Page 47 of The Lady's Companion
“You were right to call me,” the doctor said to Susan and David as they stood in the hall later. He moved aside for Mrs. Skerlong to hurry in with breakfast on a tray and good cheer on her lips. “Although she is not in obvious distress right now, there is still some irregularity to her heartbeat. It is certainly angina pectoris, and would indicate other cardiac maladies incidental to advancing years, and less easy to diagnose.” He rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “You must inform young Lady Bushnell at once.”
“Oh, but surely...” Susan began.
“At once,” he repeated, then fixed the bailiff with a stare. “Perhaps I was unwise to listen to you after her slip on the stairs. I should have insisted then that Lady Bushnell make that final move to the family estate, where she can be watched over day and night”
“It will kill her to sacrifice her independence!” Susan burst out.
“It will kill her to stay here!” Dr. Pym argued, exasperated, out of sorts, and looking for the world like a man who wanted his bed. “My dear Miss Hampton, I’ll give you and Mr. Wigginsthree days...”
Susan burst into tears and threw herself on his chest, sobbing, crowding so close to the doctor that he had no choice but to put his arm around her or topple over. And once his arm was around her, suddenly it became his problem.
“Now, see here, Miss Hampton... oh, do not cry ...!” He cast a desperate glance in the bailiff’s direction, but it was a wasted effort, because the bailiff was minutely examining the wallpaper as though it were a new discovery, and humming to himself. “This unmans me, Miss Hampton! Oh very well, one week!”
Susan managed to detach herself from the physician. “Oh, thank you, Dr. Pym!” she exclaimed, careful to keep her dry eyes averted. “I can’t tell you what this means!”
The doctor took her by the shoulder and shook his finger at her. “And if a week from today I do not receive a missive from you or Mr. Wiggins, stating that you have done as I said, I will personally go to London and deal with young Lady Bushnell!” He nodded to the bailiff, who was standing closer now. “Sir, if you would send someone to the apothecary in Quilling, I will have a compound stirred up for Lady Bushnell that will ease her angina. Good day now.”
With a nod and one last uneasy glance at Susan, who was still sniffing dangerously, he trotted the length of the hall and clambered down the stairs with a velocity surprising in one of his years. When she heard the front door close, Susan began her own inspection of the wallpaper.
She was appalled at her behavior, she had never done anything so blatant before. Perhaps some men are simple, she considered. I wouldn’t dare attempt such a stratagem with the bailiff.
He seemed to read her mind, which further disconcerted her, because it was not the first time. She was beginning to think that was the problem of dealing with a man who knew women as well as the bailiff did. Now someone like the vicar would be forever inthe dark if she attempted subterfuge. But it was the bailiff’s turn now.
“Susan, that was the most... the most...” Words failed him for a moment. “Don’t ever try that on me.”
“Why would I do that?” she asked. It was an innocent enough question, and she wondered why her cheeks burned from asking it. Can it be that I think it is a useful tool, or is it that something tells me I’ll find much better ways of getting what I want out of the bailiff? she considered as her face flamed and he laughed.
She was spared fumbling around for any more conversation when Mrs. Skerlong opened the door, her face serious. “Lady Bushnell is this close to sleep now, thanks to that draught from the doctor, but she wants to see you two for a moment.” She opened the door wider.
Lady Bushnell’s eyes were closed and her face relaxed and calm, likely the result of the sleeping potion. She opened her eyes, patted the bed, and Susan sat down. She held Susan’s hand.
“My dear, thank you for putting up with my crotchets this night,” she said, her voice low and dreamy.
“I didn’t mind a minute of it,” Susan said, and meant every word. Lady Bushnell held up her hand to the bailiff, who grasped it. “But now you’ll sleep, my lady. We promise to tiptoe around and not disturb you.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. Susan got up to go, then sat down again when Lady Bushnell tightened her grip.
“My dears, I have two favors to ask of you,” she said. “Simple things, really.” She opened her eyes, as close as she could come to a look of mischief, with the doctor’s sleeping powders doing their work.
“Say on, my lady,” said the bailiff.
“You and Tim the cowman can get my harpsichord up here sometime tomorrow, and Susan and I will resume our lessons assoon as we have rested a little. Susan, don’t sigh and bite your lip like a baby! I wish Hamptons had some backbone!”
The bailiff laughed. “I am certain we can do that. And the other thing, my lady?”
“I want to go to Waterloo,” she said in the same conversational tone, but drowsy now, her words elongated. “Do you realize I have been on every major battlefield the army has fought over for the last two decades, except that one? Arrange it, Sergeant Wiggins. I want to see where Charles died.”
“Well. ..” He hesitated and she tightened her lips into a straight line and looked daggers at him. “Perhaps when you’re better, Lady Bushnell.”
“Arrange it,” she repeated, then closed her eyes in sleep. Her hand relaxed, and released Susan’s fingers.
David closed the door behind them and walked slowly beside Susan. “She is planning a bolt across the Channel to Waterloo, and we have to tell her that she’s about to be incarcerated at the family estate?” he asked no one in particular as they strolled along as though it were the middle of the afternoon. “Oh, Susan.”
Oh, Susan indeed, she thought, her mind foggy with sleep. “And I have bought us a week’s time for what? David, she will be so disappointed in us, so betrayed when she ends up on a golden chain of young Lady Bushnell’s forging! And all this done out of kindness. I am provoked.” She sniffed back her tears and glared at him. “But I am not going to waste my tears on you, sir! It would be quite useless.”
“Quite,” he agreed. He steered her to her room and followed her inside. It should have surprised her, but at the sight of her bed she felt her bones start to melt and she forgot about him.
“I am so tired,” she said, looking at her pillow almost lovingly.
