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Chapter 5
While Louisa lay in the guest bed at Isaac’s house recuperating after her treacherous fall, she could not help thinking how lucky she was. Anyone else in her situation would have been cursing their fate, but Louisa was utterly delighted that she would be spending the night at a respectable young man’s house without their being any sort of impropriety involved. She never thought that she would have an opportunity like this, especially after what her sister did.
She spent the afternoon reading all the books that Isaac had kindly left for her, and eventually, when the day turned overcast, she took great pleasure in listening to the rain pelting against the window. Lloyd tried to jump up on the bed many times, but Louisa reminded him that he was lucky the lady of the house was even allowing him to stay in the room with her.
When he heard that, he became far better behaved and fell asleep on the floor beside Louisa. She was so happy not to be doing any chores right now that the pounding headache she was experiencing was almost worth it.
However, Louisa soon regretted ever having thought that her luck was entirely good. This was because right when she thought Isaac would be returning from her parents’ home to come and visit her, Dowager Duchess Grenfell came and saw her.
When she knocked softly and opened the door to Louisa’s room, Louisa was initially very pleased to see her. “Good afternoon, Your Grace,” she said politely, placing the book that she had been reading on her bedside table.
“Good afternoon, Miss Louisa,” Agnes said curtly. She closed the door behind her and came around to the side of Louisa’s bed, and Louisa suddenly felt very uncomfortable. She propped herself up more in bed, feeling that it seemed more appropriate behaviour.
“I cannot thank you enough for your kindness,” Louisa began, looking earnestly at Agnes. “I do not know what I would have done had Isaac not rescued me in the forest.”
“It is my son who you should be directing all of your gratitude towards, and I should ask that you refer to him as Mr Quince as opposed to anything else,” Agnes barked sharply. Louisa was surprised by her tone, but she shouldn’t have been. This was the way that every person in town had been treating them for the last three months.
“My profuse apologies,” Louisa said as she scrambled to make amends for her error. “I believe that my aching head may have impacted my manners, but I should make no excuses for my actions.”
A strange look crossed Agnes’ face, and for a moment, Louisa thought she might have even looked slightly impressed. “Well, I ... I am glad of that,” Agnes responded eventually. Louisa could tell that Agnes was trying to remain as distant and harsh as she could, but Louisa had a knack for charming people.
It had not worked on many of her family’s friends, unfortunately, but that was because those people were already atrocious to begin with. Agnes, on the other hand, had an air about her that told Louisa she could possibly be swayed.Certainly,she reassured herself,if she raised Isaac, there must be many redeeming qualities within her.
“And that is very generous of you to encourage me to direct all of my thanks to your son, but I hope you don’t mind if I continue to be grateful to you as well. I am an uninvited and unexpected guest in your home, and I cannot imagine what an inconvenience I must be. Your assistance to me this afternoon went beyond neighbourly kindness, and I assure you that my parents and I will do everything that we can to repay you for it,” Louisa finished. She was worried that she was putting on the compliments too thick but figured it was better to pull out all the stops and go for it on the first run. She could always rein it in later.
Agnes opened her mouth to say something in return, but then stopped herself. She was then silent for a few moments and eventually became distracted by the sound of the rain hitting the window. Agnes turned to look out at the stormy day, and when she did, she finally responded to Louisa. “You are not what I expected you to be, Miss Louisa,” Agnes said quietly, her voice still maintaining a certain harshness.
Louisa was perplexed by the comment. She was not sure how she was meant to respond to it, so she decided just to wait and see what else Agnes had to say to her.
Agnes leaned against the base of the window and crossed her arms at her chest. At that moment, however, Lloyd became aware of the other person in the room and came around to Agnes’ side of the bed to greet her.
Upon seeing Lloyd, Agnes recoiled in fright. “What isthat?!” Agnes cried, jumping up into the windowsill. “And why is it in my house?”
Lloyd, however, was very used to people recoiling at the sight of him, and so he just did what he always did in this situation: he got into the most adorable position that he could. He ambled up in front of Agnes, flopped down onto the floor, and presented his belly to her to scratch while he wagged his tail happily.
“I am so sorry to have frightened you, Your Grace,” Louisa said quickly, trying to get out of bed to collect Lloyd, but her head prohibited her from doing so. She crawled back up to her pillows and hastily explained, “I thought that you knew he was over there. This is my dog, Lloyd, and I promise you that he is the most docile thing in the word. I can make him leave your sight if you’d like, though.”
“Immediately,” Agnes ordered, and so Louisa began calling Lloyd to her side.
Lloyd, however, would not come. He just kept lying there on the floor with his madly flapping tail and his stupid grin. However, when he realized that this tactic was not working on this terrified woman, he decided to go all out. For him, this meant that he went to Agnes’ side, laid his head upon the windowsill, and went utterly motionless. He looked up at her with his eyes as wide as they could go, for he knew that this calmness and cuteness worked on even the most terrified person.
“Why is he not obeying you?!” Agnes cried, only becoming more frantic.
“He’s ... goodness gracious, Lloyd ... he’s trying to show you that he’s nothing to be afraid of; I’m sorry. When he does this, the only way to get him to leave you alone is to pet his snout. I would come over there and do it myself, Your Grace, but I’m afraid that I’m rather incapacitated. I promise you that he wouldn’t hurt a fly; if you just touch his head, he’d be happy to show you what I mean,” Louisa explained, absolutely mortified. She loved that dog to bits, but sometimes he went overboard trying to get absolutely everyone to like him.
Agnes scoffed and continued looking terrified until she managed to calm herself down somewhat. And then, agonizingly slowly, she began moving her hand towards Lloyd’s snout. He never even so much as blinked the whole time she was moving towards him, and when she finally worked up her courage to stroke him the smallest bit, all Lloyd did was thump his tail against the floor and look happier than anything.
Agnes, however, was still not impressed. “Go on now,” she said gruffly, “I’ve done what you want, now go.”
Lloyd stayed and asked her to pet him for just a little bit longer, and then finally left Agnes’ side. He returned to his post of protecting Louisa and promptly fell asleep.
Agnes watched the dog until he was back on the other side of the bed. When he rested, she finally continued with what she was going to say. “Why were you in the forest with my son?” she asked Louisa outright.
“I was not in the forest with your son,” Louisa answered plainly, somewhat taken aback. “I went for a walk with Lloyd, and your son came upon me as he rode home. When I bid him farewell, I was foolish and did not look at where I was going and …”
“Slipped upon a rock, yes, I was aware of that fact,” Agnes snapped. “But why did my son come across you in that part of the wood? That is not his typical way home.”
Louisa suddenly found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place. She knew that she could not tell Agnes that her son had gone out of his way to see her, but Louisa also knew that she could not lie to her and so decided to strike a happy medium. “I saw him passing a little way away, and so I called to him,” Louisa said, half-lying. “I wanted to see how his discussion had gone with my father about the procurement of our family home.”
