If she’d taken more of whatever concoction she purchased, she might not be lying there asleep. She might be lying there dead from blood loss or poisoning.”
“You think I do not realize that?” Shaking with anger, Rachel stood. “If I had told you, you would have dismissed her immediately and she would have gone off to rid herself of the child in some dark, squalid room elsewhere. The outcome would have been no different.”
“I know of a small charitable institute for girls in her condition. I would’ve sent her there, which is what I still intend on doing once she has recovered. She’ll be well taken care of and the baby will be adopted out. Presuming it lives, after what she’s done.”
“I suppose she will be thankful to be dismissed and have her child taken away from her,” Rachel hissed, trying to keep from screeching and rousing Molly or the rest of the household.
“Is there something else you would rather I do for her, Miss Dunne?” Vexed, red-faced, the doctor towered over her. “Such as keep her on, take her to Finchingfield House with me? An unmarried house-maid large with child. How would the people of that town treat her, do you think? Don’t answer, because I know how they would treat her. And so do you.”
Rachel’s face burned. “That was unkind, Dr. Edmunds.”
His jaw flexed again, but he didn’t apologize for reminding Rachel of her treatment in Carlow. “I’ll try my best to ensure that Molly finds a position elsewhere, once the baby is born. Somewhere in the country, perhaps. Far away.”
Far away . . . as far as London was from Carlow, perhaps. Distance seemed the only cure for women like Molly and herself.
“Sending Molly away is the best course open for her,” he continued. “The best I can do. You’ll see.”
“I will not see. I am leaving in the morning, Dr. Edmunds. First light. Remember?”
“This episode with Molly changes everything. Someone will have to take over Molly’s task of packing the bedchambers. Mrs. Mainprice and Joe are too busy with their work. You’ll have to stay.”
“What if I refuse? I have the right to. You have dismissed me, after all, and I am no longer in your employ.”
The look he gave her was that of a father scrutinizing a disobedient child. She had lost so much that day—his admiration, his trust. All that was left of his caring.
“Please stay, Miss Dunne,” he ground out. “As further compensation, I will pay you your entire salary plus another crown for having to do Molly’s tasks in addition to your own. I think I’m being more than fair with you.”
She sucked in a breath, let it out quickly. He was bribing her, but she had no reason to refuse, besides pride. Pride, however, had swayed her too often in the past and God had punished her for her arrogance.
“Yes, you are being fair,” she replied, because pride was a luxury she could no longer afford.
CHAPTER 21
The doctor is out, I said.”
Joe’s voice was clear, echoing up the staircase to reach Rachel in the library. He had been assigned to answering the door, in lieu of any maids left in the house, but hadn’t had time to master any of the manners that went with the job. Rachel could easily imagine the look of exasperation on his face right now, furious with whoever it was who declined to leave, and almost smiled. Almost.
Finishing the final entry in the ledger, Rachel straightened and wiped her hands across her apron. The last of the books, recorded and packed away. The room looked undressed, the massive walnut shelves empty of their volumes.
Footsteps marched up to the library, and Joe poked his head around the door. He’d been given a new outfit to go with his new role, and he rubbed his bare head as if his nervous fingers missed his old tattered cap, banished to the stable.
“Miss Dunne, are you busy?”
Her work in the library was completed, but Molly’s tasks . . . she still had those to do. She had been procrastinating with them. “I have just finished here, Joe.”
“Good, ’cause there’s a person,” he paused to roll his eyes as though the title “person” was a bit too noble for the creature, “who says she ’as to see Dr. E, an’ won’t listen when I tell ’er that ’e isn’t ’ere. Says she ’as to see ’im and won’t leave until ’e appears. Bloomin’ stupid woman. She came to the front door