“You are, Matthew,” Darwin went on, “a person of method.”
At that moment the iron knockers on the great double doors of the house sounded like the hammer of doom.
Watt and Darwin jerked upright. Boulton did not react at all.
“Happens every night of the year,” he said cheerfully. “Creditors, or councilmen, or couriers. Seeing it’s close to Christmas, maybe it’s carollers. Musgrave will see to them. Go on, ’Rasmus. You were, I think, about to enlarge on the uses of tartar of vitriol.”
Darwin was not listening; or rather, he listened to something else: voices resounding in the slate-floored and oak-panelled entrance hall.
“Another place setting, I think,” he said, wiping his hands absentmindedly on the edge of the tablecloth. “If you will permit me to bring another guest to dinner.”
“Bring twenty, if you wish.” Boulton indicated with a wave of his hand one of many vacant spaces. “Right there. But I didn’t know you were expecting visitors.”
“No more was I.” Darwin did not stand up, but pushed his chair away from the table to give more space for his belly. As the door was opened and another man ushered in, he nodded in satisfaction. “Jacob. I thought I recognized your bark. Jimmy Watt, may I introduce Colonel Jacob Pole of Radburn Hall, my friend and neighbor. Matthew, you and Jacob already know each other. What’s it like outside?”
“Cold as Jack Frost’s backside.” Pole greeted the other two men formally, but added, “ ’Rasmus talks so much about you, I feel I know you well.”
“And what does he say about us?” Watt, unlike Darwin, had stood up when Pole entered.
“He says that James Watt is one of the great engineers of our time, and Matthew Boulton is this nation’s leading innovator of new machines.” Pole was tall and gaunt, so thin that his clothes hung loosely on him. He walked across to the fireplace and stood facing it. His complexion gleamed sallow in the firelight, and the trembling hands that he held out to be warmed told of other legacies of foreign travel.
“Then sit down, man.” Boulton waved to an unused setting at the table. “Even if you have eaten, those words deserve a second meal.”
“In a moment.” Pole hesitated, glancing from one man to the next. “I find myself in a difficult position. I am not alone, but with the cousin of my own oldest friend. He is outside in the hall. He greatly desires to speak with Erasmus. But I cannot disturb your dinner.”
“Of course you can. You already did.” Boulton started forward, as though to head for the door. Pole’s uplifted hand stopped him.
“Let me be more honest with you. I thought that I would meet Erasmus on his way home, and there would be a chance of private conversation. It was not until we were at the factory that I learned that he had come here. Now, I don’t know what to do. You see, the man with me has a problem that he describes as both private and personal.”
“A medical problem?” Darwin sat up straighter.
“I do not know.”
“I see. Gentlemen?” Darwin glanced at Watt and Boulton.
“I don’t know about his personal problem, or if he chooses to talk about it in front of us.” Boulton once again moved to the door. “I do know that it’s not right to leave a visitor cold and hungry and waiting in the hall. Sit down, Jacob. At the very least, have food and drink. Mulled wine will bring some warmth to your bones.”
“And food will add flesh to them.” Darwin gestured to the table. “That veal and ham pie is the best that I have tasted this year. Trust me.”
Boulton was returning with a man so muffled against the elements that his build and features were hard to determine. Frost on his eyebrows, moustache, and full black beard was slowly melting and running down his face and cloak.
“Thomas Solborne,” Boulton said, “who is from Dorset. A county, he tells me, that is a good deal warmer than this one.”
“Which would not be difficult, tonight at least. Gentlemen.” Solborne spoke with the soft accent of the English southwest. He swept off his hat, with its long peak and earflaps, and was revealed as a florid man of about thirty, wigless and with abundant black hair that curled down over his ears. He bowed from the waist, scanned the group, and addressed Darwin directly. “Dr. Darwin, I know that I am intruding. Take my word, it was not planned this way.”
“What did Jacob say, look for the fat one?” Again Darwin gestured to a place at the table. “Please, Mr. Solborne, sit down. It was not planned, you say? Nothing of today’s events seems planned. I had thought to sleep in my own bed tonight. Let me, without delay, tell you my own feelings. Jacob already intimated to us why you are here. Everyone in this room, except of course for yourself, is an old and trusted friend of mine. I value and rely on their discretion. You have a problem, about which I so far know nothing save that it is a private concern. If you choose to describe it here and now, you will find sympathetic ears and close lips. If you wish to defer discussion until we are alone, that too will be quite acceptable. We will eat, drink, relax, and spend the evening in pleasant conversation.”
Solborne was slowly shedding layers of clothing; woollen gloves, two cloaks, a long scarf, and a leather jacket. He was revealed as a man of medium and unathletic build, slightly overweight. “Eat, drink, and talk. Those I may accomplish; but it is two months and more since I could last relax. The purpose of my visit to these parts was to meet Jacob, and thereby seek access to you. Your reputation in the southern counties is unequalled. You are often said to be the last resort in difficult medical cases.”
“I am flattered.” Darwin did not sound surprised.
“And also in—certain other matters.” For the first time, Solborne hesitated. “I face a problem which may be medical, but which, quite frankly, points beyond the natural. I know that you reject such explanations.”
“That puts the matter too strongly. I will not admit a supernatural explanation when a natural one can be found. And I should add, in my experience that has always been the case.”
“But in this case…” Solborne spread out his hands. They were neat, well-kept, and had clearly seen no manual labor. He had placed food on his plate at Matthew Boulton’s urging, but not touched it. “I’m sorry. I do not know where to begin.”
“At any point. We are not building a house here, where the foundation and walls must perforce be completed before the roof goes on.” Darwin smiled his ruined smile. “We can return as necessary, and fill in any missing elements. The whole evening is ours. The most important thing is to give full detail, and omit nothing. Detail is at the heart of diagnosis. Consider this as a medical task, whether or not it proves at length to be so.”
“Very well.” Solborne finally, almost reluctantly, took a draught of red wine. “As Mr. Boulton mentioned, I am from Dorset. In fact, I hail from the farthest southern point of that county, near the tip of the peninsula known as Portland Bill. The Bill juts out into the English Channel, and my home sits on the western cliffs a couple of miles above it—am I giving too much detail, of no consequence to the matter?”
“We have as yet no way of knowing what may be relevant. Please continue.”
“My family is of old Dorset stock. We trace the Dorset Solbornes back almost to the Conquest. It is debated whether the family takes its name from the nearby village of Solborne, or the village its name from the family. In any case, my ancestors have lived there five hundred years and more.” Thomas Solborne caught the impatient look on Watt’s face, and grimaced ruefully. “I tell you this, Mr. Watt, not as presumed evidence of superiority, but rather as an admission of possible family defects. I have some knowledge of animal husbandry. I know the problems likely to arise from too close breeding.”