“Careful, my dear,” Mrs. Vance said. “You were coughing not long ago and rushing about could bring it on again.”
Cecilia nodded. “Yes,” she said, her breathing raspy. She held her handkerchief up to her lips again. “Sometimes my sense of urgency gets ahead of me.”
Mrs. Vance patted her hand. “Just relax now,” she instructed.
Cecilia sat for a moment as her breathing calmed. She thought more about that Mad Honey.
“Julia, do you suppose that honey could be used as a poison?” Cecilia mused.
“I don’t know,” Julia said. “I know it makes people sick. I suppose if it were given to someone long enough…We should ask Dr. Worcham.”
“Matron! Matron, dear,” called out Mrs. Vance, waving at their floor matron who was just coming up the stairs.
“Yes, ma’am,” the matron said as she trundled across the room to them.
“We would like to talk to Dr. Worcham. Is he available?” Mrs. Vance asked in her bird-bright voice.
“I don’t rightly know,” matron said, hesitantly.
“Could you go find out, please?”
“But it’s time for dinner. I was just coming to tell you that,” she protested.
“That’s fine. Perfect, even. Wouldn’t you say so, ladies?” she said to Julia and Cecilia.
They nodded.
She turned back to the matron. “If you can find him while we eat our dinners, we would so appreciate that,” she said sweetly, slipping a coin into her hand.
The trio went down the stairs together as matron went off in search of Dr. Worcham. Julia introduced Cecilia to one of the young porters who was getting ready to leave for the day. He eagerly agreed to take her note to Sir James, cheerily saying it gave him an excuse—and the funds—to stop off for a pint.
As they approached the dining hall, Cecilia threaded her arm through Mrs. Vance’s. “I was impressed how you handled matron. Well done!” she said.
The woman smiled impishly. “At least this way she won’t be hovering over our table as she likes to do.”
“Does Liddy eat with you every night?” Cecilia asked.
“Not every night,” Julia said. “She makes the rounds between several tables. She has a lot of friends here. I think she feels she needs to associate with all of them so as not to lose them as friends, seeing as how her mother does not number among the friendly faces.”
“Do you know Liddy’s last name?” Cecilia asked.
Julia thought a moment. “How odd, but I don’t. Do you Mrs. Vance?”
“I know I have heard it. Wind, or Winter, or Wing, or something like that,” she said. “I also heard her father would have been in line to a title and property if he had hadn’t died. Liddy has mentioned that.”
“Many times,” Julia added drily. “I don’t think she knows what that means. It’s just something she’s heard.”
Cecilia frowned. “Surely a child of her age would be educated about such things.”
Mrs. Vance huffed. “Liddy has scarcely been educated in anything, except for what Mr. Montgomery taught her. The sanatorium is not set up for children and their education. She should be in a school for girls, not a sanatorium,” she said as they walked into the dining hall. “Ah, the gentlemen are before us, and Liddy is sitting with them.”
Cecilia’s brow drew together on hearing learning was not an opportunity for Liddy at the sanatorium. “Do you mind if I sit next to Liddy?” Cecilia asked. “I’d like to get to know her better.”
“I have no objection,” Mrs. Vance said. “It will be interesting to see if she has any objections.”
“Hello, Miss Lydia. May I take this seat next to you?” Cecilia asked as she pulled out the chair next to Liddy’s.
A fleeting expression of startled fear crossed Liddy’s face, quickly replaced with a non-committal shrug. “I guess.”
