Quintspinner (10 page)

Their disappearance and late return home from the market was held secondary in importance to another household situation that was in full blown crisis when Tess and Cassie slipped in through the back door and entered the kitchen.

“Oh my heavens! Where have you girls been! The Doctor, he’s been in a right state about you bein’ gone and now he’s beyond reason, what with his wee son an’ all!” Mrs. Hanley scurried into the kitchen and gathering both girls to her ample bosom, pressed them to her in a fierce hug.

“Charley? What’s wrong with him?” Tess wasn’t sure if she felt more annoyance that her baby brother was the centre of her father’s attention again, or relief that he had taken the attention away from their fateful day trip into the market.

“Ooh! It’s just awful!” Mrs. Hanley fretted, and then with a quick look over her shoulder, she continued in a hushed voice. “Even from down here, we heard Mrs. Willoughby screamin’ an’ carryin’ on somethin’ frightful. The Doctor ran up to her room an’ found her at the side of the wee lad’s crib, pointin’ at him an’ callin’ for her husband. An’ that poor babe, well, he was takin’ a fit. Oh, his eyes was rolled back just so, and his little body was shakin’ so hard you’d have thought he was dyin’! And so Dr. Willoughby was callin’ an’ callin’ fer ya’ to come an’ calm Mrs. Willoughby, so’s he could tend to the babe. But of course ya’ wasn’t here, neither of ya’, was ya’?” Her tone had changed from excited story teller to reproachful caretaker. “An’ wherever it was that ya’ was, it not bein’ here, it couldn’t have been at a worse time, what with the visitor arrivin’ at the door an’ all….”

“A fit? Is Charlie alright? What did father do? And who was the visitor?” Tess felt her heart fluttering with a fresh sense of panic.

“Ah, the Doctor was near as worked up as his wife, with their son lookin’ like that, but no sooner did the fits pass, when a man arrived, dressed in fine clothes an’ demandin’ the doctor’s presence to attend to himself. That’s when Dr. Willoughby started yellin’ fer ya’ both again, but findin’ neither one of ya’ here, he grabbed his medical satchel an’ left in a hurry with the gentleman. Said he’d need to treat the gentleman at the gent’s own residence, bein’ as how he’d probably need to sedate him an’ so thought it best that the fellow be treated in the comfort of his own bedchambers. Told me that when ya’ returned, Cassie was to tend to young Charles an’ yerself was to tend to the Missus, Tess.” She shook her head and clucked her tongue. “An’ me darlin’s, I have never seen him in such a rage….”

Dr. Willoughby arrived back home shortly after the evening meal had finished. He summoned both girls to his study, where they found him sitting behind his great desk. He wore a look of outward calm, but his hands, curled into fists so tight that his knuckles were white, belied his emotions.

He cut directly to the heart of the matter. “Explain yourselves.”

“It was my fault!” Cassie began but Tess quickly cut her off.

“There was no fault of either of us at all! We just went to the market to do the day’s shopping–”

“Tess was attacked!” Cassie interjected.

“Attacked? How so? And by whom?”

“A man, a filthy foul-smelling man, knocked me to the ground, but I bit him and he got up and ran–,” Tess admitted.

“And an old woman took us to her place for a cup of tea–,” Cassie carried on.

“You went to a complete stranger’s house? Unaccompanied at that?” Dr. Willoughby asked in frank astonishment. “What could you have possibly been thinking?”

“Father, it wasn’t just anybody, it was … the Crone,” Tess ventured to say, hoping that such a detail would be in their favor. It was not.

“The Crone?” he roared and sprang up from his chair. “A filthy old woman idolized by the superstitious peasants?”

“She’s not filthy!” Tess shouted back “She was a Spinner! She had the ring! And she knew things! And–,” her voice close to breaking, she fought to control the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, “–and those things got her killed! By someone connected to the Prince of Wales!”

Her father’s eyes widened in disbelief. Tess continued on, her words tumbling out in a jumbled recount of the afternoon’s attack on the Crone, and of their counterattack on the Crone’s two assailants. Dr. Willoughby sunk back down into his chair, speechless.

“So we came directly back here. And we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to cause you any worry. And we thought that you might call the sheriff to report her murder,” Tess finished.

Her father stared intently at them, his nostrils flaring and his cheeks flushing with color. He looked from girl to girl before speaking.

“How dare you!” Each word was weighted and delivered with controlled anger. “I cannot believe what I am hearing!”

“But Father! We only meant to go to the market–”

“It is quite one thing to fabricate such a story to hide your impetuous behaviors, no doubt an attempt to cover up some illicit meeting with unsuitable and unsavory young men, but to go so far as to implicate the entourage of the Prince of Wales … well, I am stunned and shamed beyond words!”

“But Father!”

“Do
not
disrespect me any further with your lies and embellishments!” he shouted, slamming his fist down on the desk. “I will not have it! Do you hear me? As of this moment, you are both confined to your room until I say otherwise.” He paused and stared at them both before continuing. “I have just come to an immediate decision, spurred on in no small part by your actions this afternoon and your mendacious behavior just now.” His mouth pulled down at the corners, his lips forming a thin disapproving line. “We shall be leaving this residence. We shall be relocating at once.”

“What?” Tess and Cassie simultaneously gasped.

“I have been offered an appointment. A position, by the Royal Family–the very one that you attempted to discredit with your fabrication. The offer has come just this very afternoon, actually.” He waited for the effect of his words to sink in. “And as it is a posting for chief physician of a royal colony, it will mean a great deal more money and security for this family. I must admit that I had had some reservations about leaving London and embarking on such a bold adventure, but now,” and his eyes narrowed to a glare, “now I see that I must remove you both from any further temptations to forge your own carnal relationships.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes and forehead with his hand. “Perhaps Elizabeth was right. We have procrastinated far too long in this business of finding a suitable marriage partner for either of you.”

“But Father!”

“Not another word out of either of you! I have decided! Now off to your rooms until the traveling plans have been concluded. I will call for you at such time. Pack up whatever you hold dear, but no more than two trunks apiece. Now go.”

Sitting in the common drawing room between the girls’ bedrooms, Tess and Cassie mulled over the news.

“Moving? Where will we be going to, do you think?” Cassie asked nervously. It was her unspoken worry that at some point she would cease to be considered a part of the family. She wondered now if she was included in the relocation plans. She replayed the doctor’s words in her head, and then decided that yes, he had spoken of leaving right away, and had also mentioned marriage arrangements for them both. She hoped that meant continued inclusion for her.

Tess did not answer. She was lost in thoughts of her own. Her father’s accusation that they had fabricated the afternoon’s events to cover for a supposed scandalous liaison left her outraged. How could he mistrust them so much? Tess sprang to her feet and strode over to her dresser.

“I’ll show him! Then he’ll have to believe us!”

“What do you mean? Tess what are you going to do?” Cassie’s voice was wary.

Tess spun around and stretched her left hand out. The spinner ring sparkled on her fifth finger; the tiny band fit perfectly there. “I’m going to show him this, Cassie. This is proof that things happened exactly as we said.” And with that, she left the room, closing the door behind her before Cassie could object.

Her father was still in his study, poring over papers at his desk. He looked up in surprise as Tess entered the room.

“Are you contradicting a direct order that I gave you?” he frowned.

“Father, we are telling the truth about what happened this afternoon. It happened exactly as we told you. I have proof.”

“You have witnesses willing to collaborate with your story of fantasy?”

“It was
not
fantasy!” Tess replied, her voice shaking with indignant anger. “Here is the ring!” She thrust her hand forward. Dr. Willoughby’s face remained impassive and as smooth as a stone wall. Coming from around the back of his desk, he approached Tess and grabbed her hand to examine the ring. Silently he scrutinized it, and then met Tess’s eyes with his own.

“Where did you get this?” His voice was cold.

“The Crone said I was to have it. Those were her last words to me before she died!” Tess felt relief flood over her. He could not dispute the ring.

Her father’s next words stunned her.

“I can only assume that this is either a trinket given to you by whomever you had arranged to meet, or worse yet, you have stolen it from its rightful owner. Remove it at once and give it to me. I shall do what I can to redeem your reputation and prevent you from being hauled off to the public jail on charges of theft!”

“What? Stolen? How could you even consider that to be possible? It was given to me!”

“Remove it! Or I shall pull it from your hand!” he shouted, the fury building in his voice.

“I won’t!” Tess shouted back, stamping her foot in defiance.

The slap to her cheek arrived so hard and fast that Tess had no time to brace herself. It sent her reeling to the floor, where she landed on her outstretched hand. She screamed as her finger bearing the ring crumpled under the full weight of her body.

“What on earth is happenin’ here? Sir! What are ya’
doin’?
” Mrs. Hanley cried in bewilderment from the study’s doorway. She rushed to Tess and crouched beside her in an instant.

“Have you forgotten your position, Mrs. Hanley?” the doctor roared at her. “May I ask
you,
what it is that you are doing?”

Mrs. Hanley looked up from where she held a sobbing Tess. “The Missus sent me to find ya’. She said it’s urgent. Wee Charles is gripped by the fits again.”

Upon hearing this, the doctor bolted from the room and charged up the stairs towards his wife’s room, leaving the two of them clutching one another in a dazed heap upon the floor. Mrs. Hanley cradled Tess in her arms and rocked her as though she were a small child.

“There, there,” she soothed, “Let’s have a look at ya’. Are ya’ hurt?”

Tess’s cheek was already beginning to swell in a raised fiery red hand print. “It’s my hand!” she sobbed. “I think my finger’s broken!” Indeed, the finger was visibly swollen and had immediately turned a dusky purple at the knuckle just above the ring.

“Come then, me darlin’,” Mrs. Hanley encouraged as she helped Tess to her feet. “Let’s get a poultice on that, an’ yer cheek too. I’ve just the thing fer that back in the kitchen.”

“I don’t understand why he’s so angry,” Tess sobbed. “And I would never lie to him!” She walked alongside Mrs. Hanley, the woman’s comforting warm arm across her shoulders offering a measure of safety.

“He hit me,” Tess continued sniffling. “His own daughter ….”