Scandalous Read Free

onto the blanket with some effort. After that, it was much easier to move him across the polished wooden floor, though the three of them were panting by the time they had maneuvered him down the hallway and through the kitchen into the tiny bedroom. Priscilla straightened up, putting a hand to her aching back. She looked from the stranger to the cot, then to her father. How could they possibly lift him up onto the cot?
    â€œI think we’ll leave him on the floor for now,” Florian said, echoing her own thoughts. “Perhaps he will come to and be able to get there on his own.”
    Priscilla nodded, but a worried frown creased her forehead. “Did he seem…rather warm to you?”
    â€œYes.” Florian frowned, too. “Perhaps he has a fever. He could be ill.”
    â€œMaybe he’s been wandering about in a delirium,” Miss Pennybaker put in. “That could even explain why he’s, well, in, uh, an unclothed state.”
    â€œI suppose…if he were out of his head with fever,he might have ripped off his clothes thinking it would make him cooler.”
    â€œA brain fever might make one do anything,” Miss Pennybaker assured her. “He might have left his bed and gone running out into the night, thinking heaven knows what.”
    â€œWell, if that is the case, we need to get him a doctor,” Florian said. “Perhaps I should go get Dr. Hightower.”
    â€œNo,” Priscilla protested quickly. “If there’s someone or something dangerous outside, you don’t need to be out there with it.” As her father began to bridle, she quickly amended her first, heartfelt concern, adding, “And Miss Pennybaker and I would be left alone here with no protection. What if someone tries to break in to get this man?”
    â€œHmm… You are right.”
    â€œPennybaker and I have taken care of Philip and Gid through countless fevers. I expect we can manage this one, as well. If he gets worse, you can go for the doctor.”
    â€œAll right. Perhaps I ought to check the windows…make sure we’re locked up good and tight.”
    Priscilla nodded absently, already sinking down onto her knees on the floor beside the stranger. She felt his forehead; it was burning-hot. Miss Pennybaker brought in the oil lamp from the kitchen, and in the better light Priscilla could see that the man’s face was flushed. He moved restlessly, turning his head to the side, and she saw now that the back of his hair was sticky and clotted with something.
    â€œBlood!” She felt carefully along the back of his skull, finding a knot in the midst of the sticky blood. “I knew it! There’s been some sort of foul play here. Someonehit him on the back of the head—hard. Penny, get me water and a cloth. We need to clean his wounds.”
    â€œOh, my. Oh, my.” Miss Pennybaker shook her head, sending the myriad of curls fluttering absurdly. “I don’t like this at all.”
    â€œOf course not. It is obvious someone has mistreated this man. Why, Pennybaker, look!” Her eyes had fallen on the man’s wrists, and she lifted his arm so that her former governess could see it better. “See those red marks around his wrist? His skin has been rubbed raw there. Rope burns, I should think. There’s another on the other wrist, in the same place. And look, his ankles, too. He has been tied up.”
    Miss Pennybaker stared at her, aghast. “Priscilla! How do you know such things!”
    Priscilla grimaced. “That is the way Gid’s hands looked that time he was playing pirate and slid down a rope from the roof. Remember?”
    â€œTrue.” The older woman cast an uncertain look at their uninvited guest. “But being tied up—Priscilla, things like that only happen in books.”
    Priscilla shrugged. “Well, they must happen to real people sometimes, don’t you think? It certainly seems to have happened to