Rumors Among the Heather (28 page)

“Yes, I can see that.
I would say she is in an exhaustive state, also. Not good, my
lady.”

Lady Catherine nodded
her head.

“This is very serious
indeed. She could lose the baby, her life, or both. You have
probably guessed by now it’s pneumonia. There is not a lot we can
do. It is mainly up to the patient. We can keep her as comfortable
as possible but not much more. You must try to keep her strength up
with good nourishing soups, no solids. We need to get the fever
down. I’ll leave you some medicine for her fever, with directions.
If she has trouble breathing, open up the windows and let as much
air in as possible. Sea air is a great restorative. Sometime
between five and eleven days, her crisis will come. Her fever will
come down, and she will start breathing easier after that—if we are
lucky. If not, then you understand… I’ll check back in tomorrow,”
Dr. Mudd said. He began repacking his bag. He left just as quickly
as he came.

Lady Catherine sat by
Julie’s bed, bathing her head in cool water and holding her hand
while she fought for her life. Two days later, Maggie returned from
Aberdeen and relieved her at Julie’s bedside. Julie fought on, her
fever raging.

* * *

On the fifth day,
sometime near daybreak, Julie’s fever broke, and she opened her
eyes to find both Lady Catherine and Maggie sitting beside her bed,
anxiously staring at her.

During their
celebration that she had awakened, the doctor arrived and confirmed
Julie had indeed reached her crisis and promised a good
recovery.

Foremost on Julie’s
mind was her unborn child. “Doctor, what about my child?”

Doctor Mudd said, “I
think I can relieve your mind, my dear. After examining you
thoroughly, I feel safe in saying the child is very active and
alive. I don’t think you have any worries. However, we’ll know more
when the baby is born.”

Julie was too weak to
stay awake for more than an hour or two at a time. Every time she
woke up, she found either Maggie or Lady Catherine waiting by her
bedside ready to stuff more food into her.

Her trunks arrived
with her new wardrobe. Maggie displayed her new clothes for her and
placed them in drawers or hung them up. Julie began to feel alive
again and restless. After napping so much during the day, she found
it impossible to sleep at night.

She spent the dark
hours thinking of Matthew and wanting to feel his touch. She lay
alone in her bed with her own personal demons. Too weak to get up,
she tossed and turned until she wore herself out. She felt if only
she could see Matthew and feel his touch just once more, she would
be strong enough to go on.

Lady Catherine arrived
each morning with a smile on her face and a cheery “Good morning,
dear.” She opened the windows and let in the fresh sea air. She
looked at Julie and shook her head. “You didn’t sleep much again
last night, did you?”

“I can’t seem to rest.
I think I’m all slept out. If I could just get up and walk around,
I think I could get my strength back sooner,” Julie said
wearily.

“You know what the
doctor said. You must rest. He will tell us when it is safe for you
to get up. You have to think of the baby too,” Lady Catherine
said.

She fluffed and tidied
Julie’s bed. “I know what we can do. Sometimes when I can’t sleep,
I just move to another bed. We’ll move you into Lord Blair’s room.
It has a nice view, and you can watch the sea from your bed. He
always enjoyed that room…” Her voice trailed off, lost in her own
thoughts and memories.

The servants carried
Julie on a chair to the other side of the house. And with a hive of
activity soon all her clothes were deposited in the new room. Huge
floor to ceiling mullioned windows with rounded tops did indeed
offer a breathtaking view.

Julie lay in her bed
and watched the sea. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of sailing
ships with their tall sails unfurled or sea gulls diving in the
breeze. The sunshine flooded her room with warmth. Less than two
weeks ago she’d felt she would never feel dry or warm again. If not
for the emptiness inside her that Matthew left, she would be the
happiest person alive.

She knew she would
have to face the rest of her life without him. Perhaps he would
miss her for a while, but then he would get on with his life just
as she would. There would always be a part of her that would be
empty. She laid her hand on her stomach and felt her baby move. She
smiled, thinking of the child that would fill her life, and she
knew she would always have a part of Matthew with her in this
child. She hoped in time he would hold a place in his heart for her
and not hate her as he did now.

* * *

Matthew and Ribble
arrived in the city of Aberdeen to find it overrun with soldiers
and opportunists looking for ways to collect the reward the king
offered for the Scottish rebels. The reward promised to make a
simple man wealthy. In the Highlands, a Scotsman would give his
life before he would betray his countrymen. These loyalties were
not to be found in the city, where everything had a price—including
loyalty.

Matthew and Ribble
made camp in the woods near the main road into Aberdeen. “Ye cannae
walk into town looking like ye do. Someone’s bound ta spot ye. Yer
face’ll be on posters all over the town. I was thinking I could go
into town alone and buy some old clothes and supplies for a
disguise. If we dressed differently, we could walk the streets
without too much notice. Aberdeen is a big place. What would it
matter if there were two more beggars on her streets?” Ribble
continued to poke at the fire without looking at Matthew.

“Go ahead first thing
in the morning. We need a way to walk about and ask questions
without people being suspicious,” Matthew said distractedly.

Matthew hated being
idle and not being in command of his life.
I think I’ll go mad
if I don’t find her soon. If she’s made it through, then I have to
know. Curse my stupid pride. I let her get away. If something has
happened to her, I’ll have to live with that on my conscience. I
don’t know if I can. I have to find her and apologize for the hurt
I’ve caused her.

Somehow, I have to
make her see how much I love her.

Julie was his reason
for being here. He thought she might come this way. He lay awake
half the night thinking.
She could be anywhere, even under my
nose. If she sees me first, she’ll hide. What will I do if I never
see her again? Since we’ve been apart, I wonder if she has thought
of me with anything but hate. I know I deserve it, but if I could
just find her and make sure she is all right and cared for, then
I’ll leave her alone. It would be the best for her…and me.

He kept telling
himself this, but he wasn’t sure if he believed it.

Ribble left in the
morning. He took both horses with him to sell in the town. They had
nowhere to stable and feed them. He returned that afternoon with
food and supplies. After considering their plans, they decided not
to clean up. Their slovenly appearance would only add to their
disguises.

Ribble had visited a
theatrical company and obtained a beard for Matthew until he could
grow one, and a makeup kit. Matthew put streaks of gray in his
beard and hair using a powder obtained from the theatrical company.
He exchanged his clothes for the ones Ribble bought from the
secondhand store. He swapped his well-made comfortable Hessian
boots, shined with loving care by Ribble’s own hands, for
rough-made boots that had never seen polish and contained holes in
the soles. He leaned on a crutch and took inches off his height. No
one would recognize him as the fashionable gentleman he had once
been. Not even his own mother could have identified him.

Ribble also exchanged
his clothes for the shabby secondhand apparel he brought from the
town. His clothes were not as well made as Matthew’s, but they were
of good quality as befitted his station in life. His boots were a
source of pride to Matthew’s valet, and he knew it galled him to
have to take them off. Reluctantly, Ribble pulled on the rough,
shoddy boots of a beggar. He combed his hair down in his face and
placed a patch over one eye. With the help of the actors’ makeup
kit, he put a scar across his cheek. When he held his jaw a little
slack, it changed his appearance even more so.

Matthew hobbled while
Ribble walked slowly behind him, dragging one foot and carrying a
tin cup. Together they passed without notice of the redcoats
milling around the entrance to Aberdeen. They lost themselves in
the crowds dotting the city’s bustling thoroughfares.

Instead of eating in
the best restaurants as Matthew once had, he and Ribble ate from
the food vendors positioned along the streets. The food was usually
greasy and of poor quality, but it filled the void while they
roamed the streets looking in each shop for a glimpse of Julie.

They waited in
doorways during the day and just watched the people on the streets.
Ribble held out his tin cup to each passerby, and each time one put
a coin in his cup he chuckled. It worried Matthew at how well he
had taken on his role of beggar.

By night, they
gathered around the communal fires in the different parts of town.
Warming their hands, they tried to talk to some of the homeless
people, but they found them unwilling to speak to strangers. Some
appeared scared or confused and some were simply hostile.

* * *

They had now been in
the city for a week, and they were getting nowhere. No one seemed
to have heard of Lady Catherine Blair, and it was impossible to
describe Julie so that she appeared recognizable from a hundred
other boys on the streets. Discouraged, Matthew decided to try
another town.

They started walking,
determined to cover methodically each town in a fifty-mile radius
of Aberdeen. Mrs. Parsons said the town was near Aberdeen. Perhaps
Julie knew the name of the town and headed there, not stopping in
the larger city.

In some places they
were shunned or run out of town. In others, children threw rocks at
them or they were chased by village dogs. In a few towns they were
simply ignored. Even the few residents they found who would answer
their questions knew nothing of Lady Blair. Some had heard the name
but could not remember where she lived. They continued their search
going north and then working their way west and south.

After four months,
they made their way to Banchory, south of Aberdeen, and stopped to
rest in the shade of a tree before going into town. While they lay
resting in the shade, a peddler woke them up coming down the road
with pots and pans banging against each other, causing an awful
din. He too decided to seek the shade of the oak for a short
rest.

“Shove off, peddler,”
Ribble growled. “Sit downwind of us, ye old mud turtle. The stench
of ye offends me nib.”

Not to be outdone nor
moved from his spot the peddler replied, “From where I sit, I would
not mistake ye for a rose garden. At least me sweat comes from
honest work, not begging for me bread.”

Ribble grabbed the
peddler by his collar and yelled in his face, “I ken the difference
between an honest beggar and robbing people with yer high-priced
wares. I am what I am. I dinnae dress up and walk among gentle folk
and rob ’em blind.”

He started to throw
the distressed peddler out into the road, but Matthew came between
them and caught Ribble by the shoulder. Still growling and
muttering to himself, he let the peddler go and returned to the
shade. The peddler collapsed beside Matthew.

Matthew offered the
man a drink from his bottle. The peddler gladly accepted, but he
did so keeping one eye on Ribble at all times.

“Where do ye peddle
your wares?” Matthew questioned. What better person to ask about
Julie than someone who made a living traveling from town to
town.

“I travel the ways and
byways of all o’ Scotland. I visit farmhouses and villages for
miles around. If’n ye got the brass, I have just what ye’re
needin’.”

“I’m looking for
someone who came through here maybe four months ago. It’s my son.
He ran away from home, and now I have to fetch him back. Thinks to
run out on his old da,” Matthew whined. “Could be ye seed him? He
looks like any other boy exceptin’ he’s got big green eyes and kind
of copper-colored hair. That being the first thing people notice
about him. He ought to be in this area somewhere.”

“This boy of your’n,
would he be a wee bit cheeky?” the peddler asked suspiciously.

“It sounds like the
lad. Do ye remember where he was going?” Matthew asked with renewed
hope.

The peddler rubbed his
chin. “Ye ken, a peddler sells many things.” He watched Matthew for
a reaction. “I’m a poor man. I have ta make me living where I
can.”

“Would this gold coin
help your memory, old man?” Matthew asked.

He held the coin in
his hand for the peddler to see. The peddler’s eyes glittered when
he snatched the coin away and bit it to make sure it was real.
Quickly, with stealth, the coin disappeared in his pocket quicker
than a cat could lick its paw. “I like a man who knows what he
wants and how to get it. Let me see. I remember this one lad asking
the way to Stonehaven. I cannae be held responsible if it ain’t the
same lad. He did have green eyes, but he dinnae give me a name.
Very rude he was, come to think of it.”

“Thanks, peddler, keep
the bottle. We must be on our way,” Matthew said.

He tapped Ribble on
the shoulder and motioned for him to follow. They had many miles to
go before they would be in the vicinity of Stonehaven. It could be
another wild goose chase. Matthew tried to prepare himself for
this, but the excitement welling up in him gave him hope for the
first time since he’d started this journey.

They stopped in
Portlethen at the only tavern in the village, and were able to get
a room for the night. For a consideration, the chambermaid agreed
to clean their clothes and draw a bath for both men.