The Healing Hand Read online

  Five hundred horses of the Light Brigade were lost, and the Seventeenth Lancers were very nearly completely annihilated.

  When they reached Balaclava Harbour, it was possible for Lord Stratford’s yacht to come alongside The Dryad.

  Charles climbed out first and as he did so he was aware that Tania was tense with anxiety.

  She had hardly spoken a word as they crossed the Black Sea and he realised just how much she was suffering waiting to learn if Rupert was still alive or how badly he might be wounded.

  She was trembling as they walked up the gangway of The Dryad.

  There was a sentry standing on the deck.

  “Is his Lordship aboard?” Charles asked him.

  “He’s just returned, sir,” the man answered.

  “Would you be good enough to inform his Lordship that Mr. Charles Bracebridge wishes to see him – ”

  “Will you come this way, sir?”

  The sentry led the way to the Saloon.

  There was no one in it and it was, as Tania saw, an exceedingly comfortable and elegant room.

  Both she and Charles were silent as they waited and then they heard a voice just outside the door.

  A moment later Lord Cardigan walked in.

  He was even better looking than had been reported, with a charming smile that even his detractors found difficult to resist.

  “I am delighted to meet you, Mr. Bracebridge,” he began. “I heard that you and your wife accompanied Miss Florence Nightingale out to Scutari and I thought it extremely brave of you.”

  “We brought with us Miss Tania Amesly, my Lord. Her father, Lord Amesly, you may have known.”

  “Of course I have met him in the House of Lords,” Lord Cardigan replied, turning to Tania and holding out his hand, “but I had no idea he had such a beautiful daughter.”

  “We are here, my Lord,” Charles went on, “having heard, although we may have been misinformed, that you have very kindly taken onboard Captain Rupert More who has been seriously wounded.”

  “That’s true. I have known him since he was a child and I could not allow him to suffer lying wounded in a cold tent.”

  “That is so good of you, my Lord,” Tania came in.

  “He is in a weak condition, but the wound was not as severe as was at first thought.”

  “Then Rupert is – alive?” Tania mumbled in a voice he could hardly hear.

  “Yes, he is most definitely alive, Miss Amesly, and I expect that you would like to see him.”

  “That is why I have – come here, my Lord, and – if it is possible, I would like to nurse him.”

  Lord Cardigan looked a bit surprised and raised his eyebrows, but he did not say what he was thinking.

  Instead he suggested,

  “Let me take you down to Rupert’s cabin and you will see for yourself that with good nursing and a sensible diet he will soon, we hope, be himself again.”

  There was no need for him to guess just how much Tania wanted to see Rupert.

  He could see it in her face and the sudden light in her eyes.

  Lord Cardigan smiled at Tania.

  “Do come with me. I think it would be wise if Mr. Bracebridge stays on here, so that there are not too many people in the cabin at the same time.

  “I will wait, my Lord,” Charles agreed.

  Lord Cardigan led the way below.

  As he did so, Tania was aware that the yacht was even bigger than she had expected it to be.

  And this made her hope, although she could not put it into words, that he would allow her to stay on board and nurse Rupert back to health.

  Lord Cardigan opened the door of a cabin and she saw that it was quite a large one.

  Rupert was laying face upward with his eyes closed on a comfortable berth draped with muslin curtains.

  As Tania moved towards him, she could see that his left shoulder was heavily bandaged.

  Neither she nor Lord Cardigan spoke.

  Then Rupert opened his eyes.

  As he saw Tania, his whole face, which had seemed so pale and lifeless, suddenly changed completely –

  “Tania!” he cried. “Am I dreaming? I have died and gone to Heaven!”

  Tania ran forward and knelt down beside him.

  “I am here, Rupert! I heard you had been wounded and I came as quickly as I could.”

  “My darling, my sweet! But how is it possible you are here and in this Godforsaken part of the world?”

  “I have written to you each and every day, Rupert, but my letters never reached you. I came here with those wonderful angels, Selina and Charles Bracebridge, who are with Florence Nightingale.”

  “I thought they would be, but I had no idea that you would come with them, Tania.”

  “I am here and I want to nurse you – and make you well again.”

  “I am so much better already simply because you are near me, my darling.”

  Lord Cardigan without saying anything, walked to the door and, going out of the cabin, closed it behind him.

  Then he went back to the Saloon.

  “I think,” he said to Charles, “we have found the one medicine that will make Rupert well more quickly than anything the doctors can prescribe!”

  “He was well enough to recognise her, my Lord?”

  “Very much so and now I think it is time for a glass of champagne. That is certainly something I need myself after just coming from the Battlefield of Inkerman.”

  “I understand the death toll was exceedingly high?”

  “Terrible, terrible.”

  They drank their champagne and then talked of the inadequacy of the High Command.

  History was going to prove that the Charge of the Light Brigade nearly three weeks ago was a fine example of what courage, determination and discipline will achieve however misguided.

  After he had conversed with Charles for some time, Lord Cardigan enquired,

  “Now tell me what I am expected to do about this beautiful young woman you have brought aboard.”

  Charles told him, just as he had told Lord Stratford, why Tania had come to him and his wife for help.

  Lord Cardigan was astonished.

  “I have never heard of such a thing,” he blustered. “I have met the second Lady Amesly and I always thought her a pushy and unpleasant woman despite her good looks. But I could never imagine her doing anything so appalling to her stepdaughter!”

  “Fortunately, my Lord, we managed to spirit Tania away, otherwise her stepmother, being her Guardian, could have forced her to marry Lord Watford and there is nothing we could have possibly done to prevent it.”

  “I understand, Mr. Bracebridge, and I believe it is an appalling law that should be repealed.”

  Charles smiled.

  “That is up to you in the House of Lords.”

  “If I return – it is a miracle I was not killed as so many of my wretched men were. And between ourselves we think that the Russians are planning a second attack at Inkerman that may cost us just as much to repulse as their previous attempt.”

  “If only our Army was bigger,” Charles murmured. “I agree with you, but at least one man will survive and I think if it’s at all possible he should go home.”

  “Rupert – back to England?” asked Charles with a note of surprise in his voice.

  “Why not? He will not be fit to fight again for at least a year and in my humble opinion the sooner that we get the wounded out of the way the better.”

  “I agree with you,” replied Charles. “But how will he travel? That could be a problem.”

  “As far as Rupert is concerned, and because I have always been very fond of him, I should think the best way would be for him to travel home by sea.”

  “I agree with you, my Lord.”

  Charles was thinking of how the wounded had been conveyed from the battlefield to the Hospital, lying on the decks of ships, being rolled about and splashed by waves.

  “If Rupert could find a small yacht, not as large as mine,
of course – and I believe they are obtainable locally – he and his pretty lady friend could travel back in comfort. I would not mind betting that he would be almost fit again by the time they reach England.”

  “It is certainly an idea, my Lord.”

  “And I am quite certain that the expense of renting a yacht would not be a problem to his father, who will of course want him home.”

  Then Charles remembered what Lord Stratford had told him and said,

  “I don’t know if you have been told, my Lord, that Rupert’s elder brother, Viscount Grant, has died in India. Lord Stratford told me about it before I came here to you.”

  “Then that makes it even more essential for him to survive. I most certainly would be prepared to order his return to England if it is possible to find a way for him to be conveyed there.”

  “In the meanwhile, my Lord, are you prepared to have Tania as a guest and nurse on your yacht?”

  “I would be delighted, Mr. Bracebridge. I am only sorry that anyone so beautiful will, as far as I can see, not be aware I even exist.”

  Both men laughed and Charles added,

  “I will now go and find, as you have suggested, a yacht that Rupert can buy, to convey two happy young people back to the country so many have just died for.”

  Lord Cardigan gave a deep sigh.

  “I am only praying that the mistakes we have made already will not be repeated in the future.”

  “And I say ‘amen’ to that, my Lord.”

  Tania’s luggage was collected from the yacht.

  Only when he had sent it aboard The Dryad and seen it placed in a cabin next door to Rupert’s did Charles quietly open his cabin door.

  Tania was sitting by the bed and her hand was in Rupert’s.

  But Charles saw that for the moment his eyes were closed and he was sleeping from sheer exhaustion.

  Gently Tania took away her hand and tiptoed across the cabin and when she was outside, Charles closed the door and whispered,

  “Lord Cardigan is prepared for you to stay and I have put your luggage in the next cabin. Now I am going, at his suggestion, to try to buy a yacht to sail you and Rupert back to England.”

  “A yacht!”

  “With careful nursing he will in time be completely well and strong enough to make you very happy, Tania, but there is no doubt that his life as a soldier is finished.”

  “I can only thank God for that. I have learnt that he was shot in the left shoulder and the bullet just touched his lung. He will find it hard to breathe for a time.”

  Charles made a sympathetic sound.

  “I know, because I have seen other men in the same condition,” continued Tania. “He will never be able to run very fast again. Otherwise he will be able to enjoy life as he has always done.”

  “That is all we need to know – and of course you must be most grateful to Lord Cardigan for accepting you and for making this most useful suggestion.”

  Tania put her arms round Charles’s neck and kissed his cheek.

  “You have been wonderful, so wonderful to me,” she sighed, “and I can never thank you enough.”

  “I will come back as soon as I have some news.”

  Tania kissed him again, but did not suggest that she would see him off.

  Instead she returned to Rupert’s cabin to find him still asleep.

  Charles went above to find Lord Cardigan.

  He was in the Saloon giving his orders to an Officer who had just arrived and, when Charles appeared, he walked out onto the deck with him.

  “I have been thinking over my advice to you,” he said, “and if the two young people really love each other, it would be wise for them to be married before they set off for England.”

  Charles looked at him in surprise.

  “Only you, my Lord, would think of a wedding at such a time as this. And only you would be sleeping and working in the most beautiful yacht I have ever seen.”

  “It is engendering a great deal of envy, hatred and malice here, but I feel I am a better Commander because I am not sleeping in mud and discomfort that affects a man’s brain as well as his body.”

  “I think you are very brave in more ways than one, my Lord.”

  *

  It took Charles over two weeks to find the yacht he wanted.

  It was, when finally he had found and bought it, an extremely smart vessel with all modern conveniences. It had been built for a rich Greek, who had by a twist of fate gone bankrupt before he could pay for it.

  Because the builder was so out of pocket the price of the yacht was cheaper than it might have been because there was no prospect of another purchaser.

  Charles realised he had secured a bargain and when he brought the yacht into Balaclava Harbour it was greatly admired.

  He thought Tania was looking even more beautiful and radiant than he had ever seen her.

  “I know you are happy,” he remarked, “before you tell me so.”

  “Of course I am happy, because I am looking after Rupert – and he is happy too because every day his wound is steadily healing.”

  She paused for a moment before she whispered,

  “If he had been treated as those poor soldiers before Florence arrived, he would undoubtedly have died.”

  “But he is alive, Tania, and I have brought you a yacht to take you both back to England.”

  “I am glad not just for Rupert’s sake. He has heard from his father who is hugely upset over the death of his elder son.”

  “I was very afraid that he would be, even though I understand they did not get on well together.”

  “It will mean much more responsibility for Rupert than he has ever had to shoulder before.”

  “I am sure that whatever he has to do, he will do it very well, just as I have learnt from Lord Cardigan that he was in every way an excellent soldier.”

  Charles hesitated before adding,

  “And I am sure that you will find him an excellent husband!”

  Tania gave a little cry.

  “Rupert wants to marry me and I want to marry him more than anything in the whole world. I love him and he loves me and together we can face whatever the future may hold for us.”

  “Of course you can, Tania.”

  She gave him messages of thanks and appreciation for Selina and for Florence Nightingale.

  She waved Charles affectionately goodbye and then she went back to Rupert.

  “Charles Bracebridge has been brilliant – and found us a yacht,” she said breathlessly as she entered his cabin.

  “You must go and look at it and make sure that it contains everything you want, my darling.”

  “You know I only want to be with you, Rupert.”

  Tania sat down beside him and with his good right hand he picked up hers and drew it to his lips.

  “I love you. I adore you, my Tania, and did you tell Mr. Bracebridge that we are to be married tonight?”

  Tania shook her head.

  “I did not tell him because I really should ask him and Selina to be present. But I want to be alone with you, as it is going to be a wonderful marvellous service that will carry us up to Heaven itself. I thought that no guest could ever feel what we will feel.”

  “We have to have a witness and Lord Cardigan has promised to do it for us.”

  “He will understand what I feel – and I want you to feel it too, Rupert.”

  She was not mistaken.

  The Army Chaplain, who Lord Cardigan had asked to marry them, was a Priest dedicated to the work of God.

  He had left a comfortable living in England because he believed that it was his duty to succour the men facing death in the Crimea.

  Lord Cardigan, in one of his gestures that made him so popular, had filled Rupert’s cabin in the new yacht with white flowers.

  Tania put on a dress she had brought with her from London – it was not white, but the pale pink of the sun in the early morning.

  It made her look as if she had floated down fr
om the sky, and she made a little wreath of white flowers to wear.

  Although she wore no veil, Rupert thought that no bride could look lovelier and he knew that he was the most fortunate man alive.

  So many of the men who had served with him were dead or had been wounded so severely they would be left crippled for the rest of their lives.

  When the doctor had seen him this morning, he had said that Tania’s bandaging was perfection and he had no criticism to make about it.

  Tania knew she had only followed instructions and she had watched closely the way Florence Nightingale had attended to the suffering men in the Scutari Hospital.

  She did not even tell Rupert that she prayed while she treated him – and at night and at so many other times.

  She believed that in answer to her prayers invisible healing came down from the skies.

  His body responded to hers, as did his spirit.

  ‘I love him! I do love him!’ she told herself as she dressed for their quiet wedding.

  Then, as she left her cabin, she was very touched as Lord Cardigan gave her a bouquet that matched the flowers in her hair.

  The Marriage Service was simple and short.

  Yet the sincerity of the vows of love exchanged between the two of them seemed to make the whole cabin holy.

  When the Chaplain blessed them, Tania felt that her mother and father were with her and were happy because she had found the same wonderful love they too had found.

  A love she knew could only come from God.

  After the Blessing the Chaplain left them together holding hands.

  *

  When it was nearly dark, Rupert was carried very carefully by Lord Cardigan’s men from The Dryad to The Sea Horse, the yacht that Charles had bought for them.

  He had told Rupert that he and Selina would give them the yacht as a wedding present, but Rupert refused.

  “It is overwhelmingly generous of you, but I cannot start my married life by being so beholden to two people who have been so marvellous and generous to Tania.

  “You hid her from her stepmother and brought her out here to me. You could not have given me anything I wanted more if you had thrown in the sun, the sky and the stars!”

  Charles smiled.

  “Very well, I will share it with you and you can pay me back half the cost when you reach England. My wife and I will find something we can give you for your home.”