Free Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 06] - The Noblest Frailty by Patricia Veryan

hearty nip on the ankle.
    The Canadian exclaimed an involuntary "Ow!" and stepped back
hurriedly.
    "Socrates!" scolded Yolande.
    "Dear little fellow," cooed Mrs. Drummond, bending to gather
up her snarling pet. "He was only protecting his mama, wasn't you,
love?"
    Tyndale bestowed a smouldering look upon the "dear little
fellow." Hastening to him, Yolande asked a concerned, "Did he hurt you?"
    A tall grey-haired woman in a flowing grey gown and snowy
white apron hurried into the room. "Is my lady here, miss? Oh! Excuse
me, sir!"
    "Nurse," said Yolande anxiously, "is Miss Rosemary not
improved at all?"
    "The fever gets higher, miss, no matter what I do. I fear she
is sickening for something. There is the beginning of a rash, and—"
    "Oh! My heavens!" wailed Mrs. Drummond, sinking dramatically
into the nearest chair. "
Never
say it is the
smallpox!"
    Entering in time to hear those dread words, Lady Louisa
blanched and clutched at the door-frame. "Smallpox? God in Heaven!
Nurse—it isn't—?"
    "Of course not, Mama," said Yolande, crossing to support her.
"Aunt Arabella misunderstood."
    "Oh, that poor… sweet, child!" cried Mrs. Drummond, a
handkerchief pressed to tearful eyes.
    Nurse, having slanted a disgusted look at these histrionics,
vouchsafed that she could not tell what ailed Miss Rosemary, but she
doubted it was the smallpox.
    "Nonetheless, I must go to her," said Lady Louisa. "Yolande,
pray ask your papa to send a groom at once for Dr. Jester."
    Craig had moved quietly back to stand out of the way beside
the mantel and now came forward, saying with an apologetic smile that
he would take his leave and would gladly relay the message to Sir
Martin.
    "Oh, dear!" Yolande exclaimed. "I have sadly neglected you,
cousin! How is your poor ankle?"
    Mrs. Drummond's recovery was astonishing. "
Cousin
?"
she bristled.
    "What happened to his ankle?" asked Lady Louisa, distractedly.
    "Socrates bit him," Yolande supplied. "Horrid creature!"
    "Mr. Winters may have brought great suffering upon us," Mrs.
Drummond said smugly, "but you really should not refer to him in such
terms, my love."
    Craig grinned at this excellent shot, but Yolande was not
amused. She blushed scarlet and turned to her aunt with such anger that
Lady Louisa intervened with a vexed, "Really, Arabella! Cousin Craig,
my apologies, but—"
    "But you must be wishing me at Jericho!" He took her hand,
patted it sympathetically, and said his farewells. His smile included
Mrs. Drummond and Nurse, in addition to the brief but meaningful
seconds during which it rested upon Yolande. Then he was gone.
    An hour later, wandering onto the front porch in search of his
wife, Sir Martin found her staring after the doctor's departing gig.
"Are you coming in, m'dear?" he enquired. "Not worrying over a simple
case of measles, surely?"
    "What? Oh, no, of course not, Drummond. Though the poor child
is so wretchedly uncomfortable. Yolande is with her, which she will
very much like, you know."
    He nodded, closed the door, and walked across the hall beside
her. After a pause, Lady Louisa sighed. "She was right He really does
have very nice eyes."
    My lady was in the habit of occasionally speaking her thoughts
aloud, sometimes to the complete mystification of her listeners. For
once, however, her apparently irrelevant remark did not confuse Sir
Martin. He was perfectly aware she did not refer to Dr. Jester.
     
    Two days later, clad in a dark green fitted coat that closed
to the waist with large brass buttons, Yolande tied the grosgrain
ribbons of her bonnet beneath her chin, surveyed her reflection
critically in her standing mirror, and turned to the bed to take up her
muff. "I cannot be easy in my mind about leaving you with Rosemary
ill," she worried. "Mama—perhaps I should stay."
    "And be the cause of a full-fledged duel?" Lady Louisa handed
her an urn-shaped reticule of green velvet, embellished with pale green
beads. "How very pretty this is. And goes with your coat and bonnet