The Rose Of Lorraine Part 22

"Time since what?" Again Graham tried to take the pup from her.

"No!" Bella jerked away. "Tell me how long it took to bring both Henry and me up! Tell me, d.a.m.n you!"

Graham glared at her, his mouth a harsh line beneath his thick mustaches. "A quarter hour," he shrugged, indicating that was only a guess. "Who can judge? A long time."

"Oh," Bella turned the puppy once more. There was probably nothing she could do for it, but she had to try. She checked its mouth for obstructions. Its tongue was blue, but it still felt warm. She didn't much like the idea of putting her mouth over a dog's nose, but she couldn't afford to be squeamish if she was to save it. She laid it on her bent knee, using one hand to hold its jaws closed, the other to compress its small ribs. She didn't know where to feel for a pulse exactly, but she wasn't certain that information would help her even if she knew it.

She blew quick little breaths into the pup's nose, pressed on its ribs to expel it, then blew again. Along the way to getting it to breathe on its own, Bella realized the puppy wasn't George. It was the little female she liked best, Pepper. That fact made her all the more determined to coax the puppy into breathing on its own again.

Bella's head began to lighten from too much oxygen in her own blood stream. The puppy twitched. Its hind legs trembled and it convulsed then coughed up a gush of water from its belly. Gagging and choking, Pepper began to breath on her own again.

The large crowd surrounding the well gasped in shock. Father Kerwin raised his hand and made the sign of the cross to ward away evil. His superst.i.tions were the least of Bella's worries.

She looked to the little boy being comforted by his nanny and spoke to Meggie. "Bring Henri here. He must see this for himself."

"No," Graham countermanded. "Take the boy to the manor, Meggie. Get him dry and dress the cut on his head. The rest of you, get back to work. I thank you for your a.s.sistance. Go now. Disperse. There is nothing else to see or do."

"I want Henri to..." Bella's protest was stopped by the clamp of Graham's hand over her mouth.

"You will not say another word to the boy." This time Graham did take the puppy rudely from Bella's hands and handed it to someone behind her. His hands were not gentle as he yanked Bella onto her feet.

That he was so callus and harsh made Bella furious. She wanted to strike him, pound his overlarge body into the stupid cobblestones, push him down and kick and pulverize him to dust. d.a.m.nit, there was a chance the puppy could make it if it was carefully watched and tended.

"Give me back that puppy this instant!" Bella commanded, unable to jerk free of Graham's fierce grip.

"Lady, you have done enough damage for one day," the Scot said. His hold tightened while the crowd dispersed and his hand over her mouth crushed her lips painfully against her teeth.

"Not one word, lady," he growled in her ear. "So help me G.o.d, I'll gag you if you upset that boy more than you already have."

There wasn't a d.a.m.n thing Bella could do to countermand him. She was too weak to even try. He'd given the dog to Father Kerwin. That man had sense enough to see the puppy needed careful handling. Graham held Bella fast until all had departed the well as he'd ordered, except for Kerwin.

Bella struggled against the knight's hard grip. She didn't have the foggiest idea what his problem was. She wanted to help Henri, to let him know it wasn't his puppy that had nearly drowned. Finally, the angry knight dropped his hand from her face.

"Now, lady, you can say all your cruel and vicious words. I can defend against them. Your sons cannot."

Bella twisted her neck, staring up at him, stupefied by what he'd just said. She tried again to escape his fierce hold, but she couldn't. "What are you talking about? I wanted to tell Henri it wasn't his puppy. It was Pepper, my puppy, the boys accidentally knocked into the well."

"What difference that?" The knight's fist tightened on Bella's soggy upper arm. "The dog is dead through no fault of the children and you d.a.m.ned near killed Sir John's youngest son with your vicious ploy. G.o.d save my soul, but you make me sick with your petty plots and evil ways."

He released her all at once, shunning her, acting as if she was something vile that could contaminate him.

Bella's temper erupted. "You stupid fool, the puppy isn't dead! It was only unconscious and needed CPR and artificial respiration to help it breathe. Kerwin, hold that dog while I take care of this d.a.m.ned hulking Viking. Get the h.e.l.l out of my way, Graham, before I kill you!"

Sir Graham didn't yield so much as an inch. Bella didn't much care as she slapped his d.a.m.ned contemptible face. Where her second wind came from was anybody's guess, but it must have been fueled by anger.

James Graham retaliated, backhanding Bella, knocking her to the ground. The whole d.a.m.n castle spun around her. The hulking Scot towered above it all, murder written in his eyes.

"Lady, I am not John de Chandos. Raise your hand to me and I'll beat you till you can't crawl away from this ward. Do you ever dare to harm so much as a hair on the head of one of Sir John's sons again, I will kill you with my own bare hands."

"...An eye for an eye..."

ST. MATTHEW 5;38.

-22.

The Scotchman turned on his heel and stalked away. Bella was too stunned to speak. Two princes and the middle rung of the Chandos stair-steps peered out the doorway of the gatehouse. Sir Graham marched to them. Father Kerwin stood rooted to the cobbles, gawking like a dimwitted fool.

Bella spat out the blood pooling in her mouth and tried to wipe away the rivulet cascading from her nose. She took a deep breath and staggered up to her feet, searching the castle ward, wondering where she could go in this cursed place to be safe. Pinching her nose Bella muttered, "What, pray G.o.d tell me, am I doing in this place where every soul alive hates me?"

Kerwin clutched the puppy. The cleric was probably terrified by Graham's violence. Bella sat on the rim of the well, dwelling in a purely modern fantasy, visualizing blocking Graham's blow with the Kung Fu skills of Bruce Lee. Had she that master of defense's skills, she wouldn't have let up until Graham had the

equivalent of permanent castration.

On a more practical level, she vowed not to count on the so called blanket protection of the code of chivalry. That was a crock of hogwash.

"Oh, give me the d.a.m.n dog," Bella said crankily as she wiped blood from her nose again.

"Milady," Kerwin sputtered.

"Don't act so shocked," Bella grumbled. "Women can curse too!" With the puppy in hand, Bella ignored

the priest. Pepper was terribly shaken, cold and wet and s.h.i.+vering. For that matter, so was Bella.

The priest left and came back offering a woolen blanket to wrap around her. Actually, that was a

blessing. Summer day or not, Bella s.h.i.+vered badly in her sodden clothes. Encased in the wool, Pepper opened her sleepy eyes and stroked her bluish tongue across Bella's wrist.

"My lady, you saved the child and the dog. We have witnessed a miracle," the priest proclaimed.

Pinching her nostrils together, Bella transferred her gaze to the Irishman. "Watch out, Father Kerwin.

Heaven forbid if the next thing you do is praise me. What will the people think?"

He tilted his head, his smooth round skull glinting in the strong afternoon sunlight. "My lady, I fear you mistake my concern for your everlasting soul. What you have done here this day is good. G.o.d is with you."

"Father Kerwin, G.o.d is with me every minute of my life. Good, bad or otherwise."

His moonish face became pained. "You mistake my instructions, milady. Humility is also a virtue."

"Sorry." Bella snapped. "It's not my cardinal virtue." She gathered the wool around her shoulders and

cradling Pepper in her arms, she stalked across the empty ward to the open doors of the manor.

It was really weird how everyone had suddenly gone out of sight. The keep had become a ghost town, deserted, devoid of people.

Bella left a soggy trail across the foyer and up the bartizan stairwell. Clarise popped out of nowhere,

following with a mop, wiping up the polished wood.

"A bath, I think, Clarise," Bella requested, plopping heavily onto the first seat she came to in the solar.

"As hot as you can make the water, please. I'm chilled to the bone."

"Yea, milady." Clarise bobbed.

"And send to the kitchen for some food for Pepper. I'm sure after her ordeal, a meal would be in order."

"Milady, do you keep the puppy here?" Clarise asked.

"And if I do?" Bella demanded pointedly, wondering who should have final say whether she kept the puppy wherever she wanted.

"Oh, milady, I was only thinking of Aristotle. That cat does think he's king of the walk up here."

Bella grunted under the fingers pinching her nose. "Well, he'll just have to get used to it."

She tilted her head to the backrest, willing the bleeding to stop. When it did, she probed the bones and cartilage before concluding her nose wasn't broken.

She needed ice to reduce the swelling. The inside of her lip felt as if it needed st.i.tches, but being a coward, she knew she could never stand to have that done without novocaine or sterile surgical

instruments. There, she decided, that was something else she could order done. Sterile dressings, boiled thread and some kind of pain reliever...for the army.

"Tell them to hurry with my bath," Bella told Clarise.

"As you wish."

Bella couldn't see why there was such a delay. The sooner she had hot water the happier she would be.

It took a while for the tub to be filled. Bella rubbed Pepper with a towel until her coat was nearly dry.

Clarise came with a bowl of food for the dog, scowling as she put it on the marble ap.r.o.n fronting the hearth. Bella sat with the puppy, feeding it little bites. Mostly it wanted to sleep. She thought that was the best cure of all and made a nest for it with an extra blanket.

Aristotle came prancing in on the heels of the bucket brigade and sure enough, noticed the puppy immediately. He hissed and snarled and arched his back, but Pepper slept through the confrontation. Bella picked up the cat, crooning to him as she had the puppy, smoothing its ruffled fur. Personally, she liked dogs better than cats, but Aristotle was one cat in a million. Bella wasn't about to forget that he was the only creature in this century that loved her unconditionally. How could she fault a cat for that?

Still testy at having his domain invaded by a canine, Aristotle pounced onto the lord's chair and sharpened his claws on the carved high back.

The tub was now full and Bella shed her clothes and sank gratefully into it.

"Milady, this bliault is ruined," Clarise examined the gown in question. "The dye has run badly and it looks as if I'll not be able to save your new kirtle either."

"Well, then throw it away. I shall order others made." Bella answered flippantly. What else could she do? Dissolve into hysterics and cry like a baby? She wouldn't. These crude people weren't going to break her.

Clarise frowned. "As you wish, milady."

Bella rested her head against the rim of the tub, feeling the letdown that followed so much expended emotion, and silently willed the hot tub to soothe her. "Clarise?"

"Yea, milady?"

"Am I a terrible mother?"

The question startled the servant. Her face flooding with a deep blush, she sputtered, "Why? Milady, what makes you ask that?"

"That hardly answers the question, Clarise." Bella stared directly at the woman, compelling her to answer truthfully. "Tell me, have you ever seen me do anything cruel to my children?" "I would never think to judge my betters, milady."

Bella knew a dodge when she heard one. "You wouldn't? Well, then, tell me this. What do you think a good mother does?"

"A good mother loves her children, milady."

"Meaning I don't? Come now, Clarise. You have been with me for sixteen years. Surely you have an opinion on past events."

"No, milady. I do not."

Bella sighed. Sixteen years and none of the barriers between servant and lady had ever dissolved. Bella wasn't cut out to be a lady of the manor. Bella wanted the staff around her to be her friends. That was the thing she missed the most about her America--the easy commaradie of divergent people. Strong friends.h.i.+ps arose from the fundamental principle that all men and women were created equal. In a hundred years, Clarise would not speak her mind to Lady Chandos. She wasn't alone. Few in this castle did speak freely where Lady Chandos was concerned. Still, Bella felt compelled to try to win Clarise's trust.

"It seems," Bella began carefully. "I've a serious problem with Sir James Graham. I cannot imagine what has caused him to believe I would deliberately injure the boys. Geoffrey accidentally knocked the bucket the puppy was in over the well's edge. But Sir Graham acted as if I had deliberately drowned the puppy. You know, Clarise, since I came out of this Well of Souls, I simply cannot remember things that happened before. Have there been times when I have harmed Geoffrey or Henri? Have they suffered injuries because of me?"

Clarise brought a stool to the tub, sat and took Bella's hair in hand to comb the tangles from its length. "G.o.d a.s.soil us, there is no telling what could have happened to you in that awful pit. You're not to worry about the things you've forgotten. 'Tis a blessing you've changed and far better that you don't remember how things were before, milady."