Part 5 (1/2)
”I know it. If only Bradfield would put in an appearance!”
”Surely it is time he and Jane learned to solve their differences without your a.s.sistance. Jonathan thinks it unhealthy that Jane runs home to Cheve House whenever she quarrels with her husband. She will never grow up as long as she finds refuge there. It is not as if he beats her, after all.”
”No, though I am sure I should if I were her husband rather than her brother. I cannot like to abandon her, however, even if I had not as good as promised Mama that I will deal with Bradfield.”
”You cannot abandon me!” Sarah was growing angry. ”Really, Adam, what am I supposed to do with your ladyloves while you dance attendance on your sister? They will never leave if you do not go with them.”
The viscount looked unconvinced. Sarah was marshalling fresh arguments when the door knocker resounded for the fourth time that busy afternoon.
”I suppose this is the third,” she said in disgust.
Mrs. Hicks's footsteps, were followed by a high voice that cried in country accents, ”Help me! Oh, quickly, let me come in.”
”That's Peggy all right,” said Adam, heading for the hall.
Sarah followed him in time to see a distraught girl, modestly dressed in blue muslin, throw herself into his arms.
”What is it, pet?” he asked, then looked up as a large young man pushed past Mrs. Hicks at the open front door.
The intruder pulled the girl away from Adam and without a word swung at him with both fists. One hit him in the pit of the stomach; the second caught him in the face as he doubled over, and stretched him gasping on the floor. His a.s.sailant stood back with a satisfied air, hands on hips, still speechless.
Peggy dropped to her knees at Adam's side, wailing and wringing her hands. Mrs. Goudge and Marguerite dashed out of the parlour and joined her, heedless of the damage to their finery. Mrs. Goudge produced her wisp of lace handkerchief and applied it to his b.l.o.o.d.y nose.
”Cold water and clean linen,” Sarah instructed Mrs. Hicks calmly.
Marguerite jumped to her feet and advanced on the hapless youth, who was by now looking confused at the sudden eruption of feminine pulchritude. She seized a handful of s.h.i.+rtfront and shook her finger in his face, berating him in a furious voice. Sarah tried not to laugh.
Mrs. Hicks returned with water and cloths. She set them on the floor beside his lords.h.i.+p, where Janet and Peggy were making soothing noises and trying in vain to stanch the copious flow of blood.
”Leave them to it,” Sarah advised the housekeeper. ”I think you might rescue that young fellow and take him off to the kitchen, little as I approve of his action. Try to keep him in the house, though. I want Mr. Meade to talk to him.” She noticed her maid gaping from the stairs. ”And send Nellie about her business. It is crowded enough in here.”
She turned back to Adam. He had recovered his breath and was struggling to evade his nurses.
”Let be go,” he said in a m.u.f.fled voice. ”I'll show hib I dow a thig or two about fisticuffs whed I'b dot attacked without fair wardig.”
”Don't you dare sit up,” Sarah ordered sternly. ”You will ruin the carpet.”
Mrs. Goudge looked at her, shocked at her callousness. ”If you have an old sheet to cover the sofa, Miss Meade, we can carry him into the parlour. He will be much more comfortable there than on the floor.”
His lords.h.i.+p was understood to say that he was d.a.m.ned if a bunch of females was going to carry him anywhere. He was quite capable of walking, and undertook, with the aid of a large square of linen, to prevent his lifeblood from staining the rug. He threw a reproachful glance at Sarah.
The young man had been led away by Mrs. Hicks, so Sarah relented. Marguerite and Mrs. Goudge supported Adam on either side while Peggy followed with the bowl of water, now pinkish, and the rest of the cloths. He subsided in a reclining position on the sofa, his women fussing over him.
Sarah would not for the world have admitted it, but she was impressed by their devotion to him. Nothing of that appeared on her face, however, when she said, ”Lord Cheverell and I have not quite finished our business, ladies. Perhaps you would not mind waiting in the hall for a few minutes?”
Reluctantly they filed out, Mrs. Goudge leading the way and Peggy last again, with many a backward glance. Sarah sat down and shook her head reprovingly at the viscount.
”You're laughig at be,” accused Adam.
She smiled. ”It was quite funny, though I daresay I should more properly have indulged in a fit of hysterics. Your nose is swelling. You cannot possibly present yourself to Lady Cheverell in that state.”
”He darkened my daylights, or one of them, as well as drawing my cork,” he said gloomily, probing his cheek with cautious fingers. ”I shall not be fit to appear in public for at least a week.”
”Darkened your daylights?”
”Gave me a black eye. It was a glancing blow.”
”You will have to borrow some of Marguerite's face powder,” Sarah scoffed. ”I suggest you take her and Mrs. Goudge down to Amesbury tonight. Write a note to your mother making your excuses and Arthur shall take it up to the house. They can send a groom to the George with your things. Old starchy-britches will see to it.”
They exchanged grins and Adam said, ”Oh, very well. You are in the right of it as usual. Only promise me that as soon as I am gone you will do your best to persuade Peggy's Billy not to let fly with the wisty castors on sight of me in future.”
”I promise, but I must warn you that I shall try to effect a reconciliation between them.”
”Are you afraid that I shall cut up stiff at losing my convenient? I a.s.sure you it is not so. In fact, I engage to provide a respectable portion for the child if you can persuade the lad to marry her.”
”I have little doubt of managing that, judging by his actions. However, she may be more difficult to convince. She adores you, Adam.”
He grimaced. ”Do your best,” he urged. ”I mean to sever the connection in any event. If she does not wish to wed him, I shall provide for her in some other way.”
”You really care for them, don't you? All of them.”
”They all depend on me, you see. Even Marguerite, though she will soon enough find a new protector.”
”You mean to give up your mistresses when you marry?”
”How can I expect a wife to be faithful if I am not?”
”I like you, Adam. Now you stay there and I shall fetch pen and paper so you may write to her ladys.h.i.+p.
You are an unconscionable rogue but I do like you.”
She stooped to drop a fleeting kiss on his unbruised cheek as she pa.s.sed him.
Surprised and touched by this gesture of friends.h.i.+p, Adam watched Sarah go. Though her round gown of fawn cambric, modestly embellished with drawn-thread-work, could not conceal her graceful figure, it did nothing to enhance it. He had a sudden wish to see her in silks and laces. The house party at Cheve, he decided, must be the occasion for a grand ball.
He was permitted no leisure for further contemplation. As soon as Sarah opened the door into the hall, Marguerite, Janet and Peggy surged through it, throwing black looks at one another. Tired of basking under their ministrations, Adam hastily sat up. To his relief, his nose did not start bleeding again, but the sudden movement revived the ache in his abdomen where Billy's first punch had landed. He tried to breathe shallowly.
”Janet, Marguerite, I shall escort you back to London tomorrow,” he announced. ”Your carriages are both waiting in the street. Go to the George at Amesbury and I shall join you shortly.”
They glared at each other but departed without protest. He heard them making their farewells to Sarah in the hall, then she came in with writing materials.
”Be quick,” she said. ”Mrs. Hicks is having difficulty restraining Billy.”
Peggy began to weep. ”You're leavin' me behind wi' him,” she sobbed.
”Miss Meade will take care of you,” he said helplessly. ”I shall return in a week at most. Be a good girl, pet.”