The Hands of Time (15 page)

“When the
Flux
had come, Rose was still locked in her room, so she never got ill.  She would not help with the
nursing
,
or even say goodbye to
‘
er parents as they lay dying.  Mr. Charles begged for her, but she would not come to him and comfort him
as a sister should
.  He was just a little boy, scared and lonely
and in need of some comfort
.  By the time Mr. Alec and Mr. Finn came back, she was gone.  She left
‘
em a letter
,
saying she was going to a convent in France to serve Our Savior and not to bother trying to contact her.  She was taking a vow of silence
and renouncing the outside world
.  They needed her
‘
ere and she abandoned them with a small child and eight corpses to bury.  No one has heard from her since.”

Mrs. Dobbs spat in disgust
,
and poured me another cup of tea.  Clearly she didn’t think much of saving yourself for the Lord.  Truthfully, neither did I.  I could understand why the brothers never mentioned Rose.  What was there to say?  I thanked Mrs. Dobbs for the tea and went back.  I
’
d
promised
to help Alec
to balance
his ledger.  He was overjoyed to find that I had a
head
for numbers, since he hated
accounting
.  I was only too happy to help.  It gave me something to do and helped the time go by while Finlay was away.

Chapter
2
4

I woke up the following
morning
to rain lashing the windows
,
the room lost in shadow.  We had enjoyed a spell of wonderful weather, but today looked like a monsoon was coming
,
with pouring rain and gusty winds that made the rain look as if it was falling horizontally and sent branches flying past the windows.  I snuggled into the coverlet
,
permitting myself
another half
a
n hour in bed.  I didn’t finish the ledger yesterday, but there was no rush
since
Alec was no doubt still asleep.  I hadn’t heard him come down. 

There was a knock on the door
,
and Nell edged her way into the room bearing a tray laden with tea and freshly baked scones.  “Mrs. Dobbs sent up some tea on acc
ount of the weather.  Thought ye
might like a lie-in.”  She set the tray down on the table by the window and took her leave without another word. 
The girl had been more sour than usual lately
,
making me wonder
if something was wrong.  Maybe she felt a little left out since her brother would be marrying Betty in the near future
,
and things would change at home.  I wondered if perhaps she would be a good match for Robbie in due time, but she didn’t seem interested in him any more than he was interested in her.  She was still very young and probably going through some growing pains. 

Mrs. Dobbs was qui
te
right, I thought
, as I poured steaming tea into a fine china cup
,
adding a splash of
fresh cream and reaching for a scone
.  I would like a lie-in, right after
I had my decadent breakfast
.  I was amazed
that
I hadn’t gained weight, eating like I did. 
The tea was surprisingly sweet, but I didn’t mind
, as I took a sip
and bit into the buttery scone, filled with blueberries freshly picked in the woods by Nell. 
I finished my breakfast and went back to bed, falling asleep again and waking up only when a branch struck my window making me jump up with fright. 

It was almost noon, so I got dressed and went downstairs to find Alec.  He was already in his study, staring at the ledger and running his hands through his
h
air in frustration. 

“Oh, good, you are here. 
Look
at this.  I just cannot reconcile the figures and it’s driving me mad.” 

He did indeed look mad
, so
I took over the
ledger
, starting from the beginning.  I must have been working for about twenty
minutes
when I felt a strange pain in my stomach. 
Too many scones
, I chided myself and tried to
concentrate
on the figures.  My head was beginning to hurt
,
and I had a hard time seeing the figures on the page.  I looked up at Alec and saw the alarm on his face.

“Valerie?  Are you ill?” 

“Just a slight headache, no doubt brought on by your slopp
y
accounting.  I’ll be all right in a moment.”  I closed my eyes
,
and leaned back against the chair
rubbing my temples
.  Another sharp pain tore through my belly
,
as
a wave of nausea overwhelm
ed
me.  I had just enough time to turn away from the desk
,
before
throwing
up
all over
the
floor. 
I wrapped my arms around my middle trying to stop the pain ripping through me
,
and nearly fell out of the chair in the process. 
Alec was at my side in a moment, lifting me out of the chair and carrying me up to my room, gently depositing me on the bed and calling for Betty through the open door.

“Tell Robbie to go for the doctor right away.”

Betty gave him a doubtful look.  “The road will be impassable from this hard rain.  It will take hours.”

“Do as I say,” he roared at her, scaring her into action.  Betty ran out of the room, presumably to go find Robbie, but I didn’t care.  My head was pounding as if someone took a sledgehammer to it and my guts were twisting and churning, making me
writhe
on the bed in agony.  All this was punctuated by
vomiting
,
despite the fact that surely there was nothing left in my stomach.  Alec held my head over a basin and wiped my face with a
damp
towel after every bout, smoothing my hair out of my face.  I could hear him praying quietly when he thought I do
z
ed off
, asking God to spare me.
  I was slipping in and out of
consciousness
,
and thought I had seen Nell pe
e
king through the door once or twice, but couldn’t be sure. 

It was almost fully dark outside
,
a single candle
burning
on the bedside table, casting shadows across Alec’s worried face.  Oh, God, I thought, was this the bloody flux that killed the rest of the family?  Is that what Alec thought it was?  I could feel my stomach roiling
,
and I needed to use the chamber pot, but didn’t want to do it in front of Alec.  I begged him to leave
,
so
he sent in Betty to help me, waiting until he was allowed back in the room. 
We repeated this procedure half a dozen times
,
before I thought I would simply die of pain and
embarrassment
.  I was so dizzy that I could barely even sit on the pot, much less get back into bed
,
and Betty did her best to assist me. 

I have no idea what time the doctor finally showed up.  The man was dripping wet
,
casting resentful looks at Alec as he ordered him to leave the room so he could examine me in private.  By this time
,
I was so weak and dehydrated that I didn’t care if he sawed me in half.  I just hoped he could do something to help me. 
He pushed and prodded, making me moan with pain until he finally called Alec back in.

“Is it the flux, Dr. Marsh?”  Alec looked grave in the
candlelight
and I hoped for his sake it wasn’t.

“I
do not
believe so, Mr. Whitfield.  It appears that Mistress Crane has been poisoned.  A large dose of arsenic, meant to kill her.  She
could not
have ingested that by mistake.  Someone had to have intentionally given it to her.  I believe that she has purged most of it by
vomiting
, but some is still in her system.  She should be better by morning.  She needs fluids and I will have her bled now
,
and once again tomorrow before I leave.”

“No,” I moaned.  “No bleeding.”  The doctor gave me an irritated look and turned back to Alec
, ignoring me
.

“I
do not believe
the fetus has been harmed.  The heartbeat is strong and it should pull through.”

“The fetus?”  Alec asked
,
bemused.

“Yes.  You didn’t know she was with child?  About six weeks I
would
say.  I
do not
think the arsenic had a chance to enter Mistress Crane’s bloodstream, so the baby should be fine.  Congratulations,
sir
.”

“Ah, thank you.  It
isn’t
my child.  It’s my brother
’
s,” he mumbled
,
trying to absorb the idea that someone tried to kill me.

The doctor took out a metal basin and a fleam
out of his leather satchel
, tying a tourniquet around my arm.  I tried to struggle, but I was too
feebl
e to throw off
Alec
, who
held me down as the doctor punctured the skin and tapped into my vein.  Crimson blood flowed into the basin, making me feel sick again
,
and bringing on a bout of dry heaves.  Alec wiped my face, whispering endearments to me to the
astonishment
of the doctor.  He rearranged his face into a bland expression
,
and continued with the bleeding.  I hoped the fleam had at least been clean
ed
before passing out once again.

Chapter
2
5

I woke up
the following morning
to
find weak
sunshine streaming through my window.  The rain had passed
,
leaving
the sky a washed
-
out shade of blue, dotted with thick clouds lazily floating by.  Alec was sprawled in a chair next to my bed sound asleep, his hair
tousled
,
and his jaw covered by the stubble of a day
-
old beard.  His shirt bore evidence of my struggle
with
blood, vomit and
G
od knows what else covering the once white fabric.  He looked exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes and deep lines around his mouth.    I took a mental inventory of my organs
,
and I thought I could account for most of them.  My stomach felt raw and hollow
,
and even the thought of food brought on a wave of nausea which I managed to fight down, proud of my self
-
control.  My head still ached, but more dully now,
and
my eyes
were
sensitive to the light.  I put a hand on my heart
,
counting the beats.  My heartbeat was shallow and muffled, but steady. 

Suddenly, the memory of last night hit me like a bolt of lightning.  Did the doctor say I was pregnant or was it my fevered imagination?  He said something about the fetus being strong.  I felt a ray of hope, praying I hadn’t dreamed the whole thing.  I would ask Alec when he woke.  On the other hand, the doctor also said something about someone trying to kill me.  Did I dream that too?  Who would want to kill me
,
and why?  I closed my eyes and lay back quietly.  Surely
,
I had dream
ed
the whole thing. 
There was no baby and no killer
, j
ust my hallucinations.  I wished Finn w
ould come
;
but no, he was in Plymouth looking for a priest.  I couldn’t remember what that was for.  My head felt stuffed with cotton
,
so
I closed my eyes allowing myself to drift off on a cloud of white wool, floating through the sky toward the gold
en
rays of the sun.

By the time I came to again, Betty was sitting in the chair in place of Alec and the doctor was bending over me
,
listening to my chest and
palpating
my stomach.  It still felt as if someone had scoured it with steel wool, but I didn’t feel as
nauseous
,
and my eyes did not tear up at the light.  I saw the doctor taking out the fleam again and tried to sit up.