Sanditon: A Sisterhood Forms

46

"What... still be here?" she asked, an eyebrow raised, "Don't let the unknowns get the better of you, Arthur."

"Right..." He peered over his shoulder one last time and went back to gathering papers from the floor.

Georgiana reached for another stack, and worked through it one page at a time, scanning the contents of every letter and document she came across. "For someone so rich," she let another page flutter back to the desk, "she has an alarming amount of debt."

"Anything we might use?"

She shuffled through more papers as Arthur combed through what remained on the floor.

"Miss Lambe-" he started, lifting the stack closer to his face, "Were you familiar with the name of Campion... before."

"Before?"

"Coming to England."

She swallowed. "It is a common enough name."

"She owned a plantation?" he scanned the document a second time, then tossed it up to her.

She scanned the paper, "a bill of sale?"

"Read the name."

"From Eliza to... Robert Campion." The document trembled in her hand.

"And she made a hefty profit from it, as it looks," he slid the next few pages over to her.

"Arthur... hand over the rest of that stack."

She paged through; her face inches away as she read the tidy script. "I need you to search for a set of ledgers," she breathed, rubbing at her forehead absently.

He came upon a candle, set upon the table before the fire, and lit it in the flames, exploring the bookcases that bordered the room as Georgiana pulled out the drawers of the desk completely, reaching as far back as she could to check for hidden compartments or sliding panels - anything that might reveal more.

"Miss Lambe," she heard Arthur call out in a whisper from the balcony above.

"Yes?"

"You might wish to see this-"

She dashed for the spiral staircase, lifting her skirts as she stepped lightly, moving as quickly as she could in the quiet, "Did you find them-"

He grinned back at her, standing in front of an entire wall of ledger books, shelved neatly apart from one lower shelf at the end, on which the books tilted haphazardly. She walked to the last section, crouching low to reach the very bottom shelf, and pulled the last ledger from its place. She flipped through its pages.

"Nothing suspicious," she said quietly, standing back to examine the pillars along either side of the bookcase, "and yet - it's all a bit too unblemished. I don't believe a word."

She ran her foot along the base of the bookcase, the wooden mouldings taking shape, "My father had a series of dentil mouldings similar to this in his study," she said. "Seems a bit odd, doesn't it? To have something so extravagant at your feet."

"That is a bit strange," Arthur said, moving the candle closer.

"But, the thing is," she said, putting more pressure upon them with her foot, "elaborate designs such as this might also have a purpose - a means of justifying the unnecessary ornamentation." She had reached the third dentil from the end, and it gave way under the pressure. The bookcase rotated before them, to reveal a second bookcase.

Arthur looked at her, blinking as if he were still registering what he had just witnessed. "Bravo, Miss Lambe," he whispered.

She eyed the contents of the hidden bookcase, which was sparsely stocked, "A manor house is little more than a showroom, Arthur - the darkest secrets are always hidden from view."