Sylvester Part VI

When they reach port in Calais, Phoebe writes to her grandmother explaining what has happened, but she and Tom have very little money and think they will have to go to the British Embassy, so they will have to travel with Ianthe till they get to Paris. The Fotherbys lend them some clothes, and the journey starts but it is very hard on Edmund. He becomes travel sick in a coach as well as at sea, and Tom and Phoebe feel they cannot leave him. Phoebe reckons that Sylvester will soon come after the party and she wants to try and tell him that she did her best to stop the abduction of the child and looked after him. However, they have to stop because Ianthe becomes ill, she has influenza and is not able to go further. Sir Nugent wants to hire a whole inn for his party, but cannot find one with any rooms free, except a small one in a back street. The lady who runs it takes a fancy to Ianthe and is willing to look after her and fit the party into her small house. Ianthe is genuinely ill and she is not a stoic patient, and leaves Edmund to Phoebe's care. Nugent begins to get irritated with the child, who is cheeky and naughty and is not at all happy at being taken away from his home, his nurse and being made to travel which upsets him so much. Phoebe mildly encourages Edmund to be naughty to his stepfather hoping that it will make him less keen on the idea of the boy living with him. Within a couple of days, Sylvester arrives, and he is not in a good mood. He tells Phoebe that she has been very foolish in interfering and ending up in France, and that it was her silly novel that gave Ianthe the idea of taking her son away. He still blames her for the novel and the row they had at the ball, which caused so much talk and scandal. Phoebe is angry and tells Tom she won't go home with him but she did promise Edmund to look after him and stay with him. Sylvester tells Fotherby he is taking Edmund home, that he is the boy's guardian and in any case it is obvious that Edmund loves his uncle and would prefer to be with him. Sir Nugent is fed up with Edmund and more than willing to let him go home. Sylvester talks to Ianthe, and she says angrily that she never believed he cared for Harry, his brother all that much. He is utterly furious at her insensitive remark, and she gets scared of him. Cowed, she agrees to the child going back to him.... He tells her that he will be glad to see her at his house any time she wants to come and see Edmund, and that she can bring her husband.