The Fiery Cross

by Diana Gabaldon

  "Leave it," I said to Fentiman, seeing him move again to pick up a bottle lying on the floor. "The women will take care of it." Not waiting for argument, I took him firmly by the elbow and marched him out the door and down the stair.

  rorn the dining People were up; I caught the sounds of rattling dishes f

  room, and the faint scent of sausages. I couldn't take him through the public rooms in his current state, nor up to the bedrooms; he was undoubtedly sharing a room with several other men, any of whom might still be abed. For lack of

  the maids' cloaks a better idea, I took him outside, pausing to snatch another of

  from the pegs by the door and wrap it round his shoulders.

  -or had been-Phaedre's mother. I hadn't known Betty well, So Betty was

  but I did know Phaedre, and felt grief for her tighten my throat. There was nothing I could do f

  or her just now, though; but perhaps I could help the doctor.

  Silent with shock, he f

  ollowed me obediently as I led him down the side path by the lawns, shielded from view by Hector Cameron's white-marble mausoleum and its growth of ornamental yew bushes. There was a stone bench by the river

  , half-hidden under a weeping iArillow. I doubted anyone would be patronizing it at this hour of the morning.

  No one was,

  though two wine goblets sat on the bench, stained red with beeswing, abandoned remnants of the night's festivities. I wondered briefly whether someone had been having a romantic rendezvous, and was reminded

  The Fiery Cross 497

  suddenly of my own midnight tryst. Damn it, I still didn't know for sure who the owner of those hands had been!

  Pushing the nagging question away with the wineglasses, I sat down, gesturing to Doctor Fentiman to join me. It was chilly, but the bench was in full sun at this hour, and the heat was warm and comforting on my face. The Doctor was looking better for the fresh air; vestiges of color had come back into his cheeks, and his nose had resumed its normal roseate hue.

  "Feeling a bit better, are you?"

  He nodded, hunching the cloak around his narrow shoulders. "I am, I thank you, Mrs. Fraser."

  "Rather a shock, wasn't it?" I asked, employing my most sympathetic bedside manner.

  He closed his eyes, and shook his head briefly.

  "Shocked ... yes, very shocked," he muttered. "I would never have . . He trailed off, and I let him sit quiet for a moment. He would need to talk about it, but best to let him take it at his own pace.

  "It was good of you to come so quickly," I said, after a bit. "I see they called you from your bed. Had she grown suddenly worse, then?"

  "Yes. I could have sworn she was on the mend last night, after I bled her." He rubbed his face with both hands, and emerged blinking, eyes very bloodshot. "The butler roused me just before dawn, and I found her once again complaining of griping in the guts. I bled her again, and then administered a clyster, but to no avail."

  "A clyster?" I murmured. Clysters were enemas; a favorite remedy of the time. Some were fairly harmless; others were positively corrosive.

  "A tincture of nicotiana," he explained, "which I find answers capitally in most cases of dyspepsia."

  I made a noncommittal noise in response. Nicotiana was tobacco; I supposed a strong solution of that, administered rectally, would probably dispose promptly of a case of pinworms, but I didn't think it would do much for indigestion. Still, it wouldn't make anyone bleed like that, either.

  "Extraordinary amount of bleeding," I said, putting my elbows on my knees and resting my chin in my hands. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it." That was true. I was curious, turning over various possibilities in my mind, but no diagnosis quite fit.

  "No." Doctor Fentiman's sallow cheeks began to show spots of red. "I-if I had thought. . .

  I leaned toward him, and laid a consoling hand on his arm.

  "I'm sure you did all that anyone could possibly do," I said. "She wasn't bleeding at all from the mouth when you saw her last night, was she.

  He shook his head, hunching deeper into his cloak. "No. Still, I blame myself, I really do."

  "One does," I said ruefully. "There's always that sense that one should have been able ta do sometbing more."

  He caught the depth of feeling in my voice and turned toward me, looking surprised. The tension in him relaxed a little, and the red color began to fade from his cheeks.

  "You have ... a most remarkably sympathetic understanding, Mrs. Fraser."

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  1 smiled at him, not speaking. He might be a quack, he might be ignorant, arrogant, and intemperate

  -but he had come at once when called, and had fought for his patient to the best of his ability. That made him a physician, in MY book, and deserving of sympathy.

  After a moment, he put his hand over mine. We sat in silence,

  watching the river go by, dark brown and turbid with silt. The stone bench was cold under me, and the morning breeze kept sticking chilly fingers under my shift, but I was too preoccupied orts. I could to take much note of such minor discomf

  smell the drying blood on his clothes, and saw again the scene in the attic. What on earth had the woman died of?

  I prodded him gently, asking tactful questions, extracting what details he had gleaned, but they were not helpful. He was not an observant man at the best Of times, and it had been very early and the attic dark. He grew easierwith the talking, though, gradually purging himself of that sense of personal failure that is the frequent price of a physician's caring.

  "I hope Mrs. Cameron-Mrs. Innes, I mean-will not feel that I have betrayed her hospitality," he said uneasily.

  That seemed a rather odd way to put it. On the other hand ... Betty bad been Jocasta's property. I supposed that beyond any sense of personal failure, Dr. Fentiman was also contemplating the possibility that Jocasta might blame him for not preventing Betty's death, and try to claim recompense.

  "I'm sure she'll realize that you did all you could," I said soothinglk "I'll tell her so, if you like."

  "My dear lady." Doctor Fentiman squeezed my hand with gratitude. "You are as kind as you are lovely."

  "Do you think so, Doctor?"

  A male voice spoke coldly behind me, and I jumped, dropping Dr. Fentiman's hand as though it were a high-voltage wire. I whirled on the bench to find Phillip Wylie, leaning against the trunk of the willow tree with a most sardonic expression on his face.

  " 'Yind' is not the word that springs most immediately to mind, I must say. 'Lewd,' perhaps. 'Wanton,' most certainly. But 'lovely,' yes-I'll give you that. " His eyes raked me from head to toe with an insolence that I would have

  found absolutely reprehensible-had it not suddenly dawned on me that Dr. Fentiman and I had been sitting hand in hand in what could only be called a compromising state of dishabille, both still in our nightclothes.

  I stood up, drawing my dressing gown round me with great dignity. His eyes were fixed on my breasts-with a knowing expression? I wondered. I folded my arms under my breasts, liffing my bosom defiantly.

  "You forget yourself, Mr. Wylie," I said, as coldly as possible. He laughed, but not as though he thought anything were funny.

  "I forget myself? Have you not forgotten something, Mrs. Fraser? Such as your gown? Do you not find it a trifle cold, dressed like that? Or do the good doctor's embraces warm you sufficiently?"

  Doctor Fentiman, as shocked as I was by Wylie's appearance, had got to his feet and now pushed his way in front of me, his thin cheeks mottled with fury. "How dare you, sir! How do you have the infernal presumption to speak to

  The Fiery Cross 499

  a lady in such fashion? Were I armed, sir, I should call you out upon the instant, I swear it!"

  Wylie had been staring boldly at me. At this, his gaze shifted to Fentiman, and he saw the blood staining the doctor's legs and breeches. His hot-eyed scowl grew less certain.

  "I-has something happened, sir?"

&nbs
p; "It is none of your concern, I assure you." Fentiman bristled like a banty sented me with his arm. rooster, drawing himself upright. Rather grandly, he pre

  "Come, Mrs. Fraser. You need not be exposed to the insulting gibes of this puppy." He glared at Wylie, red-eyed. "Allow me to escort you back to your busband." sformation at the word "puppy," turnWylie's face underwent an instant tran

  ing a deep, ugly red. So early in the morning, he was wearing neither paint nor powder, an s of fury stood out like a rash on his fair skin. He d the blotchey, like an enraged frog.

  seemed to swell notice

  I had a sudden urge to laugh hysterically, but nobly suppressed it. Biting my doctor's proffered arm. He came up roughly to my lip instead, I accepted the us away with all the dignity shoulder, but pivoted on his bare heel and marched

  of a brigadier.

  Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Wylie stifl standing under the wiflow tree, staring after us. I lifted my hand and gave him a small wave of fareweU. n further.

  The light sparked from my gold ring, and I saw him stiffe

  "I do hope we'll be in time for breakfast," Doctor Fentiman said cheerfully. "I believe I have quite recovered my appetite."

  SUSPICION

  HE GUESTS BEGAN TO DEPART after breakfast. Jocasta and Duncan stood together on the terrace, the very picture of a happily united couple, bidding everyone farewell, as a line of carriages and wagT

  ons made its slow way down the, drive. Those folk from clownriver waited on the quay, the women exchanging last-minute recipes and bits of gossip, while the gentlemen lit pipes and scratched themselves, relieved of their uncomfortable clothes and formal wigs. Their servants, all looking considerably the worse for wear, sat openmouthed and red-eyed on bundles of luggage. Roger had "You lopk tired, Mama." Bree looked rather tired herself; she and

  both been up Itil all hours. A faint smell of camphor wafted ftom her clothes. "Can't imagine why," I replied, stifling a yawn. "How's Jemmy this morning?"

  500 Diana Gabaldon

  "He's got a sniffle," she said, "but no fever. He ate some porridge for breakfast, and he's-,,

  I nodded, listened automatically, and went%ith her to examine Jemmy, who wa

  -nosed, all in a slight daze of exhaustion. s cheerfully rambunctious, if runny

  It reminded me of nothing so much as the sensation I had had now and then when flying from America to England. Jet lag, they called it; an odd f

  celing, of being conscious and lucid, and yet not quite solidly fixed within one's body. The girl Gussie was watching Jemmy; she was as pale and bloodshot as

  everyone else on the premises, but I thought her air of dull suffering derived from emotional distress rat

  -her than hangover. All the slaves had been affected by Betty's death; they went about the chores of clearing up after the wedding festivities in near-silence, their faces shadowed.

  "Are you feeling all right?- I asked her, when I had finished looking in JcMmy's ears and down his throat.

  She looked startled, then confused; I wondered whether anyone had ever asked her that before.

  "Oh. Oh, yes, Madam. Surely." She smoothed down her apron with both hands, clearly nervous at my scrutiny.

  "All right. I'll just go and have a look at Phaedre, then."

  I had come back to the house with Dr. Fentiman and turned him over to Ulysses, to be fed and tidied up. I had then gone directly to find Phaedr,, taking time only to wash and change my clothes-not wanting to Come4o her so visibly smeared with her mother's blood.

  I had found her in Ulysses's Pantry, sitting numb and shocked on the stool where he sat to polish silver, a large glass of brandy by her side,

  of the other slaves, undrunk. One Teresa, was with her; she breathed a short sigh of relief at MY appearance and came to greet me.

  "She's none sac weell', Teresa muttered to me, shaking her head with a wary glance back at her charge, "She's no said a word, nor wept a drop.17

  Phaedre's beautiful face might have been carved Of f

  delicate cinnamon, her complexion had faded to a pale, ruitwood; normally a ligneous brown, and her eyes stared fixedly through the open door of the pantry at the blank wall beyond.

  I put a hand on her shoulder; it was

  have been a stone in the sun. warm, but so Motionless that she might "I am sorry," I said to her, softly. "Very sorry. Dr. Fentiman came to her; he did all that he could." That was true; no point in giving an opinion

  man's skill-it was irrelevant now, in any case. of FentiNo response. She was breathing; I could see

  bosom, but that was all. the slight rise and fall of her I bit the inside of MY lower lip, trying to think of anything or an

  might Possibly give her comfort. Jocasta? Did Jocasta even yone that death yet? Duncan knew, of course, but he might have chose know of Betty's until after the guests had left. n not to tell her "The priest," I said, the idea Occurring suddenly to me.

  Father LeClerc to "Would you like -to bless your mother)s body?" I thought it rather too late for Last Rites-assuming that Phaedre knew what those wer

  that the priest would not mind offering any comf e-but I was sure ort he could. He had not left

  The Fiery Cross 501

  yet; I had seen him in the dining roon, only a few moments since, polishing off )ps garnished with ffied eggs and gravy.

  a platter of pork-chc

  through the shoulder under my hand The still, beautiA slight tremor went

  face turned toward me, dark eyes opaque. "What g od will that do?" she whispered.

  0

  "Ah ... Well . . ." Flustered, I groped for a reply, but she had already turned away, staring at a stain in the wood of the table.

  what I had done in the end was to give her a small dose of laudanum-an irony I resolutely ignored-and tell Teresa to put her to bed on the cot where slept, in the dressing room off Jocasta's boudoir.

  she normally

  I pushed openthe door of the dressing room now, to see how she was. The small room was windowless and dark, smelting of starch and burnt hair and the faint flower fragrance of Jocasta's toilet water. A huge armoire and its matching chiffonier stood at one side, a dressing table at the other. A folding screen marked off the far corner, and behind this was Phaedre's narrow cot.

  I could hear her breathing, slow and deep, and felt reassured by that. I moved quietly through the dark room, and pulled back the screen a little; she lay on her side, turned away, curled into a ball with her knees drawn up.

  Brce had come into the dressing room behind me; she looked over my shoulder., her breath warm on my car. I made a small gesture indicating that everything was all right, and pushed the screen back into place,

  just inside the door to the boudoir, Brianna paused. She turned to me suddenly, put her arms about me, and hugged me fiercely. In the lighted room beyond, Jemmy missed her and began to shriek.

  MA, "Mama! Ma! Ma_ .51

  I THOUGHT I ought to eat something, but with the smell of the attic and the scent of toilet water still lingering in the back of my sinuses, I had no appetite. A few guests still lingered in the dining room; particular friends of Jocasta's, they would be staying on for a day or two. I nodded and smiled as I passed, but ignored the invitations to come and join them, instead heading for the stairs to the second floor.

  The bedroom was empty, the mattresses stripped and the windows opened to air the room. The hearth had been swept and the room was cold, but blessedly quiet.

  My own cloak still hung in the wardrobe. I lay down on the bare ticking, pulled the cloak over me, and fell instantly asleep.

  I WOKE JUST BEFORE sunset, starving, with an oddly mixed sense of reassurance and unease. The reassurance I understood at once; the scent of blood and flowers had been replaced by one of shaving soap and body-warmed linen, and the pale gold light streaming through the window shone on the pillow beside me, where a long red-gold hair glinted in the hollow left by someone's head. Jamie had come and slept beside me.
/>   502 Diana Gabaldon

  As though summoned by my thought, the door opened and he smiled in at me. Shaved, combed, freshly dressed, and clear-eyed, he seemed to have erased all traces of the night before-bar the expression on his face when he looked at me. Frowsy and ill-kempt as I was by contrast with his own neat appearance, the look of tenderness in his eyes warmed me, in spite of the lingering chill in the room.

  "Awake at last. Did ye sleep well, Sassenach?"

  "Like the dead," I replied automatically, and felt a small internal lurch as I said it.

  He saw it reflected on my face, and came swiftly to sit down on the bed beside me.

  "What is it? Have ye had an evil dream, Sassenach?"

  "Not exactly," I said slowly. In fact, I had no memory of having dreamed at all. And yet, my mind appeared to have been ticking away in the shadows of unconsciousness, making notes and drawing its deductions. Prompted now by the word "dead," it had just presented me with its conclusions, which accounted for the feeling of unease with which I had awoken.

  "That woman Betty. Have they buried her yet?"

  "No. They've washed the body and put it in a shed, but Jocasta wished to wait until the morning f

  or the burial, so as not to trouble her guests. Some are staying on for another night." He frowned slightly, watching me. "Why?"

  I rubbed a hand over my face, less to rouse myself than to collectiny words. "There's something wrong. About her death, I mean."

  "Wrong ... how?" One eyebrow lifted. "It was a fearfid way to die, to be sure, but that's not what ye mean, is it?"

  "No." My hands were cold; I reached automatically for his, and he took them, engulfing my fingers with warmth. "I mean-I don't believe it was a natural death. I think someone killed her."

  Blurted out that way, the words hung cold and stark in the air between us. His brows drew together, and he pursed his lips slightly, thinking. I noticed, though that he did not reject the idea out of hand, and that strengthened my conviction.

  "Who?" he asked at last. "And are ye sure of it, Sassenach?"

  "I have no idea. And I can't be totally sure," I admitted. "It's only" I hesitated, but he squeezed one of my hands lightly in encouragement. I shook my head. "I've been a nurse, a doctor, a healer, for a long time, Jamie. I've seen a dreadfid number of people die, and from all sorts of things. I can't quite put into words what it is here, but now that I've slept on it, I just know-I thinkit's wrong," I ended, rather lamely.

  The light was fading; shadows were coming down from the corners of the room, and I shivered suddenly, gripping his hands.

  "I see," he said soffly. "But there's no way ye can tell for sure, is there?" The window was still half-open; the curtains billowed suddenly into the room with a gust of wind, and I felt the hairs rise on my arms with cold. "There might be," I said.

  A HARD DAY'$ NIGHT

  BUILDING where they had put the body was well away HE OUT