“It is not fit for you,” he said mechanically. “Who nurses her? Is Addy here?”
“No, no, Dr. Baillie thought it wiser to send the other children off to Ombersley. He sent us a dreadful creature — at least, I never saw her, but Cecilia said she was a drunken wretch — and Sophy sent her packing. Old Nurse is in charge, and you know how she is to be trusted! And the girls help her, so that Dr. Baillie assures me I need feel no uneasiness on that head. He says that dearest Sophy is a capital sick nurse and that the disease is running its proper course, but oh, Charles, I cannot persuade myself that she will be spared!” He came back to her side at once and devoted himself to the task of comforting her alarms with more patience than might have been expected in one of his hasty temper. When he could escape, he did so, and went upstairs to find his sister. She had just got up from her bed and was coming out of her room as he reached the landing. She was looking pale and tired, but her face lit up at sight of him, and she exclaimed in a hushed voice, “Charles! I knew we might depend upon your coming! Have you been to my mother? She has felt the need of your presence so much!”
“I have this instant come from her dressing room. Cilly, Cilly, she tells me Amabel began to ail within a few days of that accursed evening at Astley’s!”
“Hush! Come into my room! Amabel is in the blue spare room, and you must not talk so loud just here! We thought that too, but Dr. Baillie says it could hardly be so. Recollect that the other two are well! Addy sent up word only yesterday.” She softly closed the door of her bedroom. “I must not stay above a minute. Mama will be needing me.”
“My poor girl, you look fagged to death!”
“No, no, I am not! Why, there is hardly anything that I do, so that it chafes me dreadfully sometimes, when I see Sophy and that good, kind maid of hers carrying all the burden on their shoulders! For Nurse is growing too old to be able to manage, you know, and it affects her sadly to see poor little Amabel so uncomfortable. But if one of us is not continually with Mama she frets herself into one of her spasms — you know her way! But now you are here you will relieve me of that duty!” She smiled, and pressed his hand. “I never thought to be so glad to see anyone! Amabel too! She so often calls for you, and wonders where you can be! If I had not known that you would come, I must have sent for you! You are not afraid of infection?”
He made an impatient gesture.
“No, I was sure you would not think of that. Sophy is out walking. Dr. Baillie impresses on us the need for exercise in the fresh air, and we are very obedient, I assure you! Nurse sits with Amabel during the afternoon.”
“May I see her? It would not agitate her?”
“No, indeed! It must soothe her, I believe. If she is awake, and — and herself. Would you care to come to her room now? You will find her wretchedly altered, poor little thing!”
She led him to the sickroom and went softly in. Amabel was restless and very hot, fretfully rejecting any suggestions for her relief, but when she saw her favorite brother, her heavy eyes brightened perceptibly, and a faint smile came into her little flushed face. She held out her hand, and he took it, and spoke gently and cheerfully to her, in a way that seemed to do her good. She did not wish to let him go, but at a sign from Cecilia he disengaged his hand from the feeble clutch on it, promising to come back again presently if Amabel would be a good girl and swallow the medicine Nurse had ready for her.
He was a good deal shocked by her appearance and found it difficult to believe Cecilia’s assurance that when the fever had passed the patient would speedily recover her lost weight. Nor could he feel that old Nurse was competent to have the command of a sickroom. Cecilia agreed to this, but comforted him by saying that it was Sophy who was in command.
“Dr. Baillie says that no one could manage better, and, indeed, Charles, you would not doubt it could you but see how good Amabel is with her! She has such resolution, such firmness! Poor Nurse does not like to force the little dear to do what she does not wish to, and then, too, she has old-fashioned notions that will not do for Dr. Baillie. But our cousin, he says, may be trusted to obey his directions implicitly. Oh, you could not wrest her away from Amabel! It would be fatal, for she frets if Sophy is too long absent from her room.”
“We are very much obliged to Sophy,” he said. “But it is not right that she should be doing such work! Setting aside the risk of infection, she did not come to us to act as sick nurse!”
“No,” Cecilia said. “She did not, of course, but — but — I don’t know how it is, but she seems to be so much a part of our family that one does not consider such things as that!”
He was silent, and she left him, saying that she must go to their mother. When, later, he saw Sophy and attempted to remonstrate with her, she cut him very short.
“I am delighted you are come home, my dear Charles, for nothing could do Amabel more good. Your poor mama, too, needs the support of your presence. But if you mean to talk in that nonsensical style I shall soon be wishing you a thousand miles off!”
“You have your own engagements,” he persisted. “I daresay I must have seen as many as a dozen cards of invitation on the mantelpiece in the Yellow Saloon! I cannot think it right that you should forgo all your amusements for the sake of my little sister!”
Her eyes laughed at him. “No, indeed! What a shocking thing that I should be obliged to forgo a few balls! How shall I survive it, I wonder? How delightful it would be in me to be demanding my aunt’s chaperonage at parties with the house, in this upset! Now, pray do not let me hear anymore on this head, but instead of vexing yourself with such absurdities, try what you may do to divert my aunt’s mind! You know her nervous disposition and how the least thing upsets her constitution! The charge of keeping her soothed and calm falls wholly upon poor Cecy, for your papa, if you will not be offended with me for saying so, is not of the smallest use in such a crisis as this!”
“I know it,” he responded. “I will do what I may. I can well imagine how arduous a task Cecilia finds it. Indeed, I was shocked to see her looking so fagged!” He hesitated, and said, a little stiffly, “Miss Wraxton, perhaps might be of service there. I would not suggest her entering Amabel’s room, but I am sure if she would sit with my mother sometimes it must be of benefit! The tone of her mind is such that — ” He broke off, perceiving a change in his cousin’s expression, and said with some asperity, “I am aware that you dislike Miss Wraxton, but even you will allow that her calm good sense must be of value in this predicament!”
“My dear Charles, do not eat me! I have no doubt it is just as you say!” Sophy replied. “Try if she will come to this house!”
More she would not say, but it was not long before Mr. Rivenhall had discovered that his betrothed, while sympathizing most sincerely with his family on their affliction, had no intention of exposing her person to the dangers of infection. She told him, clasping his hand fondly, that her mama had most expressly forbidden her to enter the house until all danger should be past. It was true. Lady Brinklow herself told Mr. Rivenhall so. Upon learning that he had had the imprudence to visit Amabel, she became visible alarmed and begged him not to repeat the visit. Miss Wraxton added the weight of her own counsel. “Indeed, Charles, it is not wise! There can be no need for you to run such a risk, moreover. Gentlemen in sickrooms are quite out of place!”
“Are you afraid that I may take the disease and convey it to you?” he asked, in his blunt way. “I beg your pardon! I should not have come to call upon you! I will not do so again until Amabel is well.” Lady Brinklow hailed this decision with obvious relief, but it was going too far for her daughter, who at once assured Mr. Rivenhall that he was talking nonsense and must always be a welcome caller in Brook Street. He thanked her but took his leave of her almost immediately.