Hide in Time (24 page)

Adam and Raffles exchanged glances.
Though Laura could not see clearly what they were conveying, she
guessed it might be their disapproval of the wily doctor. The moment
the doctor left, Adam bounded up the stairs and Raffles followed in
his usual dignified and stately fashion. He knew his limits.

Laura now sat in a corner on the other
side of the room from the window, and clutched her backpack. Her eyes
did not leave Adam.

“What did the doctor say?”
asked Catherine.

Raffles came through the door,
pretended not to realize that the question had been asked of Adam,
and responded, “Something about medicine and miracles.”

“He’s left the medicine
over there.” She let out a despairing sigh. “Four times a
day. He said he’d leave instructions.”

“Catherine,” said Adam,
“You have been so helpful to us all but you need some rest now.
It’s the middle of the afternoon, nigh on three o’clock.
Take a nap, little one. Raffles says he’ll stay with me for a
while and we shall administer her first dose of medicine.”

Laura watched as Catherine stood,
stretched herself, thanked them and left. Raffles took her place and
Adam brought the bottle of medicine to the bedside. Drat! She should
have removed the bottle.

“Hmm, no spoon.” Adam
pulled the bell cord. When Millie arrived, he asked her to bring a
spoon and then to make herself ready for watching over Alexandra in
an hour’s time. Adam turned to Raffles. “So kind of you
to stay with me. These days we are so short of women in this
household.”

“I’ll send Martha to help.
Yes, that’s something I can do. She’s not fully trained,
but she’s a little bundle of energy and sagacity.”

“Martha? Wise? I shall take your
word for it and I should be most grateful if you would allow her to
stay for a while.”

“Quite a hindrance to your plans,
this.” Raffles lowered his eyes.

“Yes, I had hopes.”

Hopes! What hopes? Hopes about himself
and Xandra? A pang of jealousy shot through her and it was all she
could do to stay in her seat. No! No jealous feelings. She would not
allow them; after all, this is what she had planned.

Adam continued. “Jack’s
destructive ways are being reined in and,” he looked across at
Alexandra.

“I know, I know. Miss Mulberry
would make you a fine wife and a capable mistress of “Foxhills”.
I’d rather lose her to you than anyone else, Adam.”

“I cannot ever forget Laura.”

Laura caught and held her breath.

“For as long as I live, my
memories of love will be of her. Every time I ride, the very wind
sings her name.” There was a silence, it seemed respectful,
before Adam said, “She had so much spirit and joy in her heart;
full of ideas but always thwarted by the fact she was a woman. I’d
hoped to set her free to…” he trailed off.

Laura felt tears spilling down her
face. Compelled, she eased herself out of the chair, went towards
Adam and whispered in his ear, “I shall love you forever. I
wish you joy but most of all, I wish for you ceaseless love here,
here in your time. Time separates us, and time will heal us.” A
tear dropped on the back of Adam’s hand and became visible.

Adam looked down and touched his hand
to his lips. “Sometimes, Raffles, I even feel her presence. I
wish she could have known the truth before she died.”

“I do,” purred Laura, “And
I love you all the more.”

Adam put a hand to his ear. “There
is life after death, isn’t there, Raffles?”

“Indeed. Not here, of course. Not
in the ordinary way of things. Though we must call to mind that
nothing is impossible with God. One day we shall have great fun in
finding out.” Raffles chuckled. “I shall be trim no
matter how much I eat, and you’ll have the fastest wings in the
heavens. You’ll be transformed and receive dispensation to
become an avenging angel. You will defend the defenceless.”
Raffles checked his friend’s demeanour – he was smiling.
“It’s important to get in some practice down …”
Raffles stopped abruptly as Millie brought the spoon.

Adam hesitated. “What were the
instructions, Raffles? Can you recall?”

“Can’t say I do.”
Raffles, seated by the bed, turned with some difficulty and looked
over his shoulder, “Ah, here we are,” he said as he
picked up Laura’s scrawled note, “Take one pill four
times a day until all have been used.”

Adam went to the medicine bottle and
theatrically held it up to give Raffles his cue.

“The man’s mad. Shouldn’t
be allowed,” Raffles said with dramatic exasperation.

“Oh he only has to reassure the
family while time heals,” Adam reflected, then repeated, “Time
heals.” He looked across to Alexandra. “I shall pray that
it works its wonders for us both.” He looked around. “Are
there any pills about, or did he mean ‘one spoonful’?”

“One spoonful until all have been
used! Not even that old quack could mangle the language so badly.”

If they didn’t hurry up and find
the tablets, she’d have to help them. Why hadn’t she
thought to remove the medicine?

They found the pills, propped Alexandra
up inexpertly with much embarrassment and, with a glass of water,
assisted her to swallow a pill. Adam noted the time. Then they both
sat on the other side of the room as Alexandra dozed off again.
“Should we be mopping her brow?” Adam asked.

Laura knew Adam found doing nothing
difficult and perhaps he just wanted to be close to her.

“She’s sleeping. Better to
leave her unless she looks distressed, I think. I’ll make sure
Martha gets here before tonight, she’ll know.”

“As soon as she is well again…”

“And she will be,”
interrupted Raffles.

“…I’m going to
attend to the lack of servants in this household. Catherine is doing
a sterling job but needs to be backed with some authority. I dread
that Alexandra will feel uncomfortable when she knows that she has
had two ill-prepared men attempting to nurse her.”

“I think there is something more
important you should do.”

Adam looked at Raffles and raised an
eyebrow, “But how can I tell her – a newcomer to the
family. It would be disloyal.” Adam stood up, dug his hands
deep in his pockets, then paced the room. “You’re right,
of course, Raffles. I am becoming fond of Alexandra. She is so like
Laura. Everyone is mentioning it. It is as if I’m being given
another chance. Yet there are aspects of her conduct which are very
different.”

“Just fond? Or more?”

“More, and growing.”

“Then be sure not to allow the
same misunderstandings to arise.”

“I cannot be disloyal. Yet
somehow…” Adam returned to his seat. “I must tell
her.” He looked at Raffles and shook his head slowly. “From
her altering behaviour, I deduce she already has her suspicions.”

Laura was urging him with fists
clenched. You must say something, Adam, you must. She remembered how
she had found out. Found out that she had just left the most
wonderful man in the world. Found out too late. She’d learnt
the truth when the ship foundered and she’d tried to help a
young mother and her baby. She had recognized her as the girl from
the other side of town; the girl Adam had been leaving money for. The
young mother, seeing her hesitation, cried out, “Please Miss,
please help me and little Adam.”

She remembered her shocked response.
“What are you doing here? Why…?”

Desperation arose in the girl. “Jack
Leigh-Fox got me like this and his brother’s paid for me to
start a new life. In America I can say I’m a widow. Now it’s
all going wrong. Help us, Miss,” she pleaded.

Laura had tried. While the ship stuck
fast in the treacherous sands in the gale-stricken Channel, Laura
fashioned a makeshift craft from a table and a couple of barrels for
the three of them. But the girl, terrified by the pounding waves and
watching others jumping overboard to what, in the darkness, seemed
like the safety of something more solid, would not wait. The crew
saved some and rowed them away from the cries of those sinking. Laura
knew it was best to wait for the tide to float her away. She would
take her chances, her life had been shattered; she had distrusted the
man who loved her, the finest man who had ever lived; it wouldn’t
matter if she didn’t survive. She had lived that nightmare over
and over again and helping Adam now was the only way she could put
her disastrous mistake right.

It was time to go. Last time she had
had great difficulty in returning to her other world. But, for
whatever reason, her mind had remained clearer this time and all she
had to do was find the seventy-seven steps. And, as she said the
words, something in her rebelled and a sense of panic grew –
there was some sort of trouble awaiting her. What was it now?
‘Instructions to return.’ The phrase came into her mind
and she searched in the backpack. They were more detailed than last
time so, reassured, she decided to stay until Millie came to take up
the nursing duties and make sure these two good men passed on their
instructions correctly. Laura looked carefully at Alexandra, the girl
who might have become a treasured friend. She whispered, “I
wish you every happiness, Alexandra. Love him for me, please.”

Hide in Time ~ Anna Faversham

“One of his ancestors,”
said Catherine as she sat opposite Alexandra in the sitting room one
cold afternoon in March, “was a High Admiral of All Seas and
Waters and much else besides. And,” she said with pride, “he
was responsible for paving the streets of London with gold.”

“When did you say this was?”
asked Alexandra as she adjusted the cover around her knees.

“Fifteen hundred and something,”
said Catherine a little sheepishly. “I’ve forgotten. I've
also forgotten exactly how they are related. But," and here she
picked up a little feigned haughtiness, "he was a very famous
explorer and brought back some rock with veins of gold. It was
assessed as genuine. It wasn’t his fault that when he sailed
again and brought back over one thousand tons of the golden veined
rock, it turned out to be ‘fools’ gold’.”

Alexandra laughed heartily. “Oh
Catherine, how terribly unfortunate.”

“So they used it to pave the
streets of London.”

“What a colourful background.”
Alexandra’s quip was lost on Catherine so she continued, “He
sounds so interesting, Catherine. Does your father approve?”

“Oh yes! Papa is very
encouraging. He says he has a surname ‘of some dignity’.”
Catherine held her head high and batted her eyelashes. “James’s
father is a Baronet, and he is the eldest son, and they live in
Surrey, and their house is very grand and James will have an income
of seven thousand pounds and…”

“And if you marry him…”
interjected Alexandra.

“Oh, to marry him. Wouldn’t
that be wonderful!”

“Do you love him, Catherine?”

“I think so. I have only met him
a few times but now that you are almost fully recovered, and Easter
has just passed, and the sunny days will soon be here, would you
chaperone me in his barouche– it will be such a good way for us
all to see the countryside.”

“Your enthusiasm exhausts me,
Catherine,” Alexandra said with a smile, “and what, pray,
is a barouche?”

“Oh Alexandra! Surely you’ve
seen a barouche?” Catherine stared wide-eyed at Alexandra who,
for a fleeting moment, looked embarrassed. “It must be one of
the things you’ve forgotten, though how you could forget the
most fashionable and luxurious carriage ever built, I really cannot
imagine,” she said hurriedly in a muddled attempt to distract
from her friend’s obvious discomfort.

“A ride in an opulent carriage,
with the excuse of being a chaperone! I’ll be delighted to do
that for you, Catherine.”

Catherine returned to her favourite
subject. “From the moment I wake up, I think about him. Does
that mean I am in love?”

“It’s a good start,
Catherine. The best advice I can give you is to spend as much time as
possible with him before you make any commitment.”

“It will mean that one day I
shall be a Lady.”

“You will make a very good Lady,
especially if you also love him.”

“Papa says I must wait. I am too
young, he says. So we should talk about something else now to help
the time go more quickly until I am old enough.”

Alexandra laughed. “And just what
do you think we can talk about that would make time go that quickly?”

Catherine glanced around the room and
visibly battled to force James Frobisher from her mind. Eventually
she won. “Adam enjoys reading your stories. He said your
writing is indecipherable sometimes. He also said he was quite taken
with the one about the wreck of The Alexander on Chesil Beach. How
tragic – Easter and so many lives lost. Was that your point,
Alexandra?”

“No, not at all. I just woke up
one morning and it was as if I had dreamt it, only clearer. There
were just five people saved and none of them could speak English. I
decided to develop it into their story. Strangers in a foreign land –
that sort of thing.”

“I liked the one about being able
to fly to the moon. That was so funny. Who would want to go there?”

“Well Catherine, this very
morning I have received confirmation that they will be published as a
collection of short stories and I shall receive twenty guineas.”

“Twenty guineas? Alexandra,
you’re going to be rich too!”

“That was the idea. However, I
can see that even if I write all day, every day, I will never make a
fortune. Sufficient to live independently but not in any great
comfort, that’s for sure.”

“Oh Adam would be so disappointed
if you ever decided to leave.”

“Disappointed? Catherine, I think
he has plenty of female company; he certainly doesn’t need
mine.”

There was a knock on the door and
Martha bustled in with more logs for the fire. “Oh ’tis
good to see you up, Miss Mulberry.”