The Christmas Wedding

He turned his head to give her a searching glance. ‘And what about you, Daisy? Are you happy here?’

She was about to answer when something further downstream caught her eye. She grabbed her uncle’s arm. ‘Look, on the river-bank. Oh heavens! I think it’s a dead body.’

Chapter Seven (#ulink_0156208a-44a6-54fe-99c6-5ac72f7f12aa)

Daisy broke into a run. She could hear her uncle’s heavy tread as he lumbered along behind her. He was calling out for her to stop, but although her heart was pounding and she was afraid of what she might find, she could not bring herself to hold back. The man was lying face down in the mud and the water was lapping round his ankles. Daisy came to a halt, holding her breath as she gazed down at his inert form. At first she thought he was dead, but a slight movement of his clenched fist was followed by a shuddering breath.

Sidney arrived at her side, puffing and gasping for air. ‘Don’t touch him, Daisy. He might have died of some terrible disease.’

‘We can’t just leave him like this, Uncle.’ Daisy bent down and with a huge effort managed to turn the man on his back. Despite the mud that caked his face she could see that he was young, perhaps in his mid-twenties. ‘We need to get him out of the water,’ she said urgently. ‘We don’t know how long he’s been lying here, but he’s still breathing.’

Together they managed to pull him clear of the creek and Daisy took her hanky from her pocket to wipe the mud from his face. ‘We need to get help, Uncle. He’s too heavy for us to move.’

‘You go, Daisy. You’re quicker on your feet than I am, and he might wake up and become violent. He could be a drunk who’s fallen in the water on his way home. Go to the pub and tell Abel Perkins what’s happened. He’ll know the fellow, like as not.’

‘All right. I’ll be as quick as I can.’

Daisy picked up her skirts and raced back the way they had come. She burst into the pub and made her way between the tables to the bar where a portly man was polishing tankards with a grubby-looking cloth. ‘Are you Mr Perkins?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘That’s me, dearie.’ He looked her up and down. ‘We don’t get many young ladies in here,’ he added, chuckling. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘There’s a man lying on the river-bank. He’s unconscious and my uncle and I need help to move him.’

‘Your uncle? You must be the young lady from London then?’

‘I’m Daisy Marshall. Could you help us, please?’

‘It’s probably some vagrant who’s lost his way in the dark. Dare say he was drunk. I dunno how many times we’ve fished a corpse out of the creek.’ Abel lifted the hatch in the counter and beckoned to two men who were huddled round the fire. ‘Give us a hand, lads. We’ve got another drowned rat.’

The men downed their pints and stood up. ‘Who is it this time, Abel?’

‘We’ll find out shortly.’ Abel opened the door and a gust of cold air drew smoke from the chimney into the taproom. ‘Best wait here, miss.’

Daisy did not argue but she followed them anyway, and when they reached the casualty she was relieved to see that he was attempting to sit up.

‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ Abel said, chuckling. ‘Look who it is.’

‘Can’t tell for all that there mud.’

‘It’s that Jay Fox. I wonder what sort of trouble he’s got hisself into this time.’ Abel heaved Jay to his feet. ‘Let’s get you home, boy.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Daisy laid her hand on Abel’s arm. ‘His mother and father are unwell. You can’t take him home in that state.’

‘Don’t interfere, Daisy,’ Sidney said in a low voice. ‘It’s none of our business.’

‘Maybe not.’ Daisy turned to him angrily. ‘But he obviously needs to see the doctor. If anything, he ought to be taken to Creek Hall. His sister is there and she’ll know what to do.’

‘Look here, miss. I can’t go traipsing around the countryside because Jay Fox is in trouble again. This chap has been nothing but a worry to his family ever since he took his first breath.’

The elder and more vocal of the men from the bar nodded. ‘That’s true. He ran away to sea when he was just a boy. Spent some time in prison, so they say.’

Jay groaned and opened his eyes. ‘What’s going on?’

‘He’s all right.’ Abel relaxed his hold and Jay’s knees buckled beneath him. He sank to the ground, coughing. ‘I’ve got a pub to run.’ Abel slapped Sidney on the back. ‘I’d leave the feller here and let him find his own way home, if I was you, Sidney, my friend.’ He strode off in the direction of the pub, followed more slowly by his two erstwhile customers.

Sidney helped Jay to his feet. ‘Can you walk, young man?’

‘You’d better come home with us,’ Daisy said firmly. ‘Your brother, Jack, is at our house and so is Linnet. You can clean up and dry your clothes before you go home.’

‘Daisy, is this wise?’ Sidney protested.

‘What else can we do, Uncle? Anyway, Creek Cottage is nearer than the Foxes’ home, and I’ll send Linnet to fetch the doctor. I just hope he hasn’t left for Canterbury.’

Jay shook his head. ‘I’m all right. Thanks for your offer, but I’d best go home.’

Daisy stood aside. ‘Let’s see you walk then.’

He scrambled to his feet, stumbled and would have fallen if Sidney had not caught him.

‘Daisy is right,’ Sidney said reluctantly. ‘We’ll take you to our house, and you can go home when you’ve regained your strength.’ He hooked one of Jay’s arms around his shoulder and between them Daisy and her uncle helped Jay to Creek Cottage.

‘Are we to have the whole Fox family dependent upon us?’ Eleanora demanded angrily. ‘Now you tell me that he has a bad reputation, and you have no idea how he came to be in this state.’

Sidney and Daisy exchanged anxious glances. ‘Well, my love, we could hardly leave the poor fellow there. He would have died from exposure to the elements.’

‘And Dr Neville said he must have been attacked and beaten. Jay has a slight concussion and needs to rest,’ Daisy said earnestly. ‘We couldn’t take him home in such circumstances.’

‘What is it about the Fox family?’ Eleanora cried, throwing up her hands. ‘Why have we become responsible for their offspring?’

Daisy glanced over her shoulder as Nick entered the room. ‘Is he going to be all right?’

‘He was lucky you found him when you did, but he’ll be fine. Jay is tough and he’ll recover, although I’m a bit worried about the concussion. Anyway, I’ll take him back to Creek Hall, and his sister and Mrs Bee will look after him.’

‘Thank the Lord,’ Eleanora said wholeheartedly.

‘What happened to him?’ Daisy asked eagerly. ‘Did he say?’

‘I didn’t ask too many questions. I’m not even sure he remembers, but I hope that will improve as he recovers. He suffered a bad beating and he spent some time in the water, so I need to keep an eye on him for the next few days at least.’

‘Someone had better let his parents know.’ Sidney gazed out of the window. ‘Anyway, you don’t need me now so I think I’ll go fishing. Is that all right with you, Eleanora?’

‘I suppose so,’ she said, sighing. ‘You go off and enjoy yourself, Sidney. I’ll stay here and mind other people’s children.’

‘We’ll be on our way, Mrs Marshall,’ Nick said hastily.

Daisy followed him into the hall. ‘He will be all right, won’t he?’

‘As I said, Jay is tough. We might have gone in different directions, but we’re still friends, so you’ve no need to worry.’