Page 31 of Of Fate and Phantoms
"It's all right," I said, as her husband dragged her away. "We haven't finished our discussion," I snapped at Gillingham.
He ignored me and forged ahead, his wife in tow, trying to remove her arm from his grip. "Gilly, you're hurting me."
"Good. You seem to need the pain to remember who your husband is."
"That's silly."
"Is it?" He rounded on her. His face had gone white, his lips bloodless. He shook her and she recoiled, putting up her other arm to protect herself. "Is it? Because I told you never to come here."
"But Charlie is nice."
"Do not talk back to me! Have you no shame?" He lifted his hand to strike her.
I ran toward them, but I knew I would not make it on time. Doyle, too, reacted, but he was also too far away.
But Gillingham did not hit his wife. She caught his arm and lifted him up so that his feet dangled above the floor. His eyes widened. His jaw went slack. Then his wife shoved him backward so hard that he slammed into the doorframe. The entire room shook with the impact.
He crumpled in a heap on the ground, unconscious.
Chapter 5
Harriet slumpedto the floor at her husband's side. "Gilly! Gilly!"
"Doyle, send for the doctor," I said. The butler rushed out just as Lord Gillingham moaned.
"Gilly? Can you hear me?"
He opened his eyes a mere slit then they widened, almost bulging. "Get away from me!" He tried to scramble backward but the wall was in his way. "Stay back!"
"Gilly? It's just me. Harriet, your wife."
"You arenotmy wife. You're the devil! A witch!"
"She can't be both," I snapped, more out of relief that he wasn't dead than a need to defend her. "In fact, she's neither."
He blinked stupidly at me. Perhaps the bump on the head had affected him after all. "Harriet, get in the coach." He stamped his walking stick into the floor and struggled to his feet. His wife went to his aid but he hissed at her and she stayed back, nibbling her fingernails.
"The butler has sent for the doctor," I said.
"I'll fetch my own bloody doctor. I'll have none of your witchcraft forced on me."
"If I were a witch, I'd have turned you into a worm when I first met you and fed you to the birds."
Harriet covered her gasp with both hands and gave her husband a nervous glance. He tugged on his cuffs and stretched his neck out of his collar. "Go, Harriet!"
"You seem to be back to your usual self," I said. "More's the pity."
The small lines around Gillingham's lips deepened. If I'd been Charlie the street urchin, he would have thrashed me with his stick again. But he feared Lincoln's wrath more than he valued his pride so I would be safe. Besides, thanks to my training, I knew I could avoid his strikes now.
I helped Harriet into her cloak and whispered in her ear. "You were about to tell me something. What was it?"
She gave her head a half shake. "I can't."
"What are you two conspiring about?" Gillingham bellowed.
"Nothing!" she said, her voice high.
"Your wife was helping me with ministry business," I said. It was time he knew that she had a value beyond that of pretty ornament.
