time will tell. For now we will have to take each day as it comes.’
Grateful at least for the doctor’s honesty, Samuel nodded. Amy had crossed to Josephine’s side and now the woman clung to her hand as if it was a lifeline as Amy patted it comfortingly. The doctor then went on to give them instructions on how the patient should be cared for before departing, promising that he would return later that evening.
Josephine turned to Amy almost as soon as the door had closed behind him. ‘Would you mind going up to her, my dear?’ she asked wearily. ‘I think she would appreciate seeing a friendly face, and I would like to speak to my husband.’
‘Of course, ma’am.’ And on feet that felt as if they were weighted with lead, Amy left the room and climbed the splendid staircase that led to the old mistress’s room. She found her propped high on a mound of lace-trimmed pillows, her face as white as the cotton sheets that covered her. Her left hand lay limply on the satin eiderdown and the left side of her mouth was pulled unnaturally down.
The old woman’s maid retreated to a corner of the room to allow them to talk. Maude’s eyes, when she turned them to Amy, were as bright and alert as ever, although they were filled with pain.
With her right hand she beckoned Amy to her and without hesitation the girl approached the bed and grasped her limp hand gently.
‘D-d … do-don’t y-you … dare cry!’ Speech was obviously difficult for her and not wishing to distress her more, Amy blinked back her tears and summoned a weak smile.
‘Well then,’ she said as cheerfully as she could, ‘if you’re going to be lying there idle for a time I shall have to find something for us to do. I tell you what – I’ll read to you, shall I?’
The faint smile she received in answer was more of a grimace, and crossing to a small table on which a number of books were piled, she hastily sifted through them.
‘I know,’ she said suddenly. ‘It just so happens that I have a new book in my bag that I’m reading at the moment. I bought it the last time I was in London. It’s by an author called Ellis Bell and it’s called Wuthering Heights. I’m sure you will enjoy it so I’ll read you some of that and you can tell me what you think of it. Personally, I love it.’ She lifted the book from her bag and pulled her chair closer to the side of the old woman’s bed. Then, bending her head over the pages, she began to read, her voice quiet but clear. She was still there an hour later when Josephine entered the room and squeezed her arm gently.
‘I think you can stop now, my dear. She is fast asleep,’ she whispered.
As Amy quickly glanced up at the face on the pillow her heart ached. The old woman looked so ancient and fragile that it was hard to imagine her ever recovering. But then again, Maude Forrester was a fighter, and stranger things had happened, so Amy determined to try and stay positive.
Not wishing to disturb her, the two women crept from the room as the maid resumed her position at the side of the bed, and once out on the landing they stared at each other, their mutual love of the sick woman bonding them together.
‘Samuel has gone to arrange for a nurse to come,’ Josephine told Amy in a hushed voice. ‘And he says I’m to tell you to take a few days off work. Mother-in-law so enjoys your company that we felt if you could call in here for a few hours each day instead, it would be beneficial to her. You could perhaps bring some sketches for her to look at, or read to her as you just have done. Do anything that you think may amuse her and take her mind off her illness.’
Amy nodded immediately, glad to be of help, and arm-in-arm, the two women made their way downstairs.
Eugenie, who had been watching from the drawing-room door, sneered at the sight. Adam had forced her to come back from London to The Folly with him for a few days as he had business to attend to at his shop in Nuneaton. It was bad enough, being stuck here in this godforsaken place, but what was even worse was the fact that