“Dear God, Richard, for a minute there I thought we were done for,” Daniel gasped once he had the door safely closed.

“Now we just have to make it out of the house,” Richard muttered, starting forward. He was eager to get out of the house before they encountered anyone else, and had just reached the stairs when the front door suddenly opened below. Heart stopping, he immediately backed up, crashing into an unsuspecting Daniel. Fortunately, the man kept his feet and quickly turned to get out of the way. The two scurried back up the hall until Daniel had the sense to try one of the doors. Finding it open, he waved Richard in with his burden and followed, then pulled the door closed and stood with his ear pressed to it.

Richard waited in the darkness, his brother’s blanket-wrapped body pressing to his chest, and finally asked, “Do you hear anything?”

“They’re talking,” Daniel whispered. “I think they’re still in the entry.”

Richard shifted closer, stepping up behind Daniel to better hear what was being said.

“I swear he was dead, Chrissy. He was growing cold when we left tonight.”

Christiana grimaced at Lisa’s distressed words, but concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and merely muttered, “He must have made a deal with the devil to come back.”

“Hush, one of the servants will hear,” Suzette cautioned as she closed the front door. The words had barely left her lips when Haversham appeared at the end of the hall, hurrying toward them.

Christiana waved the man away. They didn’t need help. Besides she didn’t want him to witness her in this shape. Those drinks she’d had were rather having an effect now.

“Are you all right, Chrissy?” Suzette asked, taking her arm to steady her. “You are not at all steady on your feet.”

“I’m fine,” Christiana answered, but wasn’t all that sure she was. While she hadn’t noticed much amiss during the short ride home, when she’d risen to alight from the carriage, the world had suddenly tilted a bit and she’d nearly tumbled out of the contraption. Fortunately, the coachmen had been there to catch her arm and steady her much as Suzie was doing now.

“I fear those drinks Langley gave her may have affected her after all,” Lisa said with concern, taking her other arm as the world tilted again and Christiana stumbled in her direction.

“Surely two drinks wouldn’t affect her this much,” Suzette protested.

“Two drinks on an empty stomach might,” Lisa reasoned.

“Three drinks,” Christiana muttered.

“Three?” Suzette peered at her with surprise. “When did you have a third one?”

“A firsht one,” Christiana corrected and paused to frown at the slur. She spoke with more care as she explained. “I drank Dicky’s whiskey earlier.” She frowned when whiskey came out as “whishkey,” but then decided it didn’t matter and admitted, “It’s okay though, I actually feel good.”

“Oh dear,” Lisa said.

Suzette merely shook her head. “Well, at least she feels good, probably for the first time since marrying that odious man. No doubt he did make a deal with the devil to return.”