A Hole in the River
Chapter Nine
Whoso List to Hunt
Author's note: I don't know what to say other than I am very sorry about the wait. So sorry, in fact, that I give you an unbeta'd chapter. My own beta is without internet access, and I am currently searching for one to take her place. Please private message me if you are keen to the task! Thank you again, and enjoy this short update.
"Professor..."
Henry glanced down at Eliza, and came to the realization that he was practically crushing her against him, so great was his shock at the butler's announcement. He released her, and was quite astonished at the queer hollow feeling that came directly after. Her warmth had been a comfort, and the protective gesture had felt quite natural. Henry looked to his Mother, who seemed to be decidedly at a loss - Pickering's expression was little better.
"Ma'am?"
Eleanor blinked twice, as though waking from a particularly bad dream. "G-good Heavens, what an unexpected surprise, indeed - please, show her in."
"What?" Henry's high pitched exclamation would undoubtedly carry to Mrs. Eynsford-Hill's ears.
"Henry, what am I to do? She's one of my oldest friends, really."
"Eliza is not fit for outside company at the moment, Mother. She's going to be a disaster!"
Between the bickering between son and mother, and the hasty retreat of the butler, no one seemed to notice how Eliza's features soured at the word 'disaster'. Her eyes fell to the floor, and she glared at it - an age old method she often employed to fight tears.
A hush fell over the room when Mrs. Eynsford-Hill entered. Eulalie Eynsford-Hill's plump face lit up when she spotted her old friend. "My dear, forgive the intrusion. Freddy left without so much as a by-your-leave, only a short note explaining that he had been invited on an improptu holiday to your country home. He is the most forgetful boy, and I am almost certain that he neglected to inform me of my invitation as well, in his eagerness to be near the sublime Miss Doolittle." Eulalie shifted her attention to Eliza, who was as white as parchment, and trembling nearly imperceptibly. "How are you, my dear?"
In an instant, all eyes were on Eliza. She became quite flushed when she sensed that the entire room was waiting on a response to Eulalie's inquiry.
"I am... quite well, thank you."
"Eulalie, dear, I think you would be very comfortable indeed if you were shown to your rooms. I am dreadfully sorry about the miscommunication involving your invitation to the country, but assure you it still stands... come with me." Eleanor, relieved, but still wanting the scene to be at an end, unceremoniously took her dear friend by the arm and ushered her from the room.
"That imbecile!" Henry thundered, once his mother and Eulalie were out of hearing range.
"Higgins, he could have hardly left his mother without so much as an explanation," Pickering reasoned. Henry turned on his friend, with a scowl.
"Am I to conduct her lessons under the cloak of darkness now? How in the blazes can we go on as we have, with that suspicious, overbearing shrew looking over our shoulders?"
"We will find a way... perhaps your mother can keep her diverted?"
"Don't be daft, Pick, you heard the woman; she knows her precious boy is infatuated with our Eliza, and it is very doubtful that she is going to let a prospective daughter-in-law out of her sight for anything!"
"Cloak of darkness it is, then."
Eliza once again found herself witnessing a conversation regarding herself that was carried out in a manner that suggested no one was aware she was in the room. What was even more frustrating to her, was the fact that she had spoken to Freddy's mother without so much as a faint echo of cockney, and without acknowledgement. Even dogs were rewarded for a job well done.
A ghost of something distant and foreign rose to her mind, and she could've sworn that there were traces of cigar smoke, laughter, and self-congratulatory applause in the air. This complete disregard of her presence was not a new thing, then. She fought back the urge to chuck something at both of their heads. Slippers?
"Take your slippers, and may you never have a day's luck with them," she muttered to herself.
"Eliza?" Henry overheard the remark, in between discussing the severity of the situation to Pickering. A feeling of hope so strong and savage filled him with a force that nearly took his breath away. He wanted to grab Eliza, hold her fast, and not let her go for the world.
"I was angry with you... so very angry." Eliza frowned at him. The revelations felt like a migraine, and old feelings were coursing through her like internal fire, her heart pounding so fiercely that it made her dizzy.
"You remember?"
His inquiry went without an answer for the moment. Eliza had sunk to the floor in a dead faint.
"Good God, Pickering!"
The older man brushed past a stunned Henry, and knelt down in order to lift Eliza from the floor. Pickering was still in possession of remarkably youthful strength, and managed to take the girl in his arms as though she weighed little more than a sack of potatoes.
"Open that window, man, the child needs air." Henry hesitantly sprang to action, surprised by the commanding tone in his friend's voice. Eliza was gently laid down on a chaise lounge near the open window.
"Do you suppose she remembers everything?" Henry asked.
"I do not know, but it would not be wise to press the girl once she awakens." Pickering glanced at the door. "I am going to fetch a nurse."
Henry found himself alone with a prone and unconscious Eliza. Part of him was elated at the prospect of her recovered memory, but another part of him shuddered at the look she had given him when she was in the midst of recalling the night she had fled. Hatred had fairly oozed from her pores, erasing the memory of her sweet face gazing up at him as they danced. He could readily admit that he was frightened. She had tried to kill herself as a result of that dispute... what might she do once she recalled it in all its entirety?
His heart nearly stopped beating when her eyes fluttered open.
"Eliza, I-..." Henry was cut off short with the arrival of Pickering, a nurse, his mother, Freddy and Mrs. Eynsford-Hill.
"My darling Miss Doolittle!" Freddy exclaimed.
"With all due respect, I should like to examine Miss Doolittle in privacy," The nurse intervened, before Freddy could throw himself at the side of his beloved, and as a direct result, cause Henry serious indigestion. The nurse looked at everyone sternly, uncaring about hierarchy, but very concerned with her patient at hand. "Out!"
The group was promptly ushered from the room. Eleanor led her guests to the parlour, where Eulalie addressed Pickering.
"Freddy has told me that Miss Doolittle is your ward, and therefore heiress to quite an extensive fortune."
