Chapter 3
"Dr Ogden, you have a visitor," the orderly declared as Julia set the telephone back on her desk.
Her sister burst past him. "Julia! I am so glad to see you!" Ruby enthused. "Really, the whole trip was exhausting, but we are glad to be here." The groundkeeper's dog that had been lounging on the rug sat up and turned his head.
Julia went from happy to see her sister to rapidly suspicious. "We?" she asked.
Out from behind Ruby peered a young girl, maybe age 5 or 6, with curly chestnut hair and large brown eyes, and a small scar on her chin. She looked supremely frightened. "Yes…. 'We'." Julia, this is Mina. Mina, this is my sister Julia. She is a doctor." If anything, that made Mina tremble harder and shrink back, eyes wide.
"Why, how do you do, Mina?" Julia sank down to make eye contact, but stayed a good distance away. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Ruby? Is there something you have to tell me?" She kept smiling at Mina, her voice soft and low.
"Mina has been my travelling companion for the last 10 days. All the way from Missouri in the States. She is the daughter of a friend of mine and she needs your help. I told her you were a very nice lady doctor and would take good care of her."
"Ruby," said Julia as she shot her sister a glare. "Mina is appears to be scared to death. Now we will have to help her feel more comfortable and then you and I will need to have a conversation." Mina appeared fascinated by the dog, so Julia lead him over to her to pet. She nearly immediately calmed down. Julia unwrapped her lunch and spread it out for the girl. She split the sandwich, offered half to Mina, and took a bite of her half. The girl nodded and started to eat with one hand while petting the dog with the other. The dog grumbled contentedly. "Mina? Can you stay here while I speak with Ruby?" Mina nodded and kept petting in long slow strokes.
Out in the hall, Julia turned on her sister. "Ruby! What are you thinking? How came you by this child? And no wild stories!"
"Julia, you do malign me so. But I don't want to tell the story here nor in front of Mina. The long and short of it is I rescued her from a terrible place on impulse, and she really does need to see you. She has been terribly wounded you see, has awful nightmares and has not spoken a word in 9 months. I thought if I just got her out of there it would get better, but … well that did not work and I am beyond despairing to help her. Please, Julia!"
"What are you expecting me to do, Ruby?"
"Give her asylum, Julia. Treat her and make her well again. She is, well was, quite a charming little girl, but so broken now. I was acquainted with her mother, and, well it is a long story. I was hoping she can be admitted here for treatment. I can cover the cost… I will tell you all I know."
Of all the outrageous… "Did you kidnap her or something?" Julia kept her voice low but was struggling with her desire to strangle her sister, and her awareness of the fragility of the girl and not wanting to frighten her any more.
"No! " Ruby whispered. "Her parents are dead, Julia—she watched them die and was trapped with their bodies for 2 days."
Julia turned immediately to the girl, who had curled up with the dog for comfort. "Oh. I see." Straightening up, she readjusted her dress and attitude and calculated how to make this work.
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Unexpectedly, Mina seemed content to part with Ruby—but not the dog—and settle into a bed in a private room. The girl's few possessions fit into a small trunk that was delivered to her room. Upon seeing the trunk, Mina went over, removed a book and a small wooden toy of some sort, and brought them into her bed. Something familiar for comfort, Julia assumed. She instructed the nurse to arrange a hot bath and a proper meal. Ruby indicated Mina was terrified of the dark and of being alone, so the dog (after much discussion) and a nurse were stationed in the room with a light on. Julia and Ruby stayed with her, talking gently until the girl tucked herself into bed. Julia promised she and Ruby would be there first thing in the morning. All the while Mina spoke not a word. The child sunk into a fitful sleep before they left. Julia decided it would be better to beg forgiveness than ask permission regarding admitting a child without legal permission to do so. After all she was an attending physician, and paid half of what her male colleagues were. That was a sore subject. She went looking for paperwork and the administrator.
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At home, Julia was rehashing the situation with Ruby in the parlour when William came in. He overheard the tail end and his curiosity was peaked. Julia got up and greeted him with a kiss and hug, but gave him a warning look, forestalling his inquiry. "Dinner is on the table."
William hung his hat, hesitated, and acknowledging the humidity, removed his jacket. "Good evening Ruby, " he said warmly. "How was your trip?" He found her to be exasperating but also, over time, engaging, and for Julia's sake made her welcome in his life in small doses. This was the first time his sister in law was going to stay with them.
Over dinner, Ruby filled them both in on Mina's parents' story. Breathlessly she said, "The romantic meeting on shipboard on a boat from New York to the Continent. Two people drawn inexorably together. Seizing the moment. Married by the captain and immediately off adventuring when they arrived in port. Holding nothing back…." Ruby gestured vaguely with her hand.
Julia thought Ruby's glances were a little too meaningful at her and William as she related the story. William just cleared his throat.
"Can you imagine?" asked Ruby. "To travel all over the world to exotic and dangerous places and return unscathed, just to be killed in a prosaic train accident?"
"Er…What kinds of travelling did they do and how did you meet?" he asked.
Ruby continued: "Karl was a hydrologist—he specialized in water projects, something the Dutch are famous for. He would be posted for months in a region and travel extensively in the country side. He went all over the world where there were large water projects, dams, canals, wells, that sort of thing. And Sara went with him, with Mina in tow from when she was in diapers. They have been to Persia and China, all over Asia, and South America. I met Sara 2 years ago through Miss Gertrude Bell. I'm sure you know her name. Miss Bell was impressed by Sara, and her husband also. Do you know in the Dutch tradition the woman does not have take the man's name? Very forward and modern, don't you think? Anyway, while he was working, she would delve into the culture of the place and the sights. She did not lecture, but wrote travel articles and children's adventure books. That is how I first knew about her. She wrote under her own name also, right from the start, no male pseudonym for her! …"
"Even in this day and age, there are not too many women who travel the world and/or write about it," complained Ruby. "We all know each other, at least by reputation if not via letter, mutual acquaintance or in person. Even if we don't care for each other, we still respect each other and follow each other's careers. Sara was so down to earth. Her motto was 'carpe diem' for certain. Or never look back.!" Ruby became aware that she was losing her audience. "I was acquainted with her and because Mina was ever-present, I got to know the child too. That's the thing William, I was trying to tell Julia. Mina is, or was, an extraordinarily gifted child. She was very precocious….speaks in 3 to 4 languages I believe already (I suppose that is the Dutch side of her), draws and make lovely objects with her hands from little bits she finds…."
William interrupted. "But how did you become her guardian?"
"Oh, William," said Julia, "That is the worst part."
"It is, it is horrible," said her sister. "Karl & Sara were on the way to the World's fair in St Louis last October. The trip was for a business connection. The passenger train they were on collided with a freight train, and the car they were in was crushed. The train burned and many people were killed and injured. Sara was killed instantly we think…. we hope. Karl was still alive, but lingered on in a coma for months until he died in hospital. Mina was trapped for 2 days with them before rescue. A scent-dog found her. Mina had broken bones and some very deep lacerations as well as a concussion."
Ruby continued. "She healed physically, but emotionally she was traumatized. I read about the wreck in the papers, and was shocked when I saw this listing of the dead included Karl and Sara, and there was no mention of Mina, who always travels with them. Some of our female colleagues were concerned, and so since I was the closest one…well, I went there to find out what happened to her. I found her there after much searching. The hospital in Missouri had discharged her to an orphanage that was just another name for a workhouse, and I think the girls were sold…" Ruby took shot a meaningful look, took a breath and went on. " I showed u, saw the circumstances and took her away. I essentially had to buy her….. You see, she is no longer able to speak. She has terrible nightmares and panic symptoms. She needed to get out of there. My conscience would not bear me leaving her." She paused. "I thought that was all it would take, but I was wrong. She needs professional help, so…"
William considered the ring of truth in that story and his estimation of his sister in law rose. "Ruby, I sincerely believe you did the right thing." He looked to his right. "Julia, do you think you can be of help?"
"I hope so. But we also need to find her remaining family on the continent. William, do you think you could assist us with that?"
"I think so. I need all the information you have to start an official inquiry. Now, Ladies, shall I get the strawberries?"
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After dinner, the conversation drifted back to William's case and he asked Julia if she thought there was a way to look at the information in the dead man's life to sway the determination for or against suicide as being the manner of death. "The evidence from the body and crime scene are too compromised and the family is at odds," he said. "The gun belonged to the victim and was kept in or on the desk where he was shot. The widow insists it cannot be suicide in large part because they are devout Catholics and it would be anathema to her for that to be the verdict of the inquest. She thinks he was murdered, even though that would mean some sort of betrayal to her. The older son favors an accident as the cause, perhaps being in denial of the idea of suicide or murder, or even to protect his mother's sensibilities. The younger son insists it was suicide, but offers no rationale. Maybe they all did it together…." He noted the look from both women. "I do have to consider that. I also know they cannot begin to grieve and give each other comfort as it is now."
"I think we can try to apply the idea of an autopsy of the mind," offered Julia.
"How can you do that?" asked Ruby. "He was not your patient; you don't know anything about him."
Julia answered: "I think we can learn a great deal about his state of mind by looking at his writings, routines and habits, interactions etc. What do you think William? It may not stand up in a court of law but may help you lean in one direction over another. Maybe help the family with the truth."
"Julia, I think it is a splendid idea. Are you sure you will have the time?"
"Of course. Ruby has already volunteered to pitch in around here so we will just put her to work."
Ruby opened her mouth and inhaled to protest, but let the breath right back out. That's fair, she thought, and said, "Of course, I will."
William put the phonograph on and read while Julia got Ruby oriented to the house and her room. Beethoven drifted upstairs. The heated floor in the bathroom impressed her the most. Just like the Romans. She was certain it was William's idea. Julia did not go on and on about the house and their 3 years of married life, but was clearly happy. Ruby was not absolutely convinced she ever bought Julia's notion that her brother in law was romantic or, good heavens, funny! She herself preferred men of the world, adventurers or sports men, or at least men who took up most of the room when they entered, by the force of their own personalities. Not like Julia's stiff and measured husband. Well, each to her own…Ruby thought.