Wheel of Fate by Kate Sedley Page B

of all this, there was a loud knock on the outer door, and before anyone could answer it, the latch was lifted and a man came in.
    He was heavily built, with a neat curly brown beard that echoed the curly brown hair showing beneath his flat velvet cap. He was nearly as tall as Oswald but far more muscular, giving an illusory impression of squatness which a second and third glance dispelled. A pair of hazel eyes regarded the assembled company with indifference until they came to rest on Celia. Then they glowed.
    He hurried forward, ignoring both Clemency and Oswald, and, bowing low, raised one of her hands to his lips.
    â€˜Celia, my dear! Lovely as ever and looking the picture of health, as always.’
    Celia withdrew her hand, blushing slightly, but she did not return the greeting. Instead, she appeared embarrassed, casting a fleeting, half-apologetic glance at Oswald.
    Her half-brother said coldly, ‘Good morning, Roderick. Let me conduct you upstairs at once to see your patient. I think you’ll find Sybilla slightly improved since yesterday.’
    The physician returned the other man’s look with barely concealed animosity and said, almost sneeringly, ‘I’m sure I shall. There’s nothing much wrong with her but a few bruises, which the salve I left for her should have eased. And the sleeping draught ought to have ensured her a restful night.’
    â€˜Sybilla is still very much shocked by what happened to her,’ Clemency protested. ‘Her nerves are in a very poor state.’
    â€˜She was always prone to hysterics,’ was the cool response. ‘I’ll bleed her again. It will quieten her. Don’t bother coming up with me, Clemency. I know my way.’
    â€˜I’ll accompany you just the same,’ Clemency said firmly, and followed the doctor up the stairs.
    Reaching halfway, he turned, looking down into the hall with a softened expression on his rather harsh features.
    â€˜Will you stay to say goodbye to me, Celia?’ His lip curled. ‘Or have you some urgent business, as usual, that will necessitate your presence in some other part of the house?’
    Once again, I thought that the younger woman seemed uncomfortable, but she answered composedly enough. ‘I will stay and speak to you with pleasure, Roderick, if you wish it. In any case, I shall want to know your opinion of Sybilla and how she goes on. My sister’s health is the important thing.’
    â€˜Naturally.’ He laughed shortly. ‘Such a devoted family!’ He proceeded on his way, Clemency close at his heels.
    â€˜Well, I must be going along,’ Oswald said. ‘I’m due in court this afternoon.’ He bent and kissed Celia’s cheek. ‘Don’t let Roderick Jeavons rile you, my dear. If he weren’t such a good doctor, and if he hadn’t tended our family for so long, I’d be tempted to find another physician.’
    â€˜No, no! Don’t do that,’ Celia begged him quickly. ‘He doesn’t disturb me.’
    Her half-brother patted her shoulder. ‘I’m very glad to hear it,’ he said. ‘The Godsloves have never been dependent upon other people. We know how to look after our own.’ He smiled fleetingly in my wife’s direction at the same time glancing warningly at me. Adela had obviously been accepted as one of the family, however remote the connection, and it was implied that I should do well to remember that fact or I might find myself asked to leave.
    I gave a brief inclination of my head and watched Oswald march briskly out of the door. Then I turned to Adela.
    â€˜Shall we go and unpack,’ I asked, ‘as Clemency suggested?’
    Adela’s bedchamber was a large and very chilly room at one side of the house and reached by what seemed to me to be innumerable corridors and small flights of stairs, going both up and down.
    â€˜You’ll get used to it,’ she laughed when I complained