“You will not—” the countess began, but Li-Na stepped physically between the lady and the doctor.
“Don’t be distressed, my lady,” she said as she used her body to press the doctor back. Then she looked up as if awestruck. “You are surely well-educated in this matter.”
“Of course, I am.”
She nodded vigorously even as she crowded the man such that he would back up. He didn’t. Apparently, he enjoyed having a woman press up against him. And though it made her skin crawl, she was able to gesture him to back out of the room.
“Please, please,” she whispered. “I will help you with the mistress.” Then she turned to the other man in the room with a wide smile. “My lady wishes prayer now. Vicar, you must help her with this. Prayer is the best medicine at the moment.”
The doctor stiffened. “It most certainly is not!”
“I know!” Li-Na whispered. Then she pointed out of the bedroom. “I will help you!” she said as she continued to back the doctor out of the room. “Pray, vicar. Please pray with us!” By which she meant with the countess because she continued to push the doctor out the door.
By the time she and the doctor were outside, the vicar’s solemn tones could be heard. “Let us bow our heads, my lady…”
Excellent. Another man who enjoyed the sound of his own voice. He would be in there praying for a very long time. Hopefully long enough for her to convince this supercilious doctor to leave.
“Now see here,” the doctor said in imperious tones. “I must be allowed to give treatment to his lordship. There’s been fever in the village, and he likely picked it up from helping one of them. The children do fine with it, but the adults sicken as he has. It’s a touchy business and so I must cup him!”
Li-Na’s heart leapt at that news. “The adults recover?”
“Usually. But they would recover faster if I cupped them. So let me be about my work.”
Bleeding a person never helped, as far as she had seen in London. Indeed, she thought the English practice exceedingly strange.
“I will help you,” she lied. “I will convince her ladyship to let you cup his lordship.” She smiled and ducked her head in apparent modesty. “Sometimes it takes a woman to convince another woman.” She dropped her voice. “You understand that she is very powerful here. If you upset her, what will she say about you? It can be very hurtful when a lady says bad things about you.”
“She wouldn’t dare,” he hissed.
“Her husband died under your care. And if his lordship does, then what will she say back in London about you? What will she say here?”
“His lordship is very sick.”
The words shuddered through Li-Na, leaving terror in their wake, but that only strengthened her resolve to get a true healer here. One that cared more about his patient than his reputation. Best to get the man paid now and off the premises.
“Mrs. Hocking,” she said. “Is there a meat pie for the doctor? You make the best pies. He should have one while I get his payment.” She gazed up at him as if he were a god. “Two shillings for your troubles.” That was a great deal more than any London doctor received. “And a promise that I will convince her ladyship that you know best.”
He folded his arms. “Then I will wait. Make sure she comes to her senses soon.”
“Perhaps you should tell Mrs. Hocking what should be done for his lordship. She will help me convince the countess. Servants can be very persuasive, you know. Of course, you know. You are a brilliant man.”
It had been a long time since she’d had to grovel like this. Not since she was a servant in China had she flattered a man until her eyes rolled of their own accord. Meanwhile, she ducked her head and tiptoed through the vicar’s prayers into the workroom. She’d found his lordship’s lock box on her first morning here. He didn’t even lock it. She pulled out two shillings and quietly grumbled at the cost. Ridiculous to pay a man this much just to leave because he was an idiot, but such was the way with men sometimes. And women, too.
She made it back out to the doctor, but she spoke to Mrs. Hocking. “The doctor brought his own carriage, yes? It is ready for him?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Hocking said. “My eldest is outside caring for the horses. We knew they’d be coming.”
“Good thinking,” she said, meaning it. Then she held out the shillings to the doctor as she walked out of the castle into the courtyard. If he wanted his money, he would have to follow her.
He did. In the end, she had him up in his cart with the reins in his hands before she gave him the coins. “I’ll summon you as soon as I can. I’ll make the mistress see.”
She didn’t wait for him to cluck at his horse. She slapped it on the butt and made it start forward. She bowed to him as he left, giving him this last show of false respect. Then she turned and headed back into the castle, only to run straight into the Vicar who was watching her with a heavy expression.
“Oh, sir!” she enthused. “Have you finished praying already?”
“Who will you turn to now that the doctor has left? He is the man of medicine here.”
“Is there another doctor near?”