Hattie arrived with bandages, and Cook herself brought the hot water. Cordelia watched in amazement at the coordinated effort of the staff in cleaning and caring for Thomas.
The doctor arrived a half hour later. He undid their makeshift bandages and examined the wound.
“Lady Farnham, would you be so kind to leave the room?” the doctor said, shaking his head. “I need to extract the bullet.”
“Doctor McKenzie, he is my husband. I am not leaving his side. So I suggest you get about your work.”
“Surgery is no place for a lady.”
Cordelia’s whole body stiffened with anger and frustration. “I am not just a lady; I’m his wife and I will be staying.”
The doctor turned to the first man in the room as if to get his permission for Cordelia to stay. It was Stuyvesant.
“Do as Lady Farnham says, and be quick about it, man,” he said.
The doctor shook his head again. “Most irregular.”
Cordelia watched the doctor try to dig the bullet out of Thomas’s chest. It was almost like he was fishing inside him. There was even more blood, which concerned her greatly. Finally, she heard a clunk and saw the doctor had dropped the bullet in the bowl. She and Thayne cleaned the blood off of Thomas’s chest, his breathing shallower than ever. Doctor McKenzie then took out a needle and thread from his bag and sewed the hole up. Thomas stirred a little, mumbling something, but his words weren’t coherent enough to understand.
“We should leave,” Stuyvesant said. “Let them all get some sleep.”
He herded out the doctor, the footmen, and Oliver, who still appeared to be in shock, leaving only Cordelia and Thayne in the room. They each slept in a chair on opposite sides of the bed.
42
Her head ached terribly, and she was sleeping at a funny angle. She lifted it and realized that she’d been leaning on Thomas’s bed from her chair. Instinctively, she grabbed his wrist and felt for a pulse—there was a slight but steady beat. She gently set his arm back on the bed and grabbed her own pounding head.
Thayne stirred on the other side. “If you’d like to go freshen up, I’ll stay with him until you return.”
A tangled curl fell into her face and she no doubt looked a fright. “Are you sure, Thayne? You could go first, and I could wait for you.”
“I think Thom—Lord Farnham would prefer to see your face when he wakes,” he said, and smiled at her for the first time.
“I’ll be quick,” she assured him before walking through the dressing room to her own bedroom.
Cordelia went to unlock her door, when she heard another door open and saw Penelope walk out from the secret passageway, holding Marie Antoinette’s diamond collar necklace in her hands.
“I forgot to return this to you last night,” she said. “I knocked on your door, but it was locked and I didn’t want them to be misplaced, so I took the secret passageway.”
Cordelia accepted the jewelry from Penelope’s hands. “I am so sorry about last night. Had I any notion that lending you a costume would have endangered your life, I never would have suggested it.”
“I went with Mrs. Norton because I had torn the hem of my dress and she offered to fix it for me. She said that her sewing kit was up in her room in the attic. But when we reached the attic, she pointed the gun at me and made me climb up to the roof. She told me to jump off,” Penelope said, a hitch in her shrill voice. “She wanted it to look like you committed suicide because you were so unhappy here…and I am one of the reasons you have been unhappy.”
“I know,” Cordelia said, nodding slowly. “You’ve been my ghost.”
Penelope’s mouth opened in surprise. “I should never have done it. It was Mrs. Norton’s idea—she’s the one who told me about the secret passage. Not Blanche. I only wanted to scare you, not harm you. I swear it.”
“I first recognized your lavender perfume when we sat together to make the invitations for the house party. And then last night, when I helped you dress, I was certain of it.”
“Then, you saved my life knowing I was the one haunting you?”
“Yes.”
“You are a better person than I am.”
“I don’t know about that,” Cordelia said. “But I hope we can someday be friends despite our rather shaky start.”
“There is more. I told the staff this morning that I was the one haunting you,” Penelope said, her eyes on the floor. “Cook admitted that Mrs. Norton knew she was spoiling your breakfasts and she promised Cook that she wouldn’t be punished for it.”
