a sitting position, honorably keeping his gaze averted from her ankles until she had settled her velvet skirts over them.
“Our ground captain has sent out men to the site, fraulein. Also, I have a report from my superior that he has examined der landgraf—the count, I should say. You did well to bind up the wound and get him here so quickly. The loss of blood was not as great as we feared, and my superior is stitching him up now. He will have a most interesting scar that will fortunately be healed by the time we all must face the Baroness.”
“Is she a woman of character, then?” Alice asked.
“She is, fraulein. Like a lioness in defense of those she loves. It is indeed fortunate she was not in the landau with you, for she would have leaped out and hunted these men herself.”
“I think I would like the Baroness,” Claire said, and winced when her attempt at a smile pulled at the sticking plaster on one side.
“I see some similarities,” the officer allowed.
From the gangway area on the deck below, they heard a commotion, and in a moment, Captain Hollys appeared in the door of sick bay. A soldier panted up behind him. “My apologies, Herr Doktor, but he would not wait to be announced.”
“Claire!” Ian exclaimed. “What on earth happened? Her ladyship was ready to send out a search party, and when the messenger came from the Margrethe, she—”
“Get out o’ the way!”
A second commotion could be heard in the hall, and like a pair of jack-in-the-boxes, the Mopsies evaded the grip of someone behind them, popped past Captain Hollys’s legs, and flung themselves on Claire. “Lady, we was so worrit!” Maggie exclaimed. “Her ladyship’s fit to be tied.”
Claire gathered them both close. What a gift it was to feel their warm bodies, their coats still bearing the night’s chill, but the warmth of love and concern flowing between the three of them acting like a tonic to her spirits. Hot tears welled in her eyes and she buried her face in Maggie’s hair as she blinked them back.
Captain Hollys appeared to be restraining himself with some difficulty—but whether it was to castigate the Mopsies or to fling himself to his knees and hug her, she could not tell. Perhaps that was just as well, though it was very dear of him to be concerned.
“Her ladyship will be even more so when she finds you have followed me over here,” was the only observation he allowed himself, however.
“O’ course we followed you,” Lizzie told him. “’Ow else was we to find where the Lady was?”
In the face of such irreproachable logic, he merely said to Claire, “Lord Dunsmuir has sent me to escort you personally back to the Lady Lucy.” He glanced at the medical officer. “And we have dispatched a messenger to Government House by air, informing Lord Arundel of this outrage. Be assured that we will not rest until these miscreants are brought to justice.”
Ignoring Andrew’s protests, Captain Hollys offered Claire his arm and was all solicitude during the measured walk over to the Lady Lucy.
“Count von Zeppelin is fortunate that his ship is fitted out so well,” Andrew said tightly as its golden fuselage came into view. “That medical bay is the very last word in modern equipment.”
“The Landgrafin Margrethe is a military flagship,” the captain said, not relinquishing Claire’s arm in the slightest. “It was named for the count’s mother and is the crown jewel of the Prussian fleet.”
“Wot’s a Prushin? cs other and” Lizzie wanted to know.
“Prussia is the European kingdom on the other side of the English Channel, past France,” Claire told her. The cold night air was invigorating, and she was feeling much less woozy and sick. “We must add geography to your studies in mathematics, mechanics, and language arts, I see.”
“So wot’s ’e doin’ ’ere, then, this Zeppelin cove, besides getting shot at?”
“The shooting does change the answer to that quite substantially,” Andrew mused aloud.
“Perhaps it has something to do with his meeting with Lord Dunsmuir and Lord Arundel at the ball.” Claire squeezed Lizzie’s fingers to let her know that her questions had not been impertinent. “Lizzie, you have quite the discerning eye for politics.”
The eleven-year-old snorted. “’E’s a long ways from ’ome, that’s all.”
“Like we are,” Maggie put in. “Oh! Alice!”
Claire turned. “Alice?” But there she was, walking next to them, perfectly safe. “Goodness. Do not frighten me so, Maggie. I have had quite enough excitement for tonight,