Page 68 of Courting the Country Miss

“Oh, heavens. Tristan has developed a fever. Elizabeth wants me. I must go at once.”

“Elizabeth Averston?”

“Yes.” She turned to the footman. “Call the carriage.”

“I’ll take you,” Lord Bradbury said.

“Thank you.” To the footman, she said, “Please inform my aunt I’ve gone to Averston House.”

In the ride over, she sat in the open landau with clenched hands and racing heart. Lord Bradbury slid both of his hands around hers. His touch should have comforted her but instead added to her jitters. When they arrived, he saw her in and waited while the footman summoned the lady of the home.

Elizabeth rushed in. “At last! Oh, forgive me, Lord Bradbury. I fear we’re in a state here.”

“Fever due to injury?” he asked.

“Yes, the doctor wanted to bleed him, but I rejected that.” Elizabeth twisted her hands. “His injuries bled so much already that I couldn’t stand the thought of him losing more. The doctor thinks I’m mad.”

“If I may,” Lord Bradbury said. “I know of a doctor who’s a bit unconventional. He uses herbs, much like healers of old, and has had great success. He saved my sister’s life last year.”

Elizabeth glanced at Leticia as if seeking her counsel. Leticia nodded. She could never abide the practice of bleeding a sick patient, either.

“Very well,” Elizabeth said. “Send for him, if you will.”

Lord Bradbury nodded. “Right away.”

Leticia bade him a good day and accompanied Elizabeth upstairs. As she pushed open the door to Tristan’s room, a blast of heat met her. Tristan lay moaning and writhing on the bed. Running the last few steps to him, Leticia tore off her gloves and touched his face. The dry heat of his fever nearly burned her skin. He mumbled something but his words were intelligible.

“Oh, no. This is bad.” After removing her bonnet and pelisse, she poured water into a bowl and bathed his face with a towel. “Elizabeth, have someone put out the fire and open a window.”

Elizabeth put a hand to her face. “The doctor told me to keep it warm in here to burn out the fever.”

“That’s an old-fashioned practice.” Leticia immersed the cloth and squeezed it out. “When Isabella had influenza two years ago, our doctor said we had to cool her, to bring down the fever, or it would keep burning. It worked. She improved right away. Trust me, this is better.”

Elizabeth rang for a servant and opened a window near the bed. The cool evening air blew in, cooling the perspiration on her face. Tristan babbled in delirium. Leticia bathed his face and rinsed the cloth over and over. Then she bathed his neck and chest, as far open as she could push the open neckline of his nightshirt, pushing up the sleeves of his shirt to reach his arms and hands. The cloth dried quickly under the heat of his fever.

“This isn’t going to do enough for him.”

A gentle knock at the door admitted the young Mrs. Harper.

Surprised to see the soon-to-be-school teacher, Leticia straightened. “What is it?

“I beg your pardon, but I heard my lord’s brother is very ill.”

“Yes, he is,” Elizabeth said, her face pinched.

“May I help in some way?”

“That’s kind of you to offer, but there’s nothing anyone can do. We’re trying to cool him, and we’ve sent for a different doctor. I don’t see how you can help.”

The petite young woman took another few steps into the room, her gaze moving to the bed. She faltered. “Oh, my, he’s very handsome. He looks much like my lord Averston.” An expression of horror crossed her face, and she shot a frantic look toward Elizabeth. “Forgive me, my lady. I meant no disrespect.”

Elizabeth smiled. “You’re right; my husband is a very handsome man. So is his brother.”

The young teacher drew a breath. “My mother was something of a healer back home. In the old days, people would have called her a witch. Anyway, the whole village came down with scarlet fever. She saved them with a combination of herbs, and immersing their bodies in cool water. She learned that if the water is too cold, like that of a river, they sometimes die on the spot—I suppose it’s too much of a shock. If she put them in a warm bath and then added cold water at little at a time, it brought down the fever.”

Leticia stared at the girl. She’d said more in that explanation than she had during her interview. “Is that so?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’d bet my life on it. She saved nearly everyone in the village. I don’t know what herbs she used, but I do know the cool water made a difference.”