The little girl gulped on a sob, “Stupid tree root! I tripped.” She had her hands up, her fingers slightly curled, and Annis took them to inspect. Sure enough, she had put out her hands to save herself and scraped her palms. “Oh, sweetie,” said Annis, “we’ll fix those up in a flash.”
Elizabeth nodded, choking on another sob. “My knee hurts, too!”
Annis moved aside her short shirt and revealed a scraped knee, oozing blood. It wasn’t too deep but would need to be cleaned and plastered. Annis looked at the viscount. “Bring her into the house, and I’ll fix her up.”
He scooped up his daughter in his arms. “Come on my brave knight. Miss Pringle will bandage you up!” He kissed her nose which made her giggle and stopped the sobs.
As they headed back across the lawn he said to Annis, “I gather you have experience with this sort of thing?”
“Lots,” she said with smile for both him and Lizzie.
Charlotte raced up to them, alarm on her face. “Are you hurt, Lizzie?”
“Just a scrape,” said Miss Elizabeth bravely.
“Oh, Lizzie!” said soft-hearted Charlotte, her face crumpling.
“It’s all right, Charlie. Miss Pringle is going to patch her up all right and tight. Nothing to worry about,” the viscount reassured her.
Charlotte tagged along with them to the house, refusing to leave her big sister’s side.
“Put her on the couch,” said Annis, as they entered the drawing room through the French windows. “I’ll just fetch my wound kit.”
“You have such a thing?” he asked surprised.
She nodded. “My—my aunt always had one at the seminary. I kept the habit. It comes in handy for this sort of thing. I’ll be back in a moment.”
She raced up to her room to find the hatbox she used to keep the kit in and brought it downstairs. Reentering the drawing room, she found the viscount sitting on the couch with Elizabeth’s legs over his and Charlotte tucked into his other side.
“I rang for some water and cloths,” he said as she entered.
“Oh, thank you. Yes, I should have said.” Just then, one of the maids came in with a bowl of warm water, a towel, and some small cloths. Annis thanked her as she set it on the table and left.
“Right,” said Annis sinking to her knees by the sofa and dunking one of the cloths in the water. “This might hurt a bit, sweetheart, but it will be over quickly,” she said with a reassuring smile.
“It’s all right. It only hurts a bit,” said Elizabeth bravely. The viscount squeezed her arm.
“That’s my brave knight.”
Ten minutes later, Elizabeth’s hands and knee had been cleaned, sprinkled with basilicum powder, and bandaged. “You will need to keep these on for a couple of days while the wounds heal. It is very important that they stay clean and don’t get infected,” said Annis. “I will change the bandages tomorrow.”
Elizabeth nodded. “I suppose that means I can’t play chasey anymore?”
“That’s right,” said the viscount scooping her up and planting another kiss on her nose. “You’re going to sit with the grown-ups and help us eat Miss Pringle’s birthday cake.”
“Ooh, cake!” exclaimed both girls.
Annis joined them back out on the lawn when she had put her kit away and was put to the blush by the production around her birthday cake, which was served for afternoon tea with much palaver.Really, I am having the loveliest birthday!
The cake was very large, but there were a lot of mouths to feed, with hungry little hands reaching for their share of the treat.
The viscount fetched her a piece and a cup of tea, and then getting his own, sat back down beside her. In truth, he had barely left her side all day.A woman could let such attention go to her head if she weren’t the governess.
“Thank you for your attentions to Lizzie. Those wounds could turn nasty if not properly treated.”
“I know—that is why I have my kit. I’m confident that as long as I clean and change the bandages every day they will heal nicely. It only takes a couple of days to start the healing process. They should be safe enough in a few days to take the bandages off. She just needs to be careful not to reopen the wounds.”
“You are very resourceful woman, Miss Pringle.”
