A Change of Fortune by Sandra Heath Page B

do.”
    “There’s no one more delicate than I, madam.”
    “It’s to be hoped you’re right, for you mustn’t be caught. Is that clear?”
    “Perfectly, madam.”
    “Very well. I wish you to break into the seminary in Park Lane tonight. You will be well rewarded if you successfully remove certain items. You may dispose of them as you will. I have no interest in them beyond wishing them to vanish. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, madam.” He smiled.
    * * *
    Leonie awoke on Christmas Eve morning to the sound of music from the street outside. A fiddler and a blind penny-whistler were playing carols by the park gates. The fog was still thick, and the park white with frost. The fire in the bedroom had been lit for some time, the flames licking quietly around the glowing coals.
    Katy brought in the early-morning tray. “Good morning, Miss Leonie,” she said cheerily, for she adored Christmas.
    “Good morning.” Leonie sat up and pulled her shawl quickly around her shoulders as the maid put the tray carefully on her lap.
    “It’s as cold as ever outside,” said Katy, going to the fire to warm her hands for a moment.
    “You don’t have to sound so pleased about it,” replied Leonie, grimacing at the frost patterns on the window.
    “I love Christmas Eve, it’s my favorite day in all the year.” Something suddenly caught the maid’s eye. The wardrobe doors were slightly ajar, and yet she knew she’d closed them properly the night before. “That’s strange,” she murmured, going to close them, but as she did so she gave a start of dismay. “Oh, Miss Leonie!”
    “What is it?”
    “Your clothes! They’ve gone!” The maid flung open the heavy doors to reveal a virtually empty rail upon which only a plain gray wool dress remained. A white silk gown had fallen among the ransacked hat boxes at the bottom of the cupboard, but apart from those two items, everything else had gone, even the shoes and ankle boots. Katy turned quickly toward the dressing table, but the thief had been very thorough. The silver brushes and comb had gone, and all the little porcelain dishes. The jewel boxes had vanished. Everything of value had been removed.
    Leonie stared, a cold finger of alarm touching her. While she had lain asleep, someone had been in her room, stealthily going through her belongings.
    Katy hurried quickly away to tell Miss Hart, and a moment later the disconcerted headmistress had dispatched Joseph to bring a constable. The constable came straightaway to carry out a thorough examination of the premises and make a list of all the stolen articles, but he could give Leonie little hope of ever retrieving anything. Miss Hart reassured Leonie that she would be provided with sufficient funds to furnish herself with a temporary wardrobe, pending her father’s imminent return. The constable then carried out a final inspection, closely examining all the windows, and in particular the fig tree growing against the balcony. He pointed to several broken twigs and the scrape marks of boots upon the trunk and said that in his opinion that was how the thief had gained entry. Leonie and Katy exchanged glances, knowing that the marks had been left by Rupert, but they said nothing at all. Miss Hart promised to see that the tree was cut back, and then the constable departed.
    Miss Hart immediately provided Leonie with a cloak, bonnet, and shoes of her own, and dispatched her with Katy to a dressmaker in Oxford Street who was known always to have a number of clothes available for emergencies. The visit proved reasonably successful, and Leonie came away with two dresses, a warm cloak, and a bonnet lined with white velvet. The gowns, one pale green and the other a rather muddy donkey brown, were acceptable only for the time being, for they weren’t exactly to her taste and she didn’t at all care for their particularly large puffed sleeves, but under the circumstances she felt that they would have to do. She and Katy then proceeded to