Marie and I were tasked with the duty of trying to make the Lord feel better before he had to attend to his duties. His fever had become worse after he had spoken to me, but at least he was eating everything that was brought to him and remained in bed as we told him to.
It felt odd not hearing the piano from the west wing play. I had almost forgotten about a time when all the Lord did was play it when he locked himself away in the drawing-room. Now he was bedridden and asleep for most of the day.
“The physician will be here by lunch,” I said, putting a warm towel on the Lord’s forehead. I was in his bedchamber, sitting on his bed as I tended to him. His eyes peeled open, and they stared at me as I kept pressing the cloth on his forehead.
“Lady Agnes will be coming with him,” I added, relaying the message a letter from Axminster had given us. Marie had gotten one of the Lord’s men to send a crow to the Count asking for help, and he said he had sent Agnes and her physician right away. The crow has only gotten to us faster than them on a carriage.
“Your temperature’s going down,” I said, watching as his eyes fluttered closed again. I got up, heading to cover the windows with their curtains before picking up the bowl of water and the rag. He was sick because he hadn’t been looking after himself, so I didn’t think they would do anything extreme like bloodletting.
“Don’t go yet…” Lord Evenus said when I reached the door. I turned to find him sitting up in bed. His features were contorted in pain, and you could see the exhaustion in his eyes. I went back to him, dropping the bowl and rag on the side table before hugging him to myself. He felt like a kettle that has just been taken off the stove.
We sat in silence. I ran my fingers through his hair when I noticed that he had dozed off. He must have had a nasty headache. The way he clenched at his stomach and winched whenever he tried to sit also made me note that not going for food for days must have done something to him—ulcers probably, but they went away with time, so I wasn’t too worried.
“Next time you lock yourself up I’m just going to walk in on you,” I muttered into his hair, kissing his temple. My arms and back hurt from holding him up. He was a big man, and I was small and not physically active. His heaviness increased when he fell asleep and was no longer trying to hold his own weight.
When Troy wandered into the room, I had to put the Lord back in bed. It was difficult, but I managed to. I tucked him in again, before making Tory leave the room. Sick people shouldn’t be around animals. It was easier for illness to jump from creature to man when they were sick.
“The physician is here,” Marie told me when I walked into the kitchen with the bowl I’d taken upstairs. The water in it was now cold, and so was the rag that was soaked in it.
“Where?” I asked, emptying the bowl of water into the basin before squeezing the rag dry and wiping my hands clean.
“He’s in the drawing-room with Agnes,” Marie said, and I nodded, knowing that she wanted me to take them upstairs.
“I’ll go talk to them,” I said, leaving the kitchen for the Lord’s common room. Like Marie has said, Agnes was there, and beside her on the settee was a slender man with a clean-cut beard and red curly hair.
“Good evening,” I said, walking up to them. “I’ll show you upstairs,” I said, before trying to pick up the physician’s bag, but he got to it before me. I frowned a bit.
“No need,” he said, making me look away before leading them out of the common room. As we climbed up the stairs, I could hear Agnes and the physician whispering to themselves. It didn’t look like it was about Lord Evenus because Lady Agnes let out a low laugh. They seemed to get along well. It was also one of the few times I had ever seen the Lady flustered.
She seems smitten by him. I thought to myself as I watched her attempt to take the physician’s bag from him when we got to the hall that led to Lord Evenus’ room. He didn’t let her, and he instead looked over at me.
“How’s his fever?” The physician asked.
“It’s gone down. I’m more worried about his stomach. It seems like he has ulcers,” I said, and the lean man hummed. He was soon walking beside me. Agnes walked up in front of us, leading the way to Lord Evenus’ bedroom door.
She knocked, before opening the door without waiting for a response. We walked out behind her, and I went to pull the armchair the Lord had in his chamber closer to his bed so that the Physician could examine his condition.
“You two can leave. I’ll come to get you two after I look over his condition,” he said, and Lady Agnes leaned off the walk before heading out. I did so too, stealing one more look at the Lord who was fast asleep before walking out and closing the door behind me.
I noticed the Lady was leaning on the wall beside the bedroom door. Her hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing a doublet over a pair of hose. She had her hands folded, and her dark eyes stared out into the hallway.
“Fedrick’s good at his job,” she said when I made to walk away. I stopped in my steps, turning to look at her. “Don’t worry about Bennett. He’ll be fine,” she said, giving me a small smile. I didn’t say anything in reply but debated going to stand by her. After a while, I decided it was okay. I walked over to her, before leaning on the space beside her. I left some room so that our shoulders weren’t pressing. Not that they would in the first place. She was a good few inches taller than me.
“Can I ask a question?” I muttered, breaking the silence. There was something I was itching to ask.
The Lady turned to look at me with a raised brow. “Alright,” she said, seeing curious to know what I had to say.
“What’s your relationship with that physician?” I asked. I had noticed how close they had sat together on the settee, and they seemed very close from now they spoke to each other on the stairs.
“He’s been my doctor for about three years now,” she said, making me look away. I could sense that she wasn’t telling me the full truth, but I had already overstepped my boundaries as a servant.
“He’s a genius of natural philosophy even though he looks quite young,” the lady continued, smiling a bit. It looked like she respected the man a lot. Yes, he was young. I could admit that I was a bit confused as to why such a young person has accompanied the lady. He looked just a few years older than me. Most physicians were in their late thirties and older.
“Are you going to go home when Bennett leaves for war?” Lady Agnes asked, and I blinked. I hadn’t thought of that. Marie did talk shout going to see her sisters when Lord Evenus was away, and the horsemen said the same thing when I came to walk Bessa one afternoon. I hadn’t even thought of leaving.
“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly, and she hummed, nodding her head.
“You should take the time to go and see your family. You’re going to be working here for a few years I suppose.”
“Two,” I said, and she hummed, nodding her head as she digested the information. Two years didn’t seem like a lot anymore. I was about half-done with the first year now. It felt surreal. The hall became silent again since she didn’t say anything in response. The lights were fading into a blue-yellow as it moved from afternoon to even. We would hear a groan from the room sometimes, but nothing awful enough to make us worry.
“By the way, the clothes my father promised to send for you are here. I brought them along since I was coming over anyway,” Agnes spoke up and I blinked.
“I left them downstairs with Marie. She said she would keep them for you,” Agnes continued, playing with the scarf that has been tied around her shoulder. I forget that Lord Evenus has ever mentioned that. “They’re fine clothes, so if you come to the ball with Bennett be sure to pick something from what we sent,” she said, and I nodded again, remembering that she was going to have a ball in the coming spring.
Troy chose that moment to run across the hall. Lady Agnes and I both laughed at how he paroled the Lord’s chamber before giving up and walking away. Not long after that, the door to Lord Evenus’ room creaked open, and out came the red-haired physician.
“How is he?” Lady Agnes asked, leaning of from the wall. The physician, Fredrick nodded his head, checking the time on his watch.
“He’s fine, he just needs to eat well. Be sure to give him lots of milk and water. Also licking olive oil will help,” the physician said. He was holding on to his bag and he looked ready to leave.
“We should be leaving soon. I have matters to attend the day after tomorrow. I can’t afford to sleep over,” he muttered, and Agnes nodded looking over at me.
“I’ll go get the carriages ready,” I said, walking past them and in the direction of the stairs. Getting the stable boys to hurry up and get the horses ready wasn’t hard. When I got back to the house, I made it a point to tell Marie what the doctor said.
“Oh, thank heavens,” she said, holding my shoulders. “I was afraid it was the flu,” she said.
Agnes and the physician came down together after a while. We followed them outside and bid them farewell at the gates.
“Take care of him!” Lady Agnes said, poking hoed head out of the window and waving at me. I waved back, nodding my head. It was good to know that Lord Evenus would be okay.
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