The Five-Minute Marriage (5 page)

“
So did I. There is certainly somebody in the place. But of course Lord Bollington may keep it staffed with servants even when he is from home. In any case, let us go forward and see! We shall not be long, Bodkin.
”

Delphie walked swiftly across the narrow stone bridge, glancing about her, in spite of her growing nervousness, with considerable interest. A high stone wall rose on the far side of the moat, which did not look to be very deep, but might be about twenty feet wide. It was full of water-lily pads, with the flowers just coming into bloom, among which ducklings and moorhens swam and padd
l
ed and splashed.

Through a stone arch at the far end of the bridge could be seen a wide, grassy inner courtyard, on the distant side of which wide stone steps led up to an imposingly massive wooden door under a Gothic arch. This door, encouragingly, stood open, and a black
-
clad man, who appeared to have alighted from the stationary gig, was just passing through it. Delphie had only a brief glimpse of him but decided that he did not look like a lord (not that she had any very clear notion of what a lord should look like); she thought he might be a lawyer, clergyman, bailiff, or some other person from the professional classes.

Having crossed the bridge she was just about to pass under the stone arch when she was arrested by the sound of a loud splash, followed by a series of ear-piercing shrieks, from just behind her.

Spinning around she saw with the utmost astonishment and consternation that Jenny, through some unimaginable mischance
—
perhaps from staring about her and not looking where she set her feet—had fallen off the bridge and landed plump in the water.

There she was, bobbing about among the lily leaves, thrashing the water with her velvet-clad arms, and shrieking at the top of a pair of exceptionally powerful lungs:

“
Help! Help! I shall be drowned. I shall die for certain. Help, help! Oh, why does nobody save me? Help! Help! Will no kind soul come to my aid?
”

Bodkin and the postilions were gazing at Jenny in stupefaction. All seemed reluctant to take action. Then Bodkin, evidently unwilling to ruin his livery by jumping into the water, if it could be avoided, ran to the carriage boot, and pulled out the rope which was always carried there in case of an overturn.

“
Here, miss! Try if you can catch hold of the rope
’
s end!
”
he shouted, and hurled the rope so accurately that it knocked off Miss Baggott
’
s green velvet Waterloo hat.

“
Oh, help—bubble bubble—my hat, my hat! Oh help me—I can
’
t reach the rope!
”

Amid Jenny
’
s deafening cries, Bodkin drew back the rope, recoiled it, and threw it again; but the sufferer in the moat, either out of anxiety not to lose her hat, which she now grasped with one hand, or because her eyes were full of water, seemed very unhandy at catching the end of the rope; she missed it a second time and then a third. Meanwhile she continued to splash and flounder among the lily pads, sometimes submerged and silent, sometimes half out of the water and shrieking, insensibly all the time drawing nearer to the inner margin of the moat and the archway that gave onto the courtyard.

At this juncture reinforcements arrived in the shape of three men running over the grass, evidently alerted by all the cries and commotion.

“
Merciful heavens! What in the devil
’
s name is going on?
”
demanded one of them.
“
Is somebody being murdered? Or is a pig being killed?
”

At the instant when they came through the archway and emerged onto the bridge, Jenny had finally just succeeded in catching hold of the rope
’
s end, and had suffered herself to be towed through the lilies to the outer bank, and then drawn slowly up it.

She stood then, dripping, gasping, hysterically laughing, crying, and exclaiming on the bridge, ruefully regarding her draggled plumage and streaming apparel.

“
Oh, my feathers! Oh, my fringe! Oh, my dear, dear Miss Carteret, I thought I was a goner! I thought I should be drowned for sure! Oh, Mr. Bodkin, my preserver! How can I ever thank you for saving me from a watery death?
”

“
I scarcely think you could have achieved a watery death in three feet of moat,
”
dryly observed one of the three men who had come through the archway.

Miss Baggott gazed at him reproachfully, and Delphie turned to look at him.

He was unusually tall, a strongly built individual with a profusion of jet-black hair, somewhat carelessly arranged, and a decidedly sardonic expression on his long face. He wore a riding costume of drab buckskins, a plain but well-cut jacket, highly polished top boots, and a neckcloth of dazzling whiteness. He was much too young to be Lord Bollington—in his middle thirties at the outside. Perhaps Lord Bollington had a son? speculated Delphie, and realized how little she knew about her hypothetical cousins.

“
Nay, but consider the stems of the lilies!
”
remonstrated Jenny, in answer to his remark.
“
You can have no idea how dreadfully I found myself entangled among them—my arms and limbs all tied up, quite powerless!—and my head being slowly pulled under by the current—I had begun to despair and feared every moment would be my last!—But it is no matter now;
‘
twas but a trifle!
”
she added heroically, fetching up an absolutely graveyard cough from the region of her diaphragm.
“
Ahem, ahem! Now that I am on dry land again, I think nothing of it at all;
‘
tis not of the slightest consequence, after all! Pray let us not refine upon it
any longer. Only, I think perhaps I had best get afore a fire, and replace these sopping things by dry ones—or I might easily take one of my inflammations—my lungs are so delicate, so wretchedly delicate—they give me Old Scratch at the least hint of a chill. Alas, I fear I am a sad invalid!
”

Since Jenny was as robust as a shire horse and had never, to Delphie
’
s knowledge, suffered a day
’
s illness in her life, the latter gazed at her wide-eyed after this statement, and received a very innocent look in return.

The second of the three men remarked calmly,

“
Certainly you should change your garments, ma
’
am, and that without delay. Even on a mild day like this, some harm might accrue. Fidd, see to it, will you? Direct one of the maidservants to make ready a suitable bedchamber; lead these ladies to it, and make sure that a fire is lit, hot water brought up, and suitable refreshment is offered to them.
”

“
Certainly, Mr. Fitzjohn,
”
said the third man, who was elderly, white-haired, and wore the uniform of an upper servant.
“
Would you care to follow me, ma
’
am?
”
he said to Jenny.

“
Oh yes—but I need my bag from the coach
”
uttered Jenny in failing accents,
“
for all my dry things are in it. Could you get it out, Bodkin?
”

“
Surely, miss,
”
said Bodkin, wooden-faced.
“
I
’
ll just carry it in, shall I?
”

“
Yes—and you had best bring Miss Carteret
’
s too—in case there is anything I lack. You do not object, dear Miss Carteret, do you?
”

“
Of course not,
”
said Delphie, but her response was lost in the bustle, as Mr. Fitzjohn, remarking,
“
I had better take your arm, ma
’
am,
”
escorted Jenny carefully across the bridge, she clinging to him, looking fearfully down at the water, and letting out little nervous cries at every step.

Mr. Fitzjohn seemed completely at home in Chase, and Delphie, following thoughtfully behind the pair, at the side of the dark-haired man, wondered if he were a member of the family—as seemed possible from the assured tone of his orders to
t
he servant
—
or merely a member of the household. He was a stocky, thickset personage, of considerable height, but appearing shorter because of his broad shoulders. His countenance was square and somewhat tacitu
rn
-looking, though not unhandsome; his eyes were light blue and extremely piercing, his complexion both freckled and lightly tanned, his thick hair of a sandy hue.

While they were crossing the grass, Delphie murmured some awkward commonplaces as to her gratitude—the unfortunate accident—their regret for the imposition they were causing—but these were received with such dour grunts by her black-browed companion that she set him down as a churlish boor and abandoned her attempts at conciliation.

The party ascended the steps to the front door and entered a large, cold, stone-paved entrance hall, adorned with a diversity of stags
’
antlers and foxes
’
masks along its walls, but hardly furnished at all. Five or six large, melancholy, molting hounds lay about on the paving stones, as if they had nothing to do, and greatly regretted the circumstance.

“
Here we will leave you in Fidd
’
s charge,
”
remarked Mr. Fitzjohn, removing his hand, with some relief, Delphie thought, from Jenny
’
s damp velvet arm.
“
Fidd, look after the ladies as well as you can. Pray send word, ma
’
am, should there be anything further you require, or think we could supply.
”

“
Thank you; you are extremely kind,
”
said Philadelphia, immensely embarrassed by this whole sequence of events.
“
I cannot say how much I regret—I am sure we need nothing—
”

“
Perhaps a doctor?
”
faltered Miss Baggott in dying accents.
“
After such a prolonged immersion I am afraid my lungs—
”
She coughed again several times, and then gasped,
“
My poor mother would wish me to see a doctor, I am sure.
”

As Mrs. Baggott had lain in Highgate Cemetery for the past twelve years this seemed a doubtful assumption, but Mr. Fitzjohn rejoined impassively,

“
By all means, ma
’
am. There will not be the least difficulty about that. A doctor is in the house at present, and I make no doubt he will be able to wait on you when he has finished attendance upon his other patient It may be a matter of some little time yet, however.
”

Philadelphia pricked up her ears at this. Who could the other patient be? Perhaps it was Lord Bollington? Her heart sank at the thought. If her great-uncle were ill, then this was a most inauspicious time for an unheralded visit.

She longed to put questions to Fidd, but scrupled at interrogating a servant. He was leading the way at a rapid pace up a wide flight of polished (and villainously slippery) stairs; Delphie took Jenny
’
s arm and assisted her to follow.

At the top, where the stairs led into another wide hallway with
numerous passages leading off it, the manservant selected a rather narrow passage turning sharp to the left, past a long row of windows, and took them down it for what seemed an excessively long distance.

“
Pray don
’
t take trouble fixing a chamber especial for me,
”
panted Miss Baggott after a while, as they went farther and farther.
“
The housekeeper
’
s room would do well enough!
”

“
There
’
s no housekeeper at Chase, ma
’
am,
”
said Fidd. He added, with what sounded like grim approval,
“
His lordship can
’
t abide wimmen getting their fambles on things.
”

“
Good gracious. Are there no women servants at all?
”
inquired Philadelphia, with mixed curiosity and disapproval.

“
Oh, yes, miss. There
’
s maids, but they
’
re only under-servants, and has to keep in their place. They dassn
’
t be seen in the passageways or rooms where his lordship might come—if he should set eyes on them, they
’
re turned off directly. And they has to do their work while he
’
s still abed. Now, here we are, miss.
”