Page 82 of My Gentleman Spy
Hattie attempted to sit upright in bed, but a stab of sharp pain in her left side, quickly made her think otherwise. Placing a hand to her chest, she felt the bulk of bandages which were wrapped around her ribs. She lay back on the pile ofpillows.
“The doctor says you have bruised at least two, possibly three ribs. It will take a few days for the swelling to go down before we know if any of them are broken. To be honest, I have never found the broken ones to be that big of a problem, it's the severely bruised ones which always take the wind out of me,” saidWill.
“Oh,” Hattie replied, remembering the events of the previousevening.
Things at the Mayford home had escalated quickly. One minute she was helping to give Mrs. Mayford a bed bath, the next she was facing the angry boss of the Belton Streetgang.
Members of the gang had accompanied Joshua and Baylee home; and decided that watching the invalid Mrs. Mayford while she was semi naked was good sport. When Hattie asked them to respect Mrs. Mayford’s privacy she quickly found her entire field of vision taken up with the sight of a ruddy face and a mouth filled with broken teeth. The Belton Street gang boss screamed a tirade of abuse at her before setting upon Hattie with his fists and heavyboots.
“I was annoyed that he felt he and his thugs could treat Mrs. Mayford with such little regard for her dignity. What I didn’t realize until it was too late was that I had openly challenged hisauthority.”
Fists had rained down on her until she was finally knocked unconscious and left on the floor. With the sport of beating a defenseless woman over, the gang soon tired of the Mayford’s house andleft.
When Hattie regained consciousness she was genuinely surprised to discover she had survived theattack.
“Joshua then helped me to make it back here. It took us quite some time because I kept passingout.”
Mrs. Little busied herself about the room, adding more wood to the fire and smoothing down the bed covers. After looking around for any other minor task of which she could occupy her time, she came and stood near toWill.
“I think Mr. Saunders is right Miss Hattie. You cannot go on like this, something even more terrible than last night is likely to befall you without the protection of your family. There are others in this world who do not appreciate your fine efforts,” shesaid.
Will nodded, in obviousagreement.
Hattie closed her eyes and wished them both gone from the room. The pain of her injuries now seeped into her bones. She ached allover.
When a rustle of skirts signaled Mrs. Little's departure Hattie slyly opened oneeye.
“No such luck. I'm still here,” saidWill.
He pulled up a chair and took a seat next to thebed.
“I want you to listen to me. To put your stubborn pride to one side for a moment and think upon your currentsituation.”
Considering the pain, she was in, coupled with the heavy bandages, Hattie had little choice other than to lie back and listen to him. She lifted her fingers from the bed clothes in silentacceptance.
“Good,” hesaid.
Will rummaged around in his jacket pocket, and pulled out a piece of foldedpaper.
“I made a list while you weresleeping.”
Hattie groaned in a mixture of pain and undisguised disgust. Will waved her protestsaway.
“First thing. I will contact your brother. That is non-negotiable. By living under the same roof unchaperoned we have done enough to cause a majorscandal.”
Hattie frowned. She cared little for society, and doubted they gave a tinker’s cuss about her and what she did. Willsnorted.
“You may not care about your own reputation, but I have one to maintain. Lord knows the damage it would do to my chances of securing a seat in parliament if news of this scandalous domestic arrangement ever becamepublic.”
“And the rest of your list?” shereplied.
Whatever else he had planned, she doubted it could be worse than having to deal withEdgar.
Will screwed the piece of paper up into a tight ball and tossed it into thefireplace.
“Actually, that was my list. I reason that once your brother is made aware of your presence in London, whatever other plans I may have had for you will be overruled by him. From that point on I shall have to negotiate with Edgar,” hesaid.
Hot tears formed in her eyes. An encounter with her brother was eventually bound to happen, but until now she had been the one to dictate the time and place. Ever controlling Will, had decided to take that decision out of herhands.
