The Diary of Rikkard Ambrose

IX

Thursday, 1st January, 1835
11.44. Carter sat next to Lillian and it was not okay. He insists on talking to her, as well. This is inhumane.
11.56. I am tiring of Carter. Alas, Karim insists that the waste disposal squad would be too conspicuous here. 
16.32. I am bleeding again. Lillian is angry again. I do not deign to be angered by anything. I shall explain. At tea, my fraternal associate, Horacio, proposed a game of rugby. I was having a tea party with Octavia and Lillian, so naturally I declined. Lillian, however, would not hear of it. I insisted that rugby is not something I have done since my days at school in the Eton first team. However, Carter proposed him and Horacio against me and Nathan. It was an offer I could not refuse. Let us just say that it was not a typical game of rugby after the first few minutes. There may have been stray kicks to sensitive areas and a few fists flying about. Carter is the worst off, however. Inexplicably, he has a broken nose. Let it be noted that Nathan and myself were the victors.
16.42. Linton has come in to berate me. She now insists upon cleaning the gash on my cheek. It does not pain me and I rather believe that rinsing it of blood would be sufficient, but she has gone to fetch hot water and gauze. I hear her returning.
16.55. Lillian is more upset than I first believed. She claims to hate fighting. I do not know of what she speaks. I placed my hand on her face in a gesture of comfort and she pulled away. This is not good.
16.58. I fear I have broken a rib. It is no matter, however, it will heal in time. For the moment, it is a great discomfort and
17.22. I seem to have blacked out, but it is no matter. I shall just lie down and go through some papers until the time for dinner. I shall dress now, in order to be prepared to go down with Linton.
17.46. I have decided that I do not need to eat tonight. More importantly, I do not need to sit at a table for goodness knows how long and pretend to be interested in affairs of the estate. Most importantly, I do not need to leave the bed. The discomfort in my side is sustenance enough.
17.50. I never thought I would bleed or break bones for a woman.
18.50. Linton has come back to the room, to tell me that Carter is fine. It is news that I could do without. She is currently suggesting that I get ready to go down, as she has gone to change and says I must put on shoes. Even if I were planning on going down, I cannot reach my toes with my current discomfort.
18.54. Linton needs help with her dress and does not understand why I will not come to her. She is getting angrier by the minute.
18.56. Linton has threatened to go down naked if she cannot do her dress up. I refuse to give Carter that satisfaction.
18.57. In an unfortunate series of events, I am now in the floor. I fear I winced a little too loudly, as I can hear footsteps from the dressing room.
19.08. I have caused Linton to worry. I ordered her not to call a doctor, however, or worse, the lady of the house. She has belled for dinner to be sent up to us. She demanded that I tell her where the so-called "pain" is. She now wishes to inspect the area. That, however, would require me to undress and, as I have grown stiffer in the past hour, removing my shirt would prove even more of a discomfort. Additionally, Linton wears only a chemise and stockings and should a servant appear now, it would certainly not be kept a secret of any assumed nefarious deeds going on in this room. She insists that I get up and lie back down on the bed, but I refuse to move. She is coming over to move me herself.
19.21. Lillian is more convincing than I at first believed. There was a look in her eyes that denoted innocence. Then there was a series of swift movements. A few moments later, she was prodding the bruise. I had to grab her hand to get her to stop and I fear I may have hurt it.
19.36. I remain on the floor. Lillian was unable to lift me and the great deal of pushing evoked a few groans from me and my discomfort. She is lying next to me. The reason why is a long story, involving arguing, "equality" and stubbornness. She is incorrigible, in short. She is only wearing her chemise and stockings still, despite my insistence that she must put on something else, particularly as the person who delivered the food to us could have been a man. She refuses, however. Something about women's clothes being ridiculous. I have an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. I suspect Lillian is the cause. She is attempting to see what I am writing.
21.10. Neither of us has moved. I have noticed, however, that she has goose pimples. I shall give her my jacket and shirt. The ones that I am not wearing, thanks to her. This whole situation is becoming a farce. As soon as I can move, I shall get up.

Hi, everyone. I just want to comment on something quickly. Some people seem to be questioning the use of "lol" and hashtags etc, which is fine, you're free to do that, but I feel like the people who are confused don't really understand that those instances are just meant to be light-hearted jokes. I am aware that it's not historically accurate, but it amuses me and I'm hoping that it amuses a few other readers, too. Here endeth the slightly pass agg note.

Aside from that, thanks to everyone voting! - You guys are the real MVPs ;)
As always, would love to hear any comments, queries, criticisms, questions and suggestions and answer them as best I can.
See you in the comments, Ifrits.
Besos xx