After nearly three months of being wrapped up in a splint, Nico's arm felt stiff and tender when he touched it or tried to move it. Doctor Aesculapius said he would soon regain the use of it. He also told Nico that fresh air and exercise would help with the healing process.
Nico performed his daily walk more out of duty than pleasure. The first few days of December were a succession of frosty mornings, drizzly afternoons, and icy nights: the type of days when one would prefer to stay inside, curled up by the fire. Still, Nico put on his thick boots and heavy woolen cloak and traipsed across the estate during the hour before dinner.

He sometimes came across Solace during his afternoon strolls. The hermit would smile and wave as he passed and trampled back towards his hermitage. They had not spoken much since the performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. To his surprise, Nico missed the hermit's insolence.
Nico's usual path through the grounds of the Skye Estate was lacquered with damp, autumn leaves. Some of them stuck to his boots. He stopped by a tree to peel them off.  The path in front of him led down to the main road. A coatless figure shivered and trudged down the road in Nico's direction. The poor devil must be a beggar, so Nico walked over to see if he could offer any assistance.
He walked closer and recognized Solace's mop of straw-colored curls and scruffy, sandy beard.
The hermit's clothes looked dirtier and more disheveled than usual and his left eye was nearly swollen shut due to bruising.
"What happened to you?" Nico said.
"I...I..." Solace replied.
"You're shivering. Here."
Nico removed his cloak and threw it over Solace's shoulders.
"Let's get you back home before you catch a chill."

The walk to the hermitage tested Nico endurance. He was already exhausted and nearly frozen without his cloak. Solace followed behind him without saying anything. He kept his eyes lowered to the ground and wrapped himself up in Nico's clock.
The bushes around the hermitage were bare. They were covered in yellow roses when Nico had taken a walk there a few months earlier.
Solace had scolded him for picking some of the roses.  Now there were no more roses and Solace was quiet. What a difference those months had made.
When they passed through the front door of the hermitage, Solace lit a fire in the brick hearth.
"Sit by the fire, " he said to Nico. "You look like a walking icicle."
There's the old teasing.
"That's because I gave you my cloak, " Nico replied.  He took a seat on a wooden stool.
Once a fire was crackling in the hearth, Solace sat down on his wooden cot, kicked off his boots, and snuggled under a homemade quilt.
"When the water starts boiling, mix it with some whiskey. That'll warm you up."
A kettle hung over the fire. It began to whistle and Nico walked over to remove it. A plank of wood ran across the top of the hearth by way of a mantelpiece, which held several books.

"These are medical texts. You said you studied medicine in Edinburgh?"
"Aye... Fix me a toddy as well while you're at it."
Nico poured two tumblers of whiskey and mixed them with hot water. He brought one over to Solace.

"Ah...There's a good lad."
"What happened to you?" Nico pulled his stool up to the bed.  "Why did you go out without a coat? How did you get that bruise?"
Solace took a long drink from his hot toddy. Nico sipped from his own hot toddy. It filled his body with a comforting warmth.
"A pair of robbers attacked me when I went for a walk near the edge of the estate.  I tried to fight them off and got this bruise for my efforts. They ran off with my coat."
"Robbers on His Grace's property?" Nico imagined that he must look like a fox caught by a hound. "That is an outrage. They should be hung or transported to Australia."
"The last laugh's on them, anyway. The coat isn't worth much and there wasn't anything of value in the pockets."
"Tell me what the rascals look like and I'll see that His Grace sends the magistrate after them."
Solace inched closer to the edge of the bed. His nearness made Nico feel as he had a fever. He would not have to reach far to touch Solace's beard and mustache. Would his facial hair feel rough and scratchy or soft and silken?
"They were a couple of big, ugly bastards, " Solace said. "Brothers by the looks of them-nothing much to tell them apart. Both of them had eyes like a snake and long, matted hair. I think one of them had a green band around his hat and the other wore a purple neckcloth."
"I'll relay this information to His Grace." Nico up from his stool and placed his empty glass on the table. "I have a coat you could use. It might be a bit tight on you but It'll do until you can get a new one."
"That's very kind of you."
"I'm sorry you had to go through all this."
Solace laughed.
"This is hardly the worst thing to ever happen to me, my dear fellow."
He looked up at the medical books on his mantelpiece.
"I'm sorry if this is impertinent but what was the worst thing to happen to you?"
"You're right. That is an impertinent question."
"When you put the splint on my arm, you said that you had studied medicine in Edinburgh but life got in the way. Does that have anything to do with it?"
Solace lay back and rested his head on the pillow.
"Aye, you're a smart little brat."
Little brat, that was what he had called him the first time they met.
"I got involved with somebody I shouldn't have...that's the short of it."
"A married woman? The daughter of someone important?"
Solace avoided meeting Nico's eyes. His face looked as red as a beet.
"The son of the university's dean and he is married."
"Oh."
Nico felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach
"You're scandalized, aren't you?"
"I can see why you had to leave Edinburgh."
"And why I ran away to become a hermit?"
Greek love was an abomination to both gods and men. The least Solace could expect was a jail sentence if he had been caught.
"Keep warm, Mr. Solace." Nico threw on his cloak and started for the door. "I'll send my coat over this evening."
Solace's fingers intertwined with Nico's. Nico lifted his hand so he could touch Solace's mouth; his mustache felt rough and scratchy but his beard was soft and downy. 
"Excuse me. I have to leave."

The world seemed to spin around Nico as he walked back to the castle. His heart throbbed and pounded in his ears and he felt like he was coming down with a fever.
"Please don't faint like a silly girl in a silly novel, " he said to himself.
Oh God, why did Solace have this effect on him?  Such feelings as Solace inspired in him were immoral and unnatural or so Nico tried telling himself.  As much as he tried to smother them, they would not die.
Nico found Hazel in the castle's main gallery. She stood with Zhang by the door of the drawing-room.  Hazel had also just come from a walk. Zhang helped remove her rose-colored cloak and large, feathered and be-ribboned hat.

He did not wear his usual Chinese garb but a green English style suit.

"Miss Levesque...Hazel..." he said. "I have a present for you."
Hazel's golden eyes lit up at the word present. The skirt of her white dress rustled as she turned to Zhang.

"Mr. Zhang, you are too kind, " she said.
Zhang reached into the pocket of his waistcoat and pulled out a small box, which Hazel eagerly opened. The box contained a pair of jade earrings.

"Where did you get these?"
"They belonged to my mother. I probably should have sold them when I left China and came to England but I didn't have the heart to, " he got down on one knee and Hazel gasped. "I know a ring is more customary but I hoped these earrings would belong to my future wife."
Hazel leaped up and kissed him which served as her answer.
"Mr. Zhang," Nico cut in. "May I have a word with you?"
He put a hand on the Chinese's shoulder and tried to lead him somewhere private to talk.
"Whatever you have to say to him," Hazel replied. "You can say in front of me."
"You're a good man and I have the highest respect for you but my sister is not yet sixteen, still a little young to marry. And there's the question of Hazel's freedom."
"What does he mean?" Zhang asked Hazel.
"When my father took me away from Louisiana, " she said. "He bought me rather than freed me. I'm still technically a slave and I cannot marry unless my father frees me and he'll only consent to do so if he approves of my future husband."
"And you don't think he'll approve of me?"
"I don't know."
"I'm not saying that your happiness is impossible, " Nico added. "Just that there are a few hurdles to jump first."
"Keep the earrings, " Zhang said to Hazel. He took her hand and kissed it. "Wear them to the ball tomorrow as a promise that we'll be able to see this through."
"I will, " Hazel replied.