Free Medicine and Manners #2 by Paula Paul Page A

sisters, and I know how the feminine disposition affects their thinking.”
    Alexandra snapped at Poole over her shoulder while she continued to work with Judith. “This has nothing to do with a feminine disposition, whatever that is. Don’t dismiss her statement as hysteria.”
    “Forgive me, Dr. Gladstone, but you have no idea how much hysteria I’ve had to deal with since the constable up and left. There’s that horseman, for one thing, and—”
    “I can attest with certainty that the horseman exists,” Nicholas said. “I’ve seen him with my own eyes.”
    “Yes, my lord. I’ve seen him myself,” Poole said.
    Alexandra was in the process of helping Judith to a sofa to help her lie down, but she glanced at Poole in surprise.
    Nicholas spoke, voicing his own surprise. “You’ve seen him? Explain yourself, Poole.”
    Poole shrugged. “There’s nothing to explain, is there, my lord? I’ve seen him, and I can’t say for certain who it might be or why he might be dressed in that garb, but I have reason to believe ’tis the constable himself.”
    “Good God, man!” Nicholas said.
    “Constable Snow?” Alexandra said at the same time.
    Poole’s face took on a sanctimonious expression. “Can’t say more. This is police business.”
    “Police business be damned!” Nicholas said. “You are accusing the man in charge of law enforcement in this village of frightening people by riding around at night dressed as a Templar Knight.”
    “Didn’t say he was purposely frightening anybody. Just said it looks like the constable to me.”
    By this time Alexandra had Judith sitting upright and was wiping her face with a damp cloth. “What possible motive would Constable Snow have for doing that?” Alexandra asked.
    “I wouldn’t be knowing that, now, would I, miss?” Poole said.
    “This unknown rider only
looks
like
Snow, in your opinion. Not very substantial, would you say?” Nicholas said.
    Poole shrugged. “Same slight build, same horse.”
    “Same horse?” Alexandra asked. “Do you agree, Lord Dunsford? That the rider you saw was on a horse that looked like the constable’s horse?”
    Nicholas shook his head. “I can’t say. It was rather dark, don’t you know.”
    “Yes,” Judith said, speaking for the first time since she’d fainted. “I’ve seen it, too. I think it was Constable Snow’s horse the man was riding.”

Chapter 8
    “A waste of time,” Alexandra said in response to Nancy’s question about the meeting with Deputy Poole. She and Nicholas were in the parlor, which, after the death of her father, had become less formal and more of a drawing room.
    “A colossal waste of time,” Nicholas said, his arm resting on the white Parian mantelpiece, his elbow dangerously close to a crystal candelabrum that had belonged to Alexandra’s mother. “He’s inept. Completely uninterested in the situation, if you ask me.” Nicholas was keeping a wary eye on Zack, who had just entered the parlor. He had been lounging in the hallway that led to the surgery until he heard Nicholas’s voice. “He even voiced an opinion that Constable Snow was the mysterious Templar Knight some of us have seen. Odd, isn’t it?”
    “I’m not so sure it’s odd,” Nancy said.
    Nicholas straightened. “What do you mean?”
    Nancy shrugged. “You have to admit the constable has always been a bit secretive. Well, at least not very forthcoming about his private life. Just a strange bird, all in all, and besides that, I have a caution that something is going on, something unusual.”
    “You have a caution?” Nicholas said. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
    “It’s not easy to explain,” Nancy said.
    “Sometimes Nancy is prescient,” Alexandra said.
    Nicholas frowned. “Oh, come now—”
    “You’re right, it’s probably nothing,” Nancy said, and quickly changed the subject. “If I may ask, what was Miss Payne’s reaction to the meeting with the deputy?” Nancy asked.
    “She was as