‘Come along, my son, get into the carriage and let us be gone from this place. What were your friends about, could they not see you are unwell? Come, my love, let me help you.’
‘Don’t think…anyone…can…’ muttered Garston.
He turned, leaning his back against the wall as his legs crumpled under him and he slid to the floor, unconscious. Lady Leaconham gave a little scream.
‘Oh, good heavens—oh, my poor boy! Quickly, someone, run and fetch a doctor!’
The landlord stepped forwards, shaking his head.
‘Nay, my lady, I’m sure if we was to get him upstairs and into a bed—’
‘No, no, fetch a doctor! Oh, I shall go distracted,’ cried Lady Leaconham, reaching out to grip Kitty’s arm. ‘Quickly, child, where is my vinaigrette? I fear I am going to faint.’
‘Now that won’t help anyone, madam,’ said a deep, calm voice behind them.
Kitty looked round to see Daniel Blackwood jumping down from his horse.
‘And the landlord’s right,’ he continued bluntly. ‘Leaconham is drunk: best to take him upstairs and let him sleep it off.’ He signalled to the coachman and footman, who ran forward to pick up Garston and carry him inside.
Kitty felt Lady Leaconham sag against her, but even as she struggled to support her, Daniel stepped up to take the matron’s free arm.
‘Come, ma’am,’ he said. ‘Allow us to escort you inside.’
The landlord led them to a small parlour where Kitty and Daniel half-carried Lady Leaconham across the room to a cushioned armchair beside the empty fireplace.
‘Have a bottle of wine brought in,’ ordered Daniel. He glanced at Kitty. ‘Will you look after Lady Leaconham while I go upstairs and see what I can do for her son?’
Kitty nodded and as he strode away she searched in her godmother’s reticule for her smelling salts.
By the time Daniel returned Lady Leaconham had recovered a little and was sipping at a glass of wine.
‘How is Leaconham?’ she asked him anxiously.
‘Sleeping,’ he said shortly. ‘He is unlikely to stir before the morning.’
‘Then perhaps we should go home, Godmama,’ suggested Kitty. ‘There is still time to reach Town before dark.’
‘And leave my son here, alone?’ declared my lady, setting her glass down with a snap. ‘Never. The poor boy has obviously eaten something that disagreed with him. Did he not say he would be dining on oysters? I have no doubt that was it. I make it a rule never to touch shellfish.’
As Daniel opened his mouth to reply Kitty met his eyes and gave a tiny shake of her head. He shrugged.
‘Whatever the cause,’ he said, ‘Lord Leaconham is in no condition to travel today. The inn is very busy.’ Loud voices and a burst of raucous laughter from the room above added weight to his words. He continued, ‘You are best to go home, ma’am. The landlord here can be trusted to look after Leaconham.’
But Lady Leaconham merely shook her head and dabbed at her eyes with the wisp of lace that was her handkerchief.
‘I do not think I could travel another yard tonight,’ she said querulously. ‘Seeing Garston in such distress has completely destroyed my nerves. Kitty, my dear, go and find the landlord. Tell him we need rooms for the night.’
‘But, ma’am, it is not far to Town,’ protested Kitty, ‘I am sure you would be more comfortable in your own bed.’
‘You forget, Katherine my dear,’ said my lady in reproachful tones, ‘that we have no outriders to escort us, and the sun is already setting.’
‘I would be very happy to escort you to Town, madam,’ put in Daniel, stepping forwards.
‘That is very kind of you, Mr Blackwood,’ came the gracious reply, ‘but I cannot contemplate leaving my poor boy here alone. What if he should wake in the night, calling for his mama?’
Kitty saw Daniel’s lips twitch and she said, trying to keep the laughter out of her own voice, ‘My dear ma’am, Garston is five-and-twenty. He has had his own establishment for years now.’
‘That is not the point,’ returned my lady in dignified accents. ‘I am still his mama, and I am the person he needs when he is ill.’
‘He is not ill, ma’am, he is dead drunk!’ retorted Daniel with brutal frankness.
Lady Leaconham gave a little shudder and collapsed back in the chair. Kitty stepped up and took her hands, chafing them gently between her own.
‘Now look what you have done!’ She cast an angry glance towards Daniel. ‘How can you be so unfeeling?’
‘Well, you know I am an insensitive, uncouth, northern fellow!’
‘And you can stop that nonsense this minute,’ she told him crossly. ‘I know very well it is all play-acting designed to annoy me.’
He laughed suddenly.
‘So it is, Miss Wythenshawe. Very well, tell me what I can do to help.’
‘Bespeak rooms for us, if you please, and ask the coachman to stable the horses. If Lady Leaconham is determined to stay, then we must do so, I think.’
He disappeared, coming back a few moments later to inform her that a room was being prepared.
‘I hope you will not object, but they are very busy tonight so I have arranged for you to share a room. I thought you would prefer that to having separate rooms at opposite ends of the building, which is all they have free.’
‘Yes, thank you, sir. That is very satisfactory is it not, Godmama?’ Kitty looked to Lady Leaconham, who was leaning back in her chair, her vinaigrette clutched in one hand.
‘And is my room near my son?’ asked the widow in a faint voice.
‘I am afraid not, but I have directed the landlord to have someone sitting up with him tonight.’ said Daniel. ‘There is a very small chamber available next to Lord Leaconham, so I have taken that for myself. If he wakes in the night and—er—calls for you, ma’am, I will be able to send word.’
Kitty frowned.
‘That is very good of you sir, but I am sure there is no need for you to stay—’
‘Oh, but there is,’ Lady Leaconham interrupted her. ‘Surely you would not expect Mr Blackwood to abandon us in this horrid place when my son is too weak to act as our protector? As for Garston…’ She hesitated, a look of distaste crossing her face. ‘I shall wait until the morning and then if I think it necessary I shall summon a doctor. I am in your debt, Mr Blackwood, and gladly accept your protection for myself and my goddaughter. I am very grateful.’
‘Think nothing of it, my lady. They have tea here, so I have ordered them to send in the Black Bohea, to restore your nerves.’
‘Now that is kind of you, Mr Blackwood,’ murmured Kitty, allowing herself to smile at him for the first time.
‘It is my mother’s remedy for most ills,’ he told her, with the flash of a smile.
The sudden transformation in his dark features momentarily robbed Kitty of her breath, and she was relieved that the maid came in with the tea tray at that moment and she could give her attention to the ritual of making tea for them all.
The hour was quite advanced when Lady Leaconham put down her cup and declared she would retire. She struggled to her feet.
‘Kitty my dear, give me your arm. We will ask the landlord to direct us to our bedchamber.’
Daniel opened the door for them.
‘Would you like me to have a little supper sent up to you, my lady?’
Kitty felt her godmother shudder as though even the thought of food made her feel unwell. Daniel observed it, too, and inclined his head.
‘Very well, ma’am, but do not forget that this parlour is at your disposal until the morrow, should you wish to make use of it.’
Murmuring her thanks, Kitty accompanied her godmother to the chamber allocated to them. It was a large room overlooking the street, where Lady Leaconham declared that there was so much noise she would not get a wink of sleep.
‘I have no nightgown,’ she complained tearfully. ‘And no maid. Who is to undress me and look after my clothes? I would not trust them to a common inn servant!’
‘Oh, dear, if we had thought of that earlier we might have sent to Portman Square for Meakin to come here and to bring you a change of clothes,’ said Kitty, dismayed. ‘We are not so very far from home, after all.’ She summoned up a smile. ‘No matter, Godmama, I will look after you. I shall help you out of your gown and you may sleep in your shift.’ She added cheerfully, ‘This is a very respectable inn, ma’am. Look, the sheets are clean and they have even used the warming pan in the bed.’
An hour later Lady Leaconham was sleeping peacefully. Kitty had helped her to undress, carefully folding her gown and placing it with her stays, petticoats, shoes and stockings in readiness for the morning. She pinched out the candles and moved the solitary lamp so that the light did not fall directly upon her godmother’s face. However, Kitty herself was reluctant to go to bed. It was not late, the summer twilight was still evident outside the window and she was aware of a gnawing hunger. She would not risk disturbing her godmother by ordering a meal to be sent up to the room, so she decided to go in search of food.
The inn was quieter now, the noisy diners had left or retired to their beds to sleep off their potations and there was no one on the stairs as she made her way down to the ground floor.