“So I see,” Dr. Alton said. He took up the lighted candle from the bedside table. Gently, he helped Mayson sit up. He held the candle in front of his face, and moved it back and forth
“Good. I do not think you are concussed, but you are going to have one magnificent bruise. Ah, cool cloths. Just the thing. Mrs. Swinton, can you stay with him? Keep changing out the cloths. We will try to get that swelling down.”
“Of course I can,” Evelyn replied.
Molly Sue peered in from the door. “What about the Duchess? What about dinner?”
“The Duchess knows where I am. She will send for me if she needs me.”
“Well, are not you the privileged princess, shop-keeper’s daughter,” Molly Sue bristled.
Dr. Alton set the candle down firmly on the bedside table, turned Molly Sue around, and pushed her out the door.
“It will be all right,” Evelyn comforted Mayson. “Everything will be fine.”
It is going to be fine because I will make it fine. I will take care of him. He will get well.
Chapter 31
Darrius expected to find his mother’s household in a high state of expectation for the upcoming dinner party. Wilson met him at the front door punctiliously and said, “Your Grace, the Duchess requests your presence in her chambers. Dinner will be ready shortly, but there might be some delay.”
Delay? What could possibly occasion a delay? Mother has been looking forward to this dinner party for weeks, ever since Lady Carletane resumed communication with her.
When he entered his mother’s drawing room, he found her attended by Betty instead of Mrs. Swinton.
Betty was looking anxious and distraught, as well she might, for she was not trained as a lady’s maid nor as a companion. But the young maid was making a valiant effort to arrange the Duchess’ hair in its customary tower.
“Mother? What has happened?” Darrius asked.
“Mr. Rudge has fallen down the cellar stairs, and I have dispatched Mrs. Swinton to see to him. The undercook is having to finish dinner, and Molly Sue is having to do double-duty since I have pressed Betty into service as my handmaiden for the evening.”
“Will she sit at table in Mrs. Swinton’s place?” Darrius asked, curious at this turn of events.
“Goodness, no!” the Duchess looked shocked. “No, she will go down and sit with Mr. Rudge while Mrs. Swinton does her duty in that regard. I’m afraid I cannot spare her from my side for so long as that.”
“Why is she not with him now?”
“Because Dr. Alton is here and I am depending upon Mrs. Swinton to give me a full report, not only upon Mr. Rudge’s condition, but also upon the state of the kitchen. She has enough household knowledge to make an accurate assessment of the state of dinner, and whether we should send out for something.”
“If you had apprised me of the event, I could have brought my cook from the Main House,” Darrius reproved gently.
“Indeed, this has all occurred so quickly and so close to dinner, that there was no time to send for you. That is why I asked that you attend me immediately.”
“What of Mrs. Henshaw? Can she not help?”
“Rest assured that she is,” the Duchess affirmed. “What ever would I do without her? But even as able as she is, she is but one person. Wilson has mobilized the footmen to assist, and reports that Mr. McElroy is an able cook’s helper.”
“Well, that is a relief. So we are not anticipating a dinner of boiled vegetables and burned roast?”
“I do not believe so. But preventing that eventuality is one reason I have dispatched Mrs. Swinton below stairs.”
“Dear me, this is an unfortunate turn of events,” Darrius remarked. “If you wish it, I can send back to the Main House for my cook.”
“Let us wait on that just a little, Darrius. It is my hope that the young undercook is sufficiently trained to turn out something edible. I certainly would not have preferred to undertake this dinner party with an inexperienced hand in the kitchen, but I am grateful that Mr. Rudge has been working with him.”
“When might we expect Mrs. Swinton from below stairs?”
“I am here,” Evelyn said, appearing at the drawing room doorway. “I just need a few minutes to go to my room and freshen up.”