Chapter Nine
Benjamin did not know how long he had watched over her, but he could not convince himself to leave.
“She is a stubborn one,” his mind announced, “but stubbornness can be equally as good as it is bad for us. She is a survivor, exactly what this great nation and I will require to survive the future. Yet, her stubbornness is exactly the same emotion that will make it difficult for her to accept that God put us in each other’s paths on a rainy London day.
When she admits that, we may find a way forward. ”
A footman brought him some bread, cold meat, and cheese, and, after another hour of watching her sleep, his housekeeper made an appearance. Benjamin stepped into the hallway to speak to the lady and not disturb Miss Whitchurch.
“What should I know, my lord?” Mrs. Gabriel asked.
“In truth, I am not confident,” he admitted.
“I met the lady several months back. If I am not mistaken, the child is not hers, but rather her sister’s.
Whether said sister is still alive, I do not know.
” He glanced back to where Miss Whitchurch rested.
“Might we hire a wet nurse? I do not know how Miss Whitchurch has been tending the baby, but…”
“Assuredly, I can find a wet nurse in a matter of hours, my lord, but you cannot think to permit the lady to remain in this bachelor household for longer than a few hours. It would ruin her reputation.”
Benjamin scrubbed his face with his dry hands to clear his thinking. “She is near exhaustion, Mrs. Gabriel,” he pleaded.
“Does she not have a home? She must have been living somewhere,” his housekeeper asked.
“I do not know where she resides. Only where she is employed,” he explained.
Mrs. Gabriel frowned. “Then we will start with the child’s needs. Does the lady have a fever?”
“Not that I noticed,” he admitted.
“Let me send someone to fetch a wet nurse. We will begin at the beginning.”
Benjamin returned to his vigil, periodically reaching a hand to calm the child when it fussed, but, with little success until, miraculously, Miss Whitchurch would also place her hand on the babe, and it would calm down again. Benjamin imagined lying next to the woman would be heavenly.
Eventually though, the child stirred again, and this time the lady’s touch was not what it wanted.
“Shush,” he instructed as he reached for the babe, but he could not free the child until he had claimed a pair of scissors to cut the strap that held it to her chest.
She reached out a hand to prevent him from removing the baby, but Benjamin leaned close to speak softly in her ear. “Rest. I will tend the child. I sent for a wet nurse.” He studied her face in repose, but he knew she was not fully asleep. “What have you been feeding him?”
“Pap,” she murmured.
“Should I also send word to Mr. Sustar that you will not be in this evening?” he asked.
She thought to rise, but he shoved her back down.
“Not until Thursday,” she murmured as she closed her eyes again.
“We will talk more later. I have a house full of servants to tend to the child’s needs. Rest. We will all be here when you have recovered properly. I promise.”
He thought she had attempted to nod her agreement, but she barely moved even an eyelash, which were dark, though not as dark as his. Carefully, he rearranged the end of the blanket over her shoulder.
“Did she appear thinner?” he wondered as he looked upon her more carefully. “Was she not eating properly?”
There was no more time to consider the lady’s wellness, for the babe had screwed up its face to emit a wail.
Benjamin swung the child through the air as he moved quickly to leave the room, closing the door behind him.
He caught a maid in the hallway. “Jane, I want you to sit in the room with Miss Whitchurch. Send someone to fetch me if the lady wakes.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He carried the now crying baby away from the room, taking the servant stairs to reach the kitchen quicker.
“What have you there, me lord?” his cook asked when the baby’s cries filled the kitchen, causing all within to still.
“The young one requires something to silence his alarm, Mrs. Lowe, until Mrs. Gabriel can find us a wet nurse.”
With the sound of his voice, the child silenced somewhat, its wails having been reduced to whimpers.
“Cannot its mother feed it?” Mrs. Lowe asked with a lift of her brows in obvious disapproval.
“The lady I assisted today is not the child’s mother.
She is, I believe, from what I learned earlier, its aunt, and before you ask, I do not yet know the whereabouts of the child’s mother,” he explained as the child caught Benjamin’s fingertip and began to suck on it.
“Miss Whitchurch says she has been feeding the child pap in the mother’s absence. ”
“I know what to do, my lord,” one of the maids said.
“I have myself some five brothers and sisters. Be there any nappies?” she asked as she reached to relieve him of the child’s weight from the cradle of his arms. Odd as it might be to speak the words aloud, Benjamin did not wish to part with the babe.
“There is a basket in the lady’s quarters. In the green room in the guest wing,” he provided the girl. “Jane is sitting with the lady in my absence.”
Clara, another of the house maids said, “I will fetch it. It shall be good to have others to serve, sir.” She blushed. “No offense meant, my lord.”
“None taken, Clara, but hurry along.”
“May I be of assistance?” he asked Maeve, the maid who was dancing about the kitchen, cooing to the child as she poured some water in a small pan and added some flour into it before setting it on the fire.
The girl smiled at him. “It not take long to make. Just until the flour thickens in the water to make a thin paste. The water need not be hot, though it is best to heat thoroughly and let it cool. We’ll use a spoon to feed the child.
Just the smallest of beads so as not to choke him.
You can add milk to the mixture if you like, but we’ll not do that today because of his fussiness, and it would take longer to make because the milk should be heated properly. ”
A few minutes later, Benjamin was still studying the maid’s hands as they delicately poured the mixture into a bowl, claimed a spoon to scoop a bit on its tip, blew on the mixture to cool it further, and touched the child’s lips with the spoon.
The child evidently knew what to do. It opened its mouth and permitted Maeve to add drops of the pap inside.
Benjamin found he was totally engrossed with the process.
Nothing in his medical training spoke of those at the beginning of life, only of preventing death.
Clara returned. “You should see these nappies,” she told the whole kitchen. “I never saw such fancy baby cloths.” She held up one of them, a piece of blue cloth and another of green, sewn together to form a perfect rectangle.
“The lady is employed at Mr. Sustar’s drapery shop. Likely those are scraps.” Benjamin, nevertheless, was amazed at how resourceful Miss Whitchurch had been. Now, if she could recover her energies, he could stop worrying.
“I not be assured the child will want what the wet nurse be offering,” Maeve said with a smile as the boy smacked his lips in satisfaction.
“You will explain what we have executed in the mother’s absence, will you not, Maeve?” Benjamin asked.
“Be proud to do so, sir,” the girl said with a smile.
“There you are, sir,” his butler said as he entered the kitchen. “I did not realize you had left our guest’s room. Will you be attending Parliament this afternoon, my lord? Should I send word to have your carriage ready?”
Benjamin did not wish to leave Miss Whitchurch in a strange house, but he desperately required Duncan’s advice.
Naturally, he could send Duncan a message and the man would come immediately, but he did not wish the whole neighborhood and society to know that he had brought Miss Whitchurch to his home and was attending her, as well as her sister’s illegitimate child.
“Yes, but do not bring it around from the mews until I ask for it,” he ordered.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Maeve, you will bring the…”
“Boy,” the maid announced. “The child is a boy, my lord.” She was fitting the child up with one of the makeshift nappies.
“Then bring the boy to the lady’s quarters when you finish tending him. Miss Whitchurch will wish to know of the child’s safety when she wakes.”
Benjamin returned to the lady’s quarters. “Thank you, Jane,” he told the maid softly.
“The lady is quite pretty, my lord,” she said with a grin.
“The lady is a friend,” he emphasized.
“Being a friend does not mean she cannot also be pretty, my lord,” she said as she made her exit.
“I really should speak to my staff about their familiarity,” he grumbled under his breath, but he knew he would not. He had hired many of those that others would refuse to employ because he was a simple man with simple tastes who had been taught to assist his fellow man, not lord over them.
Benjamin returned to the seat where he watched the lady sleep, studying the beauty that Jane had mentioned.
From the beginning of their acquaintance, he had thought Miss Whitchurch in possession of one of the most compelling countenances he had ever encountered, but to watch her in repose could easily become one of his favorite activities.
About an hour later, Mrs. Gabriel came to tell him that the wet nurse had arrived and, “Though the boy did not initially take to Mrs. Sullivan, soon the lad had nursed himself to sleep.” Mrs. Gabriel had set the pair up in one of the smaller rooms along the hallway, close enough for Miss Whitchurch’s inspection.
As everything was completed that could be done for the lady and the child, at length Benjamin had decided to call in at Parliament, for he required Duncan’s advice. Therefore, he had awakened the lady, gently, so as not to frighten her.