After the doctor’s first puzzled and unproductive visit, Lady Templeton had commented on how glad she was that Henrietta had been there. Her relative had immediately announced her intention to stay as long as she was needed. With Andrew out in India with his firm and her daughter Kitty away visiting friends, there was no need for her to go home.
Esther had accepted her kind offer gratefully, and a maid had brought a case of Lady Birks’s belongings from Hayward House the following morning.
At ordinary times, a visit from their aunt would not have fueled much enthusiasm in either Percy or Diana. The effusiveness of her affections and personal observations on their growth, deportment and diet had always left them embarrassed and squirming as children. As adults, they could appreciate her kindness although they never felt entirely at ease in her company.
But now, Diana was glad that there was someone else there to support her mother and sit with her father for a few hours each day, even if it were only her aunt Henrietta and her silly dog. Lady Birks did mean well, and she was certainly a woman of action when she believed it was needed.
“We will bring you something simple to eat here on a tray,” Diana said soothingly to her mother.
Lady Templeton nodded without really listening and then took up her husband’s hand again in her own. He stirred slightly and muttered something unintelligible before falling still once more.
Diana left them and instructed Mrs. Bridge, the housekeeper, to bring a small table and a light meal to the sickroom for her mother. Mrs. Bridge reminded her that the doctor was due to call again at seven o’ clock although there had been no change in the patient. Dinner would be served at eight o’ clock for Diana, Percy, and Lady Birks.
“Thank you all so much for keeping the house running so smoothly,” Diana said gratefully. “Please pass on my thanks to all the staff on my mother’s behalf as well as my own. I don’t know what I’d do without you all and Aunt Henrietta.”
“You’re doing a fine job, my lady,” Mrs. Bridge assured her. “Especially with your brother… Well, I do hope His Lordship is recovered soon.”
“So do I.” Diana smiled sadly. She knew what Mrs. Bridge had been tempted to say about Percy and couldn’t fault her for it.
In this crisis, Percy was like a lost little boy, letting his mother, his aunt, and his sister handle everything. He had been so very muddled in dealing with the doctor that the frustrated man had ceased to address him and now spoke only to Henrietta, Diana, and her mother.
Diana found Percy sitting alone in their father’s study, his hair in disarray and his face stained with tears. Piles of papers, bills and letters sat on the desktop in front of him, and he seemed to regard them with mingled bewilderment and fear.
“Percy?”
He looked up and tried to wipe his eyes when he saw her but stopped trying to hide anything when she came over and put her arms around him.
“It’s no good, Diana. I don’t understand any of it. It all might as well be in Chinese. What am I going to do? Oh God, please let Father get better.”
She hugged her good-hearted but foolish brother close and patted his back.
“Stop looking at Father’s papers now and go wash your face. Dinner will be at eight, and I’ll deal with the doctor when he comes. Tomorrow morning, we’ll look at all this together while Aunt Henrietta is sitting with Father and Mother.”
“But you don’t know any more about business and money than I do, Diana!” Percy groaned.
“Well, I’m sure we can work it out together. I’ve always been good with arithmetic, and I do read. You must know some things, surely. You’re probably just too tired to think clearly.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said and stood up, sighing. “Thank you, Diana. I know everyone thinks I’m useless, and I probably am…”
“Percy, go and tidy yourself up. We’ll talk later,” she said firmly, suspecting that any further conversation on the matter would only make him worse but unsure how to make anything better.
He obeyed her instruction, and Diana occupied herself with tidying the desk as best she could. Somewhere nearby, she could hear the sound of horses’ hooves on gravel and guessed that the doctor had come early and perhaps brought a colleague. Whether that was a good or bad development, she could not say. As she was locking the drawers, Jenson entered the room.
“My lady, in Lady Templeton’s absence, I must inform you that two gentlemen have arrived.”
“Of course, Jenson. Do bring them into the house. I will speak to them here, and then we can go through to my parents. It will give my mother a little time to eat.”
She sighed and brushed down her slightly crumpled day dress while the butler returned to the hallway.
“His Grace The Duke of Colborne and the Marquess of Wycliff,” Jenson announced at the door.
Startled, Diana watched as two very dusty young men entered the room and looked around expectantly. One was of medium height, with red hair, blue eyes and a kind, freckled smile. The other was tall and dark, with broad shoulders and strangely familiar green eyes set in a calm and dependable face.
“Welcome to Fernside,” she began to say with as much formality and confidence as she could muster while she tried to make sense of this unexpected visit. “You will find us in some disorder at the present time, I’m afraid…”
The green-eyed man was looking at her with great concern, and something suddenly clicked in her head. She remembered once falling from a tree on the grounds and hurting her ankle when she was about twelve. Those green eyes had looked at her with the same concern while checking her foot before he set her upright and pronounced that it was only a sprain.
“Edmund!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Edmund, I’m so glad you’ve come!” She dashed across the room and only just resisted the impulse to hug him, before wondering if she should shake his hand instead. He saved her the decision by lifting her hand and giving her a short bow, which saved her from feeling foolish.