“I suppose thanks are in order,” said the earl. “Go off with you, Rose. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”
“I must go to Scotland Yard tomorrow,” said Rose, “and I would like Captain Cathcart to escort me.”
“Oh, very well,” said Lady Polly.
Rose left the room and Harry watched her go with sad eyes. Bernie had given him a very detailed report of that outing to Richmond. Harry guessed that Rose had enjoyed such easy company, such fashionable company, and thought she could please her parents by marrying such an unexceptional young man.
“I had better leave as well. I will call for your daughter just before noon. She is very tired.”
When he had left, the earl grumbled, “I’m afraid we’re stuck with him. But did you see his evening coat? Great shiny mark of the iron on the back of it. No gentleman should go out of the house like that.”
Lady Polly said in a weary voice, “If he had been a gentleman like Roger, then our daughter might be dead. We’ll need to let him marry her.”
♦
Harry appeared early in the office the next morning. After telling Bernie the events of the previous night, he said, “I’ve got a couple of small cases for you, but before that, I would like you to go to the hospital and make sure Mrs Becket is all right. I have asked Mr Becket to spend the day with my new servants and instruct them in their duties.”
Bernie brightened. He seized his coat. “Mrs Becket wanted some romances. I’ll buy some from a bookshop on the way there.”
Daisy smiled when Bernie entered her hospital room.
“I’ve got you the books you wanted,” said Bernie. He read off the titles. “The Duke’s Passion, Lady Jane’s Dilemma, and Shop Girl to Countess.”
“Sounds just the thing. I should be out of here by tomorrow.” Daisy’s bandages had been removed. She put a hand up to the shaved part of her head and said, “I must look a fright.”
“No, you look fine.”
“Sit down, Mr King.”
“Bernie, please.”
“Then sit down, Bernie. Has anything else happened?”
Bernie told her all about the drama in the garden and the arrest of Thomson. “Oh, that is wonderful,” said Daisy when he had finished. “Rose will have nothing to worry about now. I do miss her. I liked being companion to Rose. We were like sisters.”
“But you’re married now and have a new home to go to.”
A shadow crossed Daisy’s expressive little face and she plucked nervously at the blankets.
“You must be mourning for your baby,” said Bernie sympathetically.
“I feel unnatural because I’m not. You know how the upper classes say the lower classes don’t have the same fine sensitive feelings as they have. Maybe it’s true.”
“Rubbish.”
“I feel a failure as a wife, that’s all. Now I’m to be a lady of leisure. What am I going to do with myself all day? I wish I could go back to being a companion to Rose. I wish…”
Daisy bit her lip in consternation. She had been on the point of saying she wished she had never got married. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Here, now,” said Bernie. “What can I do to cheer you up? I know, I’ll start to read one of those books to you. You just lie back and listen.”
He started to read, using different voices for the characters, until Daisy began to laugh. Then she said contritely, “I shouldn’t be laughing.”
“Course you should. Best medicine there is.”
The door opened and Lady Polly came in, followed by a footman carrying a large basket of fruit.
She eyed Bernie. “Who is this person?”
“Not a person, my lady. Mr King works for Captain Cathcart and he has brought me some books.”
“I’ll be off,” said Bernie hurriedly. Daisy sadly watched him go.
“Now,” said Lady Polly, “I have had my servants move all your belongings from Chelsea to your new home. My maids have cleaned your flat and everything is ready for you.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
“What is this trash you are reading?” asked Lady Polly, picking up Lady Jane’s Dilemma.
“Just some romances. I didn’t feel like reading anything heavy.”
Lady Polly flicked the book open to the first page. “How is Lady Rose?” asked Daisy, but Lady Polly had become absorbed in the romance and did not hear her.
♦
Rose sat silently beside Harry as he drove her to Scotland Yard. It was raining so she was wearing an oilskin coat, hat and goggles and shielding her head with a large umbrella. There was no danger of the umbrella being whipped away because the traffic was so bad; the motor seemed only able to inch along.
She remembered the sunny day with Roger at Richmond. It seemed very far away now.
At Scotland Yard, Rose took off her wet outer clothes with relief and followed Harry to Kerridge’s office.
“Come in, Lady Rose,” said Kerridge. “Are you recovered from your ordeal?”
“I hope so,” said Rose. “I gather you want a detailed statement.”
“My officer there will take it down. Just begin at the beginning.”
Harry watched Rose anxiously as she began to speak. She described the events of the evening but without describing Roger’s cowardice.
When she had finished, Kerridge said in a fatherly voice, “Thank you. I’ll let the captain take you home now. You will need more rest.”
“Actually, I think I will go and see Daisy.”
“I’ll take you there,” said Harry quickly.
Rose gave him a small bleak smile. “I would rather see Daisy alone, if you don’t mind.”
“Then I shall drive you to the hospital. I suggest when you are ready to leave that you telephone Matthew Jarvis and get him to send a carriage for you.”
♦
Another silent journey while Harry tried to think of things to say while Rose sat beside him, her back ramrod-straight and her face shielded by the large umbrella.
At the hospital, Harry made to accompany her into the building, but Rose said, as if speaking to a stranger, “No, leave me. I shall do very well.”
And Harry sadly watched her go.
♦
Daisy smiled as Rose walked in. “Your mother has just left. Lady Polly has been so kind.”
Rose divested herself of her rain clothes and sat down wearily. “Tell me all about it,” said Daisy.
“I am tired of talking about it,” said Rose, but once more she described what had happened.
When she had finished, Daisy asked, “But did Roger, Mr Sinclair, not try to rescue you?”
“It was awful, Daisy. When we first went out on the terrace and he got down on one knee, I knew he was going to propose. And I would have accepted! But then he became so frightened he begged Thomson to let him go. He was prepared to run away and leave me to my fate. I thought he was so strong and adventurous and yet he just crumbled.”
“Not like the captain?”
“No, not like him.”
“Your parents must be very grateful to the captain. Before she left, Lady Polly said, ‘I’ll need to let them marry now’.”
“I don’t think I want to marry Harry.”
“Go on!”
“You know, Daisy, I am tired of being society’s rebel. When I was with Roger, things seemed so gay and easy. I began to see how happy I would be with someone cheery and undemanding. I do not want any more adventures. But don’t look at me like that. You have your Becket, and all’s well that ends well.”
“I don’t want to be married,” said Daisy in a small voice. “I want to go back to the way things were.”
“You are depressed because of the loss of your baby.”