Elizabeth nodded, and Warren said, "That is probably enough for the moment. I will be visiting daily until we see if his fever spikes."
Darcy, said, "I thank you, Warren. I have no doubt I will receive the best care."
Warren looked somewhat embarrassed, looked at Mrs. Darcy and said, "There is one more delicate matter. Need I say it?"
Darcy looked in shock, but Elizabeth just said, "Say no more, doctor. We will defer any particularly close contact until the disease runs its course."
Darcy nodded, unhappy that his wife was so nonchalant about telling him that he had probably received his last kiss for some time, or perhaps ever – but since he had not expected to get his first kiss from his new wife for quite some time, he reckoned he would need to be satisfied.
Warren said, "One last thing. Write to your uncle, the judge, and anyone else that you feel should be discreetly made aware of your condition. Whoever gave it to you is probably already feeling the effects, but they should know, insure they get good care, and isolate themselves from others for a while."
"I will see to it. Thank you, Warren."
With that, the doctor rose, bowed and said, "I will return sometime tomorrow, ma'am," hardly paying any attention to Darcy.
"Thank you, doctor."
The Contract – Green – Chapter 35
GREEN
Elizabeth and Darcy saw the doctor to the door of the sitting room, where Darcy's valet volunteered to see the good doctor out.
Elizabeth said, "Fitzwilliam, it will make little difference if you write your uncle tonight or tomorrow, and you look exhausted. Go to bed, and I will see you in the morning."
Darcy, feeling suddenly awkward after the first passionate kiss but now with a need to keep his distance did not know exactly what to do.
Elizabeth said, "I believe we must heed the doctor's warnings, but if it makes you feel any better …" and she paused to look shyly at him, and continued, "… that would not otherwise be my preference."
She blushed shyly at the assertion, but could not hide a smile, while her husband made no attempt whatsoever to hide his very broad grin.
"I am very happy you feel that way, Mrs. Darcy – very happy indeed."
Elizabeth blew a kiss into the air just like you would with a child, then shooed him off towards his quarters, saying sternly, "Off you go, young man."
Darcy bowed and gave an exaggerated winked. "Yes, ma'am!" and then went to follow instructions. He suspected it was far from the last instruction he would ever hear but did not mind.
Elizabeth watched him go pensively, not entirely sure what she was feeling and happy that she would have an evening of sleep to ponder it. She felt like a man she had watched trying to break a horse when she was younger. He had bounced around until she was certain his head would come off his shoulders, and she was beginning to appreciate the feeling. Her head had whipsawed from the fear, loathing and disgust in the morning; to the bone-chilling fear of the wedding; to the frightening burning anger of the afternoon; to the confusion and disorientation of their reconciliation; to the startling way her husband flipped from her worst enemy to her best friend in the space of a couple of hours; to the present state which was – which was –
Elizabeth had to admit that while she would have concern for anyone that she was responsible for, which she undoubtedly was with her husband by then, this was different. It was not just that she was unsure she could quite survive going from runaway to bride to wife to widow all in a month. That would distress anyone almost beyond enduring. No, there was something more. Perhaps, she reflected, she was closer to liking and loving her husband than she thought. Perhaps he was right – they were both closer than they had any right to expect. She was certain of one thing. Losing him at this point would be inordinately painful.
With a snap, she engaged in an occasional bad habit of talking so herself, and mumbled, 'Well then, Lizzy – I suppose you will just have to keep the lunkhead alive, for your own convenience if nothing else.'
Feeling like she was running in circles, she decided it was probably about time to think about bed for herself, but first, if she was to follow the doctor's directions, she needed a bath, and she would need to start organizing for her husband's care in earnest in the morning. The thought it might be nice to be able to act as nurse, as she had many times before, but without any interference from anyone. It would certainly be a change from life in Mrs. Bennet's house, that was for certain.
Elizabeth felt bad about making the footmen carry water for a bath after they had just finished moving all her furniture but decided she would get over it. She reentered her bedroom to find Mrs. Radcliff inspecting everything with a critical eye, as expected.
"Mrs. Radcliff, might I have a word?"
"Of course."
Elizabeth liked the way the housekeeper answered. She thought she could read a lot in how people reacted. Even though her most recent foray into sketching characters had been a complete disaster, she was not quite ready to abandon the practice after one tiny little bit of difficulty assessing the man who would be her constant companion for the next fifty years. The housekeeper was respectful without being obsequious, which was exactly as Elizabeth preferred.
"I dislike asking more after all the work of rearranging the furniture, which is well done by the way."
The last she said loud enough that the several footmen who happened to be in the room could hear, and she saw smiles from them. Any servant had a right to be nervous when a new mistress came into the house. She imagined if Caroline Bingley had managed to entrap her husband, and then shuddered – that thought alone could give her nightmares. Coming back to the point, she thought that it would be smart to establish the best working relationship with the staff she could, right from the start, and a small bit of praise had never done anyone any harm. Of course, she had to take her Aunt's word on that, since Mrs. Bennet was not actually familiar with the concept of genuine praise.
Trying to bring her mind back to the task at hand, she continued, "I will need another bath tonight, on doctor's orders. Mr. Darcy is ill as some of you may have surmised. I will promise to tell you all I can on the morrow, but for now, the bath please. It need not be full – just a hipbath will do nicely."
One of the footmen said, "We will get right to it, madam. I believe some water is already warm in anticipation, so it should be ready in a quarter hour."
Elizabeth smiled, then asked for and received the man's name, then asked for the rest of the men in the room. She would have to remember all the names sooner or later, and she thought the easiest way would be to just ask everyone until she had them all.
The housekeeper said, "I will send Martha again, Mrs. Darcy. Will there be anything else tonight?"
"I have a letter to write, and I will want it delivered at first light. I will need paper, ink, all the usual things. The correspondence is quite confidential, so who should I entrust it to? I assume the butler, Mr. Vaughn?"
"Yes, ma'am. That would be best," then she walked over to a set of bell-pulls. "This one is for the butler. This one for me. This for any footman, and this for any maid. We can sort out a finer system of signals later."
Elizabeth smiled. "That is very clever, Mrs. Radcliff. Let us discuss breakfast, or rather, let us discuss my complete lack of any need to say anything about it. Whatever you have planned will be fine. I am not a very particular eater."
"Very good, ma'am. If you do not mind my saying so, you look about two thirds as tired as the master. I would hope you can go to your rest soon."
"Thank you. I only have one letter to write, so it will not take long."
With that, everyone but Martha turned and left. Elizabeth sat down to a very nice desk, wrote her letter, and by the time she had sealed it, her second bath was ready. She would have to start on making sure there was hot water and plenty of soap and towels ready for Darcy's illness, but she would have plenty of time for that in the morning.
Darcy slept until nearly ten, an unheard-of time for him. He normally woke up close to sunrise, and if he failed to do so, his valet would wake him up, but the consensus in the house seemed to be that he needed his sleep.
While he was preparing, he told his valet all that he would need to do to protect his own health commensurate with the doctor's orders, and he was beginning to feel eternally grateful his wife had forced him to seek counsel. Absent her intervention, he would have been on a ship that morning, and who knew how that would have played out. He ran several scenarios through his mind while getting his shave, but none of them ended up well.
He spent the time while he was getting dressed instructing his valet in the doctor's safety precautions, although he suspected it would be made redundant by his wife's instructions. He was not entirely sure why he so completely trusted her when he had completely distrusted her the day before. Perhaps it was her show of courage, but that did not make sense. Anyone could show courage without being sensible or reliable. In fact, high levels of courage did not necessarily positively correlate with reliability. The bravest men he had ever know were mostly so because they thought themselves invincible, but that turned out to not be the case from time to time.
His valet took his time with the shave, and Darcy used the time trying to be rational. In the end, the answer came to him in a flash just as he wiped the last of the shaving soap off with a towel, which would have to be isolated and washed. The answer was simplicity itself: He trusted his wife because he trusted her. Darcy was not a man overly bothered by circular reasoning. Trust was a two-way lane, and his wife had trusted him by telling him her darkest secrets when he had an inordinate level of power over her life. He could do no less. His valet was a bit confused when he mumbled to himself, 'There, simple as that. Not so complicated after all.'
When he was ready, he found Elizabeth waiting for him in their shared sitting room, reading what was probably an ironic choice, Shakespeare's Henry the Eighth, which he laughed heartily at.
"Good morning, Fitzwilliam. I found your instruction manual here and thought I would read up in anticipation."
With that, she joined him in laughter, got up, and carefully put her gloves on.
"Fitzwilliam, the doctor's instructions seem sensible, and we will need to heed them as much as we can, but …" and she paused a moment, then continued, "… but, nursing is a very personal business, and I am not entirely certain we can maintain the separation and do a good job of nursing as well. I think we should do the sensible things like wear gloves, wash often, that sort of thing, but we cannot be fanatical about it."
Darcy looked thoughtful. "I suppose talking you into letting someone else nurse me is a fool's errand?"
Elizabeth didn't bother to reply with anything except a hard stare, so Darcy continued, "As I thought. I doubt you are to be dissuaded once you have set your path."
"As my grandfather said, 'choose your path carefully, commit to it, and go like mad.' I have chosen my path and have no intention of hesitating or faltering."
Darcy smiled. "Wait here, please," then returned to his room to get his own gloves. On his return, he assumed two pairs of gloves would have to do, so he took his wife's hand, brought it to within an inch of his lips but did not make contact, and made a noisy sort of kiss."
Elizabeth giggled at the silliness, but she had to admit that she quite liked her husband in a feisty mood. She was certain she would see many other less agreeable moods if his illness progressed as the doctor thought it would, and a bit of levity now would go a long way to getting her through the darker times to come.
Darcy said, "My reliability at reading your thoughts is woefully inadequate, but I do hope to get better. You seem pensive. If you are thinking about my upcoming illness, there is little we can do to quiet our minds, but busyness helps, so shall we get to it?"
Elizabeth gave a light, rueful smile. "Yes, let us go to breakfast. I find myself famished."
Darcy bowed, and held out his arm, once again reasoning that if a glove, the three sleeves covering his arm were not enough to protect his wife, they were doomed anyway.
Mrs. Radcliff stopped by the dining room about halfway through breakfast, so Darcy asked her to summon as much of the staff in the ballroom as possible, to which she replied she could certainly get everyone except perhaps one maid to watch the fires in the kitchen.
They finished their breakfast, and then Darcy stood up and said, "We may as well let our staff know what is happening."
Elizabeth nodded, and allowed her husband to help her out of the chair she could perfectly well have gotten out of herself, then took his arm and followed him to the ballroom. He explained the layout of the house as they went along, and he mentioned little bits of history or this and that about some of the rooms. He chuckled, as he suggested that there were one or two rooms that were still subject to his mother's decorating, which might require immediate attention.
When they arrived, Darcy said individual hellos to some members of the staff, but not everyone. Elizabeth assumed there was some rhyme or reason for the choices, probably how long they had been in his employ or something like that.
He cleared his throat. "I have two announcements."
The very light buzz of conversation halted when he started speaking, and he continued.
"The first is that I would like to introduce you to your new mistress, Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy. We were married just yesterday. Her word is law in all our homes as you would expect."
Everyone nodded, and Elizabeth thought a few might be skeptical, but they would be brought around. Weddings at the Darcy level were usually planned for months, and attended by the high gentry, and possibly even royalty. If the master went off one day to a little-known hamlet nobody had ever heard of and returned with a bride nobody had ever heard of – well, she thought – they were entitled to their skepticism. She would earn their respect the only way it could be earned, by being a fair mistress over time. Even though her mother had not been a very good teacher, Elizabeth had been a gentlewoman all her life, and had known many more. She felt confident she knew how a mistress should act.
One of the footmen said, "Welcome, Mrs. Darcy. We are very happy to have you."
Elizabeth assumed he must be a ranking footman, as he felt confident that he was not usurping the privilege of the butler, who he rightly assumed already knew the mistress.
Darcy gave them a bit of time to throw welcome greetings, then cleared his throat, and continued.
"Unfortunately, I have some bad news to go with the good – and let me be very clear on this point – the introduction of your new mistress is very good news – the best news in a very long time."
Everyone nodded, and Elizabeth assumed some would be converted over by the assertion and others would not.
"The bad news is that I appear to have Typhus. It is not certain, but the doctor gives it a strong possibility and it must be taken seriously. We will know in a fortnight, but if I have in fact contracted the disease, it could be quite bad."
The restrained whispering became almost a roar as everyone started talking at once, and Darcy just squeezed Elizabeth's hand which was still hooked to his elbow with his other hand and give the staff a bit of time to come to terms with the news.
When everything had settled down, he said, "With that news in mind, here is how things will play out."
Everyone became deathly still. The illness of a master, when there was no very clear idea of who the heir was, (unless Mrs. Darcy carried a reason for a hasty wedding), was a cause for some concern. Many of the servants had worked there for years, or their families for a generation. Darcy had always had a succession plan in case of his death – no sensible gentleman went without one – but still, there was a big difference between a vague threat and a very real and immediate threat.
The same footman said, "If I may speak for us all, we are very sorry to hear that, sir, and we will do all we can to assist Mrs. Darcy."
Darcy nodded. "Thank you for that. I believe she will appreciate it."
He looked to Elizabeth, who said, "Well spoken – for once, Fitzwilliam."
The laughter of the group was a bit tense, but not quite as tense as it had been.
Darcy said, "As any sensible man would do, I have made my wife my sole heir, so should the worst befall me, you will be in good hands," and ignored the death grip Elizabeth suddenly put on his arm, wondering if he would pay for that surprise later.
"She will also be nursing me back to health, so you need not fear. She has extensive experience, and I have the best doctor in London. All will be well. That said, I will allow my wife to give you more specific instructions."
Elizabeth thought it unfortunate she was wearing slippers, as if she had her boots on, she would almost certainly stomp on her husband's foot, although, to be honest, his little smirk of triumph was not quite as hateful as you might think.
Elizabeth smiled. "I thank you all for your warm welcome. It means a lot to me."
Everyone nodded, and a few gave brief bows or curtsies, and Elizabeth continued.
"I will want to learn all your names over the next few weeks. My memory is reasonable but not perfect so please do not be offended if I ask you twice. Now, on to other matters."
She looked around to insure everyone was paying attention and continued.
"Typhus is contagious, but nobody knows exactly how it is transmitted, or how easily it can be caught. I do not want any other cases in the house, if you please. With that in mind, we will be implementing a rigorous schedule of cleaning. This will mean everyone who goes into the sickroom will have to have their clothes washed at least daily and will have to have baths with plenty of soap daily."
She looked to the man who spoke earlier. "Might I know your name and position."
"Miles, ma'am. I am first footman."
Elizabeth nodded, looked to the butler to ask his blessing, and continued, "We will need to set up a way to always have hot water upstairs. Perhaps a kettle hook can be placed in the fireplace in the bedroom, once I work out which one to use."
Darcy said, "What?"
"I have not examined your rooms yet, but it is not certain we will want you convalescing in there. The nursery may be more practical, or another suite of rooms. I may even keep you here in the ballroom, closer to the ground."
Darcy chuckled, admitting defeat and let her continue.
Elizabeth said, "Mrs. Radcliff, whoever volunteers to help me with nursing …"
She was interrupted by a matron of about forty years, who said, "That will be me."
Elizabeth nodded, and the woman said, "Mrs. Weston, Mrs. Darcy. I have done plenty of nursing in my day. My boys are grown and my husband in the ground. You and I will do just fine. You can put the rest to work farther from the patient."
The housekeeper said, "I concur."
Elizabeth liked the fact that there seemed to be natural leaders among the staff, and that they knew when to follow and when to lead. She thought that spoke highly of the way the Darcys managed their affairs and thought to discuss it in more detail with her husband. Of course, she might have weeks and months to discuss things with him if the illness went poorly but not fatally, so there was plenty of time for that later.
Elizabeth said, "Fair enough, Mrs. Weston. I appreciate it."
She looked around. "For the rest of you, we want to be careful. Are any of you with child, or have young children – men included?"
About a third of the staff raised their hands.
"You are not allowed on the floor. If your normal duties do not get done, well, so be it. For the rest of you, do not approach within two yards of my husband or myself," then she pointed to a long sofa on the side wall, and added, "that sofa is two yards long. Keep it in your mind. If you carry something to the room, leave it just inside the door, and let us move it to its proper place. If you touch anything inside the room, including me or Mrs. Weston, wash your hands immediately and take a bath as soon as you can."
Everyone nodded, and she said, "I will instruct you more as we go along, but for the moment," then she turned to Mrs. Radcliff. "Perhaps you might purchase some ready made dresses for Mrs. Weston and myself. Half a dozen – no, half a dozen each. Lots of soap and laundry supplies – well, you know what to do."
"Yes, ma'am, I do, but I appreciate a mistress who thinks for herself. We cannot do everything."
Elizabeth blushed a bit, and the butler, added, "Yes, let me add my welcome to you, Mrs. Darcy. We will not let you down."
Elizabeth smiled. "Of course not. Now, we have some affairs to see to, so I will bid you all a good morning."
Everyone walked from the room, most giving her another welcome on the way out, and Elizabeth though that she just might like being the mistress of Darcy House after all.
