Half a Mind TO Murder (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries Book 3) by Paula Paul Read Free Book Online

the child, breathing noisily through the tube and growing drowsy in her mother’s arms. “I appreciate your help, you seem quite experienced.”
    “ My younger sister had whooping cough when she was an infant. I nursed her through it. And, of course having worked in the apothecary shop, I learned a bit about medication.” Polly also spoke in hushed tones, but she looked down, still embarrassed. “But in this case I overstepped the bounds. You are the doctor, of course.”
    Nancy picked up the bottle containing the infusion of clover and handed it to the parents then signaled Polly with her eyes, and the two of them left the room, leavi ng Alexandra alone with the young family.
    Both parents were much calmer now, but they huddled together still, the young man peering over his wife ’s shoulder at their sleeping child. As Alexandra approached them, the mother glanced up at her, and she could see the fear still in her eyes. “She breathes ragged.” Her voice was still high-pitched, like a little girl’s.
    “ Shhh,” Alexandra said, watching the baby’s labored breathing. The cough was quiet, at least for the moment, and she was no longer blue from lack of oxygen. “She will likely have more coughing spells,” Alexandra whispered. “You must watch her carefully.”
    The young girl gave her a frightened look, but didn ’t speak. Her husband had now grown quite pale and looked as if he might faint.
    “ Is your home far from here?” Alexandra asked. Although she had helped birth most of the babies in Newton, she didn’t recognize this young couple. They were undoubtedly new laborers for the earl’s estate.
    The girl shook her head. “No more than half a mile,” she said, also whispering. “On Earl’s Row. Third cottage on the chapel side.” The boy seemed unable to respond.
    Alexandra nodded. Earl ’s Row was a small cluster of one- and two-room cottages where farm laborers who worked on the lands owned by the Earl of Dunsford lived, and it was, indeed, no more than half a mile away, a ten-minute walk perhaps. The chapel side meant the same side of the street on which the Methodist chapel stood. “I think you can safely take the baby home,” Alexandra said, “but keep her quiet and in a darkened room if possible so she won’t be stimulated. Stimulation will make her cough, and she could choke again. Also keep her away from other children. The disease is quite contagious. Do you have other children?”
    The girl shook her head again.
    “ Good.” She reached to give the girl a reassuring pat on her shoulder. “I’ll send Nancy with you to help you watch, and then I shall stay with her tonight, since she is likely to be worse in the night air. Remember, the cough will last for several weeks and beware of the choking.”
    The girl nodded and gave her a smile that was part fear and part gratitude before she turned toward the door with her husband beside her and the baby in her arms.
    “Wait!” Alexandra called to their backs. “I don’t know your names.”
    The girl turned back to face her and spoke in her little-girl voice. “Kate Hastings. And Jim,” she added as an afterthought.
    “ And the babe?”
    “ Alice.”
    “ You still put her to breast?”
    Kate nodded. “But she won’t suckle.”
    “ She will suckle when she can breathe. Nancy can remove the tube in an hour or two, and you must try to get her to suckle as much as possible. Her body needs the fluids.”
    Again Kate nodded before she turned away with her small family to begin their walk back to their cottage. Alexandra watched them go, wishing she could have sent them away with a reassuring word. The truth, however, was that whooping cough in an infant below the age of a year was extremely dangerous.
    When they had gone, she went to the kitchen to join Nancy and Polly. S he wanted to make certain Nancy had a good supply of the infusion of red clover flowers, since there was likely to be more cases of whooping cough, in spite of all