Most Rebellious Debutante (11 page)

Lucy hurried to the stables. As requested on her return the previous day, Maud was already harnessed to the gig and Lucy was able to set off to discover what, if anything, had happened overnight. She knew Wellington would enjoy a run but decided his behaviour was too unpredictable and his presence could be a liability. She must get Theo to show Bertie how to discipline him more effectively … if only he was still safe!

She turned into the track towards the cottage, her heart beating rapidly. What if Lieutenant Potterill were still here? Even the parcel of food would be a poor excuse for such an early visit.

She need not have worried. When she reached the place where she could see the outline of the cottage faintly through the trees to her left and where the narrower track into the wood went straight ahead, all seemed quiet. At the same moment, she heard a dog barking in the distance ahead. That meant Theo must still be in the children’s den. Was Staines with him? He must be as he or the second dog would surely have heard her approach if they were in one of the outbuildings. As she urged Maud to proceed forward carefully, Bruno burst out of the bushes and bounded towards her, still barking and baring his teeth.

Her heart almost froze with fear at the sight of him. He was a large dog and, right at this moment, seemed
ferociously
powerful. He was more than capable of leaping up at her on the driving seat of the gig if he so wished. She reined Maud to a standstill and said tremulously, ‘Good dog, Bruno! I’m a friend, remember!’

He put his front paws upon the edge of the seat and thrust his muzzle at her, still growling, though not as
fiercely as a few moments ago. It took all Lucy’s self-control not to jerk herself away. ‘Good dog!’ she repeated and
hesitantly
held out her hand for him to sniff. ‘Good dog. Do you remember me? Where’s your master? Is he all right?’

She knew he couldn’t understand her words but, from what she had witnessed the previous day, he was an intelligent dog and would sense that she was no threat to him and his master. He seemed to do so. His tongue hung from his mouth as he panted no more than a few inches from her face.

‘Where’s your master?’ she repeated. ‘Find him! Find Theo!’ He must still be in the den, she reckoned, since she was sure Bruno would have stayed with his master until he heard or sensed her approach. But why hadn’t Staines taken Theo back to the cottage? Was he at the den with his master? Her anxiety increased. She glanced towards the cottage. It was the nearer of the two but her main concern was to see if Bruno would lead her to Theo.

She remembered the command Theo had given him the previous day. ‘Patrol!’ she said sharply and pointed deeper into the wood. To make her own intentions clear, she flicked her reins to tell Maud to move on and, as the gig moved forward, Bruno dropped back to the ground and barked at her.

‘Go on! Find!’ she commanded. Bruno bounded off in the direction of the den and Lucy guided Maud more slowly behind. The undergrowth was getting thicker and the ground softer. Lucy knew she couldn’t get the gig much closer. Maud was already finding it difficult to pull the gig forward and Lucy decided to stop whilst she could still turn the gig around. She pulled on the reins and jumped down
and then led Maud in a circular path so that she was facing back the way she had come, thankful that it was easier to move the gig without her weight in it. She tethered the reins to a low bush and then looked around.

Bruno was watching her, his body ready to move on.

‘Go on. I’m coming.’

She lifted up the hem of her skirt and began to work her way through the bushes and undergrowth. Bruno bounded ahead and she could hear him not far in front of her. The tone of his bark had changed and she wasn’t all that surprised when she came upon the fallen figure of Lord Rockhaven.

‘Oh, no!’ She ran forward and dropped at his side. She could tell that he had been pulling himself along the ground but, although he looked dishevelled and grimy, he didn’t seem to have been harmed in any way. His face was grim with pain and anxiety.

‘I thought it must be you coming,’ he said tersely without preamble. ‘I hoped it was, anyway. Can you help me to get up?’

‘I’ll try.’ She stood up and leaned over him, wondering which part of him to seize hold of. ‘Are you all right? What happened? Why didn’t you wait for Staines to come for you?’

Bruno began to lick his master’s face. Theo pushed him away and then pushed himself up so that his upper body was clear of the ground. He tried to tuck his left leg under him so that he could prise himself upwards, grunting as he did so, ‘I fear for Staines’s wellbeing and that of my other dog, Solomon.’ Perspiration ran down his face but the effort was beyond his capabilities and he sank back to the ground. ‘Help me roll over,’ he commanded. When he was lying on
his back he added, ‘They would have been here by now if either were capable of doing so. Here! Try to haul me to my feet.’ He held out his left hand but Lucy was unable to haul him up, no matter how she stooped and braced herself.

‘These blasted legs of mine!’ he cursed in fury. ‘I’m useless!’

‘Shall I go to the cottage to see what’s happening there?’ Lucy asked hesitantly. She was doubtful she would find Staines and Solomon in fine health.

Lord Rockhaven obviously had the same thought. ‘No!’ he said sharply. ‘I’ll get up somehow.’

‘Where’s your wheelchair?’

Theo let himself sag back into a sitting position. ‘Back there. I tried to hold on to it but the ground is too soft. When it fell over, I decided to try to pull myself along the ground but I haven’t made much headway.’

‘Right! Stay there! I’ll go and get it. We might be able to make use of it between us.’

Lucy darted into the bushes and came upon the
wheelchair
about 200 yards back, not far from the den. She righted it and then tugged it backwards to where Lord Rockhaven was waiting. She marvelled that he had got so far crawling along the ground. No wonder his clothes and hands were in such a filthy state.

‘Now, all we have to do is get you upright and holding on to the chair,’ Lucy said optimistically.

That was easier said than done. There was no way Lord Rockhaven could pull himself upright, even with the help of the chair, not even with Lucy sitting in it to give it stability. Perspiration ran down his face.

‘It’s futile!’ he ground out between his teeth. ‘You’ll have
to leave me here and go and see what has happened to Staines. I’m sure no one is there or Bruno would be letting us know.’

Lucy didn’t want to leave him. He was so vulnerable on the ground.

‘One more try,’ she said, casting her eyes around. ‘I know! If you can crawl to that tree and somehow pull yourself up by it, I can get the chair behind you. It’s not far from the path and I’m sure I could pull you along there as far as my gig.’

It wasn’t easy and, by the time Theo was able to drop back into the chair, his hands were badly lacerated from dragging himself up the tree trunk with them taking his weight. Pulling him backwards in the chair over the soft woodland floor was hampered by Lucy stepping on to her skirt each time she took a step back.

‘I’ll have to take it off!’ she cried in despair. ‘Otherwise, we’ll be all day.’

Theo hated the position he was in. It was bad enough when Staines was wheeling him about but this was far more degrading – yet this courageous girl hadn’t uttered a word of complaint. She amazed him! He didn’t know her exact position in life, but he knew she was no country village girl. Her hands were too soft and her language too genteel. Nor could she be of his social class. Most women he knew would be horrified by his disfigurement and his inability to even get to his feet. Yet Lucy Templeton just got on with it, almost as if his crippled state was the natural way to be. She was even prepared to disrobe herself in order to get on with the task in hand. He wished more men in his company had been half as resourceful.

‘You don’t have to do that,’ he said aloud. He twisted around to look up into her flushed face. Lord, she was beautiful! ‘I’m sure you won’t take this amiss, but the women who followed the army used to somehow tuck their skirts up out of the way. I don’t want to sound indelicate, but if you push the front of your skirt back through your legs and pull the back part forwards, you should be able to tuck the end in at your waist. That will keep it clear of the ground.’

Lucy felt her face flush, but he was right: it was no time to be delicate or missish. She let go of the handles of the chair and tried what he had suggested.

‘Like this?’ she asked eventually, stepping forward.

He nodded. ‘Exactly like that.’

It felt almost as she had imagined wearing trousers must be like, and had often wished she had been born a boy instead of a girl. How stupid society was to insist that girls wore full skirts and layers of petticoats – such impractical clothes for country pursuits!

She grinned, partly to cover her embarrassment. ‘How sensible,’ she declared.

It was still hard work, but she was able to make progress and once they were on the narrow path, it was much easier. Even so, she was greatly relieved when she reached her gig. Her arms ached – her whole body ached – but they weren’t home and dry yet. She let down the tailgate of the gig and, with Lord Rockhaven using the strength in his arms and Lucy placing his legs in the right position, with much pulling and pushing, he eventually lay sprawled in an undignified manner on the floor of the gig.

‘There’s some bread and milk in that basket,’ she told
him, as she climbed stiffly up on to the driving seat. ‘That will help you regain some strength.’

It was only a few minutes back along the track to the turn-off for the cottage. Bruno had scampered ahead and had rushed around the cobbled yard, nose to the ground. He now stood barking outside the door of the outbuilding. Lucy wondered why there was no response from Solomon. She drove as close to the outbuilding as she could and, as she jumped down from the gig, a glance in the dog pen showed her why Solomon was silent: his body lay amidst a pool of blood. She felt sick. His throat had been cut.

She looked away, unable to bear the sight. But it was no time for feminine weakness. The whereabouts of Staines was the main problem and she took a step towards the outbuilding.

‘Help me down!’ Theo demanded. He, too, had seen the body of his dog and his face was taut. He didn’t want Lucy to be the one to discover Staines’s body.

Lucy hesitated. She knew what was in his mind. Bruno was alternately barking and whining, his nose snuffling at the lower edge of the door.

‘Do as I say!’ Theo commanded.

Lucy went to the rear of the gig and let down the rear rail. Using her shoulder to support him, Theo managed to stay on his feet as he slithered out of the gig. She climbed up into the gig and lowered the chair down beside Theo and held it steady as he seated himself in it.

‘Right! Let’s see what’s what!’ he said grimly. He wished he could spare her this, but he knew he couldn’t physically manage it on his own. ‘Open the door and push me in.’

It took a short while for their eyes to adjust to the dim
interior but, before that happened, they knew from a throaty groan that at least Staines was still alive, even though badly injured. He lay sprawled on the floor, his face bloody and his body twisted in an unnatural position.

‘We need help,’ Lucy declared as she knelt beside him. ‘I can’t move him and neither can you. He’s lost a lot of blood. He’ll die if we can’t stop the bleeding.’

‘He’ll die if we leave him,’ Theo said just as firmly. ‘Go and get some water and look for some clean cloths. The cleaner we get him, the better chance he’ll have.’

Lucy found a pail of water in the cottage and used a knife to tear up her petticoat into strips of cloth. Under Theo’s instruction, she cut open Staines’s jacket and shirt to find where his injuries were, washed them as best she could and then bound them with the strips of cloth. He had multiple knife wounds, but they seemed to have missed vital organs. Staines groaned throughout her ministrations but was barely conscious. His body was badly bruised and his right leg was twisted at a peculiar angle – Lucy knew it was broken – and what was left of his right hand was a mess of pulped flesh.

‘Stamped on and ground into the floor,’ Theo said tersely, seeing her puzzled stare.

Lucy felt faint. She had never seen such injuries. She was exhausted. She sat back on her heels and wiped her hand across her face, pushing her hair out of her eyes. Tears streaked her face, though she didn’t realize it. Theo reached out and stroked his thumb across her cheek.

‘Well done, my little one,’ he murmured. ‘I think you’ve done all you can for now. He needs a doctor, but it’s too far for you to go in your gig. Who do you know who can be trusted implicitly? Who are your family? What about them?’

‘They are away, visiting Lady Somerfield in Kent. There are a few servants left behind. I think they would be loyal to you, but I can’t be certain. I think I know someone in the village … a Mrs Boulton, who speaks well of your mother.’

‘Is Georgie Boulton related to her?’

‘Her husband.’

‘Good. He’ll do. Tell him to go to Dr Fortesque and request that he comes here as soon as he can … tonight would be better but I daren’t leave Staines unattended until then. Tell him to ask the doctor to bring a suitable carriage. Swear him to secrecy and tell Boulton to make sure my cousin has left the area, and to make sure he isn’t followed, especially when coming here. When he’s done that, ask him to choose someone entirely trustworthy to bring with him, but not to let anyone else know what he is doing. The fewer who know, the better.’

‘Where will you go then? It isn’t very safe here.’

‘I haven’t quite decided yet. I need to think things through carefully. Now, before you go’ – his voice dropped, edged with tenderness – ‘dip that cloth into some clean water and hand it to me.’

Lucy did so, wondering what he wanted it for.

Theo smiled. ‘Lean down a bit. A bit closer. That’s it.’ He reached up and gently wiped her cheeks and across her forehead. ‘That’s better.’ He smiled and it lit his features. ‘Wash your hands and then tidy your hair. You look all in. Are you sure you are up to going to the village? I wouldn’t ask it of you, but there’s no other way.’