Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CASSANDRA
The baby’s wails filled Frederica’s cottage.
“My lady has been with fever all night.” Frederica’s servant, Mary, wrung her hands in the doorway of the house where Nancy and Cassandra stood awaiting entry. “I’m glad you’ve come.”
“What did the doctor say?” Cassandra asked as they entered the house.
“He says it’s a fever that happens to some ladies after they have their babies. That it would pass. With all this cold, windy weather we’ve been having, Mrs. Ashton probably caught a chill, and it’s made it all worse.”
Cassandra’s eyes flared. “That’s all he said?”
“He said I should make her this certain kind of tea….Cook knows.”
“Tea?”
“I don’t rightly know what to do. That’s why I wrote to Nancy this morning. The wet nurse refuses to come, and the poor babe won’t take nothin’ else but mother’s milk, and now there be none. I’m in a right state, I tell you. It’s only Cook and me here and…”
“You did right to let us know, Mary,” said Cassandra. “Your mistress seemed rather weak and so very fatigued when I came for a visit yesterday morning. I thought perhaps it was something she’d eaten and she’d agreed with me.”
“I do not think so, Ma’am. She’s had no appetite for over two days.
Hasn’t even touched a piece of bread all that time.
Cook made a lovely broth yesterday, and I brought it to her, but she wouldn’t even try it.
Said she was dizzy and her mouth all sour.
Couldn’t even open her eyes for being tired.
” Her lips twisted. “She were a bit warm yesterday, but today she woke up in a fitful state with that fever.”
“Nancy, take up the child.”
“Ma’am.” Nancy dashed down the hall to the child’s room.
“The child will come to ours, Mary, where it can be free of any illness and be fed and cared for whilst you focus your efforts on your mistress.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”
“I shall have Nancy inquire in town as to assistance for you.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
Nancy returned with the child. “Mary, do pack the child’s belongings so that I may take them with us.”
“Yes, o’ course.” Mary darted down the hallway.
“I’m going to see Mrs. Ashton,” said Cassandra.
“Is that wise, Your Grace?” Nancy whispered as she cradled the babe in her arms, stroking his back.
“I must. If she were stricken with some sort of dangerous disease, at the very least, the doctor would have recognised the signs.”
“We cannot know that for sure.”
“No, we cannot.” Cassandra let out an exhale, her gaze landing on the pouting babe. “We are helping her and the child. I must tell her that in her suffering. She must know.”
Nancy’s gaze shifted down the hall to where Mary had gone. “Be quick, Ma’am. Please.”
Cassandra’s gloved hand tightened over the banister. Yesterday, Frederica had stood at this very spot as Cassandra had told her an amusing story from a dinner party. The woman’s weary eyes had lit up for a moment, and she’d burst into laughter. A lovely girlish laugh.
She took in a quick breath and charged up the narrow staircase and entered Frederica’s room. The curtains were drawn and the woman’s shallow breaths and short moans filled the bedchamber.
“Frederica?” Cassandra pulled the brocaded curtains apart, and a shaft of light disrupted the darkness. “It’s Cassandra. Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes, my love?”
“Cassand…ra?” she breathed roughly.
“Frederica, I thought to take the child with me whilst you recover so that I can arrange for the wet nurse to attend to it at Rosamund’s. She won’t come round here with you ill, and the child needs her, does he not?”
“Yes, yes, take him. Yes….He must be safe. Must be….” Frederica’s face glistened with perspiration. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she gasped for air.
“He shall be safe. I promise.”
Frederica’s red eyes widened and sank in the same moment. “Thank you.”
Cassandra’s teeth scraped over her lip. “You seemed so tired yesterday, my dear, and I teased you for it, and yet…”
“This has crept over me like a…a spider…” She gasped for air. “…and has quickly taken me over.”
“The doctor said it was simply part of…”
She shook her head restlessly. “Feels like…like…fire.” Tugging at the sleeves of her nightgown, she scratched at her hands. Red marks covered her wrists, her palms. Her body twisted, and the coverlet fell from her. Her chest and throat were marked in the same way with angry streaks of red.
Swallowing hard, Cassandra brought the coverlet back over her. “Frederica, I shall come back tomorrow. Do try to have some broth. You must stay strong. Do you hear me? Think of your child.”
Frederica began to shiver; her lips were now another shade. Her eyes blinked open, and her strained gaze locked on Cassandra for a moment. Her eyelids sank once more.
The room seemed to pulse with heat, and Cassandra crossed to the doorway and out to the hall.
The child’s sharp cry suddenly pierced the air. Loud and insistent.