Page 76 of The Rebellious Lady and the Phantom Lord
“No, neither of us requires medical services. It is a matter of some personal interest we wish to consult the doctor upon.”
“I’m sorry. Dr. Glencoe doesnt receive callers-not at this hour. He retires early because his sleep is far too oft disturbed. Good evening to you.”
With that the woman prepared to shut the door, but Gilly’s arm shot forward, blocking the movement. “Wait. Please. I am sure he will see us. Just show him these.”
Before Phaedra could protest, Gilly had shoved the parcel containing the precious figurines through the narrow opening. There was a pause, then the crackling of paper told her that the woman had seized the package.
The door slammed shut.
“Gilly ...” Phaedra began, uneasily.
“She’ll be back.”
Phaedra was not sure she shared her cousin’s confidence. Long moments passed, leaving her to shift wearily from foot to foot. She was about to instruct Gilly to knock again, when the door swung open wide.
The gray-haired individual bobbed her lace cap. The wariness in her eyes had been replaced by curiosity. But all she said was, “Come this way.”
Gilly was forced to duck his head as they passed through the doorway. The woman led them through a chamber which was obviously where the doctor operated on his patients. Phaedra averted her eyes from the collection of sharp surgical implements laid out in orderly fashion upon an oak table.
The woman flung open the door to a tiny parlor, indicating with a jerk of her head that they should step inside.
“Doctor will be with you directly.” With an abruptness that seemed quite natural for her, she left them alone.
Huddling close to Gilly, Phaedra glanced about her. The parlor once might have been bright and cozy, but now everything about the room spoke of faded memory, like flowers, brittle with age, pressed between the leaves of a book. The velvet settee shone bare in some spots, and the matte of the carpet was worn. The veneer on the mahogany sideboard and cabinet was no longer glossy, but dull and scarred.
Shut behind the cabinet’s glass doors, Phaedra glimpsed rows and rows of leather volumes. She stepped closer to scan the titles. Intermingled with heavy tomes of medicine and science, the more slender books of novels and poems appeared almost dwarfed. When she saw Gulliver’s Travels amongst them, her breath caught in her throat. Her heart aching, she wondered if it was here then, in the house of this old friend, that Armande had first begun his own “voyage on the sea of dreams.” Shelowered her eyes, feeling like an intruder trampling into regions of Armande’s heart where she had not been invited to enter.
She felt Gilly tap her shoulder, silently directing her attention to the lower shelf of the cabinet. Somehow it did not astonish her to see the shelf crammed with china. Whimsical medieval chessmen of black basalt jostled for space with vases sporting frolicking cherubs and lambs. So different from the shepherd and shepherdess, yet Phaedra could still detect the delicate artistry of Julianna Lethington. All but hidden behind the chess pieces were other oval disks of china with profiles painted upon them.
She froze, realizing what they were in the same moment that Gilly muttered, “Miniature portraits. That might be exactly what we’re looking for.”
“No. Don’t,” she said as he hunkered down, preparing to reach inside the cabinet. She feared at any moment he would draw forth a likeness of Armande, the undeniable proof of his identity as Jason Lethington.
But before he could do so, the parlor door opened behind them. Gilly straightened abruptly, both of them whirling at the same time to face the old man shuffling into the room, a chintz dressing gown swathed about his spare frame, his feet clad in blue morocco mules. The skin over his cheekbones was parchment-thin, and his cheeks were sunken and hollow. Indeed, the man appeared more in need of a physician than likely to be one himself. And yet his face bore marks of a gentle dignity.
“Dr. Adam Glencoe’?” Gilly asked hesitantly.
The doctor nodded, the porcelain shepherd and shepherdess clutched in his gaunt hands. He regarded Phaedra and her cousin as though they were resurrection men, bringing him a corpse fresh from a violated grave.
“You have the advantage of me, sir,” the doctor said, the faintest trace of a Scottish burr in his voice. “I don’t wish to give offense. But if I have ever met you or this young lady, my memory?—”
“No, sir,” Gilly interrupted hastily. “Permit me to introduce myself. Patrick Gilhooley Fitzhurst at your service, and this-this is my sister Phaedra Fitzhurst. “
Although surprised by Gilly’s words, Phaedra was quick to conceal her startled expression, realizing her cousin’s reason for the lie. The name of Grantham would not be a welcome one to any friend of the Lethington family.
The doctor could scarce have looked less welcoming than he did at this moment. He invited them to be seated, although he made no move to do so himself. She and Gilly perched uncomfortably on the edge of the threadbare settee.
Gilly cleared his throat. “‘Tis that sorry we are to be intruding upon your rest, Doctor. But we drove all the way out from the city to ask you a question regarding those figurines.”
At the mention of the statues, Dr. Glencoe set both the shepherd and shepherdess down upon the tea table with great care, almost as though loath to release them.
“Aye, the figurines,” he repeated. “Might I ask you first how you came by them?”
Before beginning to speak, Gilly shot Phaedra a sidewise glance as though warning her not to contradict him. “Our grandda is a magistrate. Recently he tried the case of a thief who had been hoarding a great deal of stolen merchandise. Most of it was of little value, but these pieces of china were so exquisite, we wanted to see them restored to their rightful owners. My sister made inquiries amongst the china merchants; where she was told the artist had been Julianna Lethington.”
Here Gilly paused to give Phaedra’s hand a squeeze. “Being the tenderhearted soul that she is, my sister was much moved bythe tale of the tragic deaths of Julianna and her brother James, and wanted to return the figurines to some member of the Lethington family.”
The full weight of the doctor’s scrutiny now fell upon Phaedra. She blushed, made uncomfortable by Gilly’s deception. But the old man seemed to read something in her eyes which caused his own expression to soften.
