Half a Mind TO Murder (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries Book 3) (19 page)

“
Very good. And the Hastings baby?” Nancy was working hard at playing innocent.

“
Alice’s cough has improved, and her breathing’s less labored. As you said, her cough will linger for weeks, perhaps even months.”

Nancy
turned to her, a worried look on her face.

“
It’s too early to know if the disease has damaged her brain,” Alexandra said, reading the question in Nancy’s eyes.

Nancy
shook her head. “It so often does in infants.”

“
A disease of the brain?” Nicholas asked.

“
The disease is whooping cough,” Alexandra said. “The hard cough can cause damage to a young child’s brain. We can only pray Alice will be spared that fate along with superstition and ridicule and misunderstanding that accompanies it.”

“
A brain injury?” Nicholas said, musing. “Is it possible all insanity is nothing more than a physical disorder as the old-fashioned phrenologists claim?”

“
The debate rages still,” Alexandra said. “Are insanity and monomania and hysteria and imbecility and idiocy mechanical failures? Or is there some other reason, as Dr. Mortimer’s radical views suggest? Would you care to join us for lunch, Mr. Forsythe? I must eat hurriedly in order to open my surgery on time.”

“
Your invitation is very kind, but I… Of course,” he said seeming to reconsider on the spur of the moment. “I’d be happy to stay. So kind of you to ask.”

“
Our luncheon is customarily informal, Mr. Forsythe. In the kitchen.”

“
I should be delighted to—”

“’
Tis no longer Mr. Forsythe, miss, ’tis Lord Dunsford,” Nancy said, interrupting.

Alexandra found she couldn
’t speak. She could only stare in shock, first at Nancy and then at Nicholas.

Nicholas gave her a shy smile.
“I hope you will never burden me by addressing me with that title.”

“
You…”

“
I’m as surprised as you are,” Nicholas said. “It’s a complicated story, of course, but you knew, didn’t you, that I was related to the late Lord Dunsford on my mother’s side? My older brother, of course, had claim to the title by right of progeny, but he refused it. I know, it’s hard to believe, unless you know my brother. But he has already inherited a title from my mother’s side of the family, along with a considerable amount of land, and he will, of course, inherit from our father, so it was his wish that I—”

“
Lord Dunsford?” Alexandra said, interrupting him. She was still in shock. “Forgive me for suggesting that we eat in the—”

“
Must I remind you that I’ve dined in your kitchen in the past and found it quite enjoyable?”

Alexandra was still stunned.
“Of course,” she said when she could regain her voice. She gave him a cordial smile and led the way. Nicholas sat in a chair across from her, the wide and badly scarred surface separating them while they waited for Nancy to set their meal in front of them.

“
You may be interested to know, I had a chat with the veterinarian from Colchester who came here to examine Blackburn’s swine,” Nicholas said. He seemed eager to get away from the subject of his newly acquired title.

“
Indeed?” Alexandra, nevertheless, still felt a bit uncomfortable with the idea of his being elevated to the peerage.

“
Yes, he confirmed anthrax, but he seems to think it will not be too difficult to control. It seems swine are more resistant to the germ than other animals.”

“
How fortunate,” Alexandra said. “Polly has certainly wrought enough trouble for Newton as it is.”

“
Yes, but I still find it frustrating that we shall never know for certain whether her insanity was caused by a mechanical failure in her brain or by something else,” Nicholas said.

“
It is frustrating, yes,” Alexandra said, doing her best to regain her mental equilibrium. “We can only know that she is insane, whatever the cause.”

“
She won’t hang, will she? Poor girl,” Nancy said.

Nicholas didn
’t notice the inappropriateness of her inserting herself in the conversation. He’d obviously gotten to know Nancy well enough during his previous visits to be neither surprised nor shocked at her behavior. “Polly won’t hang,” he said. “The law will protect her because she’s insane. She’ll live the rest of her life in an asylum.”

“
Will she?” Alexandra asked. She felt a chill as she remembered Polly’s last words to Constable Snow before she was taken away.
\

I
’ll be back. Mind you stay out of my way.