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that he was reciting The Gentleman�s Model Letter Writer by heart. �Should you not reject me��if I am ever so happy as to call you my wife��the tenderest and most affectionate devotion shall be yours, and the principal and only study of my future days shall be to render your life as happy as you deservedly meh� merit� it should...� �Mr. Browne!� she cried, but Louis had already slumped to the ground, passed out pale and cold. A young lady and her beau popped up from a rustle of foliage some yards away like startled birds. She ran to the conservatory door, peered out into the hall, and upon sighting the Misses Morland�s brother fetching cups of tea, forgot herself and cried out, �Ned! Ned, do come quick, it�s Mr. Browne�� �Louis? What�s he done now�� Ned jerked himself to a stop as he came across the moaning form of Rose Hannah�s suitor. �What in blazes�?� �Too much champagne, I�m afraid. He rather outdid himself,� she told him. Rose Hannah lifted a brow and Ned sighed, the message telegraphed plainly enough. �Poor chap. Run go get Charlie, we�ll clean him up. Best for you not to be here when he comes to.� So she was out in the hall, striding past the lines of chairs and refreshment tables when she saw Amelia Sharpe some distance away, limping towards a chair and leaning on Randolph Sheridan�s shoulder, if by �leaning� one meant �draped over his body like Spanish moss.� �I don�t think I can make it�it is so good of you to help me, Mr. Sheridan�do you think you could�� Rose Hannah never found out if Amelia would have the unmitigated nerve to finish that sentence and ask Randolph to carry her to a chair all of five feet away; he managed to shoulder her over to one ably enough. �You say it�s your ankle, Miss Sharpe�?� �Oh, yes, Mr. Sheridan, it�s paining me terribly�I wrenched it coming down the stairs, I was coming for a glass of lemonade, I did feel so faint and there was no one around to bring me any�do you think you could look at it?� �At�what, now?� �My aaankle, Mr. Sheridan�do you think you could take a look and see if I�ve sprained it too terribly?� Rose Hannah tore into the most ladylike run she could manage and all but shoved Randolph aside. �Here, let me take a�look at that,� she said, swallowing a pant before she betrayed her haste. �Oh, Miss Munro�how fortunate, you�re just the person we need,� said Randolph, visibly relieved that he would not be forced to look under Miss Sharpe�s skirts. Amelia gave her a dagger glance. �If you�d trade me a favor, Mr. Sheridan�Mr. Morland is in the conservatory with Mr. Browne, who is rather unwell, and needs a bit of help. Could you?� �My pleasure, Dr. Rose,� he said, and ran like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. �Shouldn�t little girls be in bed by now?� hissed Rose Hannah. �It�s too bad you can�t bring yourself to become a professional busybody,� sniped Amelia as Rose Hannah knelt down (if I ruin this silk for Amelia Sharpe, she�ll live to regret it) and began to squeeze her ankle. �I can�t imaaagine what sort of medical wonders the world is missing out on.� �If you carry on like this, you�ll be in quite a profession yourself some day,� said Rose Hannah. �What? What did you say to me?� �Why, Rose, what�s the matter?� asked Mrs. Morland, strolling by with Mrs. Sheridan arm in arm. Rose Hannah beat Amelia to the reply: �Miss Sharpe, I fear, has wrenched her ankle dreadfully.� Both the mothers made the appropriate motherly noises of distress. �I do think she�ll be quite all right by tomorrow,� said Rose Hannah serenely, �as I was telling her, so long as she sits out this next waltz�if not the rest of the dances entirely.� Amelia squawked helplessly. �Oh, that is too bad, dear,� said Mrs. Sheridan. �But if our Dr. Rose says you�ll be all right, I don�t doubt her,� said Mrs. Morland warmly. �Come with us, dear. We�ll get you a nice cup of tea while you sit those dances out.� And the ladies bore Amelia away mid-scowl. All in all, the antics of Amelia Sharpe and Louis Browne notwithstanding, the ball came off a success. Rose Hannah crept up to her room some time well after one in the morning; the lights in the library were off as far as she could tell, so whatever mischief Dr. West and her father were up to, they had at least called it a night. Or rather, her father most likely had; there was no telling where Dr. West was or what he was up to. But she was at least pleased that her father hadn�t waited up for her as if she were a girl of sixteen. She found Nell, on the other hand, dozing in her wrapper on Rose Hannah�s bed. �Do pardon me, Miss Rose,� she murmured sleepily. �I wanted to hear about the ball, if you�re not too tired.� �Not at all,� said Rose Hannah. She felt more languorous than anything, the whirl and excitement of the evening having mellowed into a pleasant, persistent warmth. Mary Ann had forgotten to close the curtains when she turned down the bed, and Rose Hannah found herself gazing idly into the moonlight, wondering how it was that the deepest hour of the night could paint such a pale, eerie shade of violet into the sky, and yet cast a drowning blue over the room at the same time. �My, you�ve got roses in your cheeks,� said Nell, shaking off sleep a bit more. �How was it?� �Oh, it was lovely, for the most part,� Rose Hannah said, and after she had carefully laid Camilla�s pearls away and shrugged on her nightgown she curled up in bed next to Nell and told her all about the ball�how all the ladies asked proud, sweet Pansy to show them her engagement sapphire; and how Rose Hannah had gotten her own proposal, and how awful she felt afterwards for making fun of Louis Browne with Ned and giving him that first dance, which must have mistakenly encouraged Louis; and how dreadful Amelia Sharpe had been, with Rose Hannah mimicking Amelia�s affected bray for a giggling Nell. She told her about all the dances, how Louis had stepped on her feet four times during the quadrille, and all the Scottisches and the polkas and even the wild Virginia reel that only Charlie Reed was dauntless enough to dance with her, even though they had only danced the Berlin two numbers ago� Nell clucked her tongue. �They�ll be telling stories about you and Mr. Reed now.� She laughed ruefully. �I�m afraid the story going around right now is that Ned and I are soon to announce our engagement�I made the mistake of calling him by name after poor Louis went over like a sack of meal. Dancing the last waltz with him didn�t help matters either, but he waltzes so well, I wasn�t about to turn him down on account of a bit of gossip. Although Mrs. Morland and the Misses would like it, I�m afraid� I�d hate to get their hopes up again.� �I always liked Mr. Morland. Much more than that Mr. Osborne, at any rate,� said Nell. It struck Rose Hannah then as being curious that no one in England, save Nell, had ever seen the young man; beyond that, only Camilla and her father even knew he had ever existed. �I don�t think I realized how much I�d missed Ned over the last year until I saw him tonight,� Rose Hannah said thoughtfully. �Do you think� after all�?� She smiled to herself, one more secret half-smile among many that night. �No� I don�t think so. Not even if he asked me again, which I don�t think he will. I�ll always love him, of course� but it isn�t quite the right kind of love. We could probably be happy enough together, but�he deserves someone who feels the right kind of love for him, and would give everything up�or doesn�t have anything to give up in the first place�to start a family with him. And I can�t do that.� �Does that mean� you do think you�ll go to India after all?� She laid her hand on Nell�s soothingly, because she knew that Nell really meant to ask if they were going to India. �I don�t know what it means� and right now I�m happy not knowing, I think. Just seeing what there is to see.� And that was what she fell asleep thinking of, all the things that lay before her to see. She slept almost until lunch, which was a rare thing for Rose Hannah, who could normally be found walking or riding in the park long before most young ladies of her social circle were even awake. As nice as it was luxuriate abed in the frosty January sunlight like a queen, she began to feel so restless that she knew the day would feel like a waste if she didn�t get out and at least get some shopping done. But first, she had Parkes send out for several morning papers so she could catch up on the Bonneville housebreak over her extremely late breakfast. Strangely, neither Dr. Munro nor Dr. West were about the house. No one could account for Dr. West�s whereabouts, which did not surprise Rose Hannah; her father had simply left her an affectionate note to the effect that he had some business to manage at his club. No matter; she had plenty of errands with which to occupy herself. Her father, to begin with, had mailed installments of �A Study in Scarlet� from The Strand to her in New York, but Rose Hannah had left those with Aunt Jessamine, thinking she might as well get the new six-shilling edition anyway. She had not expected, however, to run into Dr. West at the newstand outside, half-hidden by a sheaf of newspaper�with his medical bag, no less. Her first thought was to pretend that she hadn�t seen him at all, but he seemed to sense that he was being watched and looked up, and they both had a moment�s awkward dance of recognition. �Fancy meeting you here,� she managed. �You�d best be careful, out so late in the day,� said West in that dry tone of his; she began to wonder if it was his way of teasing. �You wouldn�t want to fall prey to that housebreaker.� �How do you know it isn�t the Whitechapel Ripper, back again?� she countered. �The Pall Mall says it�s very likely, given the current ineffectuality of the police.� �I know because�� He stopped himself. �It�s hardly likely, that�s all I�ll say.� Something about his tone made Rose Hannah stare. �You know who it was, don�t you? The Whitechapel Ripper!� �Not so loud,� he hissed, pulling her behind the stack by her sleeve. �You do know! You were involved in that?� �Most certainly I was not. I had my own reasons for investigating a bit myself, but I was never involved in�what ultimately happened.� �So they did catch him!� �I wouldn�t say��caught� is not the precise wording I would use.� �But he�s�� |
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