Darwin swung down from the sulky with an agility surprising for his bulk and looked about him keenly. The Lambeth Inn had retained its basic Tudor beams and plaster, but some rash hand had added a styleless scullery and washhouse to the rear, marring the whole structure. Across the common, the church loomed surprisingly large. In the Norfolk pattern, it was built of fragments of hard flint imbedded in grey mortar. Farther up the hill stood Alderton Manor, as big as all the houses of the village together, and behind it Alderton Mill.
“They must be a religious lot,” remarked Jacob Pole. “That church would hold everybody in the village ten times over.”
Darwin nodded. “It would. All the villages along this part of the coast had many more people when the ports were open. The silting has closed all of them over the past century. Good for the cockles, maybe, but bad for most businesses.”
“That’s true for the mill, too,” added Alice Milner. “Philip says they would never have built a post mill the size of that one, for a village the size of this.” She handed the stallion’s reins to the ostler and led the way inside the inn. “I expect we’ll be eating lunch here. May I suggest that you let me order for you? I know what to avoid.”
The main room was dominated by the huge fireplace at the far end, empty now for the summer, and by the line of serving hatches leading through to the kitchen. The landlord stood on the opposite side, by the long oak table. He was red-cheeked and at least as fat as Darwin.
“Now then, Willy,” Alice said to him in a determined voice. “We’d like lunch, and we don’t want any swill, like the pie you offered me two days ago. We’ll have coddled eggs, fresh bread, cold pork and beer—and I want to see the joint and carve it myself.”
The landlord was not at all put out by the hard words. “I’ll have it for you presently, Miss Milner,” he said cheerfully, and went back into the kitchen.
Jacob Pole looked at Willy’s waddling form as the innkeeper went through the doorway. “There can’t be much wrong with the cooking, if he can get to that size. He’d hold you in a tug-of-war, Erasmus, and there aren’t many that can.”
“You should see his wife,” said Alice. “She would make two of him.”
“Pity we’re not in Persia, or Araby,” said Pole absently. He seemed to be lost in thought, but his eye was on Alice. “I could have sold her for a fortune there. The fatter the better, as far as your Arabs are concerned.”
“And since when are women chattels,” began Alice angrily. “I admit, it was once that way here, but now—”
“Don’t get excited, my dear,” interrupted Darwin. “And you, Jacob, stop it. This is not the time. It’s just Jacob’s idea of a joke,” he explained, turning to Alice. “He has a lie for every country of the globe. Now, can we hear more of the events at Alderton Manor, or do you prefer not to discuss them here?”
“Willy Lister has the longest tongue in the village, and the biggest ears. Best wait,” she said, as the landlord returned carrying a huge tray on which stood a loin of pork, warm fresh bread, and a stone pitcher of beer.
“Eggs’ll be a minute or two. Have to be goose eggs, if you don’t mind,” he said. “Hens haven’t been laying for the past couple of days, something’s upset ’em.” He seemed ready to say more, then looked at Alice, ducked his head to avoid meeting her eyes, and hurried back to the kitchen.
“See what I told you?” she said angrily, while he was still in earshot. “Mindless, superstitious rubbish, and he’s one of the worst for spreading it.”
“But it’s not to be dismissed completely on that account,” said a voice from the door. The man who entered and walked forward to the table was in his middle thirties, short and slightly built. His legs were slightly bowed, and Darwin’s practiced eye discerned a slight limp, well disguised.
The newcomer swept off his woollen cap and held out his hand to Darwin.
“Welcome to Lambeth. I’m honored to meet you and sorry I was not here when you arrived. And this must be Colonel Pole. James Ledyard, at your service.”
“How did you know which one was I, sir?” asked Pole curiously.
“He watched me, watching his walk,” said Darwin, with an appreciative nod. “Correct, Dr. Ledyard?”
The other’s appearance was slightly sinister. He was wigless, and wore his grey-streaked black hair long and swept back, revealing a pale, bony forehead. The mouth was full and red, with canines that extended beyond the incisors. His smile was friendly, but oddly disquieting.
“And what did you decide about me, Dr. Darwin?” he asked.
“Little enough.” Darwin shrugged. “You suffered from rickets as a child, but not too badly. You are experienced in weapons-handling—in the Seven Years’ War, perhaps, although you must have been a mere child for most of it. At some time in your life you suffered a broken patella—as I did myself. Very painful, was it not?”
The other nodded. “The worst pain of my life.” His look turned to Alice. “Miss Milner, I had hoped that you would have had sense enough to remain at the manor, after the recent events there. I hope you will now return to your fiancй’s side.”
Alice stared back at him coldly. “I will—if Dr. Darwin will accompany me.”
Ledyard hesitated, then shook his head. “Dr. Darwin came here at my invitation to examine the flint pit and the ancient monuments, not to become involved in local medicine.” His manner was embarrassed and uneasy.
“But you are the one, a week ago, who told me that he is unmatched in the medical field,” said Alice. She was beginning to look angry, and her jaw was jutting forward. “If that is true, I would expect you to welcome his help, even if you deem it bold to ask for it.”
Ledyard’s embarrassment seemed to grow. “Of course, I would welcome his help, although it would indeed be an imposition to request it. But there are reasons…” He paused, clearly uncomfortable. “I will compromise,” he said at last. “If you will go now to the manor, we will—with Dr. Darwin’s approval—follow you later.”
Darwin had caught something in Ledyard’s look. “That is perfectly agreeable to me and to Colonel Pole,” he said quickly. He turned to the door, where the innkeeper was standing holding a tray of coddled eggs, unashamedly following the whole conversation. “Landlord, if you will bring those over here, we are ready to consume them. And is there a table out behind the inn, where we can eat in the open air?”
“I suppose so,” said the fat innkeeper grudgingly. “There’ll still be damp on that bench, though. Straight out the back door, on past the trough.” He put down the laden tray and left reluctantly.
“You need food too, my dear,” said Darwin to Alice. “Why not carve something now from the loin, to eat on the way back to the manor? Help yourself also to bread and eggs.”
Alice gave them a puzzled look, as though she was not sure how she had been made to follow Ledyard’s suggestions. There was a hint of future reprisals in her expression, until she picked up the carver and savagely began to cut thick slices of pork.
“I assume that Philip Alderton’s condition has improved,” said Darwin, “since you are not afraid to leave him without physician.”
“I think his situation is stable.” Ledyard picked up a slice of pork that Alice had cut and began to chew on it thoughtfully. “He lost a lot of blood, but most of the wounds are not as deep as I feared. And he has a remarkable constitution.”
“But he lost enough blood to make him lose consciousness?”
Ledyard hesitated again. “I am not sure of that. I would have said no, but I could find no head blow or other wound that could account for it, and loss of blood is the obvious explanation.”