said matter-of-factly. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll take my chances on the street, as I always do.”
“An alternative would be better. Even a hostel at night.”
“He could stay with me for a week in the outhouse,” Bill suggested, looking at Mr. Wells. “I can make him up a bed and look after him until he’s back on his feet.”
“Excellent plan,” Mr. Wells beamed.
Dragan took a large bottle from his bag and poured about a quarter of it into a smaller bottle he handed to Bill. It was merely a general tonic when what the man needed, what the man truly needed was impossible—a complete change of diet and way of life.
“Give him a little of this night and morning. It should help a little. But Marty, no more spirits. I’ll come by your house tomorrow, if that is allowed, sir?” He glanced at Mr. Wells, who nodded enthusiastically. “Just to be sure he doesn’t lapse. Can he lie here for another hour? And then, perhaps return with Bill? He must rest for several days.”
“It shall be just as you say,” Mr. Wells assured him.
Dragan packed away his bag and stood, slinging it over his shoulder. “Until tomorrow,” he said to Marty and stepped over him, just as Grizelda sprang to her feet. She smelled of orange blossom and fresh air, an unexpected delight to his senses.
He couldn’t help smiling at her, which seemed to take her completely by surprise.
“Goodness, look at the time!” Mr. Wells exclaimed. “Billy, run and fetch a hackney for her ladyship. Her family must be worrying by now.”
“Oh, no,” Grizelda said in apparent surprise. “Bill, you stay with Marty. Mr. Tizsa can take me to the hackney stand.” She bolted away from him into a back room, from which she emerged with her bonnet and cloak.
At least she wasn’t insane enough to walk these streets alone.
She was dressed, he realized, with more plainness and less style than on either of their two previous meetings. Perhaps she had hoped to blend in with an old dull grey gown and cloak with a plain, unadorned bonnet.
“What on earth are you doing here?” he murmured as he held open the front door for her to precede him into the street. He followed quickly, letting the door fall shut behind him while he scanned the street for lurking dangers. “Did Nancy come here? Did she know Mr. Wells?”
“Oh, no. I always come here on Saturdays. And Tuesdays.”
He glanced at her with a different sort of appreciation. “You are quite remarkable, are you not?”
She laughed, a low, pleasant sound, short but genuinely amused. “Lord, no. It’s almost obligatory for a lady to be involved in charitable works.”
“Then your parents approve?” he asked in fresh surprise, taking her arm and crossing the road to avoid unsavory shadows in a nearby doorway. “Of you coming to St. Giles?”
She considered. “I’m not perfectly sure that they know. I am more interested in your presence. You are a physician as well as a soldier? What else do you do?”
“Believe, me, no one is more aware of the moral conflict.” Although he spoke lightly, she cast him an unexpectedly piercing look. “But no, I am not actually a physician,” he added hastily. “The revolution got in the way, and I did not sit my final exams. So, I don’t practice here as such. I merely assist Dr. Cordell.”
“Did you practice on the battlefield?”
“I was often all they had.” To his relief, they were emerging from the narrow, threatening streets of St. Giles and approaching the stand where several carriages were waiting, and he found he was reluctant to let her go. “Why are you traveling by hackney?”
“My mother always uses the carriage at this time of day,” she said blithely.
“Does she not expect you to accompany her?”
“Lord, no, not since I was twenty and was accidentally rude to a marchioness. Have you discovered much about Nancy?”
“Nothing very helpful.” Reluctantly, he opened the carriage door. “Have you?”
“A little, but we can’t talk comfortably here. Can I drop you somewhere?”
His temptation had little to do with saving his shoe leather. She intrigued him too much, and that annoyed him. He did not wish to be at her beck and call.
“I’m going in the opposite direction,” he said curtly, “but I thank you.”
She showed neither disappointment nor disapproval, which made him feel unreasonable. “Oh. Well, can you come to Hyde Park around half-past five? I’ll be close to the Exhibition building.” She climbed into the hackney, and he closed the