Hunting for Silence by Robert Thier

Homecoming Surprise

‘Maria? What are you doing at the door? Where is Leadfield?’

‘L-Lilly?’

‘You’re not sure? That hurts my feelings. I distinctly remember you telling me once you’d recognize my ugly mug from sixty paces.’

‘N-no! It can’t be you! Go away!’

She tried to slam the door on me. She honestly tried to slam the door shut right in my face! Luckily, you don’t spend a year working for Rikkard Stubborn-As-A-Rock Ambrose without learning a thing or two about persistence. My foot wedged itself in the door before I even had time to think about it.

‘No! Don’t come in! Leave! I don’t want to get sick!’

The barrage of words I had been about to unleash died on my lips.

Sick?

My eyes flicked from left to right, once again taking in the empty streets, the closed shutters, the barred doors. A cold shiver went down my back. And unfortunately, it wasn’t because Rikkard Ambrose was standing behind me.

‘Maria, it’s really me. It’s me, Lilly! Open up!’

‘My stupid sister has run way! She isn’t here! She can’t be!’

‘I’m back. That happens when people return, you know. And I’m as healthy as a horse. Now open the door!’

For a moment, nothing but silence came from the other side of the door.

‘How do I know this really is Lilly?’ Maria’s suspicious voice finally reached my ears. ‘You sound like her, but—’

‘Open the door this minute, you bloody little nitwit, or I’ll kick it down and stab you with my parasol!’

There was another moment of silence.

‘All right. It is you.’

Slowly, the door creaked open.

‘Lilly! Good God, Lilly, where have you been all this time?’

I waved her question away. ‘Never mind that now. What’s going on here? Where are Uncle and Aunt?’

Maria swallowed.

‘Up in the North of England.’

What?All that bloody anxiety for nothing? I had composed over five different speeches to explain my marriage machinations on the way here, and now it was all for nothing? Crap! ‘Do you think that if they were here we’d still be stuck here? We should have left the city days ago! But you know Uncle Bufford! He left us enough money for water and dried bread crusts, but not for coach tickets out of the city, let alone the rent of a place somewhere safe in the country!’

‘What do you mean, somewhere safe? Why did they leave? What happened?’

‘An…an old army friend of uncle’s died, and they went up to the funeral. But then…then…’

Trembling, she sank against the wall.

Maria, trembling? And worse, not trying to insult or harass me? Dear God. Things had to be bad.

‘Then people started dying.’

‘An epidemic?’ I squeezed past around the lump in my throat. ‘What kind?’

‘How should I know? I’m no doctor!’

‘Yes, but you have eyes, and you can read the paper.’

‘The newspaper?’ She wrinkled her oh-so-delicate nose. ‘That’s unladylike!’

With difficulty, I resisted the temptation to slap some sense into her. Considering how thick her head was, the sense would probably not reach the inside of her skull even if I slapped her all the way to Birmingham.

‘You have to know something!’

Maria’s eyes lowered. Her voice was nothing but a whisper when she said, ‘Cholera. They say it’s cholera.’

I felt the blood drain from my face.

‘Is everyone still all right here? None of you are feeling ill, are you?’

‘Well…until recently, yes. But…’

Something clenched tight around my heart.

‘But what?’

‘Well, a few days ago, Ella started feeling poorly and…’

She probably said more after that. Knowing Maria, a lot more, and most of it useless chatter. But I didn’t hear anything besides one name.

Ella.

Dear Lord, not her! Please, not her!

‘Where is she?’

My voice sounded far, far away, as if it belonged someone else. A very capable, determined someone.

‘Well, in her room, but…’

‘Bring me to her right now!’

‘I, um…’

I suddenly felt very cold.

‘Maria? You have been taking care of her, haven’t you? Tell me you’ve been taking care of her!’

My sister crossed her arms in front of her chest.

‘She’s sick! Everyone says cholera is caused by bad air! I can’t risk to—’

Taking a step closer, I pinned her to the wall with a look I had learned from a certain someone. As I had the voice.

‘Take. Me. To. Her. Now.’

Never in my life had I seen my sister move that fast. In fifteen seconds we were at Ella’s door. Maria hesitated.

‘Open it,’ I ordered.

She reached for the knob and she pushed open the door. Stepping inside, we saw Ella lying sleeping on the bed, and a butt sticking out of the open window.

Wait just a minute…

A butt?

A moment later, it was followed by a back, and then…

‘You!’

At Maria’s gasp, the young man tumbled backwards into the room he’d been trying to climb into. He rolled around and I stared down into the slightly guilty, but far more determined face of Edmund Conway.

‘Mr Conway!’ Maria exclaimed. ‘What are you doing in here? This is a lady’s room! That’s most improper!’

It was decided. Karim would be paying my sister a visit—with a really big sabre.

‘Maria?’ I said in my most civilized, calm, I’m-going-to-murder-you-in-two-seconds tone. ‘Shut up and get out. Now.’

She opened her mouth to shoot back an indignant reply—then realized she might be breathing contagious air, and reconsidered.

‘I was leaving in any case. Have your fun, Lilly. Just you wait till Aunt gets home. You’ll get what’s coming to you!’

A really, really big sabre.

‘I don’t doubt it. I look forward to it.’

Huffing, she exited the room, leaving me alone with the piano-tuner on the floor.

Edmund looked up at me. I met his eyes.

‘You’ve been visiting her regularly, haven’t you?’

He raised his chin, stubbornly. ‘Yes, I have! And I don’t care what you say, I’m going to continue to come here.’

‘No, you’re not.’

‘Yes, I—’

‘Because you and your parents are coming with us.’

He blinked. For a moment, he looked at me as if the piano in his head needed re-tuning. ‘Err…come? Where?’

‘Anywhere! Away from here.’ I pierced him with a look. ‘You don’t imagine I’m going to let my little sister stew in her misery here? If this sickness is really caused by infected air, she needs to get out of here pronto!’

‘L-Lill?’

Both our heads snapped around to the bed.

‘Ella! You’re awake!’

Both Edmund and I started forward at the same time. I beat him to the punch, but only because he tripped over his own legs while trying to scramble to his feet. Falling to my knees beside the bed, I grabbed Ella’s hand.

‘Lill? Is that really you?’

I hardly recognized her voice. It was rough and dry like old sandpaper. Schooling my face to not betray a hint of my shock, I leaned over her.

‘You really needn’t have gone to all this trouble, you know,’ I told her. ‘You could have just sent me a postcard saying how much you missed me. You needn’t have caught yourself some silly illness just to get my attention.’

Ella laughed. Or at least she tried to. Rapidly, it devolved into a rattling cough. I winced.

‘I’m so glad you’re back, Lill.’

‘So am I. I’ve got big plans ahead of me, and I’m going to need you. So you’d better stop all this silly lying about and coughing right now and get better. That is an order, understood?’

She gave that dry laugh again, obviously thinking I was joking.

Well, aren’t you?

Hm…

Maybe I had spent just a little too much time with Mr Rikkard Ambrose.

‘I’m glad you’ve got plans for the future, Lill.’ Ella squeezed my hand. ‘But I’m afraid you’ll have to manage without me. It’s getting worse day by day.’

‘What does the doctor say?’

Silence pervaded the room.

‘Ella? A doctor has been to see you, right?’

She glanced down at her hands. ‘Well…’

‘I tried!’ Edmund stepped forward, his eyes fastened to Ella like romantic superglue. ‘But there’s an epidemic in the city! Doctors’ prices have shot through the roof. All I could afford was some quack from the East End who wanted to bleed her. Besides, even if I did have the money, I would have no idea whom to ask! Good doctors are few and far between. I don’t have the kind of funds or connections you’d need to get someone from Harley Street.’

‘You’re right,’ I agreed, rising to my feet. ‘You don’t.’

‘Lill?’ Ella eyed me suspiciously. ‘You’ve got that look on your face. What are you planning?’

‘Well, let me put it like this…if there were a way to get you away from here—not just you, Ella, but Edmund, his mother, his father, Lisbeth, Gertrude, oh, and Anne and Maria, curse her rotten eyeballs, and find all of you a nice place in the country for the time being with doctors to look after you, and all you could possibly need to get well again, what would you say?’

Ella blinked up at her. ‘Well, I’d say that is a nice fantasy, but—’

‘Good. We leave in half an hour.’

Turning, I marched out of the room. I suppose I should have stayed, should have explained, but I couldn’t stay a second longer in that room. Seeing Ella like that, her cheeks sunken in, wrinkles around her eyes as if she had aged ten years in a day…

Don’t think about it! Not now! Action now. Thinking later. Crying never. Because tears won’t be necessary. Nothing is going to happen to Ella.

At least not if I could help it.

‘Leadfield!’

Slow footsteps approached. After a moment or three, the aged butler stuck his head out of the kitchen.

‘Yes, Miss?’

He didn’t seem particularly surprised I was back. Well…that was about to change.

‘Call the family. We’re leaving.’

The butler’s eyes widened. ‘Leaving?’

‘Yes.’

‘For a walk in the park? I don’t know if under the current conditions that is a particularly wise—’

‘No. We’re leaving town. Ring the gong. Tell everyone to be dressed and down here in a quarter of an hour. We’re closing up the house.’[47]

He opened his mouth—but then he met my eyes, and closed it again.

‘Yes, Miss!’

Maybe I hadn’t spent too much time with Mr Ambrose after all. Maybe it was just enough. Listening to him giving orders could be quite educational.

‘Is your nephew here, Leadfield?’

‘Yes, Miss!’

‘Send him to rent a coach—no, two—from the closest stable. Big ones. We’ll need coachmen, too.’

‘Coaches? But Miss, I don’t think your uncle left enough money to—’

He broke off when I reached into my pocket and dumped a purse into his hand.

‘That should be more than enough.’

‘Yes, Miss!’

‘I’ll be going out. I expect everything to be ready when I return.’

‘Certainly, Miss!’

And he hobbled off as fast as a racing snail.

I turned and marched out of the front door. I had things to attend to. My family weren’t the only people I needed to get safely out of town. Only minutes later, I arrived at Patsy’s mother’s house. I knocked.

It took a while before the door opened. And when it did, it wasn’t my female steam engine of a best friend on the other side, but a dignified, grey-haired butler.

‘Miss Linton. What a pleasure to see you.’

‘I’d like to see Miss Patsy, please. Could you announce me?’

‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Miss, but Miss Patsy is not at home. She and her mother went to Bath for a few weeks.’

‘Bath? How long has she been gone?’

‘More than a fortnight, I believe, Miss.’

‘And my other friends? Eve? Flora?’

‘As far as I know, she asked them to accompany her, Miss.’

Of course she had. It wasn’t like Patsy to leave anybody out. I bet she scoured the whole of London for me before giving up on me. I felt a sudden twinge of guilt. I should have let them know where I was. But the main thing was that they were out of danger, blissfully ignorant of what was going on.

‘All right, thank you. If Patsy comes back, please let her know I asked after her, and…’ Pulling a piece of paper out of my pocket, I scribbled a hurried note, explaining Ella’s condition. ‘…give her this, will you?’

‘Certainly Miss. Good day.’

‘Good day to you, too.’

The door closed in my face and I whirled around, marching back towards home. I was just about to turn into the street where my uncle’s house stood when something tall and black came around the corner fast.

‘Ouf!’

‘Ng!’

I slammed face-first into a hard chest, and suddenly was pressed up against a familiar ten-year-old mint-condition tailcoat.

‘You. Oh my God, I nearly forgot! I must explain, I…’

A single finger touched my lips, silencing me. A moment later, he pulled me into his arms and gave me the hardest, best, most rib-cracking hug I had ever had in my life.

‘No need.’ He pulled my face against his chest. ‘I heard.’

‘There’s an epidemic…and…and…Ella…’

‘Shh. I know. I know.’

For a while I just stood like that, silently letting him rock me in his arms. But it wasn’t long before I remembered where I was, and who was waiting for me at home.

‘Let go, please?’

He instantly released me. I stepped back, feeling slightly dizzy.

Slowly, I glanced up at him. It was in this moment that I realized: this was it. This was real. This was the first time when this thing between Mr Ambrose and me would be put to the test. Would he stand by me? Or would he do what I’d come to expect of men—nothing?

I opened my mouth.

‘Mr Ambrose, I—’

His finger once again covered my lips before I could say another word. Hard, sea-coloured eyes bored into me.

‘The coaches you ordered have arrived. I had a talk with the stable owner. You will have the best horses and coachmen, at, I am assured, a very reasonable discount rate. They will take you straight to the town of Bath. I hear that the air there is healthy, and room, board and doctors come cheap.’

‘You heard that, did you?’ One corner of my mouth quirked up. ‘I heard they cost a fortune.’

He met my eyes implacably. ‘Not if you own them.’

I opened my mouth to point out that you couldn’t ‘own’ a doctor—then closed it again. With Mr Rikkard Ambrose, you could never be entirely sure. And right now, I was thoroughly glad for it.

‘Here.’ He pressed a small piece of paper into my hand. ‘Have the coachmen take you to this address. Everything will be taken care of.’

I managed a small smile. ‘Including the bill?’

‘Don’t push it, Miss Linton.’

Standing up on my tiptoes, I pressed a light kiss on his cheek. ‘I love pushing it. You should know that by now.’

‘I know.’ A strong hand enveloped mine and squeezed, hard. ‘Take care of yourself. I don’t intend to foot your hospital bill.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. And you…’

‘I’ll be there.’

I let out a breath that, up until that moment, I hadn’t noticed I was holding.

‘Lilly? Lilly!’ The demanding voice of my sister Anne cut through the London fog like an extremely annoying knife. ‘Lilly, where are you?’

‘Until we meet again, Miss Linton.’ Stepping back, Mr Ambrose tapped his hat in goodbye. A moment later, he had disappeared into the mist.

‘Lilly! What in God’s name—ah!’ Anne suddenly appeared beside me. Suspiciously, she glanced from left to right. ‘Who was that you were talking to?’

‘Me?’ I did my best to look as innocent as a cherub with a really big figleaf. ‘There’s no one here but us.’

‘Why are you lurking around in the street? And what is this nonsense I hear about us leaving?’

Raising my chin, I looked straight into her eyes. ‘It isn’t nonsense.’

‘We can’t leave! We have no money, no coaches, no—’

She was interrupted by a rumble. The mist before us parted, revealing the huge forms of two dark blue coaches rolling down the street. And on the box, holding the reins…

Dear Lord.

The best horses and coachmen, at a very reasonable discount rate.

You could say that again. Leave it to Mr Rikkard Ambrose to find a way to cut corners even when my sister was maybe lying on her deathbed.

Pulling on the rains, the driver of the first coach brought his vehicle to a halt. A moment later, he slid from the box and landed with a heavy thud directly in front of me, tight uniform, turban, beard and all.

‘May I help you with your luggage, Miss?’ Karim asked in the tone of a cannibal torturer enquiring ‘May I eviscerate you with my bare hands?’

‘Waaah!’

Stumbling back, Anne raised a trembling hand to point at the gargantuan man in front of her. I noticed he had not deemed it necessary to put aside his sabre while putting on his coachman’s uniform.

‘That…that is a…’

‘Yes?’ I asked, politely.

‘What kind of coach stable did you get him from?’

‘The best you’ll ever find. Now come on. Get your things. We’re leaving.’

‘But…but…you can’t just…you’re not in charge here! You don’t have the money, the authority, the…’

Ignoring her, I turned to Karim. ‘The luggage will be down in the hall of the house in ten minutes. Anything that’s not there by then you don’t need to collect.’

Anne gave an outraged yelp. Karim nodded. I could have sworn I almost saw the ghost of a smile flicker around the corner of his mouth.

‘Yes, Miss.’

Leaving Anne standing in the street, I marched into house. Leadfield was just busy trying to break his back by attempting to drag a huge suitcase down the stairs.

‘Here, let me.’

Grabbing the thing, I hauled it down the last few steps.

‘Thank, you Miss Lillian. Some of your sisters have a, um…interesting conception of packing quickly.’

‘I bet they do.’

‘What about Miss Ella’s things? I don’t think she will be able to pack for herself.’

‘Don’t worry about Ella. I have a feeling that a little piano-tuning brownie already took care of that.’

Leadfield blinked. ‘Miss?’

I just winked and started up the stairs. Upstairs, Edmund had already packed a bunch of Ella’s things into a suitcase, valiantly ignoring the weak protests coming from the bed.

‘Lil! There you are! Will you tell that thick-headed fiancé of mine to stop packing?’

‘No.’ I patted Ella on the shoulder. ‘My head is pretty thick too, you know.’

‘But we can’t possibly be going anywhere! We don’t have the money.’

‘Just trust me.’ For one moment, I held her shadowed eyes. Long enough to show her I was serious. Long enough for me to see how serious her condition was. How had her face gotten this pale? ‘I’m going to take care of everything.’

With a little help.

A year ago, that thought would have made me angry, would have made me want to do it all on my own. Today, it just made me feel warm inside.

‘But…but…’

‘Please.’ Edmund stepped up beside me and took my little sister’s hand. ‘Let her help. Please.’

‘Well…I…’ She hesitated—then nodded. ‘All right.’

Breathing a sigh of relief, Edmund squeezed her hand and stepped back. ‘Thank you.’ He glanced at me, his eyes hard. ‘You’d better be able to keep all your fine promises. If not…’

‘Edmund!’ Ella exclaimed.

I grinned. ‘I like you,’ I informed the young piano tuner, and, turning to Ella, added, ‘You can keep him.’

She gave me a terrifyingly weak smile. ‘Thank you very much.’

‘You’re welcome. Come on, Romeo.’ Grabbing a packed suitcase, I pushed open the door. ‘Let’s load up.’

Edmund grabbed a suitcase, too—then turned back, and squeezed Ella’s hand one last time. ‘We’ll take care of you. Just rest. I’ll be back to fetch you in just a moment.’

‘Oh no you won’t! You and your spindly arms are not carrying my little sister down those rickety old stairs.’

He frowned. ‘Do you have a man better suited for the job?’

A grin spread over my face. ‘As a matter of fact, I do. Wait for me in the hall, will you?’

Striding outside, I looked around until I spotted a hulking figure next to the second coach, just lifting a huge suitcase onto the roof.

‘Ah, Karim, my little bundle of joy.’ Beaming, I stepped towards him. ‘I have a special task for you.’