Cecilia Or Flight From A Shadow by Catherine Bowness

Author:Catherine Bowness [Bowness, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Women's Fiction, Regency & Victorian Romance, London Society, England & Britain, 19th Century, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Love Possibility, Hearts Desire, Life-Changes, Second Chance Reunion, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Lifetime Love, Romantic Schemes, Beautiful & Feisty, Love-Family & Forever, Action & Adventure
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2019-05-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Seated in a row in his lordship’s carriage, the three women soon grew warm beneath the pile of rugs; unfortunately, their tempers also kindled.

Phyllis repeatedly asked where Endymion was; Cecilia’s patient reply that he was still engaged in bringing the coachman up would satisfy her for no more than a minute or two before she would recommence her fidgeting and demand once more to know whether he was safe and why he was not with them by this time.

“I am certain he is – and will be here shortly,” Cecilia told her for the tenth time.

Mrs Moss, possessed of a less tolerant disposition and inclined to concentrate on her own discomfort to the exclusion of others’, lost her temper and told her younger daughter to ‘put a sock in it’, at which the girl burst into tears.

“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, don’t turn into a watering pot now of all times!” her mother exclaimed. “What in the world is the matter with you?”

“I’m worried about Dym,” the girl said, subsiding into partially suppressed sobbing.

“I am convinced there is no need to be,” Cecilia told her, reaching for her sister’s hand and, in the process, disarranging the rugs once more.

“Now, look what you’ve done!” Mrs Moss exclaimed, turning her ire upon her elder daughter and hitching up the rug irritably.

“I am sorry, Mama,” Cecilia said contritely. “Does your ankle pain you very much?”

“Yes, it is intolerable,” the older woman responded, adding a dramatic groan as proof of her suffering.

“Let me move the brick into a better position. It is not very warm now, but I believe simply elevating the limb should prove soothing.”

“I don’t suppose I’ll ever be able to walk properly again. You know that an injury sustained at my age is far less likely to heal?”

“I did not know and, really, Mama, you are not so very old! We will get a doctor to look at it as soon as possible.”

“Just because I do not look my age,” Mrs Moss said, struggling to defend her youthfulness without abandoning the notion that she required special consideration, “does not mean that my bones are any younger.”

“No, of course not. It may only be sprained, you know. The physician will be able to tell, and no doubt bind it up so that it does not hurt so much.”

“Physician? How can we afford such a thing? And, in any event, where in the world is one to be found up here?”

“Of course we can afford to pay for one if we need him. And people up here must surely require medical attention from time to time – I am certain the inn will know where to send. There!”

While she had been speaking, Cecilia had, at the risk of once more disturbing the arrangement of rugs, been kneeling on the floor, moving the brick and carefully placing her mother’s injured foot upon it. Mrs Moss flinched and uttered a little scream.

It was not much more than a quarter of an hour later that the door was opened once more, this time to reveal Endymion.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.