Page 2 of A Countess of Convenience

“A new opinion may be the very thing Judith needs.” Another doctor certainly couldn’t hurt after the abysmal care rendered by Mr. Norris. He’d bled her poor sister-in-law so many times Dora wondered the woman had any blood left in her at all.

“A very new opinion, my dear.” Mrs. Welbourne nodded vigorously. “Lord Farringdon has just come to the area. Let us hope he can cure Judith where your doctor could not.” The lady looked eagerly toward the doorway, at which Inman had appeared.

“Lord Farringdon, ma’am.”

A tall, brown-haired man, with an air of no nonsense about him, strode into the room. “Mrs. Welbourne, good day to you.” He looked inquisitively at Dora then turned his gaze on the still figure attired in the deepest black of full mourning.

“My lord, so good of you to come.” Mrs. Welbourne stood to present Dora. “Miss Harper, may I make known to you our excellent physician, Lord Farringdon? My lord, Miss Harper is Judith’s sister-in-law and has accompanied her all the way from Wiltshire to bring her back to us.”

“My lord.” Dora dipped a curtsy. Rather curious to meet a peer who was also a physician.

“Miss Harper.” He bowed elegantly. “Delighted to meet you. Many thanks for assisting Mrs. Harper on her journey home.” He turned toward Judith, and his lips tightened. “I see it was not a moment too soon.”

Mrs. Welbourne’s face drained of color and she stepped to Judith’s side. “What do you mean, my lord?”

The gentleman sat immediately to Judith’s left and lifted one of her hands. “She’s very pale and her pulse is weak.” He turned to Dora. “Has she been bled during the past week?”

Slowly, Dora nodded. “The day before we left.”

Farringdon shook his head. “There are those who deem it beneficial. I do not. Based on my observations during my time at the medical college in Edinburgh, it seems to more often weaken the patients than strengthen them.” He looked into Judith’s eyes. “Does she follow any commands?”

Dora shook her head. “No. None that I have ever seen. She will open and close her eyes and speaks infrequently and with no sense to her words.”

“Any response to pain?”

“She always jerked her arm when Mr. Norris began to bleed her.”

The doctor nodded and laid Judith’s hand back on her lap. “Mrs. Welbourne tells me her daughter fell ill in November. What were her symptoms?”

Dora cut her gaze over to Mrs. Welbourne then squared her shoulders. If it would somehow help Judith recover, she would tell the truth, no matter that her mother and father had forbidden her to do so. “She did not fall ill, my lord. She fell and hit her head.”

Lord Farringdon frowned and turned his scrutiny on Mrs. Welbourne. “You did not know the circumstances of your daughter’s illness?”

The anguished mother wrung her hands. “No, my lord. Not until Miss Harper’s appearance this half hour ago.”

“Someone has been very remiss in their duty to inform you about your daughter, ma’am.” The physician’s pursed lips and flashing blue eyes made Dora shrink back in her chair. He peered closer into Judith’s calm, dark eyes, lifting her eyelids one after the other. “Were you there when it happened, Miss Harper? Did you see her fall?”

Squirming as though she sat on hot coals, Dora gripped the arms of the wingback chair. “I didn’t see it happen, my lord.”

The hesitation in her answer, however, gave away what her words did not.

Beneath frightfully knitted brows, Lord Farringdon stared her down. “But you know what took place all the same, do you not, Miss Harper?”

Dora dropped her gaze to her knotted fingers and whispered, “Yes.”

“If I am to help Mrs. Harper, you must tell me exactly what happened.”

Swallowing hard, Dora looked up at the doctor and Mrs. Welbourne. “I was outside Judith and Simon’s chamber in the townhouse in London.” She shot a glance at Lord Farringdon. “Simon was my brother and Judith’s husband.”

The doctor nodded impatiently. “And?”

“I heard them arguing violently and then there was a hard slap…” She darted her gaze to Mrs. Welbourne then closed her eyes. “Then there was a loud thud, and Simon began to call for help.” She released her fingers, which had begun to cramp. “I found her lying on the marble hearth, insensible.”

Gently, Lord Farringdon turned Judith’s head this way and that. “Was there bruising or a mark afterward?”

Miserable, Dora nodded. “A horrible bruise on her right temple and a smaller one on the left.”

“Did your physician treat that in any way?” The doctor scrutinized Judith’s right temple then brushed her hair aside, prodding her skull.