“Goodness! How foolish of me to miss my step like that! Georgie, give me your hand, will you?”
“Are you hurt?” Georgie said breathlessly.
“No… I think not. Just… surprised. Help me up, will you?”
“Are you sure? Wait a moment, catch your breath,” Georgie said.
“I am fine,” Rowena said, trying, and failing, to haul herself into an upright position. “I just missed my footing, that is all. If I could just get up…”
“I think you should stay exactly where you are until we can fetch help,” Georgie said firmly. “Sophia, will you run back to the house to find someone?”
“Augusta is the fastest of us,” Sophia said, and her sister nodded and ran off.
Meanwhile, Charlotte began to shout, “Help! Help!” in a clear voice.
“What are you doing?” Sophia said sharply.
“There may be a gardener about,” Charlotte said. “Maria, why do you not go towards the kitchen garden and see if you can find help? I will run down towards the lake, in case anyone is about there.”
They left in opposite directions, the cries for help gradually fading.
“This is a great deal of fuss about nothing,” Rowena said, having got herself into a sitting position. “Sophia, you will give me a hand to rise, I am sure. Oh, this stupid baby! If only I were not so large!”
“Are you sure there is nothing broken?” Sophia said.
“Quite sure. I shall be a trifle bruised, I imagine, but nothing worse than that. If I could—”
A man’s voice sounded from across the river. “Are you in trouble, ladies?”
“Who is that?” Georgie called out.
“Ben Lovell, miss, the gamekeeper.”
“We should be glad of your help, Ben,” Georgie cried.
He stepped forward out of the shade of overhanging shrubs, so that he could be clearly seen. “I’ll come over the bridge and be with you in a moment.”
With a wave, he disappeared into the foliage again, but his footsteps could be heard scuffling through fallen leaves on the far side of the river, then heavy boots on the bridge, followed by lighter steps on the snow-covered path. He was a big man ofabout fifty, sallow of complexion, hung about with game bags, and a gun slung over one shoulder. Laying these objects aside, he knelt down beside Rowena.
“Are you injured, ma’am? Shall I carry you?”
“No, no! If you could help me to rise…”
Between Georgie and the gamekeeper, they got Rowena to her feet and began very cautiously to help her up the steps and back to the house by the shortest way. Sophia had nothing to do but walk anxiously in their wake, staying a little behind so as not to crowd them and puzzling over what had caused Rowena to trip and fall, for the steps were smooth and even, and although there was snow on them, it was not so much as to cause a sure-footed person to slip.
However, when she reached the step where Rowena had fallen, the snow had been all scuffed about as she had tumbled down, and there, no doubt buried in the snow before but clearly visible now, was the long handle of a rake. There was no need, then, to search further for the cause of Rowena’s accident.
10: Waiting
By the time Rowena had walked slowly back to the front door, the nearest entrance to the house, leaning heavily on Georgie and the gamekeeper, Augusta had raised the alarm, and footmen were streaming down the steps. Not far behind them was Richard, his face ashen, who at once replaced the gamekeeper in supporting his wife carefully up the steps.
“What happened? You are not hurt? Any pain?”
His voice was high with anxiety, and beneath the tumbling words was the deeper question —is the baby hurt?
“My foot slipped, that is all, and I fell down the steps.”
“What steps? Where? How far did you fall?”
