Upon re-entering Archie's chambers, she noticed that her husband was now clean and his clothes were changed.
A nurse was at his side.
"Madame," Clemence bowed her head. "I was ordered to wash your husband and dress him in clean, fresh clothes, so that he would be more comfortable whilst he was bedridden-Dr. Craven's orders. He slept through my tending to him."
"You may go." Lilias gave her orders.
"Yes, Madame." Clemence replied with a slight and quick curtsy.
Lilias was vexed that she herself was not allowed to tend to her husband.
Archie remained sedated. Lilias could have washed him and clothed him! This nurse was a stranger. Archie would not have allowed a stranger to wash and clothe him! He hardly allowed Lilias to see him in such a state of undress. This was Neville's doing!-calling in a nurse when Lilias was perfectly capable of any task required. Dr. Craven followed traditional protocol claiming the Lady of the house was not to perform such menial work. It was beneath her.
The frustration Lilias felt rise from her gut through her chest caused tears to well in her eyes. She climbed into the bed as gently as possible and lay next to her husband so tenderly.
...
Archie's vision was hazy. His surroundings slowly returned to focus. He turned and saw Lilias lying beside him holding his hand and asleep on top of the coverlet. Apparently, she was sleeping very lightly, however, for she woke when she felt Archie stir.
"My love," Archie rasped.
"Oh, Archie. I'm so sorry." She responded.
"Lily...why...should... you apologize?" His voice faded in and out as the last remaining effects of the drug were still evident. Though drowsy, he was coherent. "It is not your fault."
"I should not have insisted upon..." Lilias continued.
"Shhhh" Archie hushed her sweetly and reassuringly. And he shook his head slightly.
She put her arms around him. Peacemaker and forgiving by nature, Lilias mentioned nothing of Archie's brother Neville's-Dr. Craven's-cruel and demeaning outburst. She refused to believe it; therefore, she would not speak of it again.
Archie started to drift off again. His eyes closed and he stilled.
Moments later, Medlock walked in and saw Lilias curled up next to His Lordship.
"Milady!" she shrieked in surprise.
"You gave me a fright. Dr. Craven has forbidden you to share a bed with your husband. Space and full rest is needed for his recovery."
Medlock was filled with audaciousness. Lilias was too sweet-tempered, good-natured, and gracious to reprimand Medlock and command respect from her.
Lilias slipped out of the bed only to calm Medlock's nerves.
"I won't hurt him." She answered.
"Oh, I apologize Milady, I'm a bit overprotective of the Master. You see, I've worked here many years; he has earned my respect as the kindest and most gracious of noblemen, and I only want to see him in good health."
"As do I, Mrs. Medlock." Lilias said.
"I shall...let him sleep...rest." Lilias kissed his brow and left to head for the library.
She tried as best she could to focus on reading. An hour passed.
"Lily."
She looked up from her book startled.
"There you are. Time to change for dinner. Are you not joining Neville and I?
Lily acquiesced, for if she did not, the servants of the house would talk that it was improper for her sister Rose to be dining alone with Neville. She did not want them to dine alone either. She had a strange and uneasy feeling about their interactions. Rose seemed so adamant in the days before Archie's and Lilias's wedding that she would shun Lilias if she married him. She would not visit. That is why something about Rose's demeanor seemed amiss...Lilias became suspicious of them. Was it more than that they both seemed to chide Lilias and Archie and their relationship and their newlywedded bliss? Lilias could not fathom.
Misselthwaite boasted a large variety of vegetable gardens. The scullery staff prided themselves upon the use of the very best of vegetables yielded for use in the most delicious recipes for soups, souffles, and many other delights on the household's menus.
"Lilias, I would like to apologise for my behavior towards you. You understand it was concern for my brother's well-being that caused me to lose control...of my wits as it were. Please forgive me. I did not mean to snap at you in such a manner. The severe deformity of his back and the arthritis associated with it...I just wanted you to realize his body is frail. I was perhaps too aggressive in my delivery of the facts."
Lilias remained silent.
"So, I am not forgiven, then?" Neville teased.
Lilias looked down at her plate.
Rose changed the subject.
"Sweet sister, Neville told me about that garden you and Archie were working in together just after you arrived home...It was your Archie's wedding gift to you? You must show it to us. We have not yet seen its beauty."
"Perhaps..." Lilias answered. Lilias wanted the garden to be a secret place for her and Archie alone.
Neville and Rose conversed about the food at the table. Neville bragging on about the quality of the vegetable gardens.
"Is it true, Neville, that there are near a hundred rooms here at Misselthwaite?"
Lilias ate in silence. Their voices seemed to echo and fade into nothingness in her senses as her mind wandered to Archie.
"Excuse me," Lilias spoke when she finished eating. "If you'll forgive me, I'm going to bring Archie up a tray of something."
Lilias went down into the scullery herself and asked for a bowl of broth on a tray.
It would give him strength. He needed to eat something. The medication was very strong. He needed something in his stomach to combat its drowsing effects.
Lilias walked into Archie's chambers and set the tray on his side table. They wouldn't stop her in tending to him now.
"Lily, is that you?" Archie rasped.
"Yes, my love, it's me."
She leaned over him and caressed his brow.
"I'm...so...sorry." His voice was hushed. "I curse this weak, deformed body. You deserve a strong, healthy husband who takes care of you. You should not have to nurse me like this. You deserve a man who is strong to guard you, protect you, hold you...
"You do all of those things. I feel safe, guarded, and comfortable in your arms. When I'm in your arms, all of my worldly cares disappear."
"Lilias, my sweet one."
"Archie, you must eat something. It will nourish you."
"Yes," he responded. He sat up higher against his pillows. Lilias gently placed the tray over his lap. He began to try to feed himself with a spoon but he was unsuccessful. He was very weak and dizzy from the medicine.
"Here," Lilias raised the bowl of broth to his lips, so that he could drink some of it."
"Thank you, my love." His eyes were glassy.
"It's all right." Then she held a glass of water to his lips.
"You must be thirsty, too."
He then drank from the cup very graciously.
"Are you in pain?" Lilias questioned.
"No, it has subsided. I'm just weak."
Lilias placed her hands on the front of his shoulders and sweetly and lovingly kissed his face and down his neck moaning.
"Archie, how I love you so!"
"And I you."
"I'll be back to sleep in the adjacent dressing room."
"No, hang Neville's orders! Sleep next to me. As you did earlier."
"Oh, well, I..." Lilias smiled, "I shall return when I'm certain they've all gone to bed, Sweetheart."
Lilias went up to her room to change and pretend to retire there for the evening when she found Rose at her dressing table wearing her peignoir and trying on her pearls.
"Lilias, I hope you don't mind. I was admiring your wardrobe, and I thought I simply must try these on."
"Of course, Sister. You may."
"So luxurious. Very fine! And these pearls! I simply can't stop adoring them. Precious price, I'm sure!"
Lilias removed her dinner gown and replaced it with an intricately detailed frilled lace nightgown.
Rose sprayed Lilias's perfume. Lilias was beginning to think Rose had had too much wine to drink at dinner. She was playing dress up like a child.
"That's a fine perfume, Sister. Is it from Paris?"
"Why, yes, it is." Lilias entered her en suite bathroom to clean her teeth. When she walked out into the bedroom again. Rose was lying across her bed.
Rose spoke somewhat slurring, "Do you know, I think I will try to give Albert a child. I am and was preventing such an event, but I think it's what he wishes for. I don't know, I really can't see myself as a mother, Lilias. It's all very unglamourous. Can you imagine me trying to soothe a screaming child. I've no time for children.
"I hope to be a mother. To be a mother will be a beautiful gift-if God wills it."
"Only you would speak of it in such a way, Lilias, with your saintly aura."
Forgive me, Rose. I must lie down." Lilias slipped beneath the turned down coverlet of her grand bed.
"All right, I'll leave you to sleep."
"Rose, are you sure you're feeling all right?"
"Sister, stop worrying. I've just had a little wine for refreshment. I can walk down a corridor perfectly well enough, I think."
"What about the stairs first? Take care. You worry me."
"Nonsense, Sister." Rose replied and slowly but staggeringly managed to descend Lilias's private staircase and quietly sweep across the corridor to the opposite wing where Neville was having his Port and Brandy.
"Lilias?" Neville was shocked, and then he realized it was Rose. "Rose, what are you doing here? I think you've had too much wine. You really must go to bed.
"I've only come down to see if I could trick you into thinking I was your precious Lilias. Am I the company you need tonight?" Rose grabbed his glass of Port and drank all of it in one sip.
"Rose, you're drunk."
She sprawled her body across his couch slowly and gracefully.
"Will you not make love to me?" Rose said in the sweet and calm voice of her sister.
"Rose, stop it."
"Oh, sod off, Neville. I'm only teasing. Is that how my sister would speak to you if she were in love with you?" Rose laughed. "You wish she'd ask you to worship her...to have her speak to you like a temptress. Well, you can have your sick, twisted fantasies of having her, but she will never speak to you in such a way. She's far too angelic. We might as well give up, Neville. We're doomed. She loves Archie for all eternity. She'll never love you. She's probably pregnant now."
"Rose, it's time for you to leave. Allow me to see you safely to your room."
"This was only a joke. I shall. For a moment there, I succeeded. You did think I was her." Rose giggled and then started to stride away and down the hall.
"I want to be sure you find your room safely. These halls are a bit confusing so dark at night."
"Neville, you didn't have to follow me."
"Good night, Rose. He said. He shut the door behind her.