and let him help her up the steps. Rachel followed and dropped onto the carriage seat next to her.
“Don’t you dare breathe a word to my brother that you brought me here,” Claire ordered the coachman.
“Never, miss.” Gravely, he shook his head and clicked shut the carriage door. “Now to Belgrave Square?”
“Yes. Dr. Edmunds’s house.”
Once they were underway, Claire burst into a fit of giggles. “Good heavens, Rachel, what have we done?”
“You have pawned a ring Uncle Anthony gave to you, which will likely bring you untold problems, I am certain.” Rachel shook her head. “How can I ever thank you?”
“By spending the money well and making certain my most favorite aunt and the cousins I’ve never met come safely to England.” Sobering, Claire retrieved the coins from her reticule and spilled them into Rachel’s palm, a tiny waterfall of silver and gold. “I’m glad I never gave that ring away, even though I’ve wanted to more often than I could count. Obviously, God had plans for it.”
Rachel and Claire plotted and planned the rest of the way back to Dr. Edmunds’s house, and when she climbed down from the carriage and waved good-bye, Rachel’s mood was more buoyant, more hope-filled than it had been in ages. Soon, she and her family would be together again. Sooner than they had planned, actually. The thought made her smile.
She rushed down the area steps and hastened through the kitchen, stripping off her bonnet and shawl as she offered a quick greeting to Mrs. Mainprice, carrying supplies from the pantry. The moment she rounded the ground-floor landing, she spotted Dr. Edmunds.
“Miss Dunne,” he called out. “I’m glad to see you back.”
Beyond him in the entry hall, Molly glared at her for a reason Rachel could not fathom.
Rachel looked away from her. “Did you need me, Dr. Edmunds?” she asked. “I am sorry I was gone longer than I told you I would be.” Almost two hours instead of the half hour she’d requested.
“It’s quite all right.” He frowned as he interwove his fingers to ensure his gloves were on tight. “I need you to accompany me on a visit to a patient, Miss Dunne. I’m sorry, but the fellow is going to require that someone attend to him for several hours, and I have an important appointment this afternoon with a baroness I had best not miss. If you think you can manage, Miss Dunne.”
“I . . . I . . .” she stuttered, while Molly’s face pinched with resentment. Did the maid despise Rachel because she wanted to help the doctor with his patients, take on the superior role of acting as attendant to a physician? I should let her do it, because heaven knows I do not want to.
But the doctor was waiting, his shoulders beginning to droop in anticipation of Rachel’s refusal. She did not want to disappoint him. Or, she thought pettishly, to let Molly win.
“Indeed, I am willing to help you, Dr. Edmunds. I shall endeavor to keep my head this time.”
Molly’s face fell.
“Thank you, Miss Dunne. I greatly appreciate your assistance.”
A smile flitted across the doctor’s lips. Rachel might agree to walk on hot coals to see his smile. Or tend a patient, even.
So much for vows.
CHAPTER 12
Mr. Fenton-Smith looked shrunken beneath the white dimity sheets. The last time James had seen the fellow he’d been robust and ruddy-cheeked, thick-bellied and as bellicose as ever. This creature with hollow cheeks and blue veins popping along his neck was not the same man. The change was sudden and startling. He was far gone. There was almost nothing James could do.
Miss Dunne hovered off to his left, clutching a damp cloth in her hand. She was pale but still standing upright, a triumph when being here was nearly as bad as confronting a girl with a broken arm.
“He’s been so very ill, Dr. Edmunds,” said the man’s wife, her graying hair tightly wound beneath a white lace cap, the wrinkles of her face deepening from concern. “I cannot keep up with all the . . . all the . . .” Her gaze flicked to the chamber pot, stinking at the bedside, then her husband’s face, then away.
“You’ve been giving him laudanum to quiet his stomach?”
“Yes, and it has worked briefly, but he seems to be ebbing.” Tears quavered at the edge of her small eyes. “And he’s grown so warm to the touch.”
“Cool cloths may help his fever. For now.” He gestured for Rachel to bring a fresh