In the first startled moment, he stopped and stared at the sight before him. Then his tired eyes made sense of the unexpected discovery, and he realized that he was looking at his children's governess, clothed and ready for travel, lying unconscious on the carpeted floor.

"Maria!" he gasped out, horrified, utterly forgetting to use the preface of 'Fräulein'.

In an instant, he bounded up the remaining three stairs, and flung himself on his knees beside the fallen young woman. He reached out and touched her cheek, but her eyes remained closed. He noticed that it was very hot, and fear flooded every centimeter of his heart. His only meager comfort was that she was still clearly breathing.

"Maria!" he said again, more loudly this time, grasping her hot hand.

She did not respond in the least.

Without a second thought, he quickly and tenderly gathered her up from the floor and clasped her to his heart. Regaining his own feet and briefly marveling at how perfectly she fit into his arms, Captain Von Trapp called out in an urgent voice which brooked no opposition,

"Frau Schmidt, Franz, Max! Come quickly!"

Immediately, his staff and friend began to run up the stairs, craning their necks to see what the matter was. As soon as they were a few steps behind him, Captain Von Trapp began to swiftly carry Maria back to her room, barking out orders.

"Fräulein Maria has taken ill. She is burning up with fever. Max, call Doctor Reiter and tell him to come immediately. Franz, go to the kitchen and get me several cups of ice. Frau Schmidt, bring a basin with water and several clean flannel cloths."

As the threesome dispersed to fulfill the tasks, the Captain alone carried Maria into her chamber, and gently laid her down on her bed. For all his titles, he was a practical, experienced man; more than one bout of sickness had struck his sailors on the ships he had commanded, and he had watched his late wife nurse their children through various ailments. Therefore, he knew at a glance that Maria's condition was quite serious, and that the first order of business was to cool her off.

To that end, he unbuttoned the hideous travelling jacket and began to remove it. Why was she wearing it again, anyhow? She had so many nicer clothes now.

It was as he pulled her arms from the sleeves that he noticed a crumpled piece of paper clutched in her right hand. Prying it easily from her limp fingers, Georg noticed, with some surprise, that it was an envelope addressed to himself.

Wondering if it could give any insight as to how she ended up in her present condition, he quickly opened it with the greatest curiosity. As he read, his eyes began to burn and his stomach to twist in the most sickening way. What on earth could this mean? Maria had been planning to return to the abbey, in the middle of the night, without even saying goodbye to him or the children? He read the short missive again, and this time noticed the shakiness of the handwriting on it. Clearly, she had already been ill when she wrote it. Had Maria's common sense been dramatically altered by her fever, or did she actually have reasonable cause to suddenly flee his house at such an unreasonable hour?

One thing was certain; if he was ever to have an answer to his questions, he would first need to make sure that she was out of danger. Stuffing the unsettling letter into his pocket, he bent over her again.

"Maria?" he said softly, hoping that this time, she might open her eyes.

She did not.

Memories began to sweep over him - visions of the men on his ship convulsing with pain and fever, and some dying – and as much as he wanted to feign ignorance, he recognized that Maria's face and breathing patterns were much more similar to those of the sailors' who perished, rather than those who managed to pull through. Suppressing the morbid thoughts again, Georg Von Trapp began to untie and remove Maria's shoes.

The sound of footsteps was heard in the hallway. His housekeeper and butler ran in, carrying the items which he had sent them to fetch.

Without a second thought, the Captain reached over, took the flannel and ice out of their hands, and wrapping the latter in the former, placed it around Maria's neck. Then he poured the remainder of the ice into basin of water, and submerged the remaining flannel in it. Wringing out one of the wet, almost freezing cloths, he handed it to the housekeeper.

"Frau Schmidt, wrap her feet with this." The woman obeyed immediately, but furtively gazed at her employer as he turned back to the basin and plunged his own hands again into the freezing water to retrieve the last piece of flannel, which he then used to tenderly wipe the governess's face. Rumors had been swirling in the kitchen for days, but Frau Schmidt had refused to pay them any mind, believing them to be merely the result of certain maids' overactive imaginations. But now, she was forced to admit that they might have been correct. In any case, Captain Von Trapp was certainly not indifferent to his children's governess!

"Dr. Reiter said that he will be here within twenty minutes," Herr Detweiler announced as he came into the room.

"Thank you, Max," the Captain replied in a controlled voice that nonetheless betrayed a note of anguish, as he busied himself with rearranging the flannel ice packs around the Fräulein's neck.

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