“Oh yes,” the princess said. “And Doctor Garrett told me she visitedyourdispensary before setting up hers. After that, I knew I wanted to meet you, but I wasn’t able …” The animation vanished from Louise’s face, and she looked away.
Lady Styles’s gaze shifted from the princess to Julia. She set down her cup and saucer.
“One had such a sense of life amid death at that dispensary. So many fell ill with cholera and succumbed, yet the work continued, and lives were saved.” She glanced back at the princess; Louise stared into her teacup. Julia wondered at the alteration in mood. Susan pressed on. “Life and death. As a physician, you must understand its mysteries better than most, Doctor Lewis.”
“The cause of a life’s end is sometimes clear,” Julia said. “Often, it’s not. For me, the greater wonder is the life force in a living being. What impels it, keeps it surging, keeps the heart beating, day after day? That’s the mystery.”
“Yes … the life force.” The princess sat forward, animatedonce again. The ‘aliveness’ of living beings is something I struggle with … it’s a challenge for a sculptor. Oh, for painters, too.” She waved her teaspoon. “But to take a lump of clay, to chisel a piece of marble. To animate it, make it seem to breathe …”
Lady Styles smiled. “You’ve gathered that Her Royal Highness is an ardent student of the sculptural arts.”
“If only Mama wouldn’t stand in my way. The queen would prefer I paint flowers or sketch landscapes.”
“I understand Her Majesty is a talented painter,” Julia said.
“Yes, she is. But Mama thinks sculpture is unladylike because sculptors carve and hammer. And she doesn’t like that it requires a close study of the human body. Something she deems inappropriate for females. But I will wear Mama down.” The princess put her cup and saucer aside. “Now, Doctor, before I forget. You asked about poor Lizzie.”
“Anything you remember might be useful.”
“She came to us shortly after dearest Papa died, so I’m afraid it is no use asking the queen. That time is a blank to her. My brother doesn’t remember—”
“The Prince of Wales?” Julia asked.Good Lord.Had her request become a general discussion?
“Yes. Bertie said if anyone knows, Alice will.”
Lady Styles said, “Princess Louise’s sister, Princess Alice of Hesse.”
“During those black months, she relieved Mama of all domestic cares. I’ve written to her in Germany, but it may take some time to hear back.”
“Thank you, Princess Louise.”
She sighed. “It may come to nothing, but for Lizzie’s sake …” Then Louise brightened. “You would approve of my sister, Doctor Lewis. When Hesse filled with the wounded during the late war with Prussia, she took charge of the capital’s field hospitals.”
Julia looked away from the princess and spotted Tennant outside her door. “Will you excuse me for a moment? I see Inspector Tennant in the foyer.”
“No, no,” Princess Louise said, getting to her feet. “I’ve taken up too much of your time. Come, Susan. We’ll leave Doctor Lewis to get on with her day.”
Tennant joined Julia on the doorstep as the carriage rolled away. “A hired four-wheeler, not a royal coach,” he said. “I had no idea who was with you until Nurse Clemmie told me.”
“Princess Louise is astonishingly unroyal,” Julia said, smiling. “If that’s a word.”
“I thought the same thing when I met her at Osborne House.”
Julia glanced at the autopsy report in his hand. “You have questions?”
“Yes. Well, one.”
“Come inside, then.”
He followed her into her office and looked around. “It’s my first time back since—”
“Last June. Before you left for France.”
Tennant sighed. “Julia, I should have tried to see you and caught a later train. I owed you an explanation, not a rushed note scribbled in Kent. You had every right to be angry.”
“‘Deflated’ is a better word. We’d uncovered the truth together. I felt … dismissed as a colleague. And slighted as a friend.”
“I’m sorry.”
