Free A Lack of Temperance by Anna Loan-Wilsey Page B

said.
    “Don’t be afraid, dear. Lucy and I have known Dr. Grice for years. He’s our physician whenever we’re in town.” I began to shake. “He attends most of our friends as well.”
    “Did you know that if it wasn’t for Dr. Grice, Davish, you might still be lying in Tibbs Alley?” Miss Lucy said.
    “It’s a blessing, dear, that he was so close at hand.”
    “Dr. Grice heard you scream,” Mary Flannagan said. “You were bleeding all over.” She held up the bloody bandage as proof. The room began to spin as waves of dizziness washed over me. “You’ve been unconscious all night.”
    “Davish, the way you’re acting, you’d think the man pushed you down the stairs,” Miss Lucy grumbled. “Now sit up and let him examine you.”
    I glanced at Walter Grice’s face, but couldn’t read his expression.
    “Must you?” I closed my eyes and clutched the sheet to my chin.
    “It’s all right, Miss Davish. I’ve seen enough for today.” I dropped back into the pillows, relieved. “Promise me, though, that you’ll get plenty of rest. I’ve left an elixir with the maid. It’s to be taken for the pain twice a day.”
    I eyed the bottle on the nightstand, nodded, and was grateful to watch him pack up his medical bag. He left instructions with the maid and said good-bye to the elderly sisters. My heart pounded in my chest when he approached my bed again and leaned in close. Was it from the gleam in his eye or the fact that I might not have averted the examination after all? I wasn’t sure.
    “I’ll be in your debt, Miss Davish, if you don’t mention where we met.” He glanced over his shoulder at the Shaw sisters and then winked at me. “I’m not sure they would approve.” I closed my eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of his shaving cologne.
    “Rest now. I’ll be back to check on you later.” To my surprise, I almost looked forward to it.
    “What were you doing in Tibbs Alley, Davish? And at night?” Miss Lucy said the moment the doctor shut the door behind him. “You may excel at what you do, but you certainly don’t know what you’re doing. No common sense whatsoever.”
    “I wanted to speak with George Shulman, the man who owns the bar.”
    “You went into a saloon?” Miss Lucy said, flabbergasted. “I’m extremely disappointed in you, Davish. I think we’ve misjudged you. We thought you were respectable and knew your place.”
    “But Lucy, dear, Sir Arthur knows Hattie and is an excellent judge of character. He wouldn’t have recommended her to Edwina if she was ‘that kind of girl.’ There must be some kind of mistake.”
    “There has been a mistake,” I said. “I never entered the bar. I would never do that. I simply went there to speak to the owner, George Shulman.”
    “And,” Miss Lucy said, her arms folded tightly across her chest.
    “I spoke to him for less than five minutes, saw that it was getting dark, and left.”
    “Well then, everything is all right, dear. Isn’t it, Lucy?” Miss Lizzie giggled, her eyes darting back and forth between me and Miss Lucy.
    “I suppose. What did the barman say?” Miss Lucy said, her anger submitting to her curiosity.
    “That he hadn’t seen Mrs. Trevelyan since Sunday night. He was quite upset that I would even ask.”
    “Yes, I suppose he would. He’s a devil, that one,” Miss Lucy said. “We haven’t heard yet about yesterday’s vote, but if it fails, he’s the one to blame. Well, was it worth it?”
    I touched my tender ribs and considered the question. I’d been attacked, but I had also gleaned a valuable impression of George Shulman, of which Mrs. Trevelyan must be told. And I’d met Walter Grice again.
    “Yes, I think maybe it was.”
    “Well, I hope so, Davish. If you rode down the middle of the road like Lady Godiva, you couldn’t have gotten yourself into a worse predicament. You’re lucky the doctor was considerate enough not to leave you there. Despite his respectability, people will still talk, you