Page 46 of Unforeseen Affairs
Charlotte could not bear it any longer. To trifle with a mother’s grief was the lowest of the low. She pressed her leg resolutely into Sir Colin’s, then nudged him sharply with her knee.
His hand moved gently atop hers and enveloped it. Time slowed. Charlotte watched as his larger hand closed around her smaller one, his thumb slowly caressing her knuckles.
“He says…” Mr. Bass faltered for a moment, building the tension. “It is beautiful here.”
Mrs. Kitson cried out.
Charlotte returned to her senses, and looked at Sir Colin as she jabbed him repeatedly with her knee. He gazed upon her so patiently, his eyes so kind, his face so open. It felt gratifying, to be regarded by him thus. But what on earth was he thinking?
More importantly, why wasn’t he moving?
Charlotte broke away, and dove across the tabletop.
Chapter Thirteen
Severalthingshappenedatonce.
Miss Sedley threw herself across the table and seized the supposed spirit baby, which somehow caused Mr. Bass to fall backward in his chair, straight to the floor. Mrs. Kitson began shrieking at a volume Colin had not thought possible from a human being. For his part, he’d taken hold of Miss Sedley, for his lap was full of her legs and petticoats and it seemed the only way to prevent her from sliding off the table and joining Mr. Bass on the floor.
Everyone else had pushed up from their seats in the fracas and begun voicing their opinions all at once; the room had devolved into sheer pandemonium.
“Miss Punch! Let it go!” a man was yelling over everyone, quite violently. “I say, Miss Punch, unhand him!”
“The baby! She’s killing that baby!” a young woman cried.
“No, no,” another gentleman scolded. “Don’t be daft, Mary, it’s already dead!”
Mr. Bass awoke from his trance.
“I say, what the deuce?”
Colin, for his part, held on tight to Miss Sedley. Still the lamps were not turned up, as Mr. Trenwith was on the floor as well, pulling at Mr. Bass from under his arms and attempting to bring him upright. He was not making much progress, as Miss Sedley had her arms wrapped around one of Mr. Bass’s feet from her position atop the table, preventing him from getting off his back.
But, no—it wasn’t Mr. Bass she was holding onto. It was the spirit, the bundle of muslin, which was… attached to Mr. Bass? At his foot?
What in the world?Colin thought, trying to make sense of what his eyes appeared to be seeing. It was like a ridiculous pantomime. And then he realized—the spirit was nothing more than a puppet, one that Mr. Bass appeared to have been wearing on his foot.
Miss Sedley slid to one side of the tabletop as Mr. Trenwith yanked on Mr. Bass. Colin held fast to her as the purple cloth slid off the table and puddled on the floor.
“Sir Colin! Control your companion!” Mr. Trenwith growled. “She’s gone mad!”
He felt a surge of anger, tightening the muscles in his jaw and throat. How dare he say such a thing, when it was their shameless fraud that had brought everyone here in the first place?
I bloody well won’t, you bastard, he thought. And then, with every ounce of his strength, he pulled back, praying he wouldn’t hurt Miss Sedley in the process. Something gave way, and he stumbled backward with Miss Sedley in his arms, both of them crashing to the floor.
It ought to have hurt, landing in a heap with a young woman atop him. But amid the cacophony of screaming and shouting that whirled about them, Miss Sedley slid an arm around his shoulders and pulled herself tight against him, her face restingjust between his shoulder and his neck. Colin felt his body relax. He rested his hand upon her back.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his collar.
A shudder ran through his body, and he pulled her closer.
“Get her out, get her out of my house!” screamed Mrs. Kitson, breaking the spell.
“No, she’s, she’s… she’s got the baby!” a man cried.
Colin looked down. In her lap, Charlotte held a bundle of vaporous white cloth, looking like an armful of spun sugar.
“The spirit child!” Mr. Bass sputtered.
