Page 12 of Cinders and Smoke

“You and I are two persons passing through this world doing the best we can and hoping that we shall not have to do it alone.”

A meaningful squeeze, unnoticed by anyone but Thornton, emphasized her point. His heart soared, and he looked deeply into her eyes, two pools he wanted to swim in for the next several decades.

Donaldson finished his work. Noticing both his patients locked in their own worlds, he cleared his throat, prompting them to break apart. “As dawn is upon us, I suggest that Miss Hale and Miss Dixon make their way home. I am sure her father is concerned.”

After a degree of hurly-burly, the doctor wrapped Margaret in a blanket and carried her down the stairs. A hackney had pulled into the mews. A guard of honor composed of Irish workers cleared a path door to door. She leaned on John and Nicholas as she walked between the files.

Once she was safely settled in the carriage and Dixon had fussed over her, Margaret looked at the two men who—oddly, she thought—had become dear to her.

Thornton found the courage to speak first. “If it would be convenient, I would ask if I might accompany you to assure myself that all is well and offer some explanation to your father.”

Margaret smiled to herself. How typical of a man! Once the ice is broken, the male of the species, who earlier had strutted and demonstrated to attract the female, is at her mercy, insecure and bashful. Best to help him along.

She carefully and gently disabused him of his gallant notion. “No, dear sir, not now, not at this moment. Instead, you may call upon me tomorrow, oh, this afternoon.

“I must, though, ask Mr. Higgins to join you. My father would wish to thank him for his role in saving me.

“I insist that you, Mr. Thornton, be the one to convey him to our house in Crampton. You know the address. I fear that Mr. Higgins may not.”

“I would not be deprived of the companionship of the two men whose company I crave,” she archly said, “one the father of my dear friend, the other my father’s student. I have learned that both are the best men and the most stubborn, bull-headed creatures.

“Yet I have learned to deal with determined persons”—at this, she held a little more tightly to Dixon’s arm—“and, I have, in my own way, learned to express my own determination.”

“So, Mr. Thornton, you may call upon me this afternoon. However, sir, do not appear at my door without Mr. Higgins at your side. You two will need to learn to abide by one another for my sake and that of this town.”

When she finished speaking, Miss Hale, still pale, leaned back on the worn squabs. Higgins’s men circled the cab like frigates guarding the flagship. The vehicle pulled away, moving along at a walking pace to avoid jostling its precious cargo.

Thornton gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing between open collars. “Where do you live, Higgins? I would not dare offend that woman if I hope to have any chance with her.”

Higgins chuckled. “Ach, Master Thornton, dinna defy her. I hae come ta admire ye with all yore ’ide on yor back. But ye remind me o’ meself when I was a’courtin’ my wife.

“Don’cha look at me lak that. All those years ago, I seen meself looking back from the glass in me da’s ’ouse. If’n I couldn’a see mah gurl thut day, I t’would drag around lookin’ like one o’ th’ Old Gen’ral’s ’untin’ dogs if’n one o’ th’ grooms ’ad given ’im a swift kick…deserved or not.

“Ah got a feelin’ that you’d look the same.”

“So, ye’ll find me in Frances Street ’bove the Golden Dragon. Mebee ’bout thutty minutes afore teatime?” He clapped Thornton on the shoulder. “An’, ah do believe you ’ad best hie yourself ta the ’ouse. I see two faces a-peerin’ out from ’hind the drapes waitin’ for your story.”

Thornton smiled and shook Higgins’s hand, then turned and strode purposefully across the courtyard to explain his desired future to his mother and sister.