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Someone had locked her in a conservatory. Caroline was running among the exotic plants, trying to reach the other side, certain that there had to be a door there. But when she reached the other side, there was only solid wall. She spun around. The heat level seemed to rise. Someone had to have put more wood on the fireplaces below the room. A lot more.
Caroline tried a different path along the back wall of the room. It was solid brick. There was no other escape, she realized, other than to break the glass at the front of the room. The side toward the garden was all glass. She should be able to break one of the sides if she used enough force. She felt certain that she would suffocate if she remained in there.
When she reached the wall of glass, she lifted one of the plants and threw it at the glass, but nothing happened. She threw another and then another, crying out in frustration when the window did not break.
“Caroline,” someone shushed her, clearly trying to calm her down.
Caroline opened her eyes and saw the darkness of the room. It took her a moment to realize where she was and who was with her. Hugh was stroking her forehead and her back while he was talking to her soothingly. The conservatory was gone, but the hotness was not.
“Why have you moved the bed next to the fireplace?” she murmured as she tried to escape Hugh’s warm arms.
“I haven’t,” he said, and his hand was back on her forehead. “You have a fever,” he said and sat up in bed.
“I’ll be fine in the morning,” Caroline said, because she had to be fine. She needed to reach Bath.
Hugh rose from the bed, returning with a glass of water. Caroline drank gratefully, then closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep again.
***
“It’s influenza,” a man’s voice said above her.
“What can be done about it?” another man asked. Hugh. Caroline recognized his voice.
“I can bleed her, but in the end, she is in God’s hands. It can go either way,” the first man said.
“Is it really that severe?”
“If she was in a better condition, she would not be as sick, but given her state of malnourishment, the disease has become more severe.”
Caroline did not know how much time passed before she felt a sharp pain in her arm. She had only been bled once before, but clearly recognized the sensation.
“No,” she whispered.
Hugh shushed her, while the other person, the doctor she presumed, held on to her arm.
“No, I can’t afford it,” she whispered.
Hugh stroked her forehead. His fingers were nice and cool against her heated face.
“Don’t worry about that. All you have to do is recover,” he said in a low, soothing voice.
Caroline did not answer but let herself drift off to sleep again.
“We should leave now if we are to return home before nightfall, my lord,” a man said. A different man than the doctor. He was in the room, but far away from the bed.
“We’re not leaving today. I can’t leave her here all alone,” Hugh said.
He was close to her. She could hear his voice right next to her.
“See to it that I have a room of my own,” Hugh said in a commanding tone of voice that clearly stated that he did not want to argue with the other person, but expected to be obeyed. Caroline could not help but smile. She had been right about him. This was exactly what she had thought he would be like when she had first seen him in the public room.
“Very well, my lord,” the other person said, and Caroline could hear that he left the room and closed the door.
“You’re awake,” Hugh then said, even closer now than he had been before. She felt sure that he was smiling.
Caroline tried to answer, but was sent into a coughing fit. Hugh helped her sit and patted her back as she coughed.
“Here’s some water,” he said and held a glass to her mouth. Barley water, Caroline could smell. She drank greedily. Until that moment, she had not realized how thirsty she was. When he asked if she wanted more, she nodded and emptied the other glass as well.
“Are you feeling better?” Hugh asked as he helped her lie down again. “Do you want something to eat? I can call for beef broth.”
“Perhaps a little,” Caroline said in a hoarse voice. Her throat hurt as she spoke.
Hugh left and was then by her side again sometime later. Maybe only a minute, maybe half an hour.
“Caroline, is there anyone I can send for? Do you have any family?” She could hear the concern in his voice. He really had to be the sweetest man that she had ever met, taking care of her like this, being concerned about her welfare.
She simply shook her head. Apparently, it was not answer enough for Hugh, because he asked:
“Where are your parents?”
“Dead,” Caroline croaked, breathing shallowly to not provoke another coughing fit. She could not bear her throat being rasped sore by coughing again.
“No brothers or sisters?” he asked.
She shook her head, focusing on not coughing.
“Aunts or uncles?” he persisted.
She opened her eyes long enough to send him what she believed was a stern look.
“There’s no one,” she said. She was in no state to explain her family situation to him. Anyway, this was not how she was going to meet her Aunt Georgiana for the first time.
The statement made her cough again, loudly, and violently. Again, Hugh helped her to sit up and lie back down when the coughing fit was over.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she mumbled as she felt him tuck the covers around her. “You might catch it as well.”
“Don’t be silly,” she thought she heard him say, before she drifted off again.
***
When she woke the next time, it was dark again. She had not even realized that it had been light earlier, but it had. Her eyes would not stay open for long. It seemed a contraption had been put on them that only allowed her to open her eyes for a second at a time.
Nevertheless, she needed to rise from the bed and leave the room. Caroline saw the bills mounting up on the horizon, having to pay for the room and the doctor. She would end up in a debtor’s prison unless she was able to make a deal with the innkeeper and the doctor.
She forced her eyes open and struggled her way to a seated position, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She needed to locate her clothes and put them on. She supported herself along the bed, reaching for the chair in front of the fireplace and then felt for the grate around it. It was empty. No clothes were hanging on it. Had they taken her clothes? Perhaps the doctor meant to sell them to get paid, even though they held little value.
Her clothes had to be here somewhere. She vaguely remembered that there had been a table and two chairs by the window; perhaps her clothes had ended up there. She fumbled her way along the wall but had forgotten that there was a tallboy along the wall. Her naked toes smashed straight into the hard, cold leg of the tallboy, making Caroline crumple and shriek with pain and surprise.
She lost her balance, almost hitting her head on the tallboy as well as she graceless plumped down on the floor. She rubbed her aching toes, cursing herself for overreacting while she waited for the pain to subside. Footsteps in the hallway made her freeze as if she was a burglar caught in the act. A moment later, the door was opened.
“Caroline?” Hugh whispered from the doorway.
She could hear him walk into the room but did not have the strength to turn around and look at him, let alone answer him.
“Caroline, what are you doing up?” he said a moment later when he found her on the floor.
“I need to leave,” she told him. “I can’t pay for it. The room, the doctor. But it seems that the doctor has taken my clothes as payment.”
She heard Hugh chuckle softly.
“He didn’t take them. I gave your clothes to one of the maids to have them washed,” he said as squatted in front of her. “Are you alright?”
“I hit my foot on the tallboy,” she winced and coughed again.
“You need to go back to bed,” Hugh said, and she felt his hands on her upper arms as he easily lifted her to a standing position.
The washing of her clothes would be yet another expense she could not pay, Caroline thought as Hugh helped her to the bed, half carrying her as she had exerted herself by just walking to the fireplace.
“Don’t worry about any expenses. I will take care of it,” Hugh said gently as he tucked the covers around her.
Caroline reached for his hand, kissing his palm gently with her dry lips.
“They don’t make people as good as you, Hugh,” she whispered.
“Apparently, they do,” he mumbled. “Now, go to sleep. And don’t you dare rise again before the doctor says you’re fit for it.”
“Yes,” Caroline whispered.
She was still holding on to Hugh’s hand and could feel him tugging it lightly, trying to make her let go.
“Can I ask one more favor of you, Hugh?” she whispered.
“If it’s in my power,” Hugh answered gently.
“Can I hold your hand until I fall asleep?”
“Of course,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.