Sylvestra's face was ashen. She struggled for something to say to him but it was beyond her reason or even her emotion to reach. She was baffled, frightened and hurt.
"You must both leave," Hester said firmly. "Please! Now!" As if assuming their obedience, she turned to Rhys who was shuddering violently and sounded in danger of choking. "Stop it!" she said to him loudly and clearly. "Nobody is going to hurt you now! Don't try to say anything… Just breathe in and out steadily! Very steadily!
Do as I tell you!”
She heard the door close as Evan and Sylvestra left.
Gradually Rhys's hysteria subsided. He began to breathe regularly. The scraping sound in his throat eased and he trembled instead of shaking.
"Keep on breathing slowly," she told him. "Gently. In out. In -out.”
She smiled at him.
Warily, shakily, he smiled back.
"Now I am going to get you a little hot milk, and a herbal draught to make you feel better. You need to rest.”
Fear darkened his eyes again.
"No one will come in.”
It was no comfort.
Then she thought perhaps she understood. He was afraid of dreams. The horror lay within him.
"You don't need to sleep. Just lie there quietly. It won't make you sleep.”
He relaxed, his eyes searching hers, trying to make her understand.
But he did sleep, for several hours, and she sat beside him, watching, ready to waken him if he showed signs of distress.
Corriden Wade came in the late afternoon. He looked anxious when Hester told him of Rhys's distress, and of the nightmare which had produced such prolonged pain and hysteria. His face creased with sharp concern, his own physical discomfort of the fall forgotten.
"It is most worrying, Miss Latterly. I shall go up and examine him.
This is not a good turn of events.”
She made to follow him.
"No," he said abruptly, holding his hand up as if physically to prevent her. "I will see him alone. He has obviously been profoundly disturbed by what has happened. In his best interest, to keep him from further hysteria, I shall examine him without the possible embarrassment of a stranger, and a woman present." He smiled very briefly, merely a flicker, more of communication than any lift of mood.
He was obviously deeply distressed by what had happened. "I have known Rhys since he was a child," he explained to her. "I knew his father well, God rest his soul, and my sister is a long-standing and dear friend of Sylvestra. No doubt she will call in the near future and offer whatever help or comfort she may…
.”
"That would be good…" Hester began.
"Yes, of course," he cut her off. "I must see my patient, Miss Latterly. It seems his condition might have taken a turn for the worse. It may be necessary to keep him sedated for a while, so he does not further injure himself in his turmoil of mind…”
She reached out to touch his arm. "But he is afraid of sleep, Doctor!
That is when he dreams…”
"Miss Latterly, I know very well that you have his interests at heart.”
His voice was quite quiet, almost gentle, but there was no mistaking the iron in his will. "But his injuries are severe, more severe than you are aware of. I cannot risk his becoming agitated again and perhaps tearing them open. The results could be fatal." He stared at her earnestly. "This is not the kind of violence either you or I are accustomed to dealing with. We know war and its heroes, which, God knows, are horrible enough. This is the trial of a different kind of strength. We must protect him from himself, at least for a while. In a few weeks he may be better, we can only hope.”
There was nothing she could do but acquiesce.
"Thank you." His face softened. "I am sure we shall work together excellently. We have much in common, tests of endurance and judgement we have both passed." He smiled briefly, a look of pain and uncertainty, then turned and continued on up the stairs.
Hesterand Sylvestra waited in the withdrawing room. They sat on either side of the fire, stiff-backed, upright, speaking only occasionally, in stifled, jerky sentences.
"I have known Corriden Wade for years," Sylvestra said suddenly. "He was an excellent friend of my husband's. Leighton trusted him absolutely. He will do everything for Rhys that is possible.”
"Of course. I have heard of him. His reputation is excellent. Very high.”
"Is it? Yes. Yes, of course it is.”
Minutes ticked by. The coals settled in the fire. Neither of them moved to ring the bell for the maid to add more.
"His sister… Eglantyne, is a dear friend of mine.”
"Yes. He told me. He said she may call upon you soon.”
"I hope so. Did he say that?”
"Yes.”
"Should you be… with him?”
"No. He said it would be better if he went alone. Less disturbing.”
"Will it?”
"I don't know.”
More minutes ticked by. Hester decided to rebuild the fire herself.
Corriden Wade returned, his face grim.
"How is he?" Sylvestra demanded, her voice tight and high with fear.
She rose to her feet without being aware of it.
"He is very ill, my dear," he replied quietly. "But I have every hope that he will recover. He must have as much rest as possible. Do not permit him to be disturbed again. He can tell the police nothing. He must not be harassed as he was today. Any reminder of the terrible events which he undoubtedly both saw and suffered, will make him considerably worse. They may even cause a complete relapse. That is hardly to be wondered at.”
He looked at Hester. "We must protect him, Miss Latterly. I trust you to do that! I shall leave you some powders to give him in warm milk, or beef tea should he prefer it, which will help him to sleep deeply, and without dreams." He frowned. "And I must insist absolutely that you do not speak of his ordeal, or bring it to his mind in any way. He is not able to recall anything of it without the most terrible distress. That is natural to a young man of any decency or sensitivity whatever. I imagine you or I would feel exactly the same.”
Hester had no doubt that what he said was true. She had seen it only too vividly herself.
"Of course," she agreed. "Thank you. I shall be glad to see him find some ease, and some rest that is without trouble.”
He smiled at her. His face was charming, full of warmth.
"I am sure you are, Miss Latterly. He is fortunate to have you with him. I shall continue to call every day, but do not hesitate to send for me more often if you should need me." He turned to Sylvestra. "I believe Eglantyne will come tomorrow, if she may? May I tell her you will receive her?”
At last Sylvestra too relaxed a little, a faint smile touching her lips.
"Please do. Thank you, Corriden. I cannot imagine how we would have survived this without your kindness, and your skill.”
He looked vaguely uncomfortable. "I wish… I wish it were not necessary. This is all… tragic… quite tragic." He straightened up. "I shall call again tomorrow, my dear, until then, have courage.
We shall do all we can, Miss Latterly and I.”
Chapter Three
Monk sat alone in the large chair in his rooms in Fitzroy Street. He was unaware of Evan's case, or of Hester's involvement with one of the victims. He had not seen Hester for more than two weeks, and it was high to the front of his mind that he did not wish to see her in the immediate future. His participation in Rathbone's slander case had taken him to the Continent, both to Venice and to the small German principality of Felzburg. It had given him a taste of an entirely different life of glamour, wealth and idleness, laughter and superficiality, which he had found highly seductive. There were also elements not unfamiliar to him. It had awoken memories of his distant past, before he had joined the police. He had struggled hard to catch them more firmly, and failed. Like all the rest, it was lost but for a few glimpses now and then, sudden windows opening, showing only a little, and then closing again and leaving him more confused than before.