Daniel stared at the man without seeing him, dread filling his gut. “Are you sure?”
“No. But she has symptoms—accelerated pulse, itching, and, um, certain uncharacteristic behaviors... .”
“It’s true she has not been herself—demonstrated again this afternoon by the looks of it.”
“Daniel, I hope you do not think—”
“I don’t know what to think. Why now? Our child is more than seven months old. Lizette seemed so recovered from the postnatal mania. Yes, she’s been melancholy, but not nearly as out of control as she was before.”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Well, I did only a preliminary examination, but I do believe your wife is pregnant.”
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut as if to block out the truth. He had been so determined to avoid intimacy with Lizette that he had barely allowed himself to look at her nor touch her for months, save that one time. The signs he had noticed, he had tried to ignore or explain away.Not morning sickness, surely—merely Mrs. Beebe’s greasy food....
His friend must think him an idiot.
“The symptoms of puerperal insanity often start with conception,” Kendall said. “Whereas for other women, it doesn’t make itself known until after delivery. Did it strike her during her first lying-in?”
Daniel nodded, the fear beginning to grow.
“Good heavens, man, how bad was it?”
He looked at Richard, too devastated to lie. “Very.”
“Did she try to harm herself?”
Daniel nodded.
“How did you treat her?”
“Herbs, purgatives, blisters.... Nothing worked. When she became violent I resorted to laudanum for a time and finally had to institutionalize her.”
Richard stared at him, horror and pity a terrible pall on his face. “I am sorry, Daniel.”
“As am I.”
“What will you do?”
“The best I can. For now, she is melancholy and restless but has yet to become violent. I will find someone to cover for me in London. I will stay with her and keep her here as long as I can.”
“If I hear of anything ... any new developments or treatments ...”
“Thank you, Kendall.”
Women turned against their husbands, neglected themselves and the
household, bullied their servants, broke the china ... displayed an overt
sexuality, making vulgar and suggestive comments to complete strangers.
Yet so common was this disorder ... that it came to be seen as an almost
anticipated accompaniment of the process of giving birth.
—DR.HILARYMARLAND,DANGEROUSMOTHERHOOD
