Bird by Rita Murphy Read Free Book Online Page A

not howl or make a nuisance of yourselves while I am gone.” I had heard Wysteria talk to them in much the same manner and they always obeyed. I hoped that in her absence they would do the same.
    I had no idea where I might find the doctor, though I knew the town had one. I had seen his carriage driving by once when I’d accompanied Wysteria to the shops. She had nodded in his direction and identified him as the town’s physician, though she had appeared nervous at the sight of him and had quickly turned her head away.
    As much as possible, I kept to the back streets and alleys, but I could not entirely avoid the curious stares of the shopkeepers and the jeers of a few schoolboys on their way home for lunch. The town was not large, but it was large enough that I had to ask several people for directions to the doctor’s office.
    Dr. Mead was his name, and he resided in a small house near the center of town. His office occupied the first floor, and although the door was open, he was not in. His nurse directed me to sit and wait, as he was expected back after lunch, but I could not. The Hounds would not remain patient for long, and every moment away from Wysteria meant she could lapse into a coughing spell and not recover. I let the nurse know the urgency of the matter.
    “The doctor is out on the islands,” she informed me briskly. “He is visiting a patient and there is nothing I can do to bring him back sooner than he intends to return.” She was a tall woman with broad shoulders. Her face, which perhaps had once been pretty, was drawn and weary. Lines of worry marked her forehead. She nervously fussed about the office, visibly uncomfortable with my presence. She gazed at the ceiling or the ground when she spoke to me, but when she thought I wasn’t looking, she openly stared, as if recording for some future use the exact details of my size and manner.
    “Please,” I said. “I must go back and see to Mrs. Barrows. Send the doctor as soon as he returns. It is urgent. I fear that without his help, she will not last the night.”
    “I will send him, but I cannot say that he will be pleased to come. Many years have passed since he ventured down the road to that unfortunate dwelling, and he carries no good memories from his time there. I can guarantee you that it is the last place on earth he would wish to visit.” Though I wondered greatly at her words, I did not have the luxury of time to stop and inquire further into her meaning.
    “If he comes after dark, tell him to mind his step, as the earth is soft in places about the Manor and his horse may find it difficult to navigate. I will light the lantern for him.”
    “Dr. Mead will come,” she said, looking about anxiously. “You can be sure he will come.”

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    “I wish you had found me sooner, young lady,” Dr. Mead scolded. The doctor was a stately gentleman with a broad white mustache, prominent forehead, and thick heavy brows, which gave him the appearance of being either greatly surprised or greatly disappointed by some important matter. His whole demeanor was that of a man who had never spent a moment unconcerned with life or death. I even sensed that the subject of his dinner conversation would be of superior importance. This importance rose from him in waves, and I found myself walking a step or two behind him from the moment he entered the foyer of the Manor.
    “She is in no condition to be moved, that is certain,” he proclaimed upon removing the stethoscope from Wysteria’s chest. “She has pneumonia. Do you know what that is?”
    “Yes, sir. An affliction of the lungs.”
    “It is that indeed, and a bad case besides. Any move might well do her in. She must remain here until the fever breaks. But she cannot stay with only a young girl to care for her.” The doctor took Wysteria’s frail wrist in his hand, closed his eyes and counted her pulse. It was a strange sight to see a man in Wysteria’s bedchamber, sitting on her bed and holding her