Gabriel put him down on the sofa in the drawing room. "Heat some water and tend to his wounds," Gabriel ordered the housekeeper, who clicked her tongue in disapproval, but did as she was told. Gabriel left to fetch the doctor.

"Don't know why father Richard keeps bringing in folk like you," the woman said when she returned to the room and started cleaning the unconscious man's face. "I know yer lot, always gettin' drunk and picking fights in t' streets. It serves ye just right if ye ask me."