It was then easier to see the wound the thief had made.
It was halfway up his arm and Georgina knew that he had actually been aiming at Alister’s heart.
If he had hit it, it would have killed him.
As it was the blood was pouring from his wound and the gash on his head was also bleeding.
She ran to the kitchen to fetch hot water to bathe his wounds and then she woke Mrs. Dawson and told her that they wanted bandages urgently.
When she got back, Alister was comfortably in bed.
But his arm was still bleeding as was the wound on his head, which was deeper than she had at first thought.
“He might have been killed by either of the shots!” Dawson exclaimed.
“I know,” Georgina replied. “He must have heard them and gone to see what was happening without realising they were thieves.”
She looked down at Alister and said,
“We must send for a doctor.”
“Yes, of course, my Lady. Lever will fetch the one in the village and the sooner he comes here the better.”
Lever, who was bending over Alister, rose to his feet.
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” he said, “but I makes no promises as to ’ow long I’ll be.”
“You can run when it suits you,” Dawson retorted, “so just hurry. The Master’s lost too much blood for it to be healthy.”
They tried to bandage his arm, but it was difficult and, despite all the layers they put on it, the blood seeped through.
Georgina wiped Alister’s other wound very gently, but that too continued to bleed.
His eyes did not open and several times she stopped and listened to be quite certain he was actually breathing.
*
It was nearly two hours later that the doctor arrived. He lived in the village, but he had been attending a birth to one of the farmers’ wives.
He was horrified, as Georgina knew he would be, to learn that the thieves had broken into The Castle so easily and that they almost got away with a valuable Fragonard and perhaps a number of other pictures.
She was to learn later that one of the men had taken two of the best miniatures away with him, but they had fallen from his pocket when he was crawling down the steps outside and they had therefore got away with nothing.
The doctor was appalled to find that Alister was in such a poor condition.
“If this shot had gone two inches to the left,” he exclaimed, “it would undoubtedly have hit his heart and he would be dead.”
“What can we do about it?” Georgina asked.
The doctor smiled at her.
“It is what you can do,” he emphasised. “You know as well as I do that there is no nurse in this village and it’s impossible for me to find one.”
“You want me to nurse him?” Georgina asked.
“You nursed your father better than anyone else could have done,” he replied, “and I know how good you are. So it is up to you to save him.”
“You mean the wound is dangerous?”
“Yes. It is very deep and he has lost an enormous amount of blood,” the doctor replied. “The wound on his face which has rendered him unconscious may keep him in such a condition for some time.”
“Of course I will do anything you tell me.”
“Well, it’s going to be very hard work,” the doctor replied, “but you are used to that. You will have to sleep as near as possible to him in case he wakes in the night. The one thing he must not do is to start his wound bleeding again.”
“I understand,” Georgina answered.
“Tell them to make up a bed for you in his sitting room. If you keep the communicating door open, you will hear him murmur, just as you listened for your father you will have to listen for him.”
“I will do exactly as you say, but please come back early tomorrow morning and if you can find a nurse – ”
The doctor threw up his hands.
“Where am I going to find one who is as good as you are? In fact as far as we are concerned in this village there is only you and you!”
Georgina smiled.
“I will do my best. You know I will, but I am very worried about him,”
“So am I, as it happens,” the doctor admitted. “But we will win through as we always do.”
He smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder before he left.
“You are a good girl and, as it happens, a very good nurse. I thought when you were nursing first your mother and then your father that I could do with you. I could give you a thousand patients if you had time to attend to them!”
Georgina laughed.
“I seem to manage to find them myself and I only hope that my cousin will not be ill for very long.”
The doctor shrugged his shoulders.
“He is going to be most uncomfortable for quite some time and it’s bad luck after he has just arrived at The Castle. It’s a good thing you are here and then everything will run smoothly, but you still need to look out for more thieves.”
“That is just what I was thinking,” she replied.
She waited until the doctor had gone, then realised that Dawson was waiting for her.
He came from under the stairs to say,
“So you’ll not be moving to the Dower House now, my Lady.”
“I suppose not. You heard the doctor say I have to sleep in his Lordship’s sitting room and I expect the bed I used when Papa was so ill is not far away.”
Dawson smiled.
“It seems Fate that you shouldn’t leave us,” he said, “and I’ll bring your cases back from the Dower House early tomorrow.”
Georgina thought for a moment and then said,
“All the same I think that the women who you were kind enough to find for me should go on with their work. I am sure that the moment his Lordship is better he will want me to go back to the Dower House.”
“Well, it certainly gives us more time to breathe and make it a place you’ll be proud of, my Lady.”
“I will leave it to you, Dawson, but now for tonight at any rate I will sit in the armchair in his Lordship’s room just in case he wakes up and wonders what has happened.”
“I’ll bring you some blankets and an eiderdown, my Lady. If you puts your feet up on one of them stools you’ll be comfortable enough until we bring in a bed tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Dawson,” Georgina answered.
She went back into the bedroom to look at Alister and thought that he had gone very pale.
Dawson brought in all she needed to make her more comfortable and because she could not see or hear her she moved the armchair quite close to Alister’s bed so that she would be aware of any movement he made.
Then Dawson brought her a cup of tea and she thanked him for it.
“Now don’t you worry,” he assured her. “If he gets any worse or you wants any help, then you ring the bell. I don’t sleep heavy and I’ll come if you wants me.”
“I know you will and thank you very much.”
She asked him to blow out all the candles except for the one by the bed. It gave enough light for her to see how Alister was looking or if he had moved in any way.
As the door shut behind Dawson, she thought how strange it was that she had come back to fetch her mother’s Book of Prayers the very moment she was needed.
It was almost as if God and the angels were looking after Alister to make sure that he was not deprived of the treasures of The Castle accumulated over the centuries.
‘They might easily have killed him,’ she mused, ‘if I had not intervened.’
It seemed almost like a miracle that she had just found her revolver and been able to save his life.
If his orders had been obeyed, she would have been in the Dower House and not aware of anything that was happening until the morning, in which case it would have been far too late.
As she settled herself down and closed her eyes, she told herself that this could easily happen again.
After all
that had been written in the newspapers, there must be thieves all over the country who would read it and they would realise that here were pictures, china and silver all waiting for the taking.
‘We really must be properly protected,’ Georgina told herself before she fell into an exhausted sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Georgina took charge as if she had been her father.
Dawson was told to find five footmen all who had been in the Army and were used to handling a gun.
The two scullions employed in the kitchen and who brought in the coal were ex-Army men.
She increased the number of housemaids until there were enough to open all the rooms that had been closed and clean them thoroughly for the first time in years.
She herself nursed Alister and, as the doctor had ordered, she slept in the sitting room with the door open so that she could hear if he woke in the night.
He was, however, suffering from loss of blood and the wound in his head made him oblivious of everything.
Looking at him lying in bed so handsome and so strong in himself, it seemed to Georgina horrifying that he should suffer like this from those three dastardly thieves and there was no chance, the doctor told her, of having any help in nursing him.
“There is no one in the village I would trust with an ill cat, let alone a human being,” he had said. “It would be a mistake to bring someone down from London who was not used to the country.”
“Of course it would be and would upset the whole staff,” Georgina replied. “I promise I can manage very well just as I did with Papa.”
“And your mother,” he pointed out. “You are born to be a perfect nurse even if you are not aware of it.”
Georgina smiled at him.
“You have been a marvellous doctor ever since I can remember and you must now save my cousin Alister.”
“Of course I will save him or rather you will,” the doctor replied almost crossly. “I have never had such a fit or strong-boned patient before and I have no intention of him going to Heaven earlier than expected.”
“I think that is a compliment and, of course, I am sure you will save him,” Georgina laughed.
“We will save him,” he said, accentuating the word.
She knew that meant she was on duty for twenty-four hours a day, but she did not mind.
She was really determined that Alister should not be permanently injured by the thieves.
She blamed her father and herself for not thinking before that this might happen. But how could they know that someone in London would write in the newspapers about the treasures that would draw the attention of every thief in England?
Because she was so desperately worried she added two nightwatchmen to the steadily increasing staff and they too promised that they were exceedingly handy with a gun.
“You must always take one with you,” Georgina instructed them, “if you have to sleep, then sleep in the daytime.”
They laughed at this and said they would be awake at night and that she was not to worry.
But of course she worried and she worried too over Alister.
The doctor said that it was natural for someone who had lost a great deal of blood and was badly wounded to be unconscious.
“It’s the same as having a stroke,” he advised, “and he will wake up when you least expect it.”
It was on the first night after the burglary that she recalled something that had been at the back of her mind all the time the doctor was talking.
It was her father who had once said that, when a person suffered a stroke, if they were talked to, it helped their recovery. Also, although it seemed strange, they were aware of it despite being deeply unconscious.
It was a piece of information that had remained at the back of her mind.
Now she was certain that she should talk to Alister and bring him back to consciousness.
She could not help thinking that when he did so he might be furious with her for employing so many people, but at the same time she was certain that they were needed and that he could afford it.
In fact the day after the burglary she asked Mr. Milton who did the accounts for the whole estate to tell her exactly how much money her cousin had inherited.
“I don’t think I ought to tell you that, my Lady,” Mr. Milton said with embarrassment.
“As a lot of it is my money and it was Papa’s when he was alive, I think I am entitled to know how much I can spend, also if I am spending too much.”
It was an argument Mr. Milton had no answer to.
He therefore told her exactly what money her father had handled and which had been passed on to Alister.
She was astounded that there was so much, yet they had lived so simply, but then she realised that her father had never had expensive tastes.
As long as he could afford the best horses and had gamekeepers who were certain to provide him with good sport in the winter, he had not wanted to spend money unnecessarily.
Therefore what he had not spent had accumulated as Mr. Milton had pointed out.
There was no doubt at all that Alister could afford not just the staff she had engaged but also to pay for all the repairs required at the Dower House.
She thought that, if they were completed, however much Alister might reproach her for being extravagant, he would not be able to put the house back into the terrible condition it was at the moment.
Mrs. Dawson was delighted to have new help in the kitchen as, in addition to the two scullions, who were badly needed, Georgina supplied her with two other excellent women. They obeyed her every word and admired and praised everything she cooked.
Every morning she ordered food for Alister, but he was still unconscious and unable to eat it.
It therefore went to the dining room and, rather than waste the dishes, she ate them herself. And now that Mrs. Dawson had help, the food at The Castle was undoubtedly superlative.
*
It was in the quiet of the afternoon, when everyone else was resting after a strenuous morning, that she talked to Alister.
She told him exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it and she told him what was happening on the estate and the news from the farmers.
Because they were aware of what was happening at The Castle, they had all come to ask for new equipment, more livestock and for urgent repairs to be carried out to their buildings and Georgina agreed to all they suggested.
Knowing that Alister could not only afford it but it was done before he could interfere.
‘Even if he is angry with me,’ she thought, ‘it will still have benefitted those who have suffered so much during the war.’
They were the people her father had always wanted to help, but thought he must not be extravagant. She could understand it was not because he was mean but that he had been careful over money.
During the war every penny had counted and there were not the men to spend it as they had all been swept away to fight.
Yet now, she told herself, in peace it was different. Prices, which had dropped dismally at the end of the war, were not increasing, but farmers were finding it worthwhile to grow better yielding crops.
She told all this to Alister hoping that he could hear her and she felt that it helped her to work out on her own what she should do for the best.
And her talks with him gave her the feeling that she was not in any way defrauding him.
If he could not hear what she said, it was not her fault, but she fervently believed that he could understand everything he was saying.
She spoke to him in a soft, sweet and gentle voice that he had appreciated so much from his women in the East.
She was honest with him down to the money she had expended on new thatch for the cottages in the village and repairs to the windows in the Church.
She hid nothing from him.
Although, as he did not move or open his eyes, she was sometimes afraid he would die whilst she was talking.
But, when she felt his pul
se, it had slowed down as was almost normal and, when she wiped his brow, it was no longer wet with perspiration.
Dawson shaved him every day and perhaps to cheer Georgina up, he invariably said,
“His Lordship’s lookin’ a lot better and I thinks his breathing’s more steady than it were yesterday.”
“I am sure you are right, Dawson,” she agreed.
However, she knew he was just encouraging her.
Because she thought that perhaps music might help him back to consciousness, she arranged for the piano from the music room to be carried upstairs to his room.
She had learnt to play when she was quite small to please her mother and she had played to her when she was ill until the day she died.
Now she played to Alister the tunes she loved that to her were dreamy and uplifting.
‘Surely,’ she thought, ‘if he can hear nothing else he will hear the lovely tunes that seem to fill the room with light and joy,’ and, because some of them were so moving, they brought tears to her eyes.
The doctor came every morning and encouraged her by saying,
“I know you find it hard to understand because he does not move or speak, but his Lordship is much better than he was when I first saw him. I promise you he is on the road to recovery.”
“I do hope you are right,” Georgina sighed.
“You have been wonderful,” the doctor continued. “If you had not been here, I cannot imagine how I would have been able to cope with him.”
“But I am still here and he is still in a coma,” she said in a worried voice.
“I promise you it’s only a question of time,” the doctor answered, “then he will be on his feet again and doubtless finding fault with everything you have done!”
There was a twinkle in the doctor’s eyes and she realised that he was teasing her.
Equally he was uncomfortably near the truth.
As Alister hated women, he would obviously hate everything she had ordered to be done and in which case everything might go back to how it had been before the burglary.
When she did escape from Alister’s room either for her meals or because she felt she must have some fresh air, she was really astonished at what had been achieved in The Castle itself as well as at the Dower House.
107. Soft, Sweet & Gentle Page 12