Chapter Six: The Quiet Countermove
Amos waited until darkness before he spoke to Hester in the vegetable cellar.
He described Shaw’s visit and Catherine’s intervention.
Hester listened with her eyes closed.
“She’s turning every choice into a punishment for somebody,” Amos said.
“Yes,” Hester replied.
“And Gideon is willing to let her because it strengthens his position with the buyers.”
Amos wanted to force the bedroom trunk open while the family slept.
Hester refused.
“If anyone catches us there, Daniel’s accusation becomes ours.”
“Then we can do nothing.”
“We can do something they don’t expect.”
Hester described Mrs. Vale’s objections and the pressure on Gideon to complete the inventory.
Amos leaned against a shelf of preserve jars.
“What do they do when they find the jewelry?”
“Gideon will want an explanation.
”
“He could still sell Lewis.”
“Yes,” Hester said.
“Which is why we need more than the jewels.”
They talked about the auction and the timing of Shaw’s purchase.
The visitors planned to show horses and household goods to prospective buyers on Saturday.
The advance sale of Lewis was scheduled for Friday after the noon meal.
There were less than twenty hours to change that arrangement.
Hester knew she could not rely on a buyer suddenly developing compassion.
But she had seen visitors leave estates in anger over disputed items, and she had seen masters cancel sales to prevent public embarrassment.
She proposed turning Gideon’s own need for a respectable auction against his willingness to accept a false accusation.
Amos doubted the plan.
“He can punish everyone who embarrasses him.”
“He can,
” Hester agreed.
“I won’t promise he won’t.”
The honesty made Amos consider the proposal more seriously.
They decided that Ruth should not speak first.
Instead, they would persuade Mrs. Vale to insist that the missing jewelry be accounted for as part of the inventory.
Once the trunk was opened, Ruth could speak about what she had seen in the presence of someone who had already noticed Catherine’s unusual conduct.
Hester also wanted at least two other workers nearby, so Ruth’s words would not be left hanging alone in an upstairs room.
The plan carried risk for all of them.
Ruth listened to it at midnight while Ellen slept on a pallet beside the pantry.
“She knows I saw her,” Ruth said.
“That’s why she threatened Ellen.”
“Then you must decide if speaking gives her another weapon,” Hester answered.
“Nobody will use your daughter as a wager without asking you.”
Ruth stared at the sleeping girl.
“Daniel didn’t ask to be made into a wager.”
“No,” Hester said.
“He did not.”
Ruth rose and walked to the door.
“I will speak when that trunk is open.”
Hester touched her sleeve.
“We will arrange for Ellen to be with Amos before then.”
“That won’t make her safe.”
“It will make her harder to take quietly.”
The next morning Hester told Gideon that several kitchen implements had gone missing from the household inventory.
They had not actually vanished.
She had moved them to the pantry so Mrs. Vale would need to check the kitchen storage.
Gideon reacted irritably.
“Find them and finish the list.”
“Mrs. Vale says any missing item must be accounted for before the public showing, sir.”
Gideon went to fetch the appraiser himself.
Hester remained in the kitchen, frightened by how easily she had persuaded him to follow the path she wanted.
She knew cunning was not the same as control.
At ten, Mrs. Vale arrived with Oliver Pike and began checking the house from the kitchen upward.
She found the implements where Hester had placed them and made a small mark on her slate.
Then Hester mentioned that the jewelry reported missing from Catherine’s room had never been entered on the household property list.
“It could hardly be entered while missing,” Mrs. Vale said.
“But its value changes the completeness of your inventory,” Hester replied.
Mrs. Vale glanced at Oliver.
“That is true.”
Oliver said Gideon would be expected to disclose the loss to bidders.
Mrs. Vale folded her slate and asked that the upstairs trunks be inspected before lunch.
Hester lowered her head.
“Yes, ma’am.”
When they left, Ruth emerged from the pantry.
Her hands were cold.
Hester helped her straighten the sleeves of her plain dress.
“Remember what you saw,” she said.
“You don’t have to invent anything else.”
Ruth nodded and went upstairs to face Catherine.
