Chapter 6

Finally, the horses halted at the hospital, and the passengers leapt into a flurry of action. They stumbled and tripped out of the carriage, yet the three men were careful to lift and manoeuvre Julia into her husband's arms. Then, he was off, up the steps and into the main entrance hall of the hospital. It was Brackenreid, his wits about him, who guided William, following a nurse whom Crabtree had collared. Eventually, eventually, they reached an examination room, at the centre of which was an awaiting, empty bed.

William lowered his wife, his heart aching to see the fear and anguish in her expression. In the background, Brackenreid and Crabtree related the events at the station house to the medical staff. Yet he tuned them out to focus on his distressed Julia. He opened his mouth, about to speak, a futile attempt at comfort perhaps. But he was pushed away. Two nurses and a doctor came between him and Julia, a screen was drawn in front of her, and his colleagues pulled him out of the room. Then the room's door closed: another barrier between them.


He paced. And he paced. For what else could he do?

When he was finally allowed back in the room, he saw that she had been changed out of her own clothes, and into a white, cotton hospital gown. She was tucked into the bed, the sheets covering all but her arms, neck and head. Her blonde hair had been freed from its swept-up style to spread across her pillow. It often surprised him, when she unpinned her hair in the privacy of her home, just how long her hair was.

Reaching her side, William noted that Julia was much more relaxed. In fact, instead of her face being contorted in pain, her features were softened, her eyelids even drooping in sleep.

"Mr Murdoch." A man, who introduced himself as Doctor Harris, stepped forward and drew William's attention away from his wife. "We've given Mrs Murdoch" – here, William was too concerned to correct him – "some laudanum. She was obviously in great discomfort. She's complained of nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and dizziness. Apparently, some of these symptoms have been occurring for some time."

Have they? William, ever stoic, only widened his eyes a fraction, yet mentally he was gaping.

The doctor continued, "She is also experiencing considerable vaginal bleeding."

This time, William presented a more physical reaction. He jerked, as if someone had physically slapped him. There was only one conclusion he could come to. That just as his dreams were realised, they were being cruelly snatched away from him. He swallowed. "We've been trying for a baby. Do you think she is pregnant?"

"I fell." A quiet, slightly slurred voice came before the doctor could reply.

William turned towards Julia, whose eyes were now fixed on him, her eyebrows furrowed. "You fell? When was this?" Why did you not tell me?

"Yesterday. At the factory." She drew a shuddering breath and grasped for his hand. He gave it, though limply.


He was once again ushered from the room, somewhat more numbly than before. When he was permitted to return, Julia was slipping even closer to sleep, and the doctor had an answer for him.

"Mr Murdoch, the results indicate that she is not pregnant. She is likely experiencing an incredibly heavy menstruation, which is causing her great pain. Is this normal for her?"

"I-" He was flustered. Julia's menses was a topic they skirted around. She had never complained, so he assumed that they were not normally a problem. Should I know this? He mentally shook himself, returning to the urgent situation. "I don't think so, doctor."

"I thought as much. Given the recent history of dizziness, headaches, nausea and vomiting, I am looking for toxins or poisons. Has she consumed anything unusual recently?"

Loitering in the doorway, Brackenreid and Crabtree entered the room at the mention of poison.

For William's part, there was no time for him to deal with his emotions surrounding the lack of pregnancy as his quick mind assessed her eating habits over the previous few weeks. "Not that I know of. We eat the majority of our meals together, and I have experienced no adverse effects."

"Any pills, supplements? Quack doctors will sell highly doctored substances proclaimed to make one better."

"No," he shook his head. "She's a doctor, she knows better than that." He paused, then it all became clear. "The pills! She's been taking a new, experimental drug: hormone pills to aid our attempts at pregnancy."

Harris raised his eyebrows. "Highly unusual. I will need to see these pills, and if possible the scientist and his notes."

"Her notes," William corrected, for his wife surely would have if she were able. At the inspector's prompting, William divulged all that he knew about Miss Clark and her work with Julia. As he spoke, it began to dawn on him that he did not know very much about the experiment and the treatment at all.

"Very good." The response was clipped. "We need the information quickly, otherwise I'm working blind, which is not a good thing for the patient."

"I'll try and find this Miss Clark." The inspector decided, taking charge again. "George, go to Murdoch's home and fetch those pills."

"I'll go with you," William addressed Brackenreid. "I know Miss Clark." He took a step towards the door, paused, then turned to his wife. It was so very uncommon for him to feel out of his depth, that he mumbled an ineffectual platitude, and fumbled a kiss to her cheek, before dashing after the inspector.


"George."

Julia's uncharacteristically drained voice halted Crabtree as he began to take his leave. He returned to the doctor's bedside as his superiors departed.

"Please tell William I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I failed him." Her voice broke, and George averted his gaze. "If I don't make it-"

"No!" he interrupted her, wide eyed now.

"Please," she rasped. "Tell William that he should find someone who is deserving of him, who can give him the family he so desires."

"Doctor," he shook his head with his doleful eyes filling with tears. "Please don't talk like that."

If her heart wasn't already breaking, it surely would have done faced with the sympathy in the constable's gaze. Eyes closing involuntarily, the effort to talk was clearly too much for Julia but she forced them open, pushed her weakened voice to be audible. "Promise me. Please promise."

"Alright," he eventually acquiesced.

Thus reassured, Julia allowed herself to succumb to the medication, falling away into unconsciousness.


William and the inspector's endeavour turned out to be fruitless. Even with Miss Clark in tow, her full research notes about their chasteberry experiment, along with her own jar of the hormone pills, Doctor Harris was at a loss as to what could be causing his patient's symptoms.

With each word that Miss Clark uttered, William's horror grew. Rabbits? Poisoned? He hadn't even known that Julia was the first human subject (the clinical term left a bitter taste as he gazed at his very real wife). Had he known the full details of the study, he would never have allowed Julia to take such a risk. Not that I can ever stop her from doing anything, he thought bitterly.

Only when George returned with the jar of pills from the Murdochs' suite did the situation become clearer. Miss Clark eyed it with a frown, eventually shaking out the contents into a kidney dish. She took a moment to count them, her frown deepening. "This cannot be right. Doctor Ogden was to take one pill every day. I gave her a new bottle containing forty tablets at the start of this month. It is dated here," she showed the label to the men, "so I know it is the current bottle. It is now the fourteenth so there should be twenty-six remaining. There are only twelve."

"She could have dropped some," Crabtree ventured.

"Perhaps…" William looked over at his wife's still form, noticing a flicker of her eyelids. "Julia," he uttered with urgency, crossing towards her and taking her hand in both of his, clasping it to his chest. "Julia, I need you to wake up."

She did so. With incredible effort she opened her eyes, twitching as she once again became aware of her pain.

He said her name again, squeezing her hand. "What happened to the pills, Julia?"

"Pills?" she slurred.

"Yes, yes," he hurried. "Your hormone pills. Miss Clark says some are missing. Where are they?"

"Took them," she forced out, brow creasing with the effort. "Took two."

"Two?" Understanding began to dawn. "You took two every day?"

She whimpered a 'yes', and Miss Clark uttered a denial. William looked up at his audience. By the time he turned back to Julia, she was once again unconscious.

"What does this mean?" He faced Miss Clark, yet did not relinquish Julia's hand.

"It means that our experiment is invalid."

"I don't care about your experiment!" he bit out. "What does this mean for my wife?"

The other woman tripped back, stuttering over her words. "She- She should not have messed with the dose. I calculated the levels so that they were safe. I- I do not know how this will affect her. I'm very sorry."

Doctor Harris stepped towards the couple. "I will take some time to assess the pills and Miss Clark's notes. For now, I believe the best we can do is keep her comfortable and hydrated, and hope that her body will rid itself of the substances that are doing it harm."


A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for your continued support. It means so much!