Eliza’s smile slipped. “I’m fairly confident that I want none of those things. My family is here. I’ll not risk leaving them for an uncertain fate that could leave me lonelier than I was before.”
“As I said, we will discuss it later. Now to the topic of our three newest students, have you been encouraging them?”
Eliza blinked at their headmaster. “No. They’re precarious all on their own.”
Mrs. Wiggons narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t trust Eliza.
“I’ll admit to not discouraging them, however.” She grinned.
“Heaven help us all if they turn out to be just like the three of you.”
* * *
“It’s been over a sennight,” Henry complained as he paced to the window that faced the school. At first, he’d avoided the school because he’d never had the measles, and hoped that Eve would come here. Except she didn’t. And, just when he was about to throw caution to the wind and call on her, word reached them that the students had started to become ill, so he remained at Harrington Manor.
The days ticked by as if they were years and his frustration at not being able to see or even speak with Eve grew with each moment.
“Quit pacing, Kilsyth. You are giving me a headache,” Pickmore complained from where he relaxed on the settee.
Pickmore wasn’t fully recovered yet, and it would be some time before he traveled because of his injuries, but he’d been going mad in his chamber and decided to join his companions in the library. Keegen relaxed in a chair, crutches not far from reach since his leg was still healing from a fracture. Norbright had provided a stool so that Keegan could rest his foot, as it was impossible for him to bend his leg at the moment given that splints had been placed and then tightly bandaged around the leg. Neither Ashford, nor Keegan were moving around much. In fact, Ashford had only recently joined them in the last few days. He had suffered worse from a head injury and was plagued with headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to noise and light, and was downright unpleasant to be around. The doctor had assured him that these symptoms would pass but when Ashford demanded that he be a little more specific of when he’d be up and about and ready to ride again, the doctor couldn’t give him an answer.
Henry could put up with Ashford’s surliness for as long as it took for him to recover, since Henry still carried the burden that the injuries, all of them, were his fault. He was just grateful that his friend was finally beginning to recover since he had remained unconscious for nearly a day.
None of them would be leaving Harrington Manor anytime soon, but at least Lady Norbright hadn’t complained. Then again, she could be giving Norbright a piece of her mind when the two retired in the evening.
Damn, he wished this achiness would leave him. Henry’s injures had been minor in comparison to his friends, but he had been bruised and battered and it was a few days before he could move without pain. All those pains had finally disappeared but now they plagued him today. On top of that, his nose filled and dripped and he needed a handkerchief at all times.
“Sit, Kilsyth,” Keegan said. “Only a few more days and you’ll be able to pay a call.”
Two more days might as well be two more years for the way the moments ticked by at a snail’s pace.
“Game of chess?” Norbright suggested.
Henry shook his head and cleared his throat before taking a drink. What the blazes was wrong with him? Now his throat was sore and there was a tickling in his chest, and he’d tried to fight coughing.
“Are you feeling well?” Ashford asked.
“Of course, why?”
“You don’t look so well.”
“I’m fine,” Henry insisted. “I’m still recovering from the beating my body took, like the rest of you.”
Lady Norbright frowned and came forward, then placed the back of her hand against Henry’s cheek and then forehead.
“Have you ever had the measles, Lord Kilsyth?”
“I don’t have the measles,” he insisted. “It’s been what, ten, eleven days since that student was here. If I were getting the measles, I would have come down with them by now.”
Lady Norbright frowned as if she wasn’t so certain.
Then she turned and took in the room. “Has anyone else not had the measles?”
His friends shook their heads.
Lady Norbright turned back to Henry. “Have you?”
“No, and I don’t have them now.”
