AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Harry scooped Bianca up into his arms and cradled her to his chest. There on the entranceway floor, he rocked her close, murmuring words of encouragement and love and growing desperation as he kept an ear cocked toward the open door in hopes of hearing Mr. Somers return with a doctor in tow.
Tina arrived first, with Goose at her side.
“None of the other apples have puncture marks or smell funny,” Tina murmured to Harry. “We threw them out anyway.”
He grunted. “Good.”
To the devil with Lady Quinseley! Whether Bianca pulled through or not, Harry intended to march the wicked countess before the magistrate and—
Oh, God, what if Bianca didn’t pull through?
Carriage wheels sounded outside. Harry snapped his head toward the open door. It was not Mr. Somers’ coach, but a hackney. A distinguished older man with a surgeon’s leather tool case exited the carriage.
“What happened to Mr. Somers?” Tina asked in confusion.
“Who cares?” Harry growled. “Help is finally here.”
“I’m Dr. Mayhew,” said the surgeon when he reached the threshold. “May I see the patient?”
“You can do more than see her,” Harry said stiffly. “I expect you to save her.”
“I shall do my best.” Dr. Mayhew set his tool case down beside Harry and knelt to the floor. “I don’t mean to be indelicate about such matters, but are you able to pay for my services? Colleagues have warned me that your father—”
Harry shoved his hand into his pocket, pulled out his mother’s ring, and slapped it into the doctor’s open hand. “Solid gold should do.”
Tina gasped. “But that was to be Bianca’s wedding ring!”
“Not if she never wakes up,” Harry said grimly.
The doctor closed his fingers around the ring, sighed, then handed it back. “Give me the girl and a bit of space, if you don’t mind.”
Harry made the transfer and scrambled back out of Dr. Mayhew’s way. “If she dies, you die.”
Tina grabbed his arm. “You cannot threaten doctors who—”
“It is no idle threat. It is a solemn vow.”
To his credit, Dr. Mayhew did not allow the threat of impending homicide to distract him from examining his patient and the apple that she had consumed.
“It’s laudanum,” he said grimly. “The apple appears to have been soaked in it.”
“Laudanum,” Harry repeated. Soldiers and civilians alike took droplets of the stuff to curb pain and banish insomnia.
“It’s not usually fatal in low doses,” the surgeon explained to Tina. “But since we don’t know how much Miss White has consumed… ”
“What can be done to counteract its ill effects?” Harry demanded.
“Nothing,” Dr. Mayhew replied. “All we can do now is wait and see.”
CHAPTER26
Bianca was floating face-down in the still waters of a vast sea, gazing sightlessly into the endless dark depths stretching before her.
There was something she was supposed to do, something she needed to remember, but all she could think about was the devastating news that there was no dowry after all. No reason for Harry to still want to marry her.
She would be a maidservant for the rest of her life. Perhaps to the Gladwells, if she was lucky. To someone like Lady Quinseley, if she were not. Lady Quinseley… Was that what she was supposed to remember?
“… if you would only just… ” A muffled pause. “…please… ”
