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Me.
He shook off the guilt as Dr. Stevens arrived at his side. “She is a beautiful child, isn’t she?”
“Yes. But even ugly children should not be treated like this.”
Dr. Stevens looked at him, her brows raised. “I agree.” She dipped a linen cloth into a pan of warm, soapy water and began to wash the girl off.
Edwin reached out and took the cloth from her. “Here, let me do that while you begin to treat her injuries.”
What the devil was he doing? Here he was member of the ton, a peer, and he was washing the filthy body of a street urchin? My how the mighty have fallen. The Bible verse popped into his head. Bibles, church, and living a good, respectable life was far behind him. Too far to return.
But was it?
“You have a gentle touch, my lord.” Dr. Stevens smiled at him as she proceeded to wash the child’s cuts and scrapes.
“May I suggest that since we are standing here together, working on a small, abused child that we do away with the ‘my lord?’ My given name is Edwin.”
If she had felt insulted by his suggestion, she did not show it. In fact, she surprised him. Without taking her eyes off her work, she said, “And you may call me Rayne.”
“An unusual name.” For an unusual woman, he thought, but didn’t add.
“Yes. I believe my father named me in anticipation that he would not father any sons and wanted at least one of his children to follow in his footsteps.” She wrung out the cloth and dipped it into the bowl of clean water. “You see, he believed with my name I might be confused for a male and be able to trick my way into medical school.”
“Ah. And I’m assuming it worked?”
She laughed. He loved the sound of her laughter, especially because it was so seldom that she let loose. From what he’d seen, hers was a very staid, serious life. She needed to enjoy life more.
And I need to enjoy it less.
“Yes. Since I am a doctor, you can assume it worked. However, it wasn’t easy. The people in charge of the school were not happy to find they had admitted a woman. They tried to withdraw the acceptance, but they had no grounds except that I was female.
“Then my professors and classmates tried their best to subvert my efforts. I studied more, spent more hours taking notes at clinicals, did more extra credit work, but still I was considered second class.” She shook her head. “It was frustrating. I look forward to the day when women can be accepted as smart, confident, able people.” She looked over at him. “We are more than our female parts, you know.”
He coughed to cover his laugh. “Yes. You are more than your female parts. But don’t dismiss those so easily, either. You don’t have to be one or the other. You could be both.”
They continued in silence as they both worked on the young patient. Once Edwin had removed all the dirt and filth from her small body, more and more signs of beatings appeared. He grew so angry he wanted to punch someone.
“How serious are her injuries?” He dried her newly washed feet and tossed the linens into the bucket Rayne kept in the infirmary to be send to the launderers.
“Amazingly enough, not serious. I don’t know if she was hit directly, or merely received a glancing blow. Given the carriage wheel mark on her dress it might have missed her body. My main concern now is that she hasn’t awoken.”
“Does she have any bumps on her head?”
“Yes. At the very back. A rather large one. It might be from being hit with the carriage or slamming her head on the pavement when she bounced off.”
“Or given the other bruises on her body, it could be something she had before she was hit with the carriage.” Edwin felt a bit sick to his stomach looking at the little girl with so many marks on her frail body. Someone needed to pay for this. And not just the carriage driver, who should be first in line for hitting her and then just going about his business.
Rayne smoothed the girl’s hair back from her forehead. “I will watch her carefully until she awakens.”
Randolph joined them in the infirmary. “My lord, the driver has arrived to escort you home.”
Rayne and Edwin looked at each other.
“I thought I told him to come around three?” Edwin said.
“It is fifteen minutes to three now, my lord.” Randolph had a valise in his hand.
“Oh, my,” Rayne said, “we worked so long on our little patient that we missed luncheon.”
