Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

Nigel

N igel burst through the door, not waiting for the butler to give him entry or for the door to be opened for him. If something was wrong with Lady Georgiana, as the crumpled note suggested that had been hastily delivered to him in his apartments, then he had to be here at once to see her.

"Lady Georgiana!" he called down the corridor, already heading toward the garden room at the back of the property, as he had a good guess where she would be.

"She's here," a voice called.

Nigel entered the garden room, seeing three ladies that were all fluttering around Lady Georgiana like butterflies on a flower that would not settle.

"This excitement will do you no good." Nigel walked between all three ladies and dragged forward a stool, sitting down abruptly in front of his patient as he took stock of her condition. "The note said little. What concerns you?"

"It is…" She dropped her voice to a whisper, clearly not happy to reveal how she felt in front of so many others. "My heart."

Nigel took in the paleness of her complexion and the quiver of her hand on the arm of the wicker chair.

She is frightened.

"Well, the heart can get excited, can it not?" Nigel asked as he took her wrist, ready to count out her pulse. "I imagine this busy meeting is hardly helping matters."

"I beg your pardon?" a voice said from behind him, but he didn't turn to pay attention to that voice. His concentration was completely consumed by Lady Georgiana.

Once he finished counting out her pulse, he noticed at once what was wrong. Her heart kept fluttering, as if the signals were slightly out of sync. It was excited and struggling to calm itself down.

"Feeling jittery?" he asked her in a whisper.

"Yes." She nodded, her eyes never settling for one moment. "I do not know whether to sit here very still or stand and pace."

"Pray, stay sitting," Nigel urged her as he reached into his medicine bag. "If I may, my Lady, I'd like to ask a few more questions than I did the other day about this fluttering you describe."

She nodded, wordlessly. It was rare for Lady Georgiana to stay so silent and was testament to the fact something was wrong.

"When you have these flutterings, how long can they last? A few seconds? Minutes? Has it ever lasted beyond an hour?"

"All of the above," she murmured. "Yet this… it feels stronger than before, more persistent than intermittent."

"If I may, I'd like to feel your pulse stronger now. It's a more private touch, but I wish you to trust me," he pleaded with her.

"You know I trust you, Doctor Beille." She smiled rather sadly, before her face fell flat.

Nigel leaned forward and reached for the old lady's neck. It was a much easier place to find the pulse and always a stronger perception of what the rhythm truly was. Her skin was rather cold to the touch, but he judged that to be due to her age. He paused for a few seconds, feeling the rhythm as it raised itself out of its normal tempo.

I know exactly what this is.

"Lady Georgiana, here. Try this." A rather husky voice approached, and a woman offered Lady Georgiana a cup of tea that she placed on the table by Lady Georgiana's elbow.

"Tea will not help," Nigel said dismissively. "Please, take it away." He reached into his bag and sort out some vials of other things.

"What?" the voice asked distractedly.

"Tea will not help," Nigel repeated, his voice firmer this time. "Tea has caffeine, which is known to excite the heart. We need to keep it calm, not excite it now."

"Then it is good this is not a normal tea, is it not?" The woman's tart voice captured his attention. "It is chamomile."

Nigel looked up, his chin jerking in the direction of the young woman.

Who on earth are you?

He had not noticed she was in the room at all before, for he'd only seen the three finely dressed woman. This young lady was entirely different. She wore a peach gown that was a little scuffed from dirt, and her dark hair pinned back in a chignon was escaping its updo, wildly. The intensity of those dark eyes made Nigel do a double take, staring at her twice in surprise.

She is either a well-dressed maid or a companion.

She stood out as not belonging with the other so grandly dressed ladies.

"Chamomile?" he said in surprise. Standing hurriedly, he took the cup from her hand and inhaled the scent of the liquid, needing to be certain.

"Yes," the lady added, her glare levelling at him. "Such things are good to make one calm, are they not?"

Nigel didn't answer as he returned the cup to the table.

How did she know that?

"Well?" She pushed him on the matter, arching one of those deep brown brows. Something jerked in Nigel's stomach, a brief twinge of attraction that he thrust away.

"It will not hurt you, Lady Georgiana. Yet we must do something more." He returned the tea to the table and returned to his searching in the medical bag, probing for what he knew he needed. "I believe what you have is an excitement of the heart's rhythm, something called atrial fibrillation. I am told it is a common condition, though I believe many do not notice it when they experience it. Others…"

"Are not so fortunate," Lady Georgiana finished for him. A hand was now on her chest. "And what is the prognosis?" Before Nigel could answer, the ladies gathered around her again. Lady Bingley reached for her mother-in-law's shoulder, clinging tight, and the mysterious young woman held her hand, urging her to take the tea.

Nigel couldn't help looking at that young woman another time before he returned his focus to Lady Georgiana.

"The prognosis is a good one," he said, his voice deep as he rested his weight on the arm of the chair. He looked Lady Georgiana in the eye, needing her to hear every word. "It is a condition people live with. It is not something that is fatal."

A collective sigh of relief escaped the ladies in the room, everyone except the young woman holding the tea. She stared down at the cup and thrust it into Lady Georgiana's hand once more. It was then Nigel noticed the way Lady Georgiana's fingers quivered in the young woman's grasp.

She's trying to calm Lady Georgiana's mind as well as her heart.

Nigel reached for the digitalis leaves he kept in a small vial and held them up for Lady Georgiana to see.

"This is the treatment, yet it must be managed."

"Do I wish to know what it is?" Lady Georgiana curled her lip.

"Perhaps not." Nigel accepted it was the case. The words digitalis and foxgloves put fear into many as when taken in too high a concentration, it could be fatal. He placed the vial down on the table beside him and reached for another vial where he had already mixed ground down leaves with water, in order to create the right concentration.

As he turned back to pick up the other vial, he found it gone. He jerked his head around, trying to search for it. The young woman with the intense eyes was holding the vial in her hand, examining the leaves.

"Digi –"

"Yes, thank you." Nigel snatched it back from her. He didn't need her revealing what it was to Lady Georgiana and putting fear into her.

Wait… how did she know what the leaves are?

He returned it to the bag and offered up the watered version of the leaves.

"Take this," he urged Lady Georgiana. "This should help to bring your heart down. It's not unusual to feel a little lightheaded afterward, but there should be no greater side effects and I urge rest."

"Very well." Lady Georgiana took the vial and sipped it as per his instructions. When she was done, she grimaced at the taste and snatched up the chamomile cup from the young woman beside her, downing that as well. "How often must I take it?"

"For now, we shall stick with you taking it when you feel this fluttering. If the fluttering continues, then we can look at you taking a smaller dose every day, but I do not think we need to concern ourselves with that just yet." He smiled softly and returned the empty vial to his bag. He pulled out another and placed it on the table beside him. "You can keep this one, my Lady. If you need to, you can take it, but I'd always ask you to send for me if you feel this fluttering."

As Lady Georgiana sat back, her spine softening as she was clearly comforted by his words, Nigel smiled.

This is what I live for. Healing, and bringing comfort to people.

It was his purpose in life. Nothing more could make him this happy, he was certain of it.

"I would also urge less excitement when you feel such fluttering." He pointedly looked at the gathered ladies who had fallen into panicked conversation. He raised his voice a little, ensuring they heard every word he said, though he still addressed Lady Georgiana. "I am glad you have company, my Lady, but unnecessary excitement and chatter could lead to such things."

"Unnecessary?" The young woman beside Lady Georgiana stepped forward an inch, moving closer to Nigel. His eyes darted toward her again, as he marveled at the richness of those eyes and her strong cheekbones.

She was an inconvenient beauty, one that he didn't want to be staring at for too long.

"I would ask what the point of such meetings are?" he asked, standing and meeting the woman's gaze. "If they are to excite my patient, then I will advise against them."

"They seek to come and visit their friend," the lady said pointedly, gesturing to Lady Georgiana. "Whether you find their conversation stimulating or not is rather beside the point, is it not? They have not come to see you, but Lady Georgiana."

Lady Georgiana laughed softly, though her hand still tapped out a rhythm on her chest.

"She speaks her mind, does she not?" She addressed her comments to her daughter-in-law who still stood behind her.

"I think I like her more and more," Lady Bingley's voice was a whisper.

"What is it you object to in their conversation, I wonder?" The lady continued on, staring straight at Nigel now.

He was irked at her challenge of him. Just because she had thought to bring a chamomile tea did not mean she knew more about this situation than he did.

"The excitement and over exertion," he said, his voice harsh. "Her heart at times like this must be kept calm. These ladies' chatter about…" He paused, glancing their way, noting who the ladies were for he had met them all before in Lady Georgiana's company. They only ever came to talk of business and the periodical that was discarded on a table nearby. "About business and this magazine hardly helps, nor does it matter, does it?"

"Lady Bingley, sit down before you fall down at the insult," Lady Nightburn said in the room, standing behind her.

"You think it is the first time I have heard a man disparage the periodical so? It is not." Lady Bingley was perfectly calm as she shook her head, apparently not offended.

Yet the young woman beside Nigel was offended. She'd moved her hands to her hips and glared at him with such intensity that he was beginning to wonder what bothered him more about her appearance. Was it the fact that he thought it outlandish she would be so forthright with him at all? Or was it those intense eyes that bothered him more?

"You are wrong to judge them so, Doctor. I would hazard a guess that if you were in a room full of men talking of business, you would not object then, would you?" she asked with a knowing smirk growing on her lip.

There was a collective whisper from the other ladies as they stared at the two of them. Nigel stared openly at the young woman, shocked she had called him out on disparaging them because they were women.

"That is not what I meant," he said, his voice deep and husky.

"Is it not?"

"No. I respect any woman who endeavors for an occupation." He deepened his tone.

"You shock me," the lady said tartly, "especially considering your disregard for them just now. I half expected you to shoo us all from the room as if we were flies."

"I am here for my patient, not to tiptoe around the hurt feelings of any lady." Nigel's strong voice made the other women step back. They fell into their own conversation, apparently deciding that they did not need to concern themselves with such disregard. Lady Georgiana, on the other hand, was completely attentive to their conversation.

"Doctor Beille has an unusual sense of humor, child," Lady Georgiana said with ease, at last releasing the hold she had on her chest. "He speaks his mind. That is all."

"Yes, I noticed." The lady stepped away from him and moved to Lady Georgiana's side.

There was something about no longer having those intense eyes on him that irked him once again.

Wait, why am I longing to look at them?

"I came for you, Lady Georgiana." Nigel addressed his patient. "I do not have to stand here and put up with the censure of what is, I presume, a maid or a companion." He gestured toward the young woman, expecting someone to explain who exactly she was.

She turned sharply to stare at him, her expression so different that he stalled. Her eyes had widened, and her lips flattened together. It was as if he had wounded her. He shifted his weight between his feet, wondering exactly what he had done wrong.

"Ahem," Lady Nightburn cleared her throat across the room. "Perhaps this is the moment where the good Doctor," she emphasized the word with a little irony, "should be introduced to your cousin, Lady Georgiana."

"Yes, just so." Lady Georgiana smiled, clearly humored by the moment. "Doctor Beille, this is no maid or companion. This is my cousin, Miss Kathryn Fitzroy, daughter of Baron Aldington."

"Ah." Nigel hurried to bow his head in realization. He hadn't realized, hadn't even expected her to be high born. What of the dirt on her dress? What of her challenge of his ways?

How can the daughter of a baron know what digitalis is?

She refused to look at him now but returned to her seat beside Lady Georgiana.

"I see I have made the air awkward," he whispered.

"Well, I am entertained by the conversation," Lady Georgiana chuckled softly. "And I am pleased to say that my heart is calming itself."

"Good, good. I am glad to hear it." Nigel offered a little more advice on staying calm and keeping the vial close in case she needed to take some more, then he took his leave. "Good day to you all."

It upset him when he bowed, and Miss Fitzroy didn't look at him again. Her eyes were only on Lady Georgiana.

As he left the house and hurried to his horse, he glanced back repeatedly to the house, thinking of Miss Fitzroy and the heat of their conversation.

That should not have happened.