Chapter 11
March 30th, 1898, Eagle Creek, Montana
Aquick glance at the clock told Matthew that he needed to hurry if he was to make it to Andrew’s house on time. Thankfully, there were only two patients in the ward now, so his night rounds would not take long to complete. Clara Hale had agreed to come and sit in with the patients in case of emergency, so that the clinic staff could attend the supper planned as a thank you for all their hard work.
He was just finishing the charts when Clara arrived. She smiled as she took off her coat. “Nate tells me you probably won’t be with us much longer, that is a terrible shame. You’ve been such a gift to the town through these past months.”
“That is kind of you to say,” Matthew said. “But there are other places in need, and I have itchy feet.”
She smiled. “That is a shame. I know that Nate will miss you. He’s come to enjoy his evenings playing cards with you.”
“I’ll miss you all,” Matthew admitted. “And Nate, Tom and Aidan have become the very best of friends. I shall most certainly miss them.”
“You will have to write to us often, and perhaps when you are ready to settle down, you’ll come back to us.” She tied an apron around her middle and smiled at him. “Now, you’d best get going. You don’t want to be late.”
Matthew smiled back, and made his way to the back room. Even though cases had fallen dramatically, Maud still insisted that they take precautions, and so he dutifully did as he had been told. It was almost second nature to him now. He was about to leave when the door burst open and Rachel ran inside. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “There’s a man on the road, just outside the postal office. He was hardly breathing, his pulse feeble. I need help to get him into the clinic.”
Matthew didn’t stop to think. Automatically, he picked up the heavy canvas stretcher they stored by the back door while Rachel grabbed his medical bag. He followed her along the street, stopping outside the postal office where a man in ragged clothes lay on the ground, young Alfie Pinchin by his side. “Do you know who he is?” Matthew asked. Alfie knew everyone in Eagle Creek, having delivered the mail for years before he’d taken over from Aston Merryweather a year or two ago as the postmaster.
“No. I’ve never seen him before. He looks like he’s not eaten or washed in weeks,” Alfie said as Rachel kneeled down beside Matthew and handed him his stethoscope.
Matthew began to examine the man. Alfie was probably right that he’d not washed in some time, the man stank of stale sweat and tobacco, and there were streaks of mud on his face and clothes. He ripped open the man’s shirt and listened to his heart and lungs. The man’s heart was beating too slowly, and his breathing was shallow and labored. There didn’t seem to be any sign of a wound anywhere. Matthew checked his eyes, and then noticed that one side of his face was drooping a little. “I think he’s had an attack of apoplexy. He’s lucky to be alive. We’d best get him back to the clinic,” he said to Rachel, who nodded and spread out the stretcher.
“Can you help us, Alfie?” she asked the postmaster.
Alfie nodded. “Glad to. Will you be able to help him?”
“It’s far too soon to tell, but we’ll certainly do all we can,” Rachel assured him.
Once they had the man settled in a bed, Rachel sent Clara home and asked Alfie to stop by Andrew’s to tell them why Matthew and Rachel had not yet arrived. Rachel set about removing the man’s clothes and tenderly washing him clean, while Matthew searched through Andrew’s copies of The Lancet, trying to find something to help them treat the poor man. Apoplexy was a peculiar disease. One that could kill outright, or leave its victims with severe disabilities. Some went on to live long, somewhat hampered lives, while others seemed barely touched by the experience.
Infuriated at the lack of new treatments, knowing that all they could do was wait, Matthew thrust the journals away from him as Rachel entered the office. “Nothing?” she asked.
“Not a thing. You’d think there would be something more than simply wait and see,” he said.
“Do you think we should ask Strikes The Iron if there is anything that she can suggest?”
“I’ve already sent for her,” Andrew said as he came into the office, his face grave, Maud just a few steps behind him. “She and the other Crow healers have had some luck with patients we can do little with, particularly those with apoplexy. I know there are many who would say our using their methods might make us quacks or worse, but if they work, I’ll try anything.”
“Agreed,” Matthew said.
“In the meantime, we need to try and get him to take water,” Maud said. “And he’ll need to rest.”
Rachel nodded and was about to head back to the man’s bedside when the tall and looming figure of Dr. Hartshorn appeared in the doorway.
“I hope you don’t mind me following you, Andrew. “Not at all, not at all,” Andrew said ushering him inside. “It felt a little strange to be sitting in your library alone,” Dr. Hartshorn said, glancing around the room, his piercing blue eyes fixed on Rachel first and he gave her a polite bow, before turning to Matthew and offering his outstretched hand. “I am presuming that neither of you knew of my coming, judging by your shocked expressions,” he said.
“I had thought it might be a nice surprise,” Andrew admitted. “But a medical man’s time is never his own. We should have known that we’d be unlikely to be able to leave the clinic, all at once. But perhaps you can suggest something, apoplexy is a particular interest of yours, is it not?”
“I have certainly undertaken some study on the condition, though sadly have reached no firm conclusions. Time, rest, and then gently reintroducing activity seems to be the best healer, in my experience,” Dr. Hartshorn said.
“It seems that is the general consensus,” Matthew said, nodding towards the pile of journals he had searched through.
“As we seem to be agreed, I hope you will excuse me from supper so I might care for our patient,” Rachel said softly.
“I’ll stay,” Maud insisted.
“Maud, you have been working all day, it is the least I can do.” Rachel turned to the others. “Please, you should go back to your supper. Mrs. Walker will have gone to so much trouble,” she urged them.
“But we rather need you there for the discussions,” Andrew said a little mysteriously.
“What precisely are these discussions,” Matthew asked curiously. “For, I too, would rather stay with our patient under the circumstances. Can we not discuss whatever has brought Dr. Hartshorn to Eagle Creek here, then you may all return for Mrs. Walker’s excellent feast.”
“We could,” said Dr. Hartshorn. “Of course we could. Andrew, would you like to explain?”
Andrew nodded. “Dr. Hartshorn has suggested to me that Eagle Creek needs a fully equipped hospital. Our patients deserve the best of care, and as a small clinic we cannot offer them everything they need here, near their families. The town is growing and pressure upon us is only going to grow.”
“And he is willing to fund this?” Maud asked perceptively.
“He is,” Dr. Hartshorn said.
“He owns a number of fine hospitals,” Rachel said, in an attempt to reassure Maud who was looking more than a little skeptical about the idea. “He is an excellent employer, and truly cares for the patients.”
“Thank you for saying that,” Dr. Hartshorn said. “It means a lot to me.”
“It is simply the truth,” Rachel said with a shrug. “But I don’t really understand why you needed me to be here to discuss this. I am just a nurse, after all.”
“Nor me, when you all know that I intend to leave Eagle Creek in just a few weeks’ time,” Matthew added.
“Well, I wanted Rachel to be here because I suggested to Andrew that she would make a fine matron for the hospital, and I am rather hoping that you might change your mind, Matthew. Does not the idea of establishing the best hospital in Montana appeal to you? I know you are ambitious and driven by new experiences, would this not be one to tempt you?”
Matthew stared at his feet for a few moments, thinking about what Dr. Hartshorn had just offered him, the running of an entire hospital. “But what of Andrew and Maud? Would not a hospital squeeze them out of the town they have given care to all their lives?” he asked.
“Well, I’m rather hoping that they will agree to continue doing what they do here, but from the hospital. They know the people here better than anyone.”
“But you’ve just said that I would be the matron and Matthew would be running the hospital,” Rachel said. “I cannot in all good conscience take a position above a woman as skilled as Maud, with so many years more experience than I have. If anyone should act as matron for a hospital it should be her.”
“And I most certainly would not wish to have Andrew working for me. We have become a team here, but there is no doubt in any of our minds as to who holds seniority amongst us,” Matthew said.
Maud scoffed. “Last thing I’d ever want is to be matron in a big fancy hospital,” she said. “Don’t you worry about treading on my toes, young Rachel.”
“You want this?” Rachel asked her.
“I think it is what Eagle Creek needs, and if I can continue to bring the babies of this area into the world, I’ll be happy,” Maud said.
“Oh, I’ll definitely be glad to have you do that,” Dr. Hartshorn said fervently. “And I would hope that I can convince you to train an army of Maud Tinsley’s who will be able to do so in the future.”
“You want us to be a training hospital?” Matthew said, glancing at Rachel for a moment, then back to Dr. Hartshorn.
“I do, to rival the likes of Johns Hopkins and Harvard. I want to produce modern, quick-thinking nurses and doctors, prepared to use the newest methods and to add to them with research.”
With every word he said, the offer was growing more and more attractive to Matthew. But would it offer him enough stimulation and distraction to forget that he would be in the same place, for many years to come? “Andrew, you cannot really wish to hand over the reins to me?” he asked.
Andrew gave him a tired smile. “I am not as young as I once was,” he admitted. “This influenza outbreak made me realize just how tired I am. We made it through, because of you and Rachel, your energy and dedication. You came to a place you’d never been before, to serve people you knew nothing about – and you have done it with such kindness and such care, as if each of them was a member of your own family.”
“But you’ve told me before about how you resisted bringing someone else in,” Matthew said.
“Because most of the young doctors I saw weren’t like you. They were too arrogant, too full of their own self-importance to think they could ever learn anything more important than what they’d been taught in their fancy medical schools.”
“You and Rachel came and all you wanted was to learn from us,” Maud said, patting his hand affectionately. “And even from The Crow. You’ve never shied away from what was difficult, and whether you wish to be or not, you have become a part of the Eagle Creek family.”
“I cannot guarantee how long I will stay,” Matthew admitted cautiously. “But if I can help you to make this happen, I will gladly do so. I do not think I am the man to run it, but I will gladly help you find him if Andrew truly does not want to take on the role himself.”
“Will you agree to giving us a year?” Dr. Hartshorn asked.
Matthew paused before answering. He had been expecting to move on very soon, even though he had no idea where he would go next. To suddenly be offered the opportunity of a lifetime, the kind that most men would leap at and give up everything to pursue, and to not be sure if he wanted it enough to stay seemed most peculiar to him. To even commit to an entire year felt stifling. But then he looked across at Rachel. Her eyes were wide with hope. It was clear she wanted him to stay, to do this alongside her. He wished he was the kind of man who could offer her everything she deserved. But he knew he could not. “I will stay until we can find the right man,” he said softly. “I will not commit to anything more than that.”