The Marriage Market Read Online Free

anything more to make the young woman comfortable, he sat beside Patricia and instructed the driver to walk on as carefully as he could.
    “But what about you, Mr. Ladbrook?” Patricia asked.  “Your nose needs attention.  Here, take my handkerchief.”
    “Thank you, Miss Patricia,” he said, accepting the cloth and swabbing his face, “but do not distress yourself.  See, the bleeding has already stopped.  Are you and Mrs. Larke well?”
    “We are fine, sir,” Mrs. Larke said.  Victoria winced as the wheel of the carriage bumped over a stone.  “Mr. Ladbrook, do you have any spirits about you?  I think that a drop of alcohol might ease Victoria’s pain,” the mother said.
    Ladbrook handed her his flask, and Mrs. Larke supported Victoria’s head while pouring a little brandy into her mouth.  The subdued party drove home in very different spirits from when they had set out that morning. 
     
    Chapter Four – The Invalids
     
    Johnson, the Larke’s unflappable butler, was startled to find an agitated Mrs. Larke waiting on the doorstep when he opened the front door.  Looking past her, he saw Ladbrook, his shirt front blood-caked, carrying Victoria up the stairs.  Johnson stepped aside to allow them to pass.  Patricia hurried in behind them, her hat askew. 
    “Johnson, is Admiral Larke at home?” Mrs. Larke demanded.
    “No, ma’am,” the butler replied.
    “Never mind.  Send for Dr. Barr immediately.  Tell him that Victoria has fallen and has injured a rib.  Then send for the admiral at his club.  Ask him to come home at once.” 
    The last remark was flung over her shoulder as she flew up the stairs past Ladbrook and Victoria and opened the door to her daughter’s room.  Ladbrook laid Victoria carefully upon the bed, and was banished from the room.  A maid showed him to a guest bedroom, where he washed the dried blood from his face and eased his aching foot from his boot.
    Dr. Barr and the admiral arrived together a little while later.  The doctor hastened upstairs, while a tearful Patricia clung to her father’s arm.  Dr. Barr examined Victoria and discovered that she had two cracked ribs.  She had also suffered a blow to the back of her head where it had connected with Mr. Ladbrook’s nose.  Fortunately, her bonnet had cushioned the blow and there was no concussion, although her head ached.  Dr. Barr bandaged her ribs tightly, gave her laudanum to ease the pain, and left her tucked up in bed with her mother in attendance.
    Then the doctor visited his second patient.  He determined that Ladbrook’s nose was unbroken, although the appendage was swelling painfully, but the small toe on his right foot was broken.  The foot was swelling, making it impossible to replace the boot, so Ladbrook was put to bed with protestations that he was inconveniencing the family.  Admiral Larke lent Ladbrook a night shirt, and Mrs. Larke sent in the maid after the gentleman was abed to remove and clean his clothes.  The admiral came to visit him soon afterward, bearing two glasses of an excellent French brandy.
    “Really, Admiral, this is quite unnecessary,” Ladbrook said, pulling back the bedclothes and starting to rise.  “I do not need to be coddled like this.  Just send me home in your carriage.”
    The admiral waved him back into bed.  “No, Mr. Ladbrook, I can do no such thing, even if I wanted to indulge you.  Neither my wife nor my daughters would speak to me if I were to oblige you.  Anyway, you will be much more comfortable here with friends to spoil you than in bachelor’s lodgings, and Doctor Barr will find it more convenient to see both his patients under the same roof.”  He sat down on a chair beside the bed and handed the young man a snifter of brandy.  “To your health, Mr. Ladbrook, and to the health of my wife and daughters.  From what I’ve heard, you did us a great service today, preventing Victoria from coming to greater harm and saving my wife and Patricia