*I have no idea," I said quickly, although I suddenly had every idea. *She sounds as if she was hysterical."
*Aye," said Rory.
*Oh, do you think so?" said Merry. *But it wasn"t like her."
*She"s a certain age," said Rory darkly.
Merry looked mystified.
*Yer ken. The change of life," said Rory and to my amus.e.m.e.nt he blushed deeply.
*I don"t think she does, Rory," I said.
Merry looked from me to Rory and back again. *You must think I"m a right idiot," she said. *And if you"re going to stay here Mr McLeod you can put the cloths on Euphemia"s head. Likely, I"ll have double the work tomorrow and I need my sleep."
*Merry," I gasped at such rudeness.
*Don"t tell me you"d rather it wasn"t this way, Euphemia," said Merry with a twinkling smile. *Get well soon." And she tripped out of the door before Rory found his tongue.
*Well," I said, *when I left I thought she was getting rather fond of you."
*Aye," said Rory, *She was."
*What happened?"
*Yer brought yon footman, Merrit, with yer."
*Oh, I am sorry."
*I"m not," said Rory. *She"s a grand la.s.s, but no my type and yer ken how the Staplefords feel about relationships between their staff."
I tried hard not to be pleased and failed. *This thing with Merrit is very fast," I said.
*London charm," said Rory sharply.
*Unless he was using her?"
Rory opened his eyes wide then shook his head. *Oh right, like that. I see what you mean. But if he was walking with her he couldn"t be our intruder."
*n.o.body seems to have checked the times," I said.
*The police will do that."
We lapsed into silence. Rory changed the cloth on my head. As he leaned over me I saw those luminous green eyes were as clear and bright as ever. *I missed you," I said without thinking.
Rory sat back. *And Merry," I added quickly. *It feels like coming home to be back here."
*Aye, and with yon events like you"d never left, Miss Trouble," said Rory with a smile. *But you made your choice, Euphemia, when you went to White Orchards. It was a good choice. A promotion."
*I didn"t feel I had any other choices," I said sadly. *It"s very difficult." I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I brushed it quickly away. *Don"t take any notice of me, Rory. It"s shock or something. My head is killing me."
*I hope not," said Rory taking my hand. *Does Mr Bertram treat you well?" He frowned. *He doesn"t ... he hasn"t?"
I shook my head and regretted it at once. *No, he wouldn"t. But we do have an odd relationship. He"s so impulsive. It makes running the household hard. I never know from one moment to the next what he might require."
*Aye, some masters are like that. They"ve no idea of the work they cause."
*He didn"t check out the new house properly. Any of the locals could have told him of the flooding. And then he wouldn"t believe there was a problem. We argue all the time."
*Argue?" said Rory. *You shouldn"t be arguing with your master."
*I know, but we kind of got off on an informal footing when his father died and everything happened."
*How informal?"
*Oh, for heaven"s sake, Rory. There has never been anything improper between us and there never will be. Will you let that go?"
*You don"t behave like master and servant."
*No, we don"t," I said more calmly, *and that is a greater problem than I had understood. Especially when we are thrown together so much at White Orchards. You"re right, I should be more respectful, but if I didn"t speak my mind he"d blame me even more when things went wrong. He relies on my opinion."
*It sounds like a right mess," said Rory.
*Yes," I said miserably. *It is. I should never have accepted the post."
Rory squeezed my hand. *Never mind, la.s.s. It"ll all come out in the wash."
*That"s what our old cook used to say," I said sleepily. *I don"t see how."
*Your cook?" said Rory startled.
*Ignore me," I said quickly. *It"s that b.u.mp on the head. I don"t know what I"m saying."
Rory was giving me a penetrating stare. *Is there something you"d like to tell me, Euphemia?" he said.
I was saved by the arrival of the doctor. As ever he was dressed in the same tweed coat. I looked at his worn face and made a discovery. *I don"t know your name," I said bluntly.
*Dr Simpson, Miss St John. I"m sorry to meet you again under such circ.u.mstances. Rory." He nodded at the butler. Dr Simpson came and sat on the edge of the chaise beside me and took my wrist in his fingers. Rory let go of my hand and moved back towards the door. *Yes, yes, leave us to it," said Dr Simpson. *I"ll call if I need anything."
Rory nodded and left.
*Good strong pulse," said Dr Simpson. *How do you feel?"
*A little sleepy and I"m saying silly things."
*All to be expected," said the doctor. *I"m sorry I was so long getting to you, but you"re a strong, sensible young woman. If it had been Merry now I"d have been more worried."
*How is Mrs Wilson?"
*Away this good hour to the hospital."
I frowned. It hurt. *But why?"
*Beatrice Wilton needed my services."
*Oh," I said.
The doctor chuckled and asked me to watch his fingers as he moved them across my field of vision. *I thought like you at first, but the young lady really does have a heart condition and a shock could have been most serious for her."
*I"m the one who hit my head."
*Yes, my dear, but you are a servant. Be grateful Richenda didn"t demand I saw her friend before Mrs Wilson or the woman would be dead."
*What about me?"
*You"ll live," said Dr Simpson. *I"ll tell them you need to be abed for a couple of days." He looked around the cosy library. *Is that couch comfortable?"
*More than my truckle bed," I said wryly.
*Right, I"ll tell them you can"t be moved for a couple of days. It"ll let you get a decent amount of rest. To be fair it"ll be a full week or more before you"re back to normal. But I couldn"t see why you shouldn"t do light duties by the end of the week."
*Thank you."
The doctor started to pack up his bag. *I"ll leave a couple of fortifying solutions for you. Not that you"re liable to need them, but it"ll help convince the Staplefords to let you rest."
*Will she live? Mrs Wilson?"
*I don"t know," said Dr Simpson. *I"ve done what I can. Mr McLeod getting me so quickly helped, but whoever attacked the poor woman meant business."
*Last time we spoke," I said carefully. *You said how you"d known Mrs Wilson since she came into service."
*Hmm," said Dr Simpson.
*You implied she had a secret."
*You must be mistaken."
*I know about the Hippocratic oath," I said boldly.
*You do? Then you are the most remarkable maid a no, housekeeper now, isn"t it?"
*I know you can"t tell me anything."
*Then you should know better than to ask."
*Someone tried to murder her. Do you know why?"
*That b.u.mp on the head has given you the strangest ideas. It"s very common. They will fade by tomorrow."
*There was a seance tonight."
*So I heard," said the doctor. *Superst.i.tious nonsense."
*I agree, but I think someone interfered for their own ends. Someone very much alive."
The doctor shrugged. *House party games can get out of hand."
*They made a suggestion using the table that someone present had lost a child. Mrs Wilson reacted very strongly."
Colour ebbed from the doctor"s face. *They suggested she had a child?"
*No," I said carefully. *Not her particularly, but that someone present had lost one."
The doctor said nothing.
*I remember when I first came here you tried to warn me a about the dangers of getting too close to the family. Only Mr Bertram is nothing like his father, is he?"
*No, he"s not," said the doctor and he closed his bag with a snap. *I strongly suggest, Miss St John, that you turn your thoughts to more restful subjects. You"ve had a hard blow to the head and a severe shock."
Our eyes met. The doctor was first to look away. I was almost certain I read fear on his face. *Of course, doctor," I said. *I shall need all my energy when we return to White Orchards to set the house to rights."
The doctor gave me a curt nod and left. I turned to look into the fire. As I watched the flames dance ideas began to form in my head. It seemed impossible, but it was the only thing that made sense. It had to be my concussion affecting my thoughts, because if I was right then any of the Staplefords could be Mrs Wilson"s attacker. I breathed a sigh of relief. Except Mr Bertram. He had been with us. But what if they had hired someone else to do it? Behind me the door opened with a soft click. I froze. The Staplefords knew all too well how adept I was at putting together the pieces of unfortunate puzzles. So far we had reached a stand-off, but what if the events of tonight took that one step too far? What if the blow that had sent me reeling had been intended? What if I was next? I half-sat, half-twisted and fell off the chaise.
*Euphemia?" said Rory. *Are you all right? I wanted to check if you needed anything before I went back to bed."
He helped me back onto the chaise. *I"m not surprised you"re jumpy."
*It"s worse than that," I said. *I think I"m the next victim."
Rory patted my hand as he drew the cover over me. *Now, there"s no need to fuss. I"ve checked the house is locked up myself."
*But what if it was one of the family or someone they hired?" I asked.
Rory went over to bank the fire and then came and sat on a small stool in front of me. *What"s brought this on?" he asked.
*What Merry overheard Mrs Wilson say. I think I know what it means."
*You mean you"ve put two and two together and made six."
*What if she had a child?"
*I do follow you, Euphemia. I got the implication too. But what if she had a child with a Mr Wilson that no one remembers when she was very young? What if that child died? What if the late Lord Stapleford knew about it and she a.s.sumed his son would too? It"s tragic, but infants die all the time. There doesn"t have to be anything havey-cavey about this. It might not even have been her child. Perhaps her sister or even her mother had a child that died and it brought back bad memories."
*The cards said "Mummy didn"t want me". That"s not the same as a child dying in infancy."
*Yer telling me you believe in spirits?"
*Of course not. Someone present spelt out the message deliberately. They meant to cause trouble."