A Child of the Dales by Diane Allen

Author:Diane Allen [Allen, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK
Published: 2022-06-09T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

‘Has anybody seen my emerald necklace and matching earrings? They were in the top drawer of my chest of drawers. They are always kept there. The box is there, but it is empty. I know I put them back there the last time I wore them, after the Christmas dance down in Kirkby Stephen.’ Elspeth looked worried. ‘Reuben, you know the ones: your father gave them to me when we were courting, and they were his mother’s. I can’t have lost them. I distinctly remember placing them back in their case just before I went to bed, and now they have gone.’

Elspeth seemed perplexed. She was about to go and have dinner with her closest friend and her husband at Border House, one of the finest houses in the area, and she had wanted to look her best in her finery.

‘It’s no good looking at me, Mother, I’m not likely to have use of them,’ Reuben replied, as his mother tried to fasten a necklace of lower quality around her neck while he waited to take her in his carriage, which was waiting outside.

‘Ruby, have you seen them while you were cleaning the bedrooms? I must have put them down somewhere. I wouldn’t mind, but I always think they bring me luck. As I’ll be playing a game of bridge after my dinner with Richard and Dora, I could do with their presence around my neck. I know it is stupid, but that’s how I feel,’ Elspeth sighed.

‘I’m sorry, I’ve never seen them. And I never open your drawers, as they are private. I’m sure you will win your hand of bridge, with or without them. However, would you like me to have a quick search of your bedroom?’ Ruby rose from her chair and placed down the mending that she had been doing to pass the evening.

‘No, no, sit down. I’m already late and Dora is a stickler for keeping to time. They will turn up. I must be getting a little forgetful in my old age,’ Elspeth said as she reached for her gloves and followed Reuben out of the house to dinner with her friends.

‘It’s not like our mother to lose something, especially something so precious to her,’ Lennox commented to Arthur as he read the newspaper and smoked his pipe in the quiet of the evening.

‘It doesn’t surprise me. I heard her muttering to herself the other day – she is getting on, you know, and we might have to face the inevitable eventually,’ Arthur said.

‘Then who will do our washing and mending?’ Lennox asked and glanced from behind his paper at Ruby. ‘Perhaps it is a good job that our Reuben found you. You might be needed shortly.’

‘Perhaps it is. I’ll go and have a look for her necklace and earrings. I’m sure they will be somewhere in the house.’

Ruby left the mending that she had been given by Elspeth and climbed the stairs to go and search in Elspeth’s room for the elusive jewellery.

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