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ght a glimpse at the time. Your father read the note he had, and you should
have seen the look on the man's face when the servants were ordered to gra
b hold of him. Took a number of 'em, I must say, all the stable lads and th
ose two black housemen as well were needed before they got him on the floor
and tied him tight as a trussed bird. And the language. Your father had hi
m gagged as well, to spare the ears of the ladies. Unpleasant business."
"No doubt."
"But that was a brilliant bit of business with the note, and the same for Mr. B
arrett for catching onto it so fast. You took a risk over that, though."
"But it worked. That's what matters."
"Now, who were these fellows who captured you? How did you let it happe
n?"
"I didn't, they did."
"What? Oh, I see. Yes, certainly you didn't plan to let yourself be kidnapped
. Well, then, did you get a good look at 'em?"
"Much too good a look. I'll know them the next time I see them."
"Which will be soon, I hope. That is, if Nash and his men can find 'em befor
e they get away."
"And Father's with them?"
"Looking in the wrong place, it seems."
"Sorry. I couldn't be more specific in the note as I didn't really know where I
was until later."
"Tell me what happened."
I did so, briefly, leaving out certain details, and could see him swelling with
anger.
"Bastards," he grumbled.
And that about summed it all up for me.
About three miles from home, Beldon said he wanted to run ahead to prepare
things for me, kicked his hack to a canter, and disappeared. I approved,
for it would mean any anxiety over me would be relieved that much sooner,
and so it proved when Norwood and I finally arrived.
Jericho was there to help me from the horse, to help me inside, and to hel
p me strip from my worse-for-wear clothes. Part of Beldon's preparations h
ad included instructing Mrs. Nooth to boil large quantities of water. The
bathtub was set up in the now steamy kitchen and my cold and highly abused
body was soon ecstatically soaking in wonderful, reviving heat. A hot wet
cloth was wrapped around my head to warm up my ears. I must have looked l
ike some sort of down-at-the-heels sultan, but didn't care.
Mrs. Nooth had bathed me as a child and treated me little different now as a
n adult. Her one concession to the passage of years was to drape a blanket o
ver the whole of the tub, but I thought that it was more for retaining the h
eat than to preserve my modesty. She added more hot water as it was ready un
til I felt like a hard-cooked egg, but got no complaints from me. Her instin
cts were to feed me something, anything. I managed to put her off on that. M
y past influence upon her helped there, for she didn't press.
The whole house, it seemed, was in the kitchen, eyes on me, full of questio
ns. Even Mother was present, her mouth turned down in fearsome disapproval
for the uproar and, possibly, my naked state, but with the blanket in place
she had no cause for worry. Propriety, though somewhat strained, was intac
t.
Elizabeth had been in tears when Norwood and I had come in, and had thrown
her arms about me in relief. I'd held her and told her I was fine and then
came the first of the questions: What had happened? Where had I been? How d
id I get away? And so on. I repeated what I'd said to Norwood, with a few m
ore details and a lot more interruptions. As before, I left out some things
. No one noticed, or if they did, it was accepted without comment.
"You should have killed the fellow while you had the chance," said Norwood
in regard to my bravado gesture of shooting over Ash's head.
I remained silent on that one and wallowed in the incred-
ible glory of hot water. Beldon removed the soaking wet turban to check
my ears and pronounced them to be normal again. He then made a careful e
xamination of the spot where Drummond's near-deadly blow had connected.
"I see no sign of injury, sir," he said. His manner was reminiscent of the
time he'd marveled over my miraculously healed arm.
I couldn't distract him out of it in front of all this crowd. "Perhaps it wasn't
as bad as I thought."
"But your hair is was quite matted with blood. It had to come from a cut in t
he scalp, and I can't find one."
"That suits me well enough, Doctor. Mrs. Nooth, might I trouble you for a bi
t of soap and a flesh brush?"
It was no trouble at all, and her bustling and cheerful chatter got between m
e and Beldon, as I'd wanted.
The two oldest stable lads had been dispatched on fresh mounts to find Fath
er. Norwood thought of going, but didn't know the countryside as well as th
e lads. They weren't gone long; Father had been on his way home when they m
et him on the road. He'd galloped the rest of the way back and still smelle
d of winter night when he pushed his way into the kitchen to greet me. He k
nelt next to the tub, took my face in his hands and pulled me close, restin
g his chin on my head for a moment. Neither of us spoke. It didn't seem nec
essary.
He drew back and looked me over and combed a damp lock of hair from my f
ace. "Oh, laddie, what have you done to yourself?"
"I'm really all right," I said. I'd said that a lot recently-
"Thank God." Then, with a wry curl of his lip, he added, "Are you tired of al
l the repetition?"
"Is it so obvious?"
"It's fine. You look all in, though. I'll ask my questions when you're up to t
hem."
"Not long," I promised.
He told me I was a good lad, then turned to Beldon and Norwood for the sto
ry of how they'd found me. At the same time he unobtrusively herded the wh
ole lot from the kitchen. Jericho remained behind. He'd already been upsta
irs to fetch me fresh clothes and was examining the old ones with a critic
al eye.
"There's blood on your coat," he said quietly, so Mrs. Nooth, busy on the oth
er side of the kitchen, could not hear.
"Yes. That motherless well, he gave me a bad knock. Near as 1 can make ou
t he grabbed me by the queue and swung me right into the wagon seat like
you'd break a chicken's neck. I'm lucky he didn't kill me."
"And one day later there is no injury to be seen."
I shrugged. "It's the way I've become."
His eyes briefly lighted. "Magic?"
/ couldn't help but smile. "Why not?"
Bathed, shaved, and decently dressed: such are the things that mark us as ci
vilized creatures. I was looking very civilized before Jericho gave me permi
ssion to leave.
They were all waiting in the parlor. Cousin Anne was serving tea. It might
have been the same as any other evening at home except for the way they loo
ked at me with the unease in their faces. It wasn't nice to see, and I was
trying to think of a graceful way to excuse myself without seeming rude.
Father saved me the trouble by stepping forward. "Come, Jonathan, I've some
things to tell you. No need to bore everyone. The rest of you carry on as
you are."
A ripple went through them. Their faces all seemed strangely alike, blurred
and blank, even Elizabeth's. Father took my arm and led me away to the lib
rary. He closed the door.
It was warm there. A fine big fire was blazing, merry as New Year. I was n
o longer cold, but the memory of it drove me to the hearth to hold my hand
s out to the flames. The heat baked my skin, soaked into the bones. Father
moved up behind and came around, standing next to me. Watching.
"This feels very good," I said, uncomfortably conscious of his gaze.
He made no comment.
"You had some things to tell me, sir?" I prompted.
"When you can look me in the eye, laddie."
It was painful for some reason I didn't understand. Like looking into the sun
. His face was as blurred as the others. I tried blinking to clear my sight a
nd was shocked when tears spilled out.
"I'm sorry," I blurted.
"For what?"
"I... don't know."
"1"wasn't your fault, laddie." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]