A shuffle on the stairs announced the arrival of Ruby. The two women had barely spoken yesterday as Ruby had been catching up on the sleep she’d lost making the journey across the Pennines. Even now she was yawning as she cradled the slight swell of her belly.
‘Is that my dressing gown?’ asked Dora. Of course it would be. Ruby was an inveterate magpie.
‘I thought you’d prefer me to borrow yours rather than your gentleman’s.’
‘He does have a name.’ Dora listed the Coleridge boys under the ‘informant’ heading rather than ‘suspect’. ‘Dr Sandys.’
‘A proper doctor or one of them pretend ones?’ asked Ruby, picking up a book from a side table and flipping through the pages. Jacob’s bookmark fell out and she stuffed it back in at random.
‘A medical doctor, yes, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Do you think he can tell me if all’s well with the baby?’ Ruby slumped down next to Dora and peered over her shoulder.
‘I imagine he can. Do you have reason to think that there’s something wrong?’ She felt a twinge of concern for her friend, whose best quality was brazening out all of life’s hardships. This, however, was not something she could bluster through.
‘Is there anything for breakfast?’ Ruby gazed at Dora’s empty platter as though willing it magically to replenish.
‘In the pantry. Ruby, what’s wrong with the baby?’
Ruby got up and wafted to the larder. ‘Nothing, I don’t think. It’s just that I took some of them female pills they advertise in the newspapers when I realised I was caught. They made me sick as a dog but my courses didn’t return.’
‘Can you feel the baby moving?’
Ruby’s face transformed with a dreamy smile. ‘It’s like butterflies in my stomach.’
‘Prepare yourself: I’ve heard towards the end they kick like mules. It sounds as if everything is going well but you can ask him.’
Dora returned to her list. The logical step for today was to visit the gentlemen who had called in on Barton’s cottage and it was imperative she catch them before they left the area. It was a shame Jacob was away. This was exactly the kind of mission he was suited to; her accosting young men was likely to be interpreted wrongly.
Ruby soon tired of watching Dora work. She drifted to the window with a slab of bread and butter, chewing thoughtfully as the rain spotted the window.
‘It’s bloomin’ dull here, isn’t it? No shops, no company, just drizzle and sheep.’
Dora grunted rather than argue, a sign she was listening without challenging the speaker’s view.
Ruby leaned forward with excitement. ‘Good grief, imagine bringing that down here! It’ll ruin the springs.’
Dora looked up. ‘Bring what?’
‘You, my dear Dora, have a coroneted Landau heading for your door.’ Ruby giggled.
‘What!’ Dora jumped up and dashed over to look. ‘Get dressed, Ruby.’
Ruby looked down at herself. ‘Why? I thought I looked dashing in this.’
‘Because it appears Jacob is back, and you’ll want to make a good first impression. Though why isn’t he riding Nero?’ A groom was riding the stallion, not the master, trotting behind the mud-splattered carriage.
Dumping her plate, Ruby hurried upstairs. Dora retrieved the crockery and put it in the scullery. She smoothed down her dress, checked her fingers were not too badly ink-stained, then went to the door. How best to broach the subject of Ruby’s arrival?
With a final jolt and jingle of harness, the Landau drew up at the gate. The door opened and Jacob jumped out.
‘What madness is this bringing a carriage down here?’ teased Dora, filled with joy at seeing him again.
‘My brother insisted,’ he said with a warning look behind him.
Taking the hint, Dora didn’t fall into his arms as she wished but accepted a light kiss on the cheek.
Jacob whispered in her ear. ‘Brace yourself.’
