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He paused.
“I also need Mrs. Prescott to the drawing room straight away and someone needs to fetch the doctor.”
“Yes, ma’am. Of course.” He paused, seemingly unsure if he was released or not.
“Yes, you may go.”
He left, and I turned to Molly. “Come with me.”
She bobbed a curtsy and trailed behind me toward the drawing room. I was worried for a brief moment that she would run, but she stayed right behind me. James was seated on the sofa, his head leaning back and his hand still covering his eye.
I pointed to a ladder back chair set against the wall. “Sit,” I commanded, and Molly obeyed.
James looked up quickly, his one visible eyebrow raised in alarm.
“Not you,” I said. He was already sitting.
He looked over to Molly, and his confusion seemed to grow.
Mrs. Prescott entered the room then, holding a cloth, Hannah trailing her with a basin of water.
“On the table just there,” I said, pointing to the low table set before the sofa where James waited. She obeyed immediately, then left the room.
The clack of horse hooves on the gravel drive alerted me to a rider leaving the property, and I crossed to the window to find a bewigged footman taking off at a rapid clip. He knew no more about the situation than that an injury occurred, so I hoped he did not incite too much fear in the doctor.
Spinning toward Mrs. Prescott, I clasped my hands in front of me and stepped forward. “Do you have contact information for Janet? The maid?”
“I do,” she said.
“Good.” What an inordinate relief. “Please write to her and ask her to return. She deserves an apology and her position, if she wants it.”
Mrs. Prescott’s face pinched.
“Molly was found today rifling through more drawers. She is dismissed”—I looked to Molly to punctuate my words—“immediately. I made a mistake and asked the wrong maid to leave.”
The housekeeper’s shock was understandable.
“Now I need to attend to my husband. Will you please search Molly’s things before she is permitted to leave this house?”
“Of course, ma’am.”
Mrs. Prescott motioned to Molly to leave and followed her from the room, dipping in a curtsy to my mother-in-law as she passed her in the doorway.
My cheeks flamed, and I turned my attention to James on the sofa. I moved the bowl of water closer and sat beside him. How long had Lady Edith been standing there? What had she overheard?
“What is this?” she asked, crossing toward us. “James?”
“An injury to his eye,” I explained. “I’ve sent for the doctor, and I have a cold cloth here.”
“And Molly?”
“She was caught searching the drawers in the study, then raved to me about the injustice of having nothing when this house is filled with opulence. She has been dismissed, and Mrs. Prescott will send word to Janet that her position is available if she should choose to return.”
Lady Edith said nothing.
I folded the cloth and dipped it in the water, then rang it out. “Would you like to press this to your eye, James?”
He watched me closely through his one visible eye. “Yes, you may.”
