If Molly was innocent of the charges I'd thrown at her — and I did not for a moment doubt her — someone else in my household was to blame. It did not take long for my suspicions to fall upon Lizzie. She was also new, had turned up at odd moments, lingered over her tasks, and had taken more notice of my guests than she ought to have. Mrs. Ockley, my housekeeper, had hired two other girls at the same time as Lizzie, so I questioned each of them, just to be certain. One had been visiting her brother in Brighton the day the letters were stolen from my library, and the other came across as so candid, so straightforward, that I was hard-pressed to think her guilty of any crime.

Lizzie, on the other hand, was belligerent, which took me greatly by surprise. I had always made a point of treating my servants with respect, and I recalled that when she first came to my house she had been rather nervous; I had done my best to calm her nerves. To find her now so rude was quite a shock.

"I don't know why I'm here," she said, looking me straight in the face. "I've heard all about what's happened in the house, but you can't possibly think I've anything to do with it."

"Why is that, Lizzie?"

"Because I know you can't prove I've done anything." Her smile was gratingly confident.

"Careful, are you?"

"I don't need to be. I haven't done anything."

"I should very much like to believe you. It's most unsettling to have a spy in one's midst. A letter was taken from the hall some days ago. Mrs. Ockley tells me that you were cleaning the floor there as well as the stairs at the time it disappeared. Did you see someone take it?"

"I wasn't paying any attention. I was busy with my work."

"Surely another member of the staff would have spoken to you as he passed?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"I also know that the day the letters were taken from the library, you were dusting in there. Again, you saw nothing?"

"I can't say that I really recall the day."

"Nothing stands out? The house was burgled. Davis questioned the staff immediately. You have no memory of this?"

"I remember it, I guess, but for me it was an ordinary sort of day. I didn't know I should have been looking out for a thief."

"When you were dusting, did you notice the letters on my desk?"

"Of course I did, but how could I know that two of them were missing? I didn't know how many there were to start."

"A keen observation, Lizzie. But unfortunately, Davis made a point of not telling anyone how many had been taken. How could you know it was two if you were not the culprit?" She sucked in her cheeks and stood very still. I sat there, saying nothing for some time. Then, taking a cue from Colin, I continued in the calmest possible voice. "If you did it, Lizzie, it would be best to tell me. I'm more interested in discovering who put you up to it than I am in punishing you."

She did not reply.

"I can, of course, call the police, but I'd much rather keep the matter private. This household has suffered enough scandal in these past months. Surely you would prefer that we settle this between ourselves?"

"So that you can turn me out of the house with no character?"

"You're hardly in a position to make demands, Lizzie."

"I think I am."

It took a great effort to remain calm; I would have to ask Colin how he managed to do it so well. "As you wish, then." I pulled the bell, and Davis entered the room. "I'm afraid we're going to need Inspector Manning."

"Very well, madam." He turned, very slowly, started for the door, and then looked back. "Have you ever visited a jail, Lizzie? Terrible place. You can't imagine what it's like. Not when you're used to a snug room in one of the best houses in London." Her gaze was still fixed on me, and Davis, standing behind her, actually winked at me. I nearly fell out of my chair. "Lady Ashton is generosity itself. I can't imagine she'd want any of her girls to wind up in such a situation. Rats. Lots of rats. Filth everywhere. The smell's unbearable. You'd probably wind up falling ill before long and would welcome an early death."

"Enough!" Lizzie cried. "I admit that I took your letters."

"Why did you do it?" I asked.

"I didn't think I was hurting anyone."

"Did you also pass information about myself and the Duke of Bainbridge?"

Now that she knew she was caught, all her confidence evaporated. She seemed nervous and began talking very quickly. "Not precisely, milady. I just confirmed that he was here a lot, and alone with you. And that he sent the flowers with the note."

"You read the note?"

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"How did you know that Mrs. Francis had come to call on me the day that you offered to bring us tea?"

"I don't remember, milady. Honest, I don't."

"How did you pass along your information?"

"I left notes tacked to a tree in Berkeley Square, milady."

"I don't believe you, Lizzie. Can you read?"

"Yes."

"And you read the note from the Duke of Bainbridge?"

"Yes." She swallowed hard.

"How did he sign it?"

"I don't remember exactly. I...I think he signed it "Bainbridge." Or maybe "Jeremy"?"

"What exactly did your employer ask you to do?"

"At first I was to keep an eye out for signs that you were having an affair with Mr. Berry, but I never saw any, so then he told me it was the duke I should watch for."

"So when you saw the note, you assumed it was from the duke?" She nodded.

"You can't read, can you?" She did not look at me. "The trouble is, Lizzie, the note wasn't from him. It wasn't even signed."

"Oh."

"There's no shame in not being able to read. It's not your fault that you weren't given the opportunity to learn. Why did you steal the letters?"

"I thought they were from the duke, too, but started to worry that the person paying me would begin to figure out that I couldn't read them and stop paying me."

"Who is that person?"

"I don't know."

"Lizzie, do not lie to me now."

"I'm not lying. I don't know who it is."

"You obviously don't leave notes in the square. How do you communicate with this person? How did he contact you in the first place?"

Now the girl turned deadly pale. "I had trouble at my last position and was let go without a character."

"What had you done?" I tried to picture Colin. Calm Colin, able to persuade anyone to admit to anything.

"I...I flirted with my master's son."

"Just flirted?"

"Yes."

"Are you quite certain?" Surely I couldn't wind up with two maids in delicate situations in the course of a single evening.

"Oh, yes, Lady Ashton. His father turned me out of the house the moment he saw his son talking to me."

"What house was this?"

"Please don't make me say."

"You must tell me, Lizzie. I will have to confirm your story."

"It was Lord Grantham, milady."

Lord Grantham, the man whose Limoges box Sebastian had stolen. "So you were expelled from the house?"

"Yes. My mother's in service in Richmond, and got the housekeeper to let me stay with her while I looked for another position, but, as you can imagine, without a character, I couldn't find anything."

"Richmond? Whose house?" My heart was pounding. Was this all to be so easily solved?

"Mrs. Sophie Hargreaves, milady. A very kind mistress."

Not so easily solved. Sophie was married to Colin's brother, William. "So what happened?"

"I had just about given up and was ready to take a job in a button factory, when a man approached me and said he could help. He's in service, too, you see, and had spotted me on my rounds looking for work. Said he could get me a character if I would agree to help out his master and that I'd get extra money for doing it. I didn't see any harm in it. Sounded like a bit of fun."

"A bit of fun that could have destroyed me. And, Lizzie, had you succeeded in doing so, I would no longer be in a position to be able to help you."

"I'm sorry, milady."

"Who wrote the false character?"

"I don't know."

"Surely you know what house it was from? Otherwise how could you have known what to say when Mrs. Ockley interviewed you?"

"I just meant that I didn't know who had actually written it. It was supposed to be a Mrs. David Francis. She lives in Richmond, too."

This was certainly bad news, but I retained my composure. "And this man you spoke to? Who is he?"

"He wouldn't tell me his name. Too risky, you know. If we was to get caught."

"How did you communicate with him?"

"We'd meet on my day off in the park."

"Are you to meet with him this week?"

"I saw him a few days ago, and he said they didn't need me anymore."

"Did you give him the Bible that was in my carriage?"

"I did, milady."

"But you could not have thought that had something to do with the Duke of Bainbridge?"

"No, but after I brought the letters, the next week he said that if I came across anything out of the ordinary, it would be a good idea to bring it to him. When I heard the carriage had been run off the road, I knew that wasn't ordinary, so when Baines gave me your things, I looked through them."

"You went through my reticule?"

"Yes, milady." She no longer was meeting my eyes. "I thought it was odd you was carrying a Bible instead of that funny Greek book, so I figured I'd give it to him."

"Did you also take a letter that was to be delivered to Mr. Hargreaves?"