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Chapter 8
When Louisa and her father arrived home, Louisa was practically clobbered by her mother as soon as she walked in the door. “Oh, my sweet Lulu!” she cried, flinging her arms around her and squeezing her so tightly that Louisa could barely breathe. “I was so worried about you that I was practically beside myself.”
“I’m ... I’m all right, Mama,” Louisa spluttered, trying to extract herself from her mother’s grasp. When she finally succeeded, she was able to answer her much clearer. “The Quinces took the best possible care of me, and I feel no ill effects besides this unsightly lump upon my head.”
Martha flew around to the other side of her daughter’s head and examined the bump. “Oh, good heavens!” she cried. “However will they get that back inside your head?”
Louisa turned and faced her mother. “Get ... get it back inside my head?” she asked. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Martha said, “that is a bit of your brain protruding, is it not?”
Louisa shook her head slowly. “N ...no, Mama,” she replied. “That would be a far more serious injury. This is just some swelling on my head caused by the fall.”
“Oh,” Martha said, sounding utterly relieved. “Well, in that case, that isn’t bad at all! Glad you’re home still, though, love, there’s lots of work to be done.”
Martha wandered away humming to herself and waving her arms in time with whatever music she had playing in her head. She went into the master bedroom and closed the door behind her, obviously not even attempting to attend to all of the work that she proclaimed had to be done. Louisa could do nothing but sigh, shake her head and then retreat to her own room for a moment’s reprieve before launching into her chores.
Over the next few days, Louisa’s life returned to what it had been before Isaac had entered it. She tended to the things that needed doing around the house with Sophie, assisted her father with trying to sell the house, and generally kept her mother under control. She was mildly disappointed that she did not hear from Isaac again during this time, but she figured that if they were meant to meet again, it would happen.
Unfortunately for the family, however, there were not many people, or ratheranypeople who were interested in buying their home. Louisa and Archie knew that this was because of the family’s reputation in town, but they had hoped that an individual outside of town might seize the opportunity to move here. When this did not happen, however, the Pelhams were left with only one offer of purchase: Isaac Quince.
While he was not conversing directly with Louisa, she was aware that he was keeping in touch with her father about the purchase of the house. Archie seemed altogether very pleased with both the way Isaac was handling himself and the process of agreeing to his offer for the house.
Finally, one morning Archie seemed to be in a far better mood than usual. “Well, my darling,” he said to Louisa when she was working in the garden, “it seems that our dream of leaving town and selling house is about to come true. And it is all thanks to that young man, Isaac Quince. He has offered me a more than fair price for the house, and as we do not have any other interested parties, I have decided that I am going to accept it.”
Louisa’s face lit up. “That is wonderful news, Papa!” she cried, setting down her hoe and wrapping her arms around him. Archie, however, was not the hugging type, and so he just patted Louisa’s back uncomfortably until she stepped away. “I am so glad that Mr Quince has made such a wonderful impression on you and that he will be the one buying our lot.”
“I am as well,” Archie replied. Then, he took off the glasses he had been using to peruse the agreement he held in his hands and looked at Louisa more sharply. “I know that I am not one to usually say something like this ... but I would not end your association with him, Lulu. I know that the chances are very slim because of your sister’s foolish decision, but maybe, just maybe...”
Archie trailed off, and Louisa couldn’t stop herself from beaming. “I shall certainly not end my association with Mr Quince, Papa,” she assured him. “He is a very kind gentleman, and I would very much enjoy the opportunity to get to know him better.”
Archie gave his daughter an encouraging look, patted her twice upon the shoulder, and then said, “I shall be in my study if your mother is looking for me. She’s gone out for one of her walks, so I don’t suspect that she shall return until after sunset, but in case she has forgotten where I am, please tell her.”
Louisa nodded knowingly, understanding that her father had probably already told her mother five times this morning where he would be, but that she often got so lost in her thoughts on her walks that she never remembered where he was.
What made the situation funnier was that the Pelham house was roughly the size of a shoebox, and so if Martha had any wits about her, she could have just shouted out for him, and he would have heard her from wherever she was standing. But, as she always came and sought Louisa out instead of doing that, she knew that she would be the one to inform her mother.
Louisa spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon happily weeding the garden, fantasizing about the next time that she and Isaac would meet. She knew that the family was moving out of town, but she hoped that when he bought their house, that would afford her enough of an excuse to come and visit him, under the guise of seeing her old home.
However, she then remembered that Isaac would, of course, not be living at their house, as he was just buying it as an investment property.But still,Louisa thought,I could keep in touch with him about how the upkeep of the property is going, and perhaps offer him a few tips that Papa and I have learned over the years. I should hope that he would enjoy hearing from me, and perhaps he would continue writing to me, even after we’ve finished discussing the house.
When Louisa had her fill thinking about her and Isaac, she put away her gardening instruments and went inside the house. Sophie was working on the laundry on the other end of the property, leaving Louisa the only other person outside of her father in the area. When she had finished cleaning up from her gardening and was about to walk down to the stream where she and Isaac had encountered one another, she suddenly realized how hungry she was.
I shall go and see if Papa has had lunch yet, for I know that he tends to forget to eat when he is busy,she thought. Louisa entered the house through the back door and crossed through the sitting room to get to her father’s study. “Papa,” she said when she saw him, “would you fancy something to eat?”
Archie, however, did not answer her. He looked up at her from his desk with the oddest look on his face. He moved his lips, but no sound came out, and Louisa began to worry. “Papa?” she asked, “whatever is the matter? Did something happen while I was outside?”
As Louisa watched, Archie stood and then collapsed into his chair with a panicked expression. “Papa!” she cried, running to his side.
Archie was breathing very heavily, and when Louisa crouched beside him, she saw that the left side of his face was drooping for some reason. Her heart nearly stopped. “Feel ... Feels ...” Archie stammered, his speech slurring as though he’d had one too many drinks. “Can’t feel ... right side.”
Louisa looked down at Archie’s right arm and saw, to her horror, that it was hanging limply as well.I do believe he’s becoming apoplectic,Louisa realized, and suddenly sprung into action. “Everything will be fine, Papa,” she said calmly, maintaining eye contact with her father. “I will call Sophie to fetch the doctor, and I shall not leave your side until he arrives.”
But no matter what Louisa said, her father looked positively terrified. All she could do was pray that the doctor arrived soon enough that he would survive the attack that he was fighting through.
