Drums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon [247]
“I could not well decide what to do with the property without seeing it, and evaluating the conditions that obtain here. So I determined that we should sail to Charleston, and from there, travel overland to Virginia. I trusted to the novelty of the experience to divert William from his grief—which I am pleased to observe, it seems to have done. He has been much more cheerful these past weeks.”
I opened my mouth to say that Fraser’s Ridge seemed a bit out of his way, regardless, but then thought better of it.
He appeared to guess what I was thinking, for he gave me a brief wry smile. I really would have to do something about my face, I thought. Having Jamie read my thoughts was one thing, and not at all unpleasant, on the whole. Having total strangers walk in and out of my mind at will was something else.
“Where is the plantation?” Jamie asked, with somewhat more tact but the same implication.
“The nearest town of any sort is called Lynchburg—on the James River.” Lord John looked at me, still wry, but apparent good humor restored. “It is in fact no more than a few days deviation in our journey to come here, in spite of the remoteness of your aerie.”
He switched his attention to Jamie, frowning slightly.
“I told Willie that you are an old acquaintance of mine, from my soldiering days—I trust you do not object to the deception?”
Jamie shook his head, one side of his mouth turning up a bit. “Deception, is it? I shouldna think I could well mind what ye called me, under the circumstances. And so far as that bit goes, it’s true enough.”
“You don’t think he’ll remember you?” I asked Jamie. He had been a groom on Willie’s home estate; a prisoner of war following the Jacobite Rising.
He hesitated, but then shook his head.
“I dinna think so. He was barely six when I left Helwater; that will be half a lifetime ago, to a lad—and a world away. And there’s no reason he should think to recall a groom named MacKenzie, let alone connect the name wi’ me.”
Willie hadn’t recognized Jamie on sight, certainly, but then he had been too concerned with the leeches to take much notice of anyone. A thought struck me, and I turned to Lord John, who was fiddling with a snuffbox he had taken from his pocket.
“Tell me,” I said, moved by a sudden impulse. “I don’t mean to distress you—but … do you know how your wife died?”
“How?” He looked startled at the question, but collected himself at once. “She died of a bloody flux, so her maid said.” His mouth twisted slightly. “It was … not a pleasant death, I believe.” Bloody flux, eh? That was the standard description for anything from amebic dysentery to cholera.
“Was there a doctor? Someone on board who took care of her?”
“There was,” he said, a little sharply. “What do you imply, ma’am?”
“Nothing,” I said. “It’s only that I wondered whether perhaps that was where Willie saw leeches used.”
A flicker of understanding crossed his face.
“Oh, I see. I hadn’t thought—”
At this point, I noticed Ian, who was hovering in the doorway, obviously reluctant to interrupt but with a marked look of urgency on his face.
“Did you want something, Ian?” I asked, interrupting Lord John.
He shook his head, brown hair flying.
“No, I thank ye, Auntie. It’s only—” He cast a helpless glance at Jamie. “Well, I’m sorry, Uncle, I ken I shouldna ha’ let him do it, but—”
“What?” Alarmed by Ian’s tone of voice, Jamie was already on his feet. “What have ye done?”
The lad twisted his big hands together, cracking his knuckles in embarrassment.
“Well, ye see, his Lordship asked for the privy, and so I told him about the snake, and that he’d best go into the wood instead. So he did, but then he wanted to see the snake, and … and …”
“He’s not bitten?” Jamie asked anxiously. Lord John, who had obviously been about to ask the same thing, gave him a glance.
“Oh, no!” Ian looked surprised. “We couldna see it to start with, because it was too dark below. So we lifted off the benchtop to get more light. We could see the serpent fine, then, and we poked at it a bit wi’ a long branch,