Chapter 3
“No, no, surely not,” Linette tried to soothe her, stroking her damp cheek. Estelle only shook her head, growing agitated now, and trying to sit up in bed.
“I was so selfish! Going for a ride when Luther and I should have joined you for breakfast. He would still be here with me!”
Linette could but jump up and move aside as Corie rushed forward to try and get Estelleto lie down again, without any success. Amid Estelle’s sobs and hiccoughs, punctuated by grimaces of pain from the bump on her head, the sad tale of what had happened to Luther poured out of her like a torrent.
Tears clouded Linette’s eyes, Corie’s, too, and Miss Biddle’s, at Estelle’s heartbreak, though Linette saw that Donovan had entered the room and listened with a grim expression on hisface.
Luther had been lost, but a stranger had saved Estelle from drowning, thank God, though who the young man might be, Estelle appeared to have no clue. Nor the rescuer’s companion, yet Linette felt certain the two strangers must be French from Estelle’s vague memory of their speech.
Only within the last year had Estelle begun to study the language with a tutor in honor of their late mother,who at sixteen had escaped from France during the Revolution. Perhaps the two men she’d tried to comprehend were sailors. Since the wars with France had ended and Napoleon banished to St. Helena, it was not uncommon to find French ships in Porthleven or the surrounding port towns.
“Lie down, sweet, and try to rest,” came Corie’s gentle urging. Linette knew as well as her eldest sister that itwouldn’t be wise right now to ask Estelle for more details of what had happened. Her recounting clearly had drained her. She collapsed upon the bed, tears still rolling down her cheeks.
“Why for God’s sake didn’t they remain with her at the door until they knew she was safe?” came Donovan’s terse query as Corie tucked in the blankets and then rose to go to his side. “We will get to the bottomof this day’s events, but damnation! Philcup lives here in Porthleven, not all the way to Helston! What the devil is keeping him?”
Linette wondered the same thing, too, having retaken the seat next to the bed so she could be close to Estelle. No sooner had she leaned forward to stroke her sister’s damp cheek when a firm knock came at the door, making her jump.
“The doctor has arrived, Your Grace,”came the footman’s voice as Miss Biddle hurried to open the door.
Linette didn’t spare a glance at the footman stepping back so the physician might enter, having seen the portly old fellow countless times before. Instead she focused on Estelle, who had closed her eyes and appeared to have fallen into an exhausted sleep.
Oddly enough, Linette didn’t hear Dr. Philcup’s usual blustered pleasantriesand his ponderous footsteps upon the carpeted floor, the room grown suddenly very quiet. She looked up to find Donovan and Corie staring, Miss Biddle staring, too, at the tall gentleman who had just walked through the open door…his unassuming attire a dark brown that matched the color of his hair.
“Your Graces, if I may introduce myself,” he said in a deep voice that seemed to resonate in theroom, while Linette found herself staring at the stranger, too, her jaw dropped.
Why…why it was the same gentleman who’d nodded a greeting to her from the back of the church and stared so openly at her! Bristling with indignation as he glanced in her direction, once again inclining his head to her, Linette felt her face had begun to burn just as it had done earlier that day. Dear Lord, whateverwas the matter with her?
“Dr. Adam Whitaker is my name. I’ve a letter of introduction from Dr. Philcup if you’d like to see it. Did he not tell you that I will be taking his place while he visits his sister on the Continent?”
From Donovan’s bewildered look and Corie’s, too, Linette could tell at once that neither of them had heard of this Dr. Adam Whitaker before…and neither had she!
“Forgiveme, Dr. Philcup was in quite the hurry to depart for northern Italy,” Dr. Whitaker said with another glance in Linette’s direction, although this time he was focused upon Estelle lying so still in the bed. He shifted his black leather bag in his hands and looked back to Donovan. “He thought some months in the Alps might help his gout rather than suffer further in England’s damp climate. In fact,he informed me he might not be back. Is that my patient?”
Donovan still hadn’t moved or spoken, but now he uttered a low expletive as if he’d endured quite enough surprises for one day. Corie laid her hand gently upon her husband’s arm.
“Dr. Whitaker, if I might ask you,” she began with a sideways glance at Donovan. “How long have you been engaged in the practice of medicine?”
“Certainly youmay, madam, forgive me for not offering my credentials to you at once. I began an apprenticeship with a general surgeon at eighteen years of age, passed my apothecary exam at twenty-one, and just completed medical school two months’ past at Guy’s Hospital in London. I’m twenty-four now, and most grateful to Dr. Philcup for this opportunity to assume his practice—”
“Did you saytwenty-four, sir?”
Linette gulped at Donovan’s incredulous query, which didn’t sound promising for the young and most likely inexperienced Dr. Adam Whitaker. Surprisingly, he held his ground and stared eye-to-eye with Donovan, both men very near the same height although Donovan, at thirty-three, had him in bulk by a well-muscled forty pounds.
“I assure you, Your Grace, I take the practice of medicine most seriouslyand have pledged my life to that calling. My only desire is to assist your sister-in-law today in the best way I know how. She came near to drowning, I believe was your urgent message to Dr. Philcup’s address, where I’m currently residing at his gracious insistence.”
“Yes, Estelle suffered quite a shock,” Corie answered softly, her hand still resting upon Donovan’s arm. “If you would be so kindas to examine her and hopefully set our minds to rest. She also suffered bruises while pummeled by the waves and a grievous bump to the head. A stranger saved her, though he and his companion remain unknown to us at this time, and must have seen to her injuries first before they deemed her well enough to bring home.” Corie sighed heavily, glancing toward the bed, and then back to the young doctor.“If you’ll excuse my husband and me, Dr. Whitaker. My sister Linette and Miss Biddle, our housekeeper, will remain with you during the examination. We’ll await your assessment downstairs in the library.”
His broad shoulders stiff with tension, his expression somber, Donovan clearly looked unconvinced although he acquiesced to Corie’s suggestion and followed her from the room without another word.With a heavy thud, the door closed behind them, leaving Linette to rise awkwardly from the chair to make room for the new doctor.
She didn’t know what to say, or if she should say anything at all, and she seemed to be forgotten as he moved directly to the bed with his full concentration now upon Estelle.
Finding him even more handsome than she remembered from the church, Linette chided herselfthat she would even think such a thing when her beloved sister was in such a terrible state. Estelle had opened her eyes, which filled with tears as Dr. Whitaker set his bag upon the chair that Linette had just vacated.
“My dog…” she began feebly, to which Adam Whitaker nodded.
“I heard about Luther,” he said with such sincerity that Linette felt her throat tighten at how he would seek firstto soothe her sister’s aching heart before beginning the examination. He enfolded Estelle’s small hand in his larger one. “I’m sorry, Miss Easton. Truly.”
