Percy himself began to come around again while Dr. Hughs was testing him. He responded to his name which seemed to give the physician some satisfaction but could say little else of sense before he closed his eyes once more. Once Percy’s head had been cleaned and re-bandaged with the water and cloths already prepared, the doctor gave Diana a cautious smile.
“I think your brother has been very lucky, Lady Diana. Head wounds always bleed a lot, but I don’t believe there’s any fracture to the skull, and his reflexes are largely working as they should.”
“He’s going to be all right?” she questioned tremulously, not immediately able to believe it.
“Probably. Lord Greene has a concussion, and the effects of that can be hard to predict. But he’s young and strong, so I’m optimistic. I’d like to keep him under observation tonight if you’ll permit me to stay.”
Beside the table, Edmund and Jacob embraced one another with relief. Diana looked at them both joyfully, all three united in strong emotion.
“He should be kept warm in bed and watched constantly for the next twenty-four hours,” the doctor continued. “When Lord Greene wakes, he may have water, warm milk, or gruel but no solid food yet. After I’ve seen Lord and Lady Templeton, I’ll stay with him until dawn. Others can take over then if all seems well.”
“Of course, we’ll arrange whatever you need,” Diana said quickly, glancing at Jenson for confirmation.
The butler nodded.
“I’ll make the necessary arrangements now, My lady. We’ll have a stretcher made up to carry Lord Greene upstairs as soon as the room is ready.”
Once Jenson opened the dining room door again, Diana saw Lady Templeton waiting in the hallway outside, shaking like a leaf in her cousin’s arms. She noticed how frail her mother had become over the past few weeks. She looked like a shadow of her former self.
“Percy’s going to be all right, Mother,” Diana called out to her immediately. With a loud sob, the older woman broke away from Lady Birks and hurried into the dining room to see Percy for herself and hear Dr. Hughs repeat his assurances.
“I’ll go and sit with Lord Templeton while you’re treating the young man,” Henrietta said from the doorway. “I’m sure Esther wishes to spend some hours with the dear boy.”
The doctor shook his head. “There’s no need, Lady Birks. Everything is now in hand with Lord Greene, I hope. We’ll go and spend some time with Lord Templeton while his son is being transferred to bed.”
Dr. Hughs walked Lady Templeton back out into the hallway and towards the sick room, offering her his arm to lean on.
Unable to make sense of the bewildering succession of expressions crossing her aunt’s face in the seconds following the physician’s statements, Diana only knew that she saw relief, displeasure, and then fear before the mask was tightened again. Lady Birks nodded in acknowledgement and said that she would take some rest herself in that case. What was she thinking?
Considering again the conversation which had been quickly dropped by Edmund and Jacob upon Dr. Hughs’ arrival, Diana now wondered whether Lady Birks had her own suspicions about her beloved son or not and if it was the case, whether she had buried them somewhere deep under a carapace of thick maternal over-affection.
* * *
Edmund and Jacob carried Percy upstairs on the stretcher themselves and settled him in the bed. They both helped Diana to undress him as Jenson oversaw the placement of a comfortable couch for the doctor and all other required provisions.
“My heroes,” Diana had told them with a smile. Jacob laughed a little and bowed with self-deprecation, and Edmund gave a tired but appealing smile.
“I only wish I was, Diana,” Edmund murmured. Then, he busied himself at the bedside while Jacob tactfully pretended not to have heard anything.
Now, Percy was safely tucked in a warm bed, alternately dozing and talking Percy-like gibberish that delighted his sister. Dr. Hughs was asking him questions about the year, the prime minister and how many fingers were being held up.
“Would you say he’s returning to his usual self?” Dr. Hughs asked the three of them when Percy said that he was quite sure his aunt was well on her way to becoming the prime minister.
Diana laughed and nodded in agreement. Dr. Hughs began taking Percy’s temperature and told them that there was no need for him to stay any longer.
* * *
As they walked away from Percy’s room, the unexpected sound of a coach and horses outside drew Diana to the window at the end of the corridor. She peered down from the window, frowning, and saw a carriage moving away from the house along the driveway.
“Aunt Henrietta is leaving,” she said in surprise. “She never said anything about going home today.”
Edmund and Jacob looked at one another and back at Diana soberly, the three of them then huddling together at the window.
“What if she knows what happened?” Diana continued to think aloud. “What if she overheard us earlier? She might warn Andrew and his man.”
“Lord Birks will not be that hard to find, whether she warns him or not,” Edmund said. “Society men cannot just vanish after all. His company, his bank or his club will surely know his whereabouts. There should also be records of people in his employ, and perhaps witnesses to the nature of that employment.”
“Still,” Jacob said, “I share Lady Diana’s alarm and judge it advisable to get the constables out sooner rather than later. I’ll speak to Jenson.”