Patrick and Guy carefully lifted Dennis into the carriage, Agnes following behind, stunned with fear and shock. Milly supported her, and as soon as the door was closed, Sean sped off as fast as was safe on these cobbles.
They stopped once after ten minutes, and a man in his sixties got in after a short stop. The carriage started to move again.
Dennis was still unresponsive, and the old man felt his pulse, then opened his eyelids carefully. He put a bag on his lap, got out a little bottle, unstoppered it and kept it under Dennis' nose, who coughed once and opened his eyes.
They did not focus well, and the doctor quickly unfolded a brown paper bag from his leather doctor's bag, and held it before him. Seconds later, Dennis retched neatly into the bag, and when he was done, the doctor got a large grey handkerchief from his vest-pocket, and wiped his patient's mouth.
The bag he carefully folded shut and put under the carriage seat.
Then he looked at Dennis once again, and asked, 'Do you know where you are, young man?'
Poor Dennis looked at him in total confusion, and he said, 'I'm sorry sir, but no. I've never seen you before, and I cannot remember a thing. My head hurts, and I'm still nauseous. Will you send me back out? Or can I stay in the sick-bay until I can stand again?'
As Agnes' throat suddenly developed a big lump inside, the doctor gestured her to come closer, and he asked, 'Do you recognize this lady?'
A look of recognition flashed over Dennis' pale face, and as his hand went to his throat instinctively he said humbly, 'Yes, she's my mistress. At least I won't have to fight today, I'm glad, for I don't feel so good.'
His eyes rolled, and Agnes wanted to be sick too, but her beloved needed her, and if that meant reliving a time in their past that she'd rather forget, so be it. She controlled her reaction and kneeled beside him.
The doctor gestured she could take his place and she did, taking Dennis in her arms lovingly. She asked the doctor, 'Will he be all right?'
'Your fiancée has a sincere concussion, Mrs Beauchamp, I take it he is reliving scenes from the past. That is a sign he has brain-damage, the severity of which only time will tell. It is not uncommon to completely recover from such an injury, but it can cause a person to change dramatically as well.
You need to give him a lot of care, keep him from sleeping too deeply the first nights, then when the danger of slipping into a coma is past, you need to gently remind him of who he is by helping him sort the things he does remember, and stirring up new remembrances by creating circumstances that might.
But first I want to examine his skull to see if it isn't broken, and then we need to get him through the night. You may indulge in your feelings, Mrs Beauchamp, it will only help to stir his memories, if his brain is not too badly damaged.'
This doctor was not a very comforting person to be around, but he did sound knowledgeable, and Agnes gave in to her strongest urge and cried.
At first she cried silently, big tears rolling over her face, but when she stroked her beloved's face, and suddenly imagined it cold and still, as Frederick's had been, something inside her broke, and she let her fear and shock out in shuddering sobs.
Dennis was obviously still conscious, for his eyes opened, and he whispered, 'Don't cry, my love, I won't leave you.'
She knew he was probably referring to the first time he had seen her cry like this, the day after she had let the boys set him free, but still it felt like a promise, he was promising her he wouldn't die, would stay with her.
She tried to stop crying not to upset him, but it was hard, for soon after he sighed and closed his eyes, and he looked close to death.
Once they got to her house, Patrick and Guy lifted him together and took him to her room, her town staff looking surprised and concerned at their sudden arrival in such a depressed mode.
'I'll handle them,' Guy whispered to her, 'as soon as we've got Dennis in your bed.'
But Milly wasn't useless either, she remained in the hall and talked to the staff in a low voice, telling the tale of the mistress' fiancée beating off two thugs unarmed, then falling to the third, until Guy would come and take things in hand.
Agnes sat on the bed next to Dennis, holding him on his side, as the doctor probed his skull carefully to check it for breaks.
It hurt, and Dennis cried out and begged for mercy, in such a humble voice once more, it just broke her heart.
'No mistress, please don't let him punish me, I'll be good, I'll do whatever pleases you!'
It was heart-rending, and very shameful to Agnes, the doctor would soon know what she had done to this man, but she didn't manage to care very much, she wanted her beloved safe and without pain.
'It hurts so badly, please don't do that!'
To make matters worse, he started to wheeze, pretty badly, gasping for breath, and still crying out, begging again, not to be whipped, not to be sent into battle again, not to be forced to kill, ever again.
Agnes felt herself starting to cry again, on top of her fear for Dennis' life, this raked up so much old pain, so much shame, and self-loathing.
The doctor was done, and he touched her lightly to make clear she could let her beloved lie on his back once more, stroking him instead of restraining him.
He said soothingly, 'I think his skull is not broken, it might be cracked, but that is not lethal, it just takes a long time to heal.
He will have a huge swelling where he was hit, that may take weeks to go away, it will darken dramatically then fade through all the colours of the rainbow, that is nothing to worry about.
I can see you're very upset over his rantings, he must have been through a lot before you met him, Mrs Beauchamp, it sounds like he was in the army or something like that, it must be painful to have him seem afraid of you, but it is actually a good sign, he has the energy to resist, he can speak in sentences, and he is not fading away, which is all good. All his memories are mixed up right now, they will probably settle in due time.
I do worry about that wheeze, are you sure he wasn't hit somewhere else? His lungs could be damaged, or his larynx.'
She had to tell him.
