Cassandra sat down, furiously trying to comprehend what she saw, and how she should feel about it. She was both complimented and furious.
“Lady Marksworth,” the dowager said, “might I have a moment alone with your niece?”
Lady Marksworth nodded and rose, determinedly avoiding her niece’s eye. Cassandra felt a wave of trepidation. What could the dowager wish to say to her that could not be said in front of her aunt?
After the door had closed behind Lady Marksworth, the dowager hopped up in her energetic fashion and sat next to Cassandra, taking her hand.
“It is my understanding from all of this that my idiot grandson is prepared to stay where he is until the end of time if necessary. So I was wondering, will it be necessary? Or could you find some affection in your heart for him?”
“If I could give you an answer,” Cassandra said slowly, “I would. I do not care for any pretense between us, and rather think you do not either.”
“You are correct in that opinion, my dear,” the dowager said.
“Though I would prefer to give you an answer, I really cannot. My feelings are all in a jumble and I cannot say where they will settle.”
“Ah well,” the Dowager said. “If he is to remain out there until the end of time, I daresay it serves him right. I have a great affection for my grandson, but then I have a great affection for you, too.”
Before Cassandra could answer, May and George’s ears had suddenly perked up and they leapt off their sofa and raced to the door. The drawing room door being closed might have once been an impediment to their progress, but May reached up and pawed at it until she turned the knob and they were out like a flash.
Cassandra heard Racine shout, “May! George! No! Come back!”
She leapt to her feet and ran to the window just in time to see a carriage bearing down on May. Her heart gripped in terror.
“May! No, May!” she cried.
The carriage wheels were nearly upon the mastiff. May turned, seeming to finally perceive the danger. Lord Hampton suddenly appeared on the other side of the road and threw himself upon her.
A horrifying sound reached her ears, a sound of collision.
Cassandra could not see either May or Lord Hampton. The carriage blocked her view. The driver, no doubt fearing trouble, whipped his horses and sped off with no care for what he’d done.
The carriages behind the accident had halted and an eerie hush descended on the street. May and Lord Hampton lay in a heap together on the cobblestones. Neither stirred.
The dowager joined Cassandra at the window, and they gazed at the lifeless bodies across the road. The dowager clutched Cassandra’s arm. “No,” she said softly. “It cannot be.”
Racine jogged across the silent street. He leaned over the two bodies. Cassandra felt her head swim. She held tight to the dowager’s arm.
May gave the smallest wag and raised herself up on her forepaws, looking dazed. George barked to her from the steps and she struggled to her feet. She limped toward the sound.
Racine was bent over Lord Hampton. Cassandra and the dowager stood still as statues, waiting to see what expression the butler would turn to them with. Cassandra saw him lay two fingers along the lord’s neck.
Racine suddenly stood and shouted, “He is alive! Ben, fetch a litter. Jimmy, run for the doctor!”
The dowager’s grip lessened on Cassandra’s hand. “Thanks be to God,” she said.
“Yes,” Cassandra said softly. “Thank God.”
George slinked back into the drawing room, with May limping behind her. Cassandra glared at them and pointed to their sofa. They willingly went to it and began grooming themselves furiously—a sure sign they understood the gravity of the trouble they’d caused.
“I will see to a bedchamber they may carry him to,” Cassandra said. She hurried from the room just as Lady Marksworth came into it to see to the dowager.
Cassandra dashed up the stairs to find a suitable room. She suddenly remembered her uncle’s room. Though he had long passed, Lady Marksworth had noted that she’d never redone it as it suited her to maintain one masculine chamber.
She threw the door open, refusing to consider the lord laying lifeless in the street. She must only concentrate on what needed to be done. Cassandra raced down the hall to a small closet that held various materials for bandaging and brought them back to the room.
She threw open the curtains so the doctor might have more light just as Racine and Ben came through the door with Lord Hampton on a litter.
His eyes were closed and he was pale. There was a trickle of blood that ran in a steady stream down his forehead and onto his cheek.
