“What, you did not stay to ascertain that Robbie would not take it into his head to separate my parts? Fie, fie, Miss Godric! When I wake up headless tomorrow, I shall hold you to blame.”
“I daresay Dr. Pierce would also consider it careless of me. I must remind you of his directions. You are not, under any circumstances, to put any weight on your leg.”
‘‘Yes, ma'am.”
“If it should be a great deal more painful after you have been moved, you are to confess and return to your bed for another week.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You must lie on the sofa and not move to a chair for at least another two weeks.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I only wish my brothers were half so obedient,” sighed Hester.
“But perhaps I am merely wheedling you,” suggested Mr. Fairfax wickedly.
Chapter 6
Grace was buried the next day in St. Mary’s churchyard. Hester, James, and Geoffrey went to the simple, sparsely attended service, Alice being too tearful to join them.
“Anyway, I have to mind the baby,” she said with dignity.
Afterwards, Hester wrote to the Vicar of Wiveliscombe. She assumed that he had not received a letter from his sister and told him the whole story, explaining that Grace’s last wish had been that he see to the upbringing of his nephew. Nevertheless, she assured him that she would give a home to the baby if he could not. Closing with a request for a prompt response, she sealed the letter, sent Robbie to the post with it, and turned to her next task.
Mr. Fairfax was expecting her. Cheerfully, she asked him if he was ready for his great adventure.
“Quite ready,” he replied, “though I shall perfectly understand if you wish to postpone it until tomorrow. It is not easy to shake off the distressing impressions of such a harrowing experience as you have just passed through.”
“It may seem heartless, but one cannot
brood
over such a happening; indeed one ought not. People who brood do not notice the next person in need who chances by. If I had been still in the mopes over your accident, I’d have been unable to help Grace. Now there is no more I can do for her, so I shall make up for my unconscionable neglect of you, I hope.”
“Miss Alice and the boys and Ivy have taken good care of me, never fear. And I beg you will not tell Mistress Ivy, but I vow Susan’s cooking is quite as good as hers. Neither compares with yours, of course. What is for luncheon?”
“You will see when you are below stairs. I fear the boys will not be able to manage your weight if you eat first.”
“Wretch! If I am grown fat, it is entirely your fault. Pray say that you do not think I shall have to wear corsets, like Prinny.”
“Does he really? You are bamming me, Mr. Fairfax. I had heard the rumour but could not credit it.”
“You should hear him creak every time he moves, and you’d believe.”
“You met him then? You moved in exalted circles, sir.”
“Oh, the Regent is not the least exclusive,” assured Lord Alton hurriedly. “Where are my bearers, Miss Godric? They shall find me halfway down the stairs if they do not hurry!”
Hester went to the door and called. “James! Geoffrey! Mr. Fairfax threatens to carry himself below!”
Robbie was persuaded to be satisfied with carrying a waterglass and some books, and very shortly Mr. Fairfax was ensconced on a comfortably overstuffed, faded chintz sofa. He looked somewhat green about the gills.
“Are you in great pain?” asked Hester anxiously, shooing her brothers out. “You do not look at all the thing.”
“I confess I do not feel in prime twig,” admitted Mr. Fairfax with a crooked grin, “but I promise I am not yet ready to stick my spoon in the wall. My leg is not so bad. To tell the truth, I felt a little faint.”
“Burnt feathers! Smelling salts! Lavender water! I shall fetch—”
“No, pray do not. It is past already. I’ve no wish to make a cake of myself.”
His colour was indeed a little improved, but Hester insisted on bathing his forehead with lavender water. He lay half-dreaming after the unaccustomed exertion, basking in the warmth of the fire, for it was a chilly, damp day, the first of autumn. The fresh, delicate scent pervaded the air and stilled the dizziness in his head.
“Do not let it worry you,” Hester said in her gentle voice. “Recollect that you have been confined to your bed for a whole month. The weakness will not last.”
Overwhelmed by a wave of gratitude, he took her hand and pressed a kiss on her fingers.
“My angel of mercy,” he murmured, and fell asleep.
Withdrawing her hand from his clasp, Hester felt tears rising to her eyes. She had a deplorable tendency to cry recently, she thought crossly. Well, she didn’t know what it was this time, for sure. She was growing as vapourish as Alice, and she had a family to take care of. She went to make lunch, feeling inexplicably low.
* * * *
Mr. Fairfax slept scarce half an hour and woke in fine fettle, very ready for luncheon. They all ate with him in the back parlour, sitting at the scratched and ink-stained table, which more often saw lesson books than the platters of cold ham and beef and bowls of fruit that were now set upon it.
Mr. Fairfax, feeling now entirely one of the family, could not imagine how he had endured the isolation of the bedchamber above.
“For though you all visited me often,” he declared, “now I may take part in your daily activities. When it comes to lessons, Robbie shall see what a harsh taskmaster I can be, as James already knows.”
James mimed terror, as Hester protested, “I was going to move lessons into the dining room if you truly wish us to take meals here with you.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” said Robbie stoutly, “for we go on famously together, don’t we, sir?”
“Do you not think I should beat you with a cane?”
“No, for you cannot get up, and besides Hester would not let you, would you, Hester?”
“It’s all a hum,” Susan told him scornfully. “Mr. Fairfax don’t wish to teach a clothhead like you.”
“Nor will he wish to eat with any of us if this squabbling continues,” pointed out Hester. “Geoff, I think it is coming on to rain. You’ll not be working outside this afternoon?”
“No, I suppose not. If you have time, I should like to show you the cottage plans Barstow’s bailiff gave me. There are one or two things I don’t understand.”
“Oh dear, I am sure you know more about it than I do. Though I’ll have a look if you feel I might be able to help,” Hester consented valiantly.
“Now there I might be of assistance,” put in Mr. Fairfax. “I have some experience in the matter.” Noticing Hester’s surprised look, he hastily added, “A friend of mine with a large estate was building, new cottages a few years ago, and he asked my advice. I found the subject interesting and did considerable research into modern building methods.”
In fact, his father had not been in his grave a year before he had begun rehousing all his tenants. He was no absentee landlord wringing every penny from neglected land, though he did leave the day-to-day running of his estate to a steward. A steward who was elderly and slowing down and ought to be training a replacement, he thought, looking speculatively at Geoffrey.
Unaware of the tentative plans being made for his future, Geoff was full of gratitude for the present offer of assistance. He even helped Rob and Susan clear the table in his haste to explain his difficulties to Mr. Fairfax and obtain his views on the excellence, or otherwise, of the plans.
Mr. Fairfax, favourably impressed by Geoffrey’s grasp of the subject, was able to solve the problems and make several useful suggestions. They were deep in a discussion of the ways in which the lot of the rural labourer might be improved when James came in with his Greek books.
Acres of plans were removed from Mr. Fairfax’s legs to the table, where Geoff continued to study them, and the Greek lesson commenced, interrupted by occasional queries about damp courses and flues. Hester, dismissing objections, had moved the children’s lessons into the dining room.
At about four o’clock, she went to make tea. Robbie accompanied her to the kitchen, where he cut himself a huge doorstep of bread and butter and then made his escape by the back door. It was no longer raining, though the sky was grey and a chill wind blew, so Hester let him go. Not that rain would have stopped him.
While the kettle boiled, Hester cut some bread. On a day like this, it was pleasant to make toast at the fireside. It always had a special smoky flavour to it, even if it did burn a bit.
Sending Susan to fetch Alice, who was sewing in the baby’s room, she made the tea, set everything on a tray, and carried it across the hall. Alice, the baby in her arms, was just entering the parlour with Susan on her heels. Looking past her sisters, Hester saw a welcoming light spring into Mr. Fairfax’s eyes. Her suspicions were confirmed; he loved Alice.
Thrusting the tray into Susan’s hands, she muttered, “Strawberry jam,” and hurried back to the kitchen, where she sank onto a stool and burst into tears. Even as she wept, she told herself that she was being very silly. At his age, she pointed out to herself, he must have been in love before, and disappointment had obviously not killed him. Alice might even learn to return his regard. And if she did not, but broke his heart, why should she, Hester, be weeping for him? Anyway, it was more than likely that the welcome had been for the tea tray; after an afternoon of architecture and ancient history, surely that was the most desirable sight a man could see.
Hester splashed some cold water on her face and peered at herself in the tiny square mirror nailed above the scullery sink. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen. Hastily, she chopped and fried an onion, causing new tears, added a piece of mutton and some carrots and parsnips, a bunch of parsley and a pint of stock, and set it on the fire. Then she took a pot of strawberry jam and went back to the parlour, which was by now pleasantly redolent of singed toast.
“Geoff!” she said gaily, carefully not looking at Mr. Fairfax, “I vow I don’t know what you do with your onions! They are the hottest I have ever cut up and make me weep monstrously!”
“You will not let me tell in public what I do with them,” answered Geoff indulgently.
Susan, noting Mr. Fairfax’s puzzled look, leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Manure!”
Alice disdainfully affected not to hear.
Hester was soon provided with hot buttered toast and a cup of tea. She found she had interrupted a disquisition by Alice on the baby’s finer points, of which he apparently had many. Mr. Fairfax had been heartily bored by the subject for several minutes, but seeing that Hester did not look well and seemed disinclined for conversation, he encouraged her sister. Hester read this as yet another confirmation of love. She was gazing despondently out of the French windows at Geoff’s dismal, dripping garden when Robbie appeared with his coat in a dark-stained bundle in his arms and blood streaking down his legs.
Hester jumped up and threw open the door.
“Robbie!” she cried. “Are you badly hurt?”
“It’s not me,” he replied in a shaky voice. His face was smeared with mud where he had apparently rubbed his eyes. He thrust the bundle at his sister. “Look!”
Hester cautiously unwrapped the ruined jacket as the others crowded round. She flinched.
“Alice, Susan, don’t look,” she said quickly. “Geoff, come with me into the kitchen, please. We’ll do what we can, Rob dear.” She dropped a kiss on his wet head.
“It’s a rabbit,” he explained importantly, his sangfroid restored now that his sister had taken over. “I was down in Mr. Jenkins’s field and I heard it crying.” He shivered with remembered horror. “It was right by the hedge and its foot was in one of those wire loops and I was trying to get it out, but it was scared and it kept pulling and the wire got tighter and tighter and I didn’t know what to do. There was blood all over.”
Alice shrieked and fled, leaving baby John on Mr. Fairfax’s lap, where she had put him to demonstrate how sweetly he behaved.
“There still is blood all over,” pointed out James. “You’d better go change and wash, Rob. Well done, young ‘un.”
“I’ll rinse your clothes out,” offered Susan. “Blood stains if you don’t do it right away, Ivy says.”
“Beat you upstairs!” cried Robbie, and they dashed out.
“James,” said Mr. Fairfax in an ominous voice, “would you kindly remove this infant, at once if not sooner. Though I rather fear it is too late.”
Little John’s removal revealed a large damp patch. James shouted with laughter and the baby wailed, while Mr. Fairfax sighed in resignation.
“You had best give the child to one sister and my shirt to another,” he suggested, “if you can restrain your mirth sufficiently. And I should like a clean shirt before the third sister returns. I do not think I am unreasonably demanding?”
“N-no, sir,” spluttered Jamie. “I do beg your pardon; you must be most uncomfortable, only your face . . .! I’ll go at once.”
Hester was the first to return. Her face was very pale, and in his concern Mr. Fairfax forgot to feel embarrassed at his
dishabille
.
She did not seem to notice his lack of a shirt and smiled tiredly at him. “I think the poor thing will survive. I daresay it should have gone in the pot, as Geoff proposed, but after Rob rescued it, what could I do? I’d have acted likewise if I’d been brave enough, though I suppose it was some unfortunate man’s dinner.”
“Times are hard, and men must feed their families as they can,” he answered, “but those gin snares are horrible things, I agree. I think you are fagged to death, Miss Godric. Can you not lie down for a while?”
“I believe I will,” she murmured gratefully. “Dinner is cooking, and there is nothing that must be done presently. Was Robbie still distressed when last you saw him?”
“Right as a trivet. He is a lad to be proud of.”
“Indeed, I am proud of him.” Hester smiled warmly at him. “Would you please ask one of the children to call me at seven? I shall rest in the drawing room, as little John has driven me from my chamber.”
In the few minutes before Jamie arrived with a clean shirt, Mr. Fairfax treasured her smile. It transformed her face and gave her, he felt, a beauty transcending her sister’s. If he could conjure it forth by praising her family, then he would be lavish with his praise, which would not be difficult. He wished that his own family had been like this one that had adopted him.