Page 25 of Grace in Glasgow (Seduced in Scotland #3)

“A nd then Mr. Clayton said why is the devil riding a mouse like one and the same thing? Because it is synonymous!” Arabella said with a chuckle, while Aunt Belle let out a hearty laugh. “Did you hear that, Grace? Sin-on-a-mouse? Isn’t Mr. Clayton humorous?”

“Hm?” Grace asked, glancing up from the paper she was reading.

It was early, far earlier than when the house usually took breakfast, but as it was the day Grace was to take her monthly visit to Gallowgate with James, she had to be up and ready before the sun.

Aunt Belle and Arabella, who had felt that Grace was working too hard, had decided to wake up so that they could share breakfast with her.

Unfortunately, Grace wasn’t very good company, as she had become used to having a simple breakfast of fruit slices, whether it be damson, apple, or gooseberries, toast, and tea while she read the paper alone.

The morning headline was particularly interesting too, as it said there were two more disappearances that were reported on the past week, bringing the total to fourteen missing persons in the course of two months.

“My dear,” Aunt Belle began, having to cover her mouth with her bejeweled hand as she yawned. “It isn’t very polite to read the paper while you’re in company.”

Grace dropped the paper and gave her aunt and Arabella an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, truly. I’ve just become rather used to taking my breakfast alone.”

“Which is exactly why we’ve decided to wake up with you now, although,” Arabella said, covering her own yawn. “This cannot be a sustainable way to live, waking so early. The sun is barely up.”

“I agree,” Aunt Belle said, taking a sip of tea as she stared deliberately at her niece. “Too much work and too little sleep will lead to an early grave.”

“Yes, but there is an argument that oversleeping can do just as much harm. There was a German doctor who wrote a book about the topic of sleep. I believe it was Dr. Ackermann,” Grace countered, finishing her own tea.

“He said that one cannot sleep peacefully without expending a certain amount of energy throughout the day. If I didn’t work, I’d likely never sleep, and that would be worse than waking up a little early. ”

Aunt Belle shook her head.

“You are my least favorite of your sisters to argue with, you know. Always so practical and precise with your list of facts and footnotes. It’s a bore, really.”

Grace smirked as the grandfather clock chimed from the hallway.

Six o’clock. She stood up while wiping the corner of her mouth with the napkin as she smoothed out her skirts as Penguin came sauntering into the dining room.

She bent down to scratch him behind his ear as he purred loudly, but she didn’t have time to waste today.

James’s carriage would be pulling up in exactly two minutes, as he left his own residence at exactly this time.

“Enjoy your time at the Milton arcade today, and do take details of everything. I wish to be well informed before attending Mr. Milton’s ball next week.”

“We should do no such thing,” Aunt Belle said, her chin up high. “You should come with us and see for yourself.”

“I cannot abandon Dr. Hall in Gallowgate.”

“Did he not venture to Gallowgate alone before you arrived in Glasgow?”

“Actually, he took Virgil to assist him, but Virgil’s leg bothers him when it rains and,” a crack of thunder boomed around them, highlighting Grace’s point. “I’m afraid duty calls.”

“Well, do not feel envious when you return home and find that we are not here,” Belle said pointedly.

“Because after the Milton Arcade, I plan on taking Arabella to visit the Baroness Glengirth. It’s a few miles outside of the city and we shan’t be home until late in the evening, if we come home at all. ”

Grace brought her hand to her forehead in a faux salute.

“I promise, I will not sulk.”

“And Mrs. Stevens is coming with us, so I gave an extra day off to the rest of the staff.” She paused, as if to let her words sink in. “I hope that will not be too troublesome for you? But considering how independent you are, I doubt it will cause you any issue.”

Grace’s brow scrunched, confused as to why her aunt seemed so intent with this information.

“I promise, Aunt Belle, I will be perfectly fine alone.”

“We will come back, I’m sure,” Arabella offered, seemingly worried as she glanced at Belle. “We cannot let her spend the entire night alone in an empty house.”

“Nonsense,” the elder woman said, waving her hand in the air. “Grace is perfectly capable. Now go.”

Belle turned her cheek up, so that Grace could kiss it and once she did, Grace hurried out of the dining room, shaking her head at her aunt’s strange behavior.

Mrs. Stevens had her coat open and ready.

Grace quickly donned the garment and tied her bonnet under her chin as a footman hastened to follow her out of the house while keeping an umbrella above her head until she reached the open door of James’s carriage.

She was quick to climb in and sit across from him and glanced up to see him, stoic and silent, dressed in his usual black suit and sat slightly off center, as he was too tall to sit straight.

It was a wild, bracing sensation she felt in her chest, every time she looked into the doctor’s eyes.

After her last biting words, she half expected that he might go to Gallowgate without her, or that he might be angry with her, but as she gazed back at him, all she saw was something that didn’t make any sense.

Yearning.

It was instant, and disappeared in a flash, but for an entire second, Grace could have sworn that she saw a longing in his eyes that matched exactly how she had felt the night before, when she had stared out the window of her room.

After her brother-in-law had left, she had retired to her room and spent the better part of the evening trying to read, although every few minutes she had stopped to gaze out at his dark house.

Had he gone home after he left her house yesterday?

It didn’t seem so. No one appeared to be home which had caused her a great deal of curiosity.

If he hadn’t gone home, where had he gone?

Perhaps to a friend’s house, or maybe somewhere else. Maybe he had plans. Possibly with another doctor, or maybe there was a female acquaintance that Grace hadn’t learned about yet.

She hated how desperate she had become to know if there was another woman in his life.

“The weather is not in our favor today,” he said suddenly, his face angled to peer out of the carriage window. “I fear rain can make our work more difficult.”

“How so?”

“The lodgings can become damp, particularly those housed on the first floors of these buildings. It’s harder for patients to keep dressings dry and uninfected.” He sighed. “Hopefully it will not last.”

“Winter is not far off. This will be snow in a few weeks.”

“Which can be worse. The winter is forever wet in this part of the city. There is no escaping it.”

Grace nodded, taking in the gravity of his words as they rode the rest of the way in silence.

It seemed today was not the day for them to discuss any sort of situation that might be budding between them, and for that, Grace was somewhat grateful.

At the very least, the work they had in front of them would keep her plenty busy so that her thoughts wouldn’t wander.

Upon reaching Gallowgate, Grace smelled the familiar pungent smell of rotting vegetables and human waste.

James pulled the small vial of lime oil out of the breast pocket of his jacket, dabbed some on his forefinger, and wiped it beneath his nostrils.

He handed it to Grace, who did the same and as the carriage came to a stop, she handed it back to him before climbing out.

They were quick to enter the same factory lodging building as they had a month ago. This time, however, they went to the top floor of the building and started their visit with the last patient they had seen a month ago.

“Why?” Grace asked as they made their way down the hallway to the last room.

“It’s a way for me to keep my practice even.” He knocked on the door. “After seeing eighty-two patients, I tend to become tired and so if I switch it, I’m giving my best to this family, the Walshes, at least every other month.”

“Oh.” Grace nodded as a young girl opened the door and she followed him into the room.

For the next nine hours, Grace and James worked their way through the building, visiting room after room to either spend a few moments just checking on patients or upward of twenty minutes where they would clean wounds, monitor fevers, or distribute medicines to the ill.

James had been correct about the weather. The rain had somehow made most of the interior walls damp, and the smell of mildew and mold seemed to permeate off them, effectively making the lime oil above their top lips useless.

Although Grace knew that this was how factory workers lived in cities across the United Kingdom, she couldn’t help wanting to do something about it. The very building they lived in seemed to be choking them. These people deserved to live with dignity and not in squalor.

After finishing with the Harrison family, Grace and James exited their room, just as several raised voices echoed down the hallway.

There were two sets of men, each carrying a third man through the door.

It appeared that both men were injured. The first was wearing a bloody bandage wrapped around his one eye, moaning in pain, while the man in the middle seemed to be choking as his head slouched back as the others tried to hoist him up.

An older woman came out of one of the apartments, just as James hurried forward.

“Get Mrs. Muller!” one of the men yelled. “And Cassie MacIntosh!”

“What’s happened?” James asked.

“Ah, Dr. Hall, thank God,” the same man said. “There was an accident at the factory.”