Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 08] - Sanguinet's Crown Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldn't quite understand
it all. You know how Jeremy is." She paused, it becoming apparent that
Rachel was not attending. She asked, "What is it, dear? You are not
worried about Mr. Redmond?"
    Rachel started. There
had
been something
about Harry Redmond a year or so back. At the time she had been
absorbed with rearranging Cloudhills and adjusting to her newly married
state, but there had been quite a scandal, and she was
sure
it had to do with one of the Sanguinets. Apprehension touched her,
causing her heart to flutter, but she did not mean to worry Charity
over such vague trifles and so responded hurriedly, "How rude of me to
go wool-gathering! No, I was thinking about Tristram.''
    "I might have known," said Charity, laughing at her. "And what
has he been doing to bring so troubled a look?"
    Rachel's blue eyes softened as they always did when she spoke
of her husband. "Nothing really, except"—she blushed faintly and looked
away—"these late weeks he has been a touch uneasy, you know. Which is
so silly, because although I was a little unwell just at first, I am
healthy as any horse."
    "Cart-horse," amended Charity with a twinkle, but she was less
amused than she seemed. Her large brother-in-law was, she knew,
desperately afraid. His courtship of her sister, at a time when Rachel
had been betrothed to that horrid Claude Sanguinet, had been as
perilous as it was unorthodox, and had not only almost cost him his
life, but had resulted in disgrace and social ostracism for them both.
Despite such an unfortunate beginning, their marriage had been
blissful, marred only by Tristram's dread that the fulfilment of his
hopes for children might also take from him his beloved wife. He had
come near to fainting with shock when Rachel had gently broken to him
that she was in a delicate condition, and he had subsequently guarded
her with ill-disguised apprehension. It was true that the early weeks
had not gone very smoothly. Nonetheless, Rachel had always enjoyed
excellent health and when her time came would doubtless present her
husband with a sound and beautiful baby. If Mitchell Redmond's arrival
could turn poor Tristram's thoughts in another direction, thought
Charity, the wretched creature might serve a useful purpose after all.
"I wonder,'' she murmured, "what brought Mr. Redmond here."
    "I fancy Tristram will find out just as soon as Dr. Bellows
has gone. I was so startled to see his chaise in the yard. And you
shall not fob me off any longer, Charity. What
is
all this about a duel?"
     
    The Honourable Tristram Leith's swinging cavalryman's stride
slowed as he rounded the corner of the first floor hall. Dr. Bellows
had paused outside the green guest chamber, a puzzled expression on his
face as he stared at the closed door. The little doctor was, in fact,
so lost in thought that he jumped violently when Leith came up with him
to enquire, "Have you finished with our guest, sir?"
    "Goodness me!'' exclaimed Bellows, almost dropping his bag.
"How you do creep up on a fellow, Leith!" And peering up into the
smiling countenance of the young man who dwarfed him, he said with less
heat, "I have, but—he's a peculiar fellow. D'you, ah, know him well?"
    "Don't believe I've ever met him. Is he very bad?"
    "I wonder…" murmured the doctor inexplicably. Then, as if
recovering his wits, he ran a hand through his thinning, reddish hair
and drew Leith a few paces along the hall. "Bad? Oh no. Nasty cut. Lost
some blood. I had to perpetrate some of me famous embroidery on the
poor chap, which he endured bravely enough. All in all, it's more
painful than serious. Funny, though." He pulled at his lower lip and
muttered half to himself, "That back…"
    "Back?" echoed Leith, curious. "I'd understood Mr. Redmond was
hurt in a duel.''
    "What? Oh—likely you're right." The doctor smiled absently,
said his farewells, promised to call tomorrow, and hurried off.
    With the odd feeling that they had been talking at cross
purposes, Leith watched the little