She Brought a Doctor’s Bag to the Duke’s Estate — By Winter, the Village Was Grateful
Chapter 3
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"Tate will keep his leg?" the Duke asked."If the wound stays clean, Your Grace. I shall know in four days.""And you are the surgeon Hale wrote to?""I am the surgeon's daughter. My father died in August. I have come to ask you for the lease of the surgery cottage in Kestleford."Lady Philippa made a small sound into her handkerchief. The Duke said nothing for a while. When he did speak, his voice was low and even, the voice of a man who had long ago decided that raising it was a waste of breath."Kestleford has been without a surgeon since April. It has managed.""Has it, sir? Mr. Hale wrote that he has buried more children this year than in any year since he came. He seemed to think that was not managing."Something moved in the Duke's face and was put away again. "I was not aware of that.""No, sir. I do not suppose you were." It was said quietly, with no insolence in it, and it struck him harder for that. Lady Philippa's eyebrows rose almost to her cap.The door opened before he could answer, and a man came in with a ledger under his arm. He was perhaps 50, well-brushed and well-fed, with a pleasant round face and very pale eyes. He bowed to the Duke, bowed lower to Lady Philippa, and gave Elspeth a smile that went no further than his mouth."Forgive me, Your Grace. I heard there had been an accident.""And this is the young person from Durham. Mr. Josiah Harcourt, madam, His Grace's steward." He turned back to the Duke. "I fear the surgery cottage is hardly fit. The roof is very bad. I had meant to raze it at quarter day. It would be no kindness to put a lady there with winter coming.""The roof can be mended," said Elspeth."Out of what, madam?" Harcourt asked gently, and glanced at the empty shelves as if to say that everyone in the room knew the answer.The Duke looked from one to the other. Then he looked for a long moment at the old black bag at Elspeth's feet."You may have the cottage until Lady Day," he said. "Rent-free. If the village will not use you by the spring, you will go back to Durham, and I shall have lost nothing but a roof I cannot afford to mend. Harcourt, see that it is made dry.""Your Grace is very generous," said the steward, and his pale eyes rested on Elspeth with an expression she could not read.It was Mrs. Sayer who lit her to the side door when she left, with a lantern and a boy to carry the trunk. On the step, with the rain coming down beyond the porch, the old housekeeper put a hand on her arm."One thing, miss. Don't you drink from the pump in Kestleford Square. Take your water from the mill well, or from the Hall's carts when they come down."