamber — even retiring early. Thus you not only had ample opportunity to hide the diamonds among your belongings, but your presence in the chamber restricted the access of any other party.”
He could not believe his ears. How dare this self-important clod carelessly issue such a serious allegation? “We were absent from the room at dinner and breakfast, in addition to our time with Captain Tilney. Someone could have entered the apartment then. A servant, perhaps.”
“Such as a housemaid? That is possible,” the constable conceded. “Did you happen to encounter any of the servants who attended your chamber?”
Darcy paused. Revealing the lack of attention both they and their chamber had received from Northanger’s staff did not seem likely to aid their cause.
Mr. Chase twisted Darcy’s hesitation to suit his purpose. “You suspect one of your own servants, then?”
“No!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “One cannot imagine more trustworthy servants than Lucy and Graham. Beyond that, they both took ill upon our arrival and entered our apartment only to repack our trunks when we departed.”
“When you departed as soon as possible to make good your escape — with the diamonds in your repacked trunk.”
Darcy shot to his feet, unable to contain his outrage any longer. “Sir, you insult my honor as a gentleman. And you insult my wife.”
“Then to prove your innocence, you will not object if we search your belongings.”
He objected very much to Mr. Chase and his cronies ransacking their trunks. “I will not have my wife subjected to that indignity.”
“Would you rather subject both her and yourself to the indignity of sitting in gaol while I complete my investigation?”
“Gaol?” Elizabeth exclaimed.
“On what grounds?” Darcy asked. “You have no evidence, only your own speculation.”
“And the letter.”
“A letter authored by someone too cowardly to sign his name.”
“Darcy.” Elizabeth had moved beside him and now touched his arm. “We can resolve this very easily. Let Mr. Chase search our things. We have nothing to hide.”
Submitting to such an affront went against every natural impulse. But she was right — they had nothing to hide, and allowing Mr. Chase to determine that for himself was a more expedient way to acquit themselves of his ridiculous accusations than engaging in prolonged argument.
“Very well,” he said stiffly.
A thorough examination of every trunk, case, and compartment — right down to Elizabeth’s reticule and his coat pockets — commenced. Darcy observed in silent fury, thankful that Elizabeth had packed no diamonds of her own to confuse the search. Just as the offensive exploration seemed at an end, Mr. Chase’s gaze came to rest on the umbrella stand, where Darcy’s walking stick rested.
The constable withdrew it from the stand. Darcy resented the sight of him holding the cane.
“This is yours, I presume?”
“It is.”
He inspected the grip, then twisted the cinquefoil band. To Darcy’s astonishment, the cane separated into two pieces.
With a smug glance at Darcy, Mr. Chase set aside the grip, inserted two fingers into the shaft, and withdrew a long, narrow bundle wrapped in cloth. He set the shaft on the table beside the grip and, as Darcy watched in dread, unfolded the muslin.
“Well, now, Mr. Darcy.”
The constable held up Mrs. Tilney’s diamond necklace. Sunlight bounced off its many facets, splaying the walls with damning brilliance.
“What have we here?”
My hearing nothing of you makes me apprehensive that you, your fellow travellers and all your effects, might be seized by the bailiffs...
Darcy stared at the two pieces of the cane in disbelief. He had owned the walking stick for a decade. How could he never have noticed that it held a hidden compartment?
The still more obvious question — how the diamond necklace, bracelet, and eardrops had come to be inside it — he could not begin to contemplate.
Mr. Chase sent a servant to fetch the magistrate, who arrived quite put out that his hunting party had been disrupted. But a case of this magnitude, with defendants of the Darcys’ social status, warranted immediate attention. Mr. Melbourne would determine whether sufficient evidence existed to commit Darcy and Elizabeth to gaol pending trial at the next assizes.
The magistrate held the proceedings in the common room of the Golden Crown before an audience of local tradesmen, merchants, and yeomen.
“Could we not discuss this matter in private?” Darcy said.
“Justice is a matter of public interest, Mr. Darcy,” the magistrate responded. “I conduct all my hearings in full view of His Majesty’s lawabiding subjects.”
Though called in from the hunt to perform his duties this afternoon, Mr. Melbourne had taken meticulous care with his person before arriving at the Golden Crown. His clothes looked so freshly donned and his dark hair so neatly combed that one could scarcely believe he had traveled to the inn on horseback. Apparently, he ran his legal proceedings in the same exacting manner he applied to his appearance. Darcy actually found a degree of reassurance in this; he would rather deal with a justice of the peace who regarded his responsibilities seriously than one who approached them so sloppily as to not deserve the office.
“Mr. Chase, present the evidence against the Darcys,” said Mr. Melbourne.
The constable strutted forward. “Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and his wife have committed theft against Captain Frederick Tilney of Northanger Abbey. After passing Tuesday night as guests in his home, they repaid his hospitality by stealing a set of diamonds from his late mother’s chamber. I found the couple right here in this inn, with the diamonds in their possession.”
Darcy rose. “Mr. Melbourne, we—”
“I shall inform you when it is your turn to speak, Mr. Darcy.”
Mr. Melbourne asked to see the diamonds, and Mr. Chase readily produced them. The sight of the jewels raised a murmur in the crowd, which seemed to grow by the minute. Apparently, the arrest of a gentleman and his wife formed the most interesting event the village had seen in some time.
“They secreted them in a cane with a hidden compartment,” the constable said as he handed the cane to Mr. Melbourne for inspection. “See here? The grip twists off like this. Someone less observant would have missed it altogether, but I figured it out.” His chest swelled. “Mr. and Mrs. Darcy took the diamonds, hid them in the cane, and smuggled them out of the house.”
The magistrate examined the pieces, then regarded Darcy coldly. “Is this true?”
“It is not, sir. My wife and I are victims of deceit. I assure you, we did not steal those diamonds.” Darcy longed to inspect the cane himself. Mr. Chase had not allowed him to handle it since the diamonds were discovered.
“Do you admit to owning this walking stick?”
“I do, but I had no notion of its harboring a hidden compartment.” He gestured toward the cane. “Might I?”