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Bess threw on her bedgown and went to summon Robert Bestnay. “Get William's doctor as fast as you can.”
When Dr. Turner arrived and examined his patient, he determined that Sir William had suffered a heart seizure. He gave him an opiate for the pain and warned him severely that he must rest.
Bess went downstairs with Turner. “Will he be all right?” she demanded frantically.
“Lady Cavendish, he must be kept quiet. This has been brought about by work and worry. If he does not have complete bed rest, he could suffer another heart seizure. I'll come again tomorrow.”
Bess was thoroughly alarmed, but she was also determined to follow the doctor's orders. She called the staff of the London house together and gave them their orders.
William slept heavily through the entire day and into the night. He awoke about midnight and asked Bess to come into bed with him. She got up from the chair beside the bed and slipped beneath the covers. She put her arms about him and held him close. She did not want to transfer her panic to him.
Finally, he spoke to her in a calm voice. “Bess … my Bessie, I love and adore you. I am so very sorry to leave you in such a mess.”
“William, you are not going to leave me, I won't let you!”
He smiled. How very like Bess to think she could order things the way she wanted. He knew he had been blessed the day he found her. He had taught her everything he knew about business. She had always had courage, but now she had confidence in herself as well. She was only twenty-nine years old—she had her whole life before her.
The next day Bess bathed him and fed him and forbade him to speak of their difficulties. By late afternoon she began to have a glimmer of hope that he would recover. In the evening he even teased her about being too bossy.
She went down to the kitchen to prepare him some soup laced with cream and wine. When she came back upstairs, she was furious to find him out of bed. Suddenly, William grabbed his chest and lurched forward. Bess screamed and ran to him. She knelt on the floor beside him and enfolded him in her arms. She held him until his body turned cold.
“No, William, no,” she whispered with trembling lips. She shivered over and over, then her whole body began to shake uncontrollably, as she was convulsed by racking dry sobs. Bess stared at him in disbelief. “Don't leave me, William … I cannot go on without you.”
