All for Love (9 page)

‘I’m so sorry, my dear.’ Hyde’s exhausted voice again. ‘What a damnable nuisance for you. You’ve sent for ...’ the voice dwindled ... died, then picked up again ... ‘Judge James?’

‘Yes.’ The men had him out of the coach now and into the chair she had had brought out. The rough bandage round his left shoulder was stained scarlet. Heart’s blood? Lifeblood? ‘But, surely, a doctor?’

‘Stupid.’ Could there be the faintest hint of laughter in that whisper. ‘Will you never remember that Judge James
is
a doctor?’

She nearly said, ‘Thank God,’ but restrained herself in time, and watched in anxious silence as Aaron and Francis carried Hyde in at the side entrance and round to his study, which was on the right-hand wing of the house, and mercifully, on ground level. The bed was actually ready and Hyde gave a little grunt of relief as the two men lowered him gently on to it. He must have fought in his shirt sleeves, so at least there was no top coat to cut away, but Juliet did not like the look of that widening patch of scarlet on what struck her as a very inefficient bandage.

‘We had nothing,’ the stranger had followed them into the room and must have understood her look.

‘I see.’ No time for him now. She turned to Satan. ‘How long till Judge James gets here?’

‘Ma’am, I dunno. The Judge might be in circuit; he might be in Savanny; he might be anywhere.’

‘I see,’ she said again, and looked about her. Frightened faces, stupid faces, useless faces. ‘Aaron,’ she made up her mind. ‘Take this gentleman to a guest-room. Get him everything he needs. The rest of you, get back to your duties.’ Ironic word. ‘All but Anne and Alice. You’ve got the dressings, Alice?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ The girl looked terrified.

‘And the hot water?’

‘Sarah’s just bringing it.’

‘Then you and I will change his bandage, Anne.’

***

‘My congratulations, ma’am.’ Judge James joined Juliet in the parlour an hour or so later. ‘I had not thought you so skilled a nurse. If you’d not changed that bandage, you’d be a widow now.’

‘And as it is?’

‘There’s a chance. A good one, I hope. The ball passed upwards, through the shoulder. A clean wound of entry — and of exit too, thank God. No need to maul him about any more now. We must just hope his strong constitution will pull him through. And your nursing, of course.’ Was there a touch of surprise in his voice?

‘Of course.’ Juliet managed an artistic shudder. ‘I had practice enough, Judge, after Waterloo.’

‘Oh ...’ She had explained what was puzzling him. ‘Stupid of me. I cry you a thousand pardons, ma’am.’

‘No need. It is not an experience I wish to remember. And your other patient?’

‘Miss Abigail? As well as could be expected at her age. A few days of quiet; good news of her nephew; and she should be herself again.’

‘Thank God for that. But you think there will
be
good news?’

He faced her squarely and, she thought, with dislike. ‘I’d be wrong to hold out more than a fifty-fifty hope, Mrs. Purchis. The other man’s dead, I understand.’ It was a question heavy with overtones. What in the world would Josephine’s reaction be?

She thought of what seemed a safe one. ‘There’ll be no trouble? For Hyde?’

‘I doubt it. You know — everyone knows how I feel about duelling. I thought your husband shared my views.’ No question now about the dislike in his voice. ‘But at least he had the grace to fight on the Carolina side of the river. It’s no affair of mine. Except as his friend,’ (the slightest possible accent on the word ‘his’) ‘and his doctor.’ He was writing busily. ‘Have these fetched from Savannah at once. Here are the directions. Quiet is most important of all, of course. I shall come over again first thing in the morning.’ He was on his feet.

‘You’ll take something before you go?’

‘No.’ His look told her more clearly than words how little he liked the idea of drinking with her. ‘Thank you,’ he added, natural courtesy prevailing over dislike. ‘You’ll send at once, of course, if he shows signs of fever. I’ll take one more look at him before I go.’

He could not prevent her from accompanying him, though she was sure he would have liked to. Hyde was heavily asleep. ‘I gave him a laudanum draft,’ said Judge James. ‘With luck, it should keep him quiet until morning. The less he moves, the better. Someone should sit up with him, of course.’

‘Of course.’ She would not tell him that she herself intended to do so.

He had only just gone when a new problem presented itself. Alice came tapping at the study door. ‘Yes?’ Juliet looked up from her seat by the bed. ‘Quietly.’ She whispered.

‘It’s the gentleman, ma’am. That came with the master. Fit to be tied, he is; want to know what the Judge said. Keeps allowing it was all his blame.’

‘Oh, fiddlestick! Very well. Fetch Anne to sit with the master and tell —’  she did not know the stranger’s name — ‘tell him I’ll see him in the parlour.’

She could not help but be sorry for the distracted young man she found there. ‘Sam Everett, ma’am.’ He stopped his anxious pacing of the room when she appeared. ‘I don’t know what to say; how to ask your pardon …’

‘No need, Mr. Everett.’ At least she had had a little time to work out her approach. Even in the distraction of their arrival, she had recognised the New England twang and seen that none of the servants knew him. ‘You cannot possibly feel any more guilty than I do. You’re a stranger here, but I promise you, when you go into Savannah, you will find enough tongues to tell you that this business is all my fault. And so it is!’ It was an immense relief to come out with it. ‘Mr. Fonseca was —’  she hesitated — ‘An admirer of mine. I never thought ... never imagined ... I’m a stranger here too,’ she raised huge, distraught eyes to his, and thought, as she did so, just how true it was. ‘I must have misunderstood,’ she went on. ‘Misled him ... Oh God, if anything happens to Hyde, I’ll never forgive myself.’ And that was true, too.

‘But what did the doctor say?’

‘That there was an even chance. No more. It’s probably worse, don’t you think? Though why he should try to spare me …’

‘Why not?’

‘Oh, because he thinks it’s all my fault, of course. And he’s right. I could see him hating me. I don’t blame him.’ She was crying now, in great uncontrollable relieving bursts of tears.

‘Mrs. Purchis, you mustn’t.’ He took her arm and drew her to a sofa. ‘You’re overwrought, and no wonder, but remember, you’re the only one here who seems capable of keeping her head. You were magnificent, when we got here.’ No mistaking the warm admiration in his voice. ‘You must not fail your husband now.’

‘No.’ She sniffed once, resolutely, and smiled up at him through a mist of tears. ‘Thank you, Mr. Everett. I needed that. And —’ belatedly, she remembered her position — ‘welcome to Winchelsea.’

‘To think of arriving thus! Hyde and I talked of it so often, all those years ago, at Harvard. And now, this!’

Thank God she had been right in judging him a complete stranger. ‘You must not mind it,’ she said mechanically. ‘If it had not been you, it would have been someone else.’

‘Yes.’ He had been longing to get it said. ‘But don’t you see, that’s just it! Anyone used to duelling could not have made the unspeakable mistake that I did. If I had only remembered the count …’

‘Hush!’ He had sat down by her on the sofa, and she put a restraining hand on his. ‘You must not refine on it so. Mr. Fonseca is —’ she corrected herself — ‘was a desperate man. He might well have fired just the same.’ It could easily be true, she thought.

‘You really think so? Oh, thank you!’ His other hand closed over hers. ‘Thank you a thousand times.’

‘Josephine!’ The icy voice made them both look up.

Abigail Purchis stood in the doorway, taller and more gaunt-looking than ever. One frail white claw held her draperies round her, the other steadied her against the newel post. Now she came forward, one shaky step into the room. ‘Perhaps you will make your friend known to me?’

‘Hyde’s friend, aunt.’ Almost for the first time, Juliet found herself genuinely sorry for Josephine. ‘This is Mr. Everett from Boston. He acted —’

‘As Hyde’s second,’ the old lady actually interrupted her. ‘Do not expect me to thank you, sir? It is not, precisely, my idea of friendship.’

Chapter Seven

Towards morning, Hyde began to stir restlessly. ‘Josephine?’ he muttered.

‘I’m here.’ Juliet put a restraining hand on his good shoulder. ‘Lie still, my dear. Judge James says you must keep as quiet as possible.’

‘He’s been? I’m home?’ His gaze wandered vacantly round the room. ‘But, Josephine —’

‘Not now.’ She had no intention of letting him talk about the duel. ‘Here.’ She had risen and fetched the draft Judge James had prescribed. ‘Drink this.’

‘But, Fonseca?’

‘Dead.’

‘That’s something.’ The draft was beginning to take effect. ‘Should apologise ... Something ...’ He was asleep again.

Judge James was pleased with him. ‘If he goes on like this ... No excitement ... no disturbance ... nothing. He may do yet.’

‘You didn’t think so yesterday?’

‘I’m still very far from being sure. But panic never helped anyone.’

‘I don’t panic.’ He had got under her skin at last. And then, remembering her part. ‘Not without an audience worth the trouble.’ She was sure the dislike between Judge James and Josephine must be mutual. ‘And Miss Abigail?’

‘Worse than I had hoped. Something seems to have disturbed her last night. She’s in a fever today. You’ll need to send to town again for drops for her.’

‘Oh, pshaw,’ Juliet was well back into her role now. ‘She would get sick when I’ve all this on my hands already.’

‘She adores her great-nephew,’ the judge rose, looking at her with frank dislike. ‘If you’ll be advised by me, Mrs. Purchis, you will leave her nursing to Sarah.’

‘I certainly shall.’ She had seen how her appearance at the old lady’s bedside, that morning, had agitated her. No doubt about it, she had put the worst possible construction on that tableau she had chanced on the night before.

Sam Everett volunteered to go into Savannah for the medicine. ‘I’ll send it out for you, Mrs. Purchis and take myself off your hands. The last thing you want is to be cumbered with a guest at such a time.’

‘Nonsense.’ That was too brisk for Josephine, but he would not know. She gave him a languishing glance. ‘I need you, Mr. Everett. Think of my situation, all alone out here, with two invalids and a parcel of useless servants. Do, please, come back. I know my husband would wish it. And I promise to make the most complete use of you. To begin with, will you see Mr. Updyke for me — my husband’s agent — and explain that he will have to see to everything for a while.’

‘Of course.’ Eagerly. ‘Any other commissions, ma’am? Any notes for your friends?’

Here was a pitfall. Which of her friends would Josephine write to? She put a distracted hand to her brow. ‘I don’t know what to say, Mr. Everett. God knows what scandal broth is brewing about me in town today. You will act the part of a true friend both to Hyde and to me if you will do what you can to stifle it.’

‘Yes.’ He looked suddenly much younger than Hyde. ‘But what shall I say?’

‘Oh!’ Impatiently. ‘Anything to the purpose. You must surely know on what pretext they fought?’

‘Some angry words spoken at your party the other night.’

‘Of course. I remember them. Well, there’s your cue. And a moving picture of me, if you please, acting the devoted nurse.’

‘But you are.’

‘Of course I am. What in the world else can I do, so circumstanced? And for God’s sake, Mr Everett, let none of my dear friends decide to come and pay me calls of condolence. Tell them what you will, but keep them away.’

‘I’ll do my best.’ Doubtfully. ‘Though how any friend of yours
could
stay away at such a time ... And by the way, which ladies do you wish me to visit on your behalf?’

Here it was again. Fatal to give him the wrong names. She pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve and put it to her eyes. ‘Mr. Everett, I’m distracted with anxiety for my husband! And his aunt! I’ve had no sleep!’ She was actually beginning to feel sorry for herself. ‘And we need that medicine! Go to Mrs. Scarbrough.’ Here was inspiration. ‘Give her my fondest love; tell her all; beg her to make my excuses to my other friends. Tell her you will bring news to town daily of how my invalids go on. I know how anxious his friends will be for Hyde.’

‘Yes,’ he said with a kind of triumphant obstinacy. ‘And so they are bound to call and inquire after him.’

She stamped her foot. ‘I won’t have them! Have I not enough on my hands as it is? I tell you, Mr. Everett, if you let them come, I shall make you see them for me.’

‘But, ma’am …’

‘Don’t stand there saying “But, ma’am,” to me. Get to Savannah, Mr. Everett; use your wits; tell Mrs. Scarbrough Miss Abigail has a putrid fever. That will keep them away.’

It did. An oddly peaceful week followed, with Juliet dividing her time between nursing Hyde and finding her way, quietly, round the house and grounds. Showing Sam Everett about in the evenings was a useful pretext for this. He went into Savannah every morning and brought her back, in the evening, what she suspected of being heavily expurgated accounts of the inevitable scandal. Judge James, paying his daily visit the Thursday after the duel, actually accepted a glass of madeira.

‘What’s this about a putrid fever?’ His quizzical eyes met hers.

‘Oh, pshaw,’ she made big eyes at him. ‘I had to keep my dear, inquisitive friends away somehow. You don’t mind, do you, Judge? I’ve enough on my hands without all the world coming to watch me act the nurse.’

‘And very well you do it, Mrs. Purchis.’ The compliment seemed to surprise him almost as much as it did her. ‘A few more days,’ he went on, ‘and I think we will be able to pronounce our patient out of danger.’

‘And Miss Abigail?’

‘Oh.’ He hesitated. ‘She’s getting stronger every day. I think she just feels like keeping to her room for a while.’

‘I see.’ She made an eloquent little face. ‘We must just hope, Judge, that my husband goes on well enough so I can take him back to town soon, before Miss Abigail is permanently bedridden from avoiding me.’

He looked at her soberly. ‘It would not be right, Mrs. Purchis, to let you hope for anything of the kind. Your husband won’t be fit for town this side of February.’

‘February? He’ll be ill till then? And need nursing?’

‘Well, of course.’ His impatient tone told her that he thought her weary already of her role as nurse. ‘I am afraid you must resign yourself to the quietest possible Christmas.’

‘Oh, Christmas! Who cares about that?’ And then, belatedly, remembering, ‘It’s dull as ditchwater here anyway. I’ll be glad to be excused.’

Only after he had gone did she face the real cause of her anxiety. Hyde would need nursing, careful nursing, for weeks to come. And any minute now she expected to hear from Josephine.

***

The summons came a few days later, an impatient scrawl written from the house beyond Ruffton. ‘What am I to do, Anne?’ Juliet turned to her only confidante.

‘You’ll have to write and explain. With the master ill, you can’t possibly be gone so long as it would take to get up there and back. Satan and the men can fetch her to the old wharf on the far side of the island. In the afternoon, when Mr. Hyde’s asleep and Mr. Everett’s in town.’

‘Yes.’ Doubtfully. ‘I suppose that would do. But, Anne: Hyde — the nursing ...’

‘Don’t you trouble yourself about that,
petite
, I’ll take care of him. You know as well as I do that Madame Josephine would never have done what you have. Lucky you’ve had the sense to keep her friends away. And that’s another thing: she’s all kinds of plans for Christmas. You couldn’t possibly manage that.’

‘No ... No, of course not.’ And then, ‘You mean, she’ll go into Savannah and leave him here ill?’

‘But naturally. And a good thing too. I can get on with looking after the master, and Miss Abigail can come downstairs again.’ A sharp glance for Juliet. ‘You’d best warn your cousin about her — and about Mr. Everett.’

Juliet sighed. ‘I’ve made nothing but trouble. It’s time I was gone.’ And yet, how loath she was to leave.

***

Well,’ Josephine summed it up impatiently. ‘A proper muddle you’ve made of things, and no mistake. Hyde wounded, a stranger I’ve never seen in my life installed as a house guest, old Abigail in a miff ... Have you any other pleasant surprises for me?’ They were rapidly changing clothes in the tumbledown house by the old wharf. ‘Petticoats and all I suppose,’ she said crossly. ‘Alice would be bound to notice.’

‘I’m afraid so.’ Juliet handed over hers and stood, shivering in the damp room, while Josephine fumbled with a knotted ribbon. ‘Jo,’ she went on, ‘you do realise, don’t you, just how ill Hyde is?’

‘I should by now. If you’ve told me once, you’ve told me five times! Bed until February; constant care; old Judge James every day! Aren’t I just the lucky one! And the devil of it is, if he should die, the estate goes to that nephew of his in Charleston, with old Abigail as tenant for life. And then where’s my base of operations!’

‘How can you be so heartless!’

‘Heartless! You’re a fine one to talk. Who got us into this fix, I’d like to know?’

‘If you’d only told me about Mr. Fonseca —’

‘Why should I? He was safe in Florida, I thought.’ The ribbon broke in her hands, and she threw the petticoat at Juliet. ‘So long as I live, I’ll never forgive you for that, Ju. The only man —’ She stopped. ‘The only entertaining man in Savannah, and you get him killed.’

‘That’s enough.’ Juliet’s hands were shaking so that she could hardly dress herself. ‘I knew, all along, that I should never have agreed to this imposture. You’re right: it’s caused nothing but trouble. So here’s an end of it. If you’ll give me the money for my passage back to France, I’ll be grateful. If not, I must just manage as best I may.’

‘But, Ju!’ Josephine’s horrified face emerged from her gown. ‘You can’t fail me now! I’ve got the ship; she’s to be in Charleston some time after Christmas. For fitting out. I’ll have to go then.’

‘I can’t help it.’ Every instinct told her that this was what she must do. The less she wanted to, the more essential it was. She really ought, she thought wryly, to be grateful to Josephine for forcing the decision she had been fighting. ‘You’ll just have to think of some excuse for going to Charleston. There are always the races. I’m sorry, Jo, it’s finished. Only — you will take care of Hyde, won’t you? He’s so weak still and all my fault.’ She was close to tears.

‘Well, I’ll be jiggered!’ Josephine shook her curls into place. ‘You’ve never lost your head to that dry-as-dust husband of mine! Oh, Ju, what a little fool you are. And what a pity,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘You’d suit him much better than I do. The two of you could talk education and politics and the rights of man till the cotton was picked. Oh, well,’ she gave her pretty little Gallic shrug, ‘time’s running on. I must get back to the delightful household you have arranged for me, and you to that gothic ruin of yours. You’ll find old Sukey has put it in some kind of order for you. As to your passage to France; think it over, child, think it over. For one thing I can’t possibly lay my hands on the money for the moment, having spent my last penny on the
Liberty
. My ship,’ she explained, ‘a suitable name, is it not? Keep calm, love, don’t go fretting yourself about Hyde. He’ll come about, you see if he doesn’t. And I’ll visit you from Savannah just as soon as I get fixed there for Christmas. Time then to think of your plans. And one thing, pet. Do pray, remember, if Hyde is really so ill as you say, how bad it must be for him to have this little trick of ours exposed. “No excitement”, you keep saying. Well, do you not think it might excite him just a trifle to learn what a fool we have made of him between us? So, for all our sakes, keep quiet, child, in that quiet house of yours. I’ll visit you as soon as I can — after Christmas.’

‘Very well.’ She was too tired to argue. ‘I’ll wait a while. And keep quiet, as you say.’ The light was beginning to fail. Hyde would wake soon, expecting the broth she always gave him now. ‘But don’t think I shall change my mind, Jo,’ she warned, ‘for I shan’t. Oh, by the way, I helped myself to a bundle of books from the library, to help pass the time. I’ll return them when you come.’

Josephine laughed. ‘You know how little I shall miss them. And it doesn’t sound as if Hyde will be resuming his studies for some time to come. Good-bye, pet, and take care of yourself. I’ll go first. No need for more of them than must to see the two of us together.’

‘But, Jo —’ She was gone. Watching through the broken window, Juliet saw her say a casual word to Noah, the groom, who had been waiting with the horse she had ridden across the island. Then she was up, and riding away down the track across the cotton fields, with never a backward glance.

Juliet bit her lips. So many things she should have said. Too late now. And no time either to be thinking of the cruel, casual things Josephine had said. Or how true they were. She picked up the warm shawl her cousin had been wearing and had a moment’s sick revulsion at the too-familiar scent that clung to it. Then, swinging it round her shoulders, she pushed open the crazy door and walked down to the wharf where Satan and his team of rowers were waiting.

***

Old Sukey was delighted to see her. ‘Gives you the horrors, here on your lone. But you look tuckered out, missy. Why not get right into bed and I’ll bring you a bite there?’