Cece & Allen | At the Clinic
A few tablets of aspirin would have to do for the pain this morning. Although Allen had acquiesced to take laudanum overnight, come dawn, his head felt groggy and his stomach sick. Even bed-bound, he had business to attend to today with Alex Tyrell and, hopefully, the pleasure of Cecily Moreau's company. The very idea that a celebrity of her stature should visit him in a little clinic in Glynn, Aurelle seemed preposterous; if he wrote to his mother and told her it had happened, she might ask if it was the laudanum that made him believe it was so. In a surprising turn of events, it seemed that coming to Glynn might have been much better for his career than he could have ever predicted... putting aside what he'd stupidly done to his own knee, of course.
Despite the fact that Allen could think of a hundred things that a lady might do, even in Glynn, other than visit a laid-up, no-class Marshal, Cecily had said that she was coming, so Allen did his best to straighten up. A lady could always choose whether or not to call on a gentleman, but if she said she was coming, a gentleman ought to be prepared to greet her. Or at least, in Allen's case, come as close to prepared as he could manage today.
The make-up face lotion that Dr. Rosier had given him the last time he'd gotten into a fight came in handy in this regard. He was getting better at hiding the shadows of bruises on his face and overall keeping himself from looking so disreputable around the high-class folks. He had tried to shave, but using his straight razor was impossible with a bowl full of warm water in his lap and his cheek still a swollen mess from Courtenay's fist connecting with it. Allen always preferred to be clean-shaven, but his best would have to suffice for now. He changed into a clean undershirt and a pressed button-down shirt -- not that it would matter in a few hours, since he would be sitting up in bed for most of the day -- and settled in to write a few notes to family at home until, hopefully, company might arrive.