Page 18 of The Marriage Debt
There was a long moment of stillness, then, with an effort which was almost tangible, he dragged his lids open and stared up at her.
Katherine gasped: his eyes were red with broken blood vessels. ‘Theo.’
‘Kat?’ He broke off, coughing desperately. ‘Told you not to come.’
Katherine pulled off her pelisse, rolled it up and pushed it under his head. ‘Do not try and talk. Someone, please fetch me more water.’
‘Katherine.’ He was not taking the slightest notice of her words. ‘I’m not dead?’
‘Of course not,’ she snapped, the nervous tension of the last few hours breaking her control at last. ‘Now be quiet, for goodness sake, and lie still and we will...we will…’ Suddenly she was shaking. Arthur started forward, John swore under his breath and elbowed the younger man aside and Theo, moving like a marionette with half his strings cut, lurched into a sitting position, then onto his feet.
‘Kat, Kat don’t cry.’ She found herself gathered into his arms and held against a very malodorous frieze coat. It felt marvellous. ‘Kat, what have you done to your head?’
She had forgotten it, now the pain over her eye returned with a vengeance.
‘Carriage accident.’ Justice Highson spoke. ‘We would have been here yesterday evening if it had not been for that. But never mind that now. You, young man, should be in bed and your wife should not be in this place.’
Katherine pulled herself together. ‘Oh yes, we must go home. Governor, will we be able to get out now?’
She found she was still clinging to Theo, although which of them was holding the other up she was not certain and they were both swaying. ‘John, help Mr Lydgate. Is the coach near? I can’t recall where we got out and began to run.’
‘Near enough, if the Governor can get us out away from the crowd,’ John said stolidly. ‘Come here, sir, you put your arm over my shoulders, we’re much of a height. There we go.’
They made slow progress down the maze of passages. Katherine could not bring herself to look at Theo, at the purple swollen flesh of his throat where they had cut the noose away or the frightening bloodshot eyes. She just wanted them all out of this place. At the gateway she turned and held out her hands to Mr Highson.
‘How can I thank you, sir? I feel so guilty for your injuries.’
‘Nonsense, my dear.’ The magistrate shifted his left arm which was resting in a sling and grimaced. ‘A sore head and a dislocated shoulder are a small price to pay. Think how I would feel with an innocent man’s life on my conscience. I’ll be off now, you will want to get home. Goodbye, Mrs Lydgate. Write and let me know how your husband goes on.’
Impetuously she put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. He smelt of snuff and reminded her suddenly of herfather.
‘Now you just rest here a minute, sir.’ John propped Theo against a wall. ‘I’ll be back directly if that brat I left the horses with hasn’t sold them.’
Katherine went to Theo’s side and regarded him anxiously. He was leaning back against the bricks, eyes shut. Should she take his arm? Or would he dislike that? She was still hesitating when, with a rumble of wheels John drove up in the old carriage.
‘Arthur, will you come back with us?’
‘If I may. I confess I cannot conceal my curiosity about how you pulled off this miracle.’ He helped Theo into the coach and turned to offer his hand to Katherine.
She settled opposite Theo and watched him for a moment before answering. His eyes were closed but he was responding to the shifting movements of the carriage, so he was conscious. She had a strong suspicion that he would react somewhat strongly to her story and she wanted him rested before he heard it.
‘I will tell you later, Arthur. But where is Philip? Was he not with you?’
There was an awkward silence. Katherine’s heart sank. Drunk again?
‘France.’
‘France?’
‘Well, he won’t be there yet, I expect, but that’s where he said he was going. He left the day before yesterday.’ She stared at him, appalled and Arthur protested, ‘I did try, Katherine, but he said he had had enough and couldn’t stand it any longer.’
‘He’dhad enough?’ Katherine choked on the angry words. ‘How could he afford to travel?’
‘He pawned some things,’ Arthur said reluctantly. ‘I offered to lend him the money, but he said he didn’t want to be indebted to a friend.’
‘Which things? The only things left of the slightest value areGrandmother Harrison’s ormolu mantle clock and Mama’s pearl ear bobs.’
‘There was a clock,’ Arthur confirmed. ‘And a small jewellery box.’
