Rosalie tried to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. Only icy, cold air. She convulsed from the strength of her cough, pressing her hand to her chest.
“I think she’s sick, Maddie,” one of the girls told the other. “We must get her back at once! Uncle Edmund will know what to do!”
Rosalie could barely feel it when two pairs of weak, but determined hands tried to get her to stand up and start walking. But she was too frail. Her body was exhausted, and she could not even stand up, let alone start walking anywhere.
“I can’t get her to stand up!” Maddie voiced in frustration.
“Hold her steady!” Cecilia urged.
They threw Rosalie’s arms around their necks and propped her up. She felt like she weighed a whole ton.
“She is too heavy for us!” Maddie shook her head, as raindrops slid down her face in thin streams.
Rosalie could feel her life force draining out of her. She could feel it streaming away in thin rivulets of water that oozed from her body and got immersed into the earth beneath her.
At that moment, the girls turned to see three men arriving. They were fighting their way through an onslaught of heavy rain. They could see the familiar face and the sleeve of his thick coat, which was closed up at the end.
“Uncle Edmund!” they both exclaimed unanimously.
“Girls!” he shouted back through the roaring rain. “What on Earth were you thinking!?”
Only then did he see the woman slumped around their necks, like a human necklace. They were doing their best to keep all three of them upright. The woman herself was exhausted. Her head was drooping downward. Her eyes were closed. She was wet and dirty, but this was no moment to ask unnecessary questions. Once they were all back inside, he would certainly give them a piece of his mind.
“We came to look for the puppies,” Maddie explained quickly. “We saw them here yesterday, and we didn’t want them to be all alone and wet in such a storm. We found them, but we also found this lady here, lying unconscious, and I think she is sick, Uncle Edmund, we need to – ”
“I need you to be quiet right now, and do exactly as I tell you,” he gestured at her to cut her monologue. “What you’ve done is incredibly silly, and you shall be punished for it – ”
“But Uncle!” Both girls cried at the same time.
“Quiet now!” he shooshed them. “Right now, we need to head back to the house.”
He took the slumbering woman from them, who wrapped her arm around his neck. She was as light as a feather. Her dress had totally stuck to her willowy frame. Under the flash of yet another lightning bolt, he noticed how incredibly pale her skin was, how ashen white her wet hair was. She almost resembled a fallen angel, one who had lost its wings on the way down. But he knew how ridiculous this notion sounded, even silent, whispering only in the confines of his mind.
“Have you seen this woman before, when you were here by the brook?” he asked.
She was surely no angel. What she was, on the other hand, was a trespasser of some sort, who was on his property. And, she had no reason for being there in the middle of the night, in this weather. The very thought of her sneaking into their property with a hidden agenda enraged him. He had his nieces to look after. His mother. They all counted on him for protection.
“No.” Both girls shook their heads in unison.
Edmund hesitated. He was one step away from simply taking the girls by the hand and returning back to the house. This woman came here of her own volition. She was no duty of his to protect or keep safe. But this woman was lingering between life and death. He could not, in all honesty, leave any woman out in this God forsaken weather, and have her catch her death.
While he was still considering what to do, Torrance and Bellows came forth. They made the decision for him.
“Let us help you, My Lord,” he heard Torrance offer, and he gladly allowed them to take the woman into their hands.
He, in turn, hugged the girls, who huddled close by him. They shivered, their little bodies wet and exhausted from their escapade. They both picked up a puppy in their arms and looked at their uncle pleadingly. The puppies’ noses looked like little black buttons.
“We’re not taking those mongrels back home.” He shook his head, but he had already taken his first step, and that was enough for the girls to know that he would be giving in soon.
“But, Uncle, we cannot leave them out here, we simply cannot!” Maddie wailed, like an actress on stage, well versed in drama. “Tell him, Cecilia!”
She had always been the one to stir trouble first. Then, Cecilia easily followed, and the two of them together were impossible to handle.
“Oh, Uncle, please!” Cecilia joined in. “We shall take ever such good care of them! Please!”
“We do not need dogs inside,” Edmund growled, gently pushing them to start walking back, although the puppies were still in their arms. “Or, outside, for that matter.”
“Well, if we’re not taking the dogs, then we’re staying here!” Maddie was the first one to put her foot down. Upon seeing her sister’s act, Cecilia followed suit.
