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.Jamie delighted in feeding peanuts to the elephants, Nell was engrossed in watching a mother gorilla nurse its young, and Piers seemed to be absorbing and memorizing—well, everything.After a little while the boys grew restless, while the girls wanted to see the Botanic Gardens nearby, so they determined to split up.Caroline would go with the girls to provide a botany lesson, while Sally would take the boys for a ramble along the canal towpath on the other side of the zoo.They’d meet in an hour back at the carriage for their picnic luncheon.The gardens were just beginning to bloom, and Caroline let her senses fill with the shades of green, the sound of the soft breeze, the warmth of the sun and the fragrances of rich soil and budding blooms.She’d missed spending time outdoors in the last few days, and by themselves, Nell and Wink were relatively easy companions.As they walked, she explained some of the different families of plant life to the girls.When it came time to return to the carriage, the only thing that kept them from lingering were growling stomachs, their appetites having been heightened by the exercise and fresh air.Cutting through a small grove of trees, she found herself lifting her skirts and running alongside the girls—well, behind them, at any rate.Her corset and more extensive petticoats hampered her speed, if not her enjoyment.Perhaps twenty yards ahead of Caroline, Wink let out a shriek as she tumbled to the ground.Almost simultaneously, dark shapes emerged from behind the trees on either side of the path, closing in on both girls.Caroline counted four as she ran forward, brandishing her umbrella like a weapon.“George, attack!” Wink pointed at one of her two attackers and kicked the legs out from under the other in a move so swift, Caroline barely saw it.George’s bronze jaws clamped down on a leg as he pulled one man away from his mistress, and that man emitted a howl of pain while he used a small object to beat at George’s metallic head.Nell elbowed one of her opponents in the solar plexus, and then kneed the other in the groin.Both men swore, but both had moved to limit damage and neither was disabled.Caroline reached them and brought her umbrella down on the head of the nearest man, mangling the flimsy wire ribs and cracking the oaken shaft.If she were going to use it as a weapon, she’d need a much sturdier instrument.Still, the man wavered, allowing Nell to get in a head butt, knocking him to the earth.Both girls clearly knew how to fight, and Caroline had studied enough tactics to keep her from the mercies of her employers.George had already rendered one man unconscious, and was closing in on a second.As soon as they realized they were losing, the biggest bruiser threw the unconscious man over his shoulder, and they fled just as Caroline heard the shouts of Jamie, Piers and Debbins, the coachman, approaching.The sound of hoofbeats racing away obviated any thought of having Debbins pursue them.Besides, he only carried one single-shot pistol.Pity, that.“Anybody hurt, miss?”Caroline spent a moment to be certain the girls were bruised and shaken but otherwise unharmed.One of the thugs had gotten a few blows in on Nell, causing a knot at her temple and a sore shoulder.It looked as if Wink was liable to have a black eye to go with her scraped hands and twisted ankle from the steel wire the thugs had stretched across the walking path and anchored with a small hand winch on each side.Caroline herself was hopeful that her wrist was merely wrenched rather than sprained and she seemed to have taken a blow to the ribcage, leaving her slightly short of breath.“Miss Caro, you’re bleeding!” Nell tugged on Caroline’s sleeve.Sure enough, the blow to her waist had done more than dent the stays of her corset.The gray serge of her bodice showed a slit perhaps two inches wide, and the fabric around it was slowly turning black.“Bloody hell.” Caroline hadn’t even noticed one of the men had a knife.“I never even felt it.Thank heavens George chased that one off.” And thank heavens this was one of her old frocks, as it was clearly ruined.Caroline found herself being herded toward the carriage along with Wink and Nell.Without asking for permission, Debbins started for home, and no one complained.All thoughts of a picnic had been completely forgotten.“Miss Caro, please, let’s get you seen to before you bleed out on the nursery floor.I’ve no mind to clean that up.”“I’m fine,” Caroline insisted to Sally for what felt like the thirtieth time.“I can tend myself once the girls are taken care of.” In the adjacent bathing room, Becky worked on cleaning Nell’s cuts and scratches.Wink sat in the nursery rocking chair, with Caroline at a stool, Wink’s swollen ankle across Caroline’s knees.She poked the inflamed joint, wondering whether it required a surgeon, but after a moment, she shook her head.Keeping her hands on the injury, she wondered if it would make any difference, if she really did possess some kind of ability to heal.“Sally, it’s just wrenched.Please fetch me something to wrap it with.”Wink snorted.“Told you so.” Given the pain the girl had to be in, Caroline was in no mood to correct her manners.“I’ll wrap it, miss.” Sally knelt beside Caroline’s stool with a roll of linen bandage.“Then can we take care of that cut? You’re still bleeding, and your face has gone awful pale.”Before Caroline could protest further—her head did seem to be a little on the fuzzy side—Sir Merrick himself strode into the nursery.“Miss Bristol, what the bloody hell is going on here?” So much for last night when he’d called her Caro.“Debbins tells me you were attacked by footpads in Regent’s Park.”“Then you’ve just answered your own question.” Lord, she sounded like an eight-year-old, even to herself.She drew in as deep a breath as her dented corset would allow and spoke carefully.“We’re all a bit battered, but there were no serious injuries, thank heavens.No—thank George, and whoever taught these girls how to defend themselves.There were four of them.Four.”“Let’s see that ankle, then.” He squatted down, probed a little, and nodded for Sally to finish wrapping it.Using one gentle finger, he tipped back Wink’s chin and grinned.“That shiner’s going to be a beaut.Good thing I scheduled the photographer for later this week rather than tomorrow.Is that the worst of it?”“I believe so.Nell has a lump on her head, but her pupils aren’t dilated and she isn’t dizzy.” Caroline’s world was beginning to fuzz around the edges again.What was that about a photographer? She couldn’t be bothered to ask.“Miss Caro’s been cut.” Sally tipped her chin defiantly when Caroline scowled at her.“She won’t let us see to ’er till the girls are dealt with.Her wrist is swellin’ up right nice, too.”“Caro?” He turned his critical gaze on her.“Damn, woman, you are pale.Why didn’t you say something?”“I’m fine.It’s only a small cut and a twisted wrist.” Though both were starting to throb rather mercilessly.“Where are Piers and Jamie?” Though she was glad they weren’t complicating matters in the nursery right now, she wasn’t at all comfortable having them out of her sight.“Debbins and the grooms are teaching them to curry a horse.They’re well guarded and happy as clams—whatever that means.Now sit still for a moment.I’ll be right back.” He stood and strode over to the open door of the lavatory.“Nell, how are you feeling?”“Right buggered that they got away, sir,” the younger girl replied.“The burly one landed a punch on my shoulder, but it’ll just be a bruise.”His expression softened.“Good [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]