AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ah, indeed.”
“Annis, there you are.” A male voice wafts out, one that sounds oddly hollow, as if it is accustomed to booming but can no longer manage that. “Where have you been? Who is that—? What ishedoing in my house? Damn it, woman, at least wait until I’m dead before you bring that half-breed bastard through my door.”
I pick up speed as Annis says she has invited Gray to perform a medical examination.
“Examine me? Speed me on my way more like.”
I finally reach the room. It looks like… Okay, I have no idea what purpose this room would serve. I’d say it’s a sitting room, but we passed two others that also looked like sitting rooms.
This one definitely has a masculine air to it, complete with dead-animal heads on the wall.
Oh, wait, the dead critters aren’t only on the walls. There’s a meerkat rearing in the corner and a cobra posed midstrike and— Holy shit, is that a tiger? Yep, there’s an actual stuffed tiger, snarling. Or I presume it’s supposed to be snarling, but the creature seems to be howling in outrage at being turned into a daybed.
A man lies in that daybed. He’s big—he’d likely match Gray in height and build if he were standing. Gray-haired and handsome, probably in his midfifties. I’d expected him to be older. Maybe that’s a stereotype for a guy who married a woman climbing the social ladder.
Lord Leslie is also dying. I don’t need to be a doctor to see that. His breathing is labored, his skin sallow, eyes dull, and he seems to holding on by sheer willpower. Or maybe it’s just spite, given the way he’s glaring at Annis.
“Duncan,” Annis says. “Please examine my husband.”
The shadows in the room shift, and I realize there are other people there. It’s night, obviously, but the single oil lamp only illuminates Lord Leslie. Also, I may have mistaken the other two people for more dead animals.
One is Helen. The other is a man. In his case, I’d seen only a long shadow in front of a shadowy wall trophy, and I mistook him for an elephant’s trunk.He’s not quite that thin, but when he does move into the light, I can’t help thinking he exactly matches my mental picture of an undertaker. A thin wraith with white hair and a pale hound-dog face.
“Yes, Dr. Mackay?” Annis snaps. “You wish to register your objection? Feel free, but be sure to offer supporting evidence for whatever claim you are about to make about my brother. Have you heard anything to suggest faulty medical skills?”
The man starts to open his mouth, but Annis cuts him short. “If you are about to say he is not licensed, we acknowledge that. That is why you are present to oversee this examination. Ultimately, you are his physician, which is probably why he is about to die.”
Sarah sighs audibly.
Annis continues, “My brother graduated second in his medical class. He would have been first, if the other boy’s parents hadn’t made a significant contribution to the college.”
Gray clears his throat. “That is not exactly true. We were well matched in—”
“You were robbed.”
I look from Annis to Gray. Isn’t this the woman who called him a “dunce” an hour ago?
“My brother would have made a first-rate physician,” Annis says, “if duty did not require him to take over the family business.”
“Duty and a small matter of grave robbery,” Lord Leslie wheezes.
I look at Gray, whose face is studiously blank.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Annis snaps. “A plot perpetrated by those who could not bear to see a brown-skinned man become a proper doctor.”
Gray still says nothing, which makes me suspect that’s not the entirety of the story.
Annis turns to Dr. Mackay. “Doyouhave a problem acknowledging the medical skills of a man who looks like my brother?”
As Dr. Mackay blusters, I grudgingly award Annis points for manipulation. She’s defending Gray because, in this moment, it behooves her to play the proud sister, supporting her maligned brother.
Do you have a problem with his skin color, Dr. Mackay?
This may be a very different time period, but even if Dr. Mackay were a full-blown bigot, he might still not daresayhe has a problem with it.
“Lord Leslie?” Gray says, his tone even, expression unreadable. “I amgoing to examine you now. Dr. Mackay is here to confirm that I am doing nothing else.”
Gray unbuttons and then removes his frock coat. “As you can see, I conceal nothing.”
