Page 165 of Storm of Bells
‘M-Miss Linton!’
‘I know.’ I whispered, smiling invitingly.‘Behind a church. Scandalous, isn’t it? But honestly, if we sendKarim away, who on earth is going to interrupt us?’
My question was rather abruptly answered amoment later when we heard swift footsteps approaching.Instinctively, I jumped back, putting a good bit of distancebetween myself and Mr Ambrose. A wise decision as it turned outwhen, after a second or two, puffing and panting, the reverendrushed around the corner of the church.
‘What’s going on here? I thought I heard agunsho—oh my goodness gracious!’
Eyes wide with shock, the vicar rushedforward to where the prone form of Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh layunconscious on the ground. I guess in the excitement of kissing myfiancé, I’d forgotten the little detail that I’d just shot a man. Afact that boded rather well for our marriage, in my opinion.Swiftly, the vicar knelt beside His Lordship. I, however, was moreinterested in the figure who had appeared from around the cornerbehind him.
‘Jenny?’ I demanded, my eyebrows shooting up.This was even more interesting than Lord Dalgliesh possibly kickingthe bucket. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I, um…’
Jenny bit her lower lip—and then, she glancedat the vicar, and blushed.Blushed!
A grin spread across my face. Dear me. I waslooking forward to hearing Amy’s reaction to this.
The vicar, meanwhile, seemed to be unaware ofthe romantic atmosphere in the air, probably because of thebleeding soon-to-be corpse on the ground. Leaning over HisLordship, the reverend turned him over so he could see thewounds—then groaned and swayed. Apparently, he liked his red rosesmuch better than red blood splatter.
‘The Lord be merciful! What happened tohim?’
‘He, um….err…we found him like that. He,err…was in a duel! Yes, exactly.’ I nodded energetically. ‘Beforehe passed out, he told us he was here to fight a duel.’
‘A duel? But duels are fought withsingle-shot pistols. He has bullets in both legs! What monster of aman would do that to the poor soul?’
‘Um…’ I cleared my throat. ‘I can’t imagineany man would do such a thing.’
‘Your kind heart becomes you, Miss Linton.But there are men in this world more evil than you can imagine.’ Heglanced around. ‘Quick, someone! Help me carry him into thevicarage!’
‘What?’Mr Ambrose demanded. Hesounded as if he’d just been asked to carry a stinking cadaver intohis dining room.
‘Well, we can’t very well leave him here, MyLord, can we?’
Mr Ambrose opened his mouth—probably to saythat yes, we could indeed—when my foot lashed out and slammed intohis shin.
‘Ow!’
‘Of course we can’t, reverend.’ The big smileon my face cost me quite a bit of effort, but somehow Imanaged.
‘Exactly,’ Jenny stepped forward, giving me avery searching look I tried to avoid. ‘After all, we have a duty tocare for those who’ve met withunfortunate accidents,right?’
Gratefully, the reverend beamed up at me,then his smile travelled on to Jenny, and became a veritableshining lighthouse. His eyes misted over as he looked up at her.‘Exactly the attitude I expected from pure angels of mercy such asyourselves. Can one of these gentlemen please help me?’ Slippinghis hands under Dalgliesh’s arms, he looked over to where MrAmbrose’s men stood gathered. With an expression on his face as ifhe was being forced to swallow raw onions whole, Karim steppedforward, grabbed Dalgliesh’s feet and jerked them upward. A groanescaped from His Lordship’s lips.
‘Careful!’ the reverend urged. ‘I thinkyou’re hurting him.’
‘You don’t say?’ Karim growled, and tuggedharder at the legs, eliciting another groan. ‘How unfortunate.’
With Karim striding ahead and the reverendstumbling after him, Dalgliesh was transported more or lessspeedily towards the vicarage. Now and again, Karim’s long stridesproved to be a bit too much for the poor vicar, and Dalgliesh endedup in the middle of an impromptu tug of war.
‘Would you be so kind as to slow down alittle?’ the reverend panted. ‘Or we might end up tearing the poorman apart!’
‘We might?’ Karim hopefully enquired, andimmediately sped up.
Just then, Jenny appeared beside me, leaningtowards me. ‘What’s goin’ on?’
‘Err…we found him like that after aduel?’
It sounded more like a question than astatement.
