The physician arrived, and asked all but Frau Schmidt to step into the hallway. The Captain did so with the utmost reluctance. For the next quarter of an hour, Max watched his friend pace frantically up and down the corridor. Even Herr Detweiler did not have the heart to tease the Captain about his peculiar behavior.
At last, the doorknob turned, and Dr. Reiter reappeared. Georg Von Trapp almost pounced on him.
"Well?" he demanded.
The physician paused.
"Scarlet fever." He shook his head. "A very bad case." The Captain's face suddenly matched his white dress shirt and he lost all power of speech. The doctor continued, "I will do all I can for her, but it may not be enough. We must get her to drink as much water and medicine as we can, to bring down her fever. The rest is up to the Almighty."
The Captain finally managed to ask,
"What of the children?"
"Your children all had the illness as toddlers. Regardless of how much time they spent with their governess, they should not be in any danger."
Georg Von Trapp nodded.
"I don't expect the crisis to come tonight and I unfortunately have several other patients in Salzburg which I must see," Dr. Reiter concluded. "I have left instructions with your housekeeper on how to care for the poor girl. I will be back around noon to see how she is."
Captain Von Trapp mechanically nodded again, and remained rooted in place. Max, seeing that his friend was in no state to think of social niceties, offered to see the physician to the door.
Georg was left in the hallway alone, staring with unseeing eyes at the barely-opened door before him, at war with himself. Common sense stated that he had already done more for Maria than propriety allowed, and now that she was in the capable hands of Frau Schmidt, he should allow his staff to attend to her, and go to bed himself. But his heart had quite different ideas.
An unexpected sound from the sickroom settled the debate for him.
"Captain!" he heard Maria call out.
In an instant, his feet propelled him forward and he veritably burst into the room.
Maria was tossing from side to side in the bed and pulling restlessly at the covers and her own hair, by turns, clearly in the throes of a fever-induced hallucination.
Frau Schmidt, who was bending over the invalid, looked up and met her employer's eyes, a hint of despair in her usually stoic face.
"The doctor gave her something for the fever, but he said it would take the better part of an hour to work," the housekeeper informed him softly.
"Captain!" Maria begged again.
Georg did not waste another second. Even the prospect of a member of his staff witnessing his lovesickness was insufficient to deter him. Moving forward, he immediately seated himself on the edge of the bed, and placed his warm hands over Maria's hot ones, trying to still the latter's erratic motions.
"I'm here," he murmured comfortingly. "Right here, Maria."
"Please Captain, love them – love them all!" the governess cried out, despite the fact that her eyes were closed.
"Shhh, Maria. I do love them. Rest now. You must rest."
"Whistles are for cats and dogs, but not for children, and certainly not for me."
"Of course not. I was wrong to ever use them," Georg soothed, recognizing that her mind must be replaying scenes from their history together. He swallowed the lump in his throat and forced his voice to not break. "There will never be any more whistles, I promise."
Then she said a sentence which he did not recognize.
"I hope you are joking, Baroness," Maria suddenly shrieked. With those words, her tossing and turning redoubled, and she contorted herself so violently that the Captain feared that she would surely injure the tendons in her arms and legs.
"I'm sure she was, Maria," he said gently, stroking her hair. "I'm sure she was. Now just try to sleep and get better. Please."
Maria seemed to listen to him, and suddenly relaxed. She sunk deeper into her pillows, and for the moment, lay still.
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