Charlotte House Affair 01 - My Particular Friend

involved in the switch. He may even have been one of the delivery-men.’
    ‘But this is all senseless,’ I continued to protest. ‘Why would he do this?’
    ‘Again, I should not care to theorize and appear less than brilliant when my theories prove groundless. Let us move to practicalities. Mr Wallace, you are too injured to move. Perhaps a night of rest will see you recovered but I think it best if you spend that night here. You are agreed Margaret? I need not ask you Jane.’
    And so it was decided that Mr Wallace should stay and a room was made ready for him. Mrs Fitzhugh also deduced that he must be hungry.
    ‘Starving, in fact. Following people works up an appetite.’
    ‘Jane, you might ask Mrs Hutton to make some Sandwiches—I think our dinner roast should suffice,’ Mrs Fitzhugh ordered. ‘And he must have it here, to avoid moving him further.’
    Charlotte agreed and added, ‘And I must return to our library; I think I have an unfinished port and a treatise on the transit of Venus that I must finish. Good night, Mr Wallace. Perhaps Mrs Fitzhugh you shall remain here … to lend propriety?’ #
    ‘Oh, but I have not yet recovered from my cold,’ she said with a forced cough. ‘I had best go where it is … warmer.’ My friends left us with many backward glances.
    ‘And so we are alone together,’ he said at last after a long silence. Perhaps like me he felt at a loss, for it was very improper for us to be alone, but as this was our first real chance to talk since the events at the masked ball, I would not waste the opportunity.
    ‘Yes. I am sorry for your poor ankle.’
    ‘It is a mark of honour. Actually it is a mark of stupidity, but now that I reflect upon it, it has led to being our alone together.’
    ‘Ah, you had planned this.’
    He smiled. ‘Never in a million years. And I had not dreamed that this was Miss House’s … hobby.’
    ‘Oh, you dismiss it as a hobby?’
    ‘No, please do not misunderstand me. I am at a loss what to call it. And
you,
you are part of it.’
    I nodded. ‘I am. I am proud of it,’ daring him to object but not wanting him to do so.
    He said nothing, which was perhaps his wisest course. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
    ‘Your ankle, it is worse?’
    ‘Your friend may have wrapped it a little too tightly. I cannot complain, though. I have done as much for others and it were best tight, but I am afraid it has gone dry.’ He said the last with a little grunt.
    ‘Let me rewrap it. No, I insist.’ I moved my chair to help with the task. Mrs Fitzhugh had wrapped the ankle quite expertly with a neat knot that I hoped I could duplicate. But a touch of the now dry bandages proved they were already quite warm.
    ‘Ow!’
    ‘I am sorry; it is a tight knot. You say have done this for others?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘When?’
    He sighed. ‘I have done this for the soldiers of the regiment.’
    ‘Are you a surgeon or a doctor?’ I asked, reluctant to ask and find that he was not a gentleman, which I had presumed. And then I realized it would make no difference to me, who as a lady’s companion could make no great claim to status. #
    ‘I am a doctor, but in … in the field some of the niceties are lost and even a doctor must get his hands dirty. The distinctions are lost and I have learned much from the surgeons that accompany the regiment. But even a poor doctor knows how to wrap an ankle.’
    I removed the last of the wrapping, soaked it in the cold water and wrung it dry.
    ‘Best to leave it a little wet.’
    I complied and reapplied it. As the wet cloth touched his skin he sighed and said, ‘That feels nice.’
    I lowered my head a little to hide the flush that I feared would unmask me.
    ‘Tighter, please,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid.’
    I murmured something and wrapped his ankle tighter, unnerved at the sounds he made and yet somehow pleased that my actions were responsible. I finished the wrapping with Mrs Fitzhugh’s careful knot.
    ‘Thank you. A nice compromise.’
    Robert chose this time to bring Mr Wallace’s Sandwiches, hardly waiting after his knock before entering. He found me with my hands still touching Mr Wallace’s leg, but apart from a slight smile on his lips, he made no comment.
    ‘Would the gentleman care for something extra in his coffee?’
    ‘That would be very much appreciated, Robert is it?’
    ‘Yes sir. Would you care for anything, ma’am?’
    ‘No thank you.’ Robert bowed and was about to