sleep.”
To Aubrey, who was feeling as if his every limb had been racked, this suggestion seemed so insensate that it was with difficulty that he refrained from snapping back an acid retort. He was left to solitude, and to his own reflections, but these, do what he would, could not be diverted for long from his body‟s aches and ails, and soon resolved themselves into a nagging dread that the fall had injured his hip badly enough to turn him into an out-and-out cripple, or at the very least to keep him tied to a sofa for months. However, before he had had time to make himself sick with worry Damerel came back into the room with a glass in his hand. After one keen look at Aubrey, he said: “Pretty uncomfortable, eh? Drink this!”
“It‟s of no consequence: I can bear it,” Aubrey muttered. “If it‟s laudanum I don‟t want it—thank you!”
“Remind me to ask you what you want, if ever I should wish to know!” said Damerel.
“At the moment I don‟t! Come along, do as I tell you, or a worse fate may befall you!”
“It couldn‟t,” sighed Aubrey, reluctantly taking the glass.
“Don‟t be too sure of that! I‟ve no patience, and no bowels of mercy either. Can it be that you don‟t know you are in the ogre‟s den?”
That made Aubrey smile, but he said, looking distastefully at his potion: “I don‟t take this stuff unless I am absolutely obliged. I‟m not a weakling, you know—even if I do ride a feather!”
“You‟re an obstinate whelp. And who is making the grand fuss now, I should like to know? All for nothing more than a composer to make you more comfortable until your doctor can set you to rights! Drink it at once, and let me have no more nonsense!”
Wholly unused to receiving peremptory commands, Aubrey stiffened a little; but after staring at Damerel for a moment out of dangerously narrowed eyes he capitulated, saying with his twisted smile: “Oh, very well!”
“That‟s better,” said Damerel, taking the empty glass from him. Something in Aubrey‟s thin, set face made him add: “I‟ve a strong notion there‟s nothing much amiss with you but bruises and blue devils. You‟d be in worse pain if you had done yourself a serious mischief, so come out of the dismals, young paperskull!”
Aubrey‟s eyes turned quickly towards him. “Yes. Yes, I should! I hadn‟t thought of that. Thank you—I‟m very much obliged to you! I didn‟t mean to be uncivil—at least, I did, but—but I beg pardon, sir!”
“Oh, pooh! go to sleep!”
“Yes, very likely I shall, after drinking that vile stuff,” Aubrey agreed, with a shy grin that made him look suddenly younger. “Only my sister will be a trifle anxious, I daresay. Do you think ”—
“Have no fear! I have already sent one of the stable-boys to Undershaw with a letter for
her.”
“Oh! Thank you! You didn‟t tell her anything to alarm her, did you?”
“No, why should I? I told her precisely what I told you, and merely requested her to put
up what you need in the way of nightshirts and tooth-brushes for the boy to bring back with
him.”
“That‟s right!” Aubrey said, relieved. “They can‟t fly into a pucker over that !”
IV
the letter which reached Venetia had been written in the most elegant of formal terms,
and in a spirit of unholy amusement. Damerel took pains over it, wondering what its effect on
her would be. He addressed her as a stranger, but she was unlikely to be deceived into thinking that he did not remember very well who she was. Though he was careful not to pen a word that might betray to her his enjoyment of the situation, she would certainly perceive how maliciously fate had played into his hands. That might bring her to the Priory in a mood of seething resentment, but he did not think it would keep her away from a delicate young brother who seemed to be in her sole charge; and he did not doubt his ability to gentle her into laying her ruffled plumage. He
To Aubrey, who was feeling as if his every limb had been racked, this suggestion seemed so insensate that it was with difficulty that he refrained from snapping back an acid retort. He was left to solitude, and to his own reflections, but these, do what he would, could not be diverted for long from his body‟s aches and ails, and soon resolved themselves into a nagging dread that the fall had injured his hip badly enough to turn him into an out-and-out cripple, or at the very least to keep him tied to a sofa for months. However, before he had had time to make himself sick with worry Damerel came back into the room with a glass in his hand. After one keen look at Aubrey, he said: “Pretty uncomfortable, eh? Drink this!”
“It‟s of no consequence: I can bear it,” Aubrey muttered. “If it‟s laudanum I don‟t want it—thank you!”
“Remind me to ask you what you want, if ever I should wish to know!” said Damerel.
“At the moment I don‟t! Come along, do as I tell you, or a worse fate may befall you!”
“It couldn‟t,” sighed Aubrey, reluctantly taking the glass.
“Don‟t be too sure of that! I‟ve no patience, and no bowels of mercy either. Can it be that you don‟t know you are in the ogre‟s den?”
That made Aubrey smile, but he said, looking distastefully at his potion: “I don‟t take this stuff unless I am absolutely obliged. I‟m not a weakling, you know—even if I do ride a feather!”
“You‟re an obstinate whelp. And who is making the grand fuss now, I should like to know? All for nothing more than a composer to make you more comfortable until your doctor can set you to rights! Drink it at once, and let me have no more nonsense!”
Wholly unused to receiving peremptory commands, Aubrey stiffened a little; but after staring at Damerel for a moment out of dangerously narrowed eyes he capitulated, saying with his twisted smile: “Oh, very well!”
“That‟s better,” said Damerel, taking the empty glass from him. Something in Aubrey‟s thin, set face made him add: “I‟ve a strong notion there‟s nothing much amiss with you but bruises and blue devils. You‟d be in worse pain if you had done yourself a serious mischief, so come out of the dismals, young paperskull!”
Aubrey‟s eyes turned quickly towards him. “Yes. Yes, I should! I hadn‟t thought of that. Thank you—I‟m very much obliged to you! I didn‟t mean to be uncivil—at least, I did, but—but I beg pardon, sir!”
“Oh, pooh! go to sleep!”
“Yes, very likely I shall, after drinking that vile stuff,” Aubrey agreed, with a shy grin that made him look suddenly younger. “Only my sister will be a trifle anxious, I daresay. Do you think ”—
“Have no fear! I have already sent one of the stable-boys to Undershaw with a letter for
her.”
“Oh! Thank you! You didn‟t tell her anything to alarm her, did you?”
“No, why should I? I told her precisely what I told you, and merely requested her to put
up what you need in the way of nightshirts and tooth-brushes for the boy to bring back with
him.”
“That‟s right!” Aubrey said, relieved. “They can‟t fly into a pucker over that !”
IV
the letter which reached Venetia had been written in the most elegant of formal terms,
and in a spirit of unholy amusement. Damerel took pains over it, wondering what its effect on
her would be. He addressed her as a stranger, but she was unlikely to be deceived into thinking that he did not remember very well who she was. Though he was careful not to pen a word that might betray to her his enjoyment of the situation, she would certainly perceive how maliciously fate had played into his hands. That might bring her to the Priory in a mood of seething resentment, but he did not think it would keep her away from a delicate young brother who seemed to be in her sole charge; and he did not doubt his ability to gentle her into laying her ruffled plumage. He
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