‘I know.’
As she looked at him, she saw that he was still wearing the grey coat he had put on before their meeting with Mrs Aubrey. It was stained all across the arms and chest – with her blood, she realised, in no small quantities. His breeches were the same. She must have let out some exclamation, for he followed the direction of her gaze and looked down, and only now appearedto recollect that he had not changed. ‘Good God, I’m sorry, Georgie!’ he exclaimed. ‘You should not have been obliged to see that! I had quite forgot…’
‘How long since it all happened?’ she asked. ‘Have you so much as left my side?’
‘It is early morning now. You were unconscious or asleep twelve hours, I dare say, though it seemed much longer. No – I have not left you for more than a moment or two, and that under protest. I was obliged to see the authorities when they came calling last night, though I fear I was monstrously uncivil to the blameless gentlemen. Your maid was quite appalled that I would not go while she and my housekeeper cut you out of your clothes and undressed you, then put you in your nightgown. She thought it improper, and told me so, but I told her in return that she would endure my presence without complaint or I would put her from the room, by force if necessary, and do it all myself. She stopped objecting then,’ he said, with a brief, wintry smile.
‘I should think she did!’ said Georgie, and then, ‘Oh, do not make me laugh! My head hurts so!’
‘I should not let you talk at all,’ he said penitently. ‘I was told to give you a cordial, should you wake. If you will let me do so, and promise to close your eyes for a while, I will fetch someone to sit with you for a few moments so I may go and change, and you will not see such a ghastly spectacle when next you open your eyes. I am sorry I neglected to remove these hideous garments. But I have been… distracted, and I did not want to leave you while you still seemed in danger.’
‘You said the doctor reassured you there would be no lasting damage,’ she expostulated weakly, as he raised her carefully in his arms and helped her to drink some liquid from a glass that had stood ready.
‘He did, but… I was apprehensive.’ He was excessively pale, she saw now, and there were lines by his mouth that she did notrecall having seen there before. He was plainly exhausted to the limit of his endurance.
‘You should go and sleep,’ she said, lying back against her pillows.
‘I will sleep when Blanche has arrived and can stay with you. She was to set off at first light. Your brother will be here a few hours later, I should think. I sent urgent messengers to both of them.’
‘Poor Hal,’ she said fretfully. ‘I am for ever dragging him across the countryside to see to some trouble I have embroiled myself in.’
‘I am sure he will not scold you on this occasion,’ the Duke said drily. He seemed to have recovered some fragile measure of composure. ‘Will you rest now, most stubborn and bravest of women?’
‘I will,’ she said, ‘if you will tell me what happened after. I promise I will be good, if you will only tell me!’
He sighed. ‘Sheer chaos reigned. It is not usual, of course, for shots to be fired in the centre of York in these supposedly civilised times. I have been given to understand that many persons fled in terror, and others, braver or simply more curious, came running to see what had happened. I recall very little of it, to be honest. But they tell me that Hart was still insensible on the ground, and you too, of course, with blood staining your pelisse in a most dramatic fashion. I was on my knees beside you, frantic…’
‘I liked that pelisse,’ Georgie grumbled, hoping to win a smile from him, but when it came it was a faint one.
‘I am afraid it is quite ruined; even setting aside the blood, it had to be cut off you. Fortunately, when people arrived I was recognised, and so was not given in charge or suspected for more than a moment of perpetrating the massacre. The constables came, and took Hart away, once it was established that he hadnot also been shot but merely knocked down. I saw nothing of any of this, and cared less for it; I was carrying you home through the streets.’
‘My God.’
‘Yes. I believe it made an enormous impression upon all who saw it, though I was quite oblivious to it. There is, or at least there was last night, a great anxious crowd gathered outside the house to wait for news of you.’
‘And Mrs Aubrey?’
‘It is understood that she escaped in the confusion. Nobody had the least idea that a woman was the assailant until I was interviewed much later. She may well still be taken up, of course. Her description has been circulated widely.’
She was silent for a moment as her thoughts whirled in confusion, but after a little while some clarity emerged. ‘I cannot be sorry she got away. I must hope they do not catch her.’
‘You have no thirst for revenge?’
‘To see a woman hang, because of me, and all for a stupid accident? I cannot wish for it.’
‘I would do it with my own hands, and gladly,’ he said, the blunt, assured ferocity of his words at odds with his urbane tone.
‘I don’t believe you really mean that, Gabriel.’
He sighed again, and she saw how bone-weary he was. ‘Perhaps not, my dear. I hardly know what I am saying, I confess. Now will you rest? I will only leave you for a moment, since Blanche is not here yet, and I have told you all.’
‘I will.’
He rang the bell, and when the housekeeper answered – she had plainly been hovering nearby in case of a summons – he kissed his wife’s hand again and left her to change his clothing, and not before time. She closed her eyes and let sleep claim her, and hoped no dreams would come.
39
Georgiana felt a little better when next she opened her eyes, towards the afternoon, and was able to take some broth and a small glass of wine. Lady Blanche had arrived and come to sit with her as she slept, and she very kindly did not question her about what had happened or make any other demands on her when she woke; she supposed Gabriel had instructed her strictly to be as calm and soothing a companion as possible. It certainly seemed he was not currently in a mood to be crossed by anyone.
