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But they had never been welcome at Poldene, Sarah finished silently. And they were aware of it, though the matter had not been discussed. Sarah hadn’t insisted on a visit. Should she have? She might have managed it, after a great fuss. But if Lady Trestan had received them as she had Sarah, with careless contempt… Sarah set her jaw. There would have been more than a shouting match, she thought. “Kenver appreciated your note,” she replied.
“He must be very worried.”
“He is. I can’t bear to see him so sad, Mama.”
“No?”
“It is breaking my heart.”
Her mother actually seemed pleased with this remark, which was a little odd.
“I have to do something!” Sarah clenched her fists in frustration.
“You do?”
“Yes, of course. Anything! How could I not?”
Her mother’s kind eyes were more eloquent than words. She smiled, making Sarah realize how much she had missed that loving gaze. She would visit here more often!
She reached out a hand. Her mother took it and squeezed. “I’ve come to you for advice,” Sarah continued. “You know about herbs. You’ve seen many people through illnesses. I thought you might know of something.”
“I will do whatever I can.” Her mother looked grave. “Tell me about Lord Trestan’s condition.”
Sarah described the symptoms she had seen and what the nurse had done for him.
“Ah, laudanum is not so good because it prevents coughing, you see.”
“But the coughs are so violent. They leave him utterly exhausted.” Sarah shivered. The earl’s paroxysms were painful to watch.
Her mother nodded. “Yes, but there is a reason for them. He needs to be rid of the phlegm clogging his lungs and making it difficult to breathe.”
“So he must cough?” Sarah asked. It seemed a cruel fate.
“To expel the phlegm,” her mother replied. “But if it is thinned out, he will make less effort, and his coughing will be more effective.”
“Thinned?”
“Yes. I have a recipe for barley water with honey and ginger and peppermint that has been helpful in such cases.”
“And it will cure him?”
“I can’t promise you that, Sarah. I am no physician. But it will certainly not harm him and might do him good.”
“We will try it.”
“You would need to stop the laudanum,” her mother added.
This presented a difficulty. Sarah thought of the doctor who dismissed her questions, the nurse who took orders only from him. They would not listen to her. Dr. Greel would care nothing for her mother’s experience.
“They might not wish to do that,” said her mother, as if she’d read Sarah’s thoughts.
“The doctor and the nurse have given up on Lord Trestan,” Sarah replied. “They believe he’s dying.” Indeed, she had the feeling that Mrs. Dillon was administering larger doses of laudanum to keep the earl quiet until he expired. “They’ve said so.”
Her mother looked concerned. “The attitude in a sickroom can have a great effect,” she said. “I have seen it more than once. But, Sarah…”
“I will talk it over with Kenver.”
“And the countess, of course.”
