Perran Kent entered, a leather case in hand that gleamed as though brand-new. Laura introduced him to Miss Chegwin.
“Sure and I know’ee, lad. Nursed’ee through the croup years ago. Never knew a lad to cry so much. I hope you’ve outgrown it.”
Perry cleared his throat. “I have.”
He examined the patient much as Mary had, taking in the bruises, abrasions, and swollen ankle, which he declared was only sprained. “This is my first shipwreck, thank God, so I don’t know if such injuries are common or not.”
Mary nodded. “Could be much worse, as I’ve seen.”
“Then thank heaven for small mercies.” He frowned at the deep wound in the victim’s side. “We had better stitch this up. I am no surgeon, mind, but I learned to do a bit of everything at Guy’s.”
He laid a hand over the man’s brow. “He’s very cold. Better build up the fire too.”
Laura hurried to do so, but Jago was there before her, bending to the hearth. Seeing Newlyn hovering in the doorway, Laura said, “Please ask Wenna to send up a warming pan.”
“Yes, miss.” Newlyn hurried away, likely glad for a chance to distance herself from Jago as well as the stranger.
Perry gathered supplies from his bag. When he hesitated to pierce the skin, Miss Chegwin took the needle from him and began doing the stitching herself. “Women are better with needles, I find. We’ve had more practice.”
Perry nodded in relief. “It’s a mercy for him that he has yet to regain his senses. Though if he doesn’t soon, he may not at all. He might have gone without air too long.”
Laura drew a deep breath. Please, God, no.
Old Mary’s fingers were bent and frail, but they worked deftly. After a few minutes, she snipped the thread.
Perry studied her work. “Well done, Miss Chegwin. If I decide to stay and practice here, I would be honored to have you as my chamber nurse.”
“Dr. Dawe says I’m too old.”
“Then Dr. Dawe is a fool.”
Mary grinned at that but neither agreed with nor refuted the claim.
The young man straightened. “I have to go. My parents will be worried. But I shall return in the morning to see how he fares.”
Laura walked him to the door. “Thank you, Mr. Kent.”
“Perry, please. Mr. Kent is my father. You make me feel ancient.”
“After tonight, I should call you Dr. Kent.”
He looked up at her humbly from beneath a fall of dark hair. “Then you would be the first—other than in jest, at any rate.”
Laura smiled. “Very well. Dr. Kent. You deserve the title.”
“Thank you.” He looked back toward the patient. “Keep him warm, and if he survives the night, well, we’ll see.”
Miss Chegwin watched him go, and when the door closed behind him, she tsked and shook her head. “That lad is worth two of his brother, but sadly ain’t half as handsome.”
“There are more important things,” Laura replied.
“I agree but am surprised a young lady would. Well, you heard the doctor. Let’s keep this poor soul warm.”
Laura fetched a nightshirt from her uncle’s dressing chest, and with Jago’s help, the three of them managed to get it over his head, laced his hands through the sleeves, and worked it down over his body. Laura stepped back when Mary lowered the sheet, seeing only a flash of muscled, hairy legs before they were covered once again. Then Jago took his leave.
Mary shook her head. “Goodness, how he shivers. Where is that girl with the warming pan?”
They layered heavy wool blankets and a counterpane over the sheet. Even so, the man’s shivering mounted to tremors.
“We could warm the bed the old-fashioned way,” Laura said. “Did not servants once lie in their masters’ beds to warm them?”
“Oh, iss, it were the way of things. And only a few years back, a poor widow took in a half-dead sea captain after a wreck. She tried to revive him with brandy, and when that failed, warmed him in her own bed. Her country medicine worked. After he recovered, he credited her with saving his life and rewarded her handsomely. Twenty gold guineas! But you ought not do so, Miss Callaway. Yer a lady. And worse, damp through.”
Yes, the rain and surf had soddened her skirts. She was near to shivering herself.
Thankfully, Newlyn came in with a warming pan—a closed container that held heated stones, sand, or embers from the fire.
“Good, you’re here. Wrap this flannel around that and slide it under the bedclothes near