She looked at Wesley. Which of them is it? It was not entirely a question. Maisy Wesley said fever. Margaret came in without being invited, which was notable because Margaret was a woman who waited to be invited, always as a matter of principle.
She handed Wesley her coat and went straight to the bedroom doorway and looked at Clara and Maisie, and then she came into the room and set her bag down and began unpacking it with the efficient, unscentimental movements of a woman who had apparently been in situations like this before. "How long has she had the fever? " she said to Clara. I found her at 10:15. She seemed fine at 9:00. The cloth is the right idea.
You're doing it correctly. Margaret took out a small brown bottle. This is willow bark tincture. It won't break the fever, but it'll slow it. Can she swallow?
She was talking a little while ago. Margaret measured a small amount into a spoon with the precision of someone who had done this before. And she helped Maisie take it, and Maisie took it with a grimace and then lay back, and Margaret put the cloth back on her forehead. Then she sat down in the chair beside the bed, not standing, not supervising. She sat down the way you sit down when you have decided to stay.
Clara looked at her. You can go be with the others, Margaret said. I'll sit with her. I don't want Clara. Margaret looked at her directly.
You've been in here for 2 hours. Go eat something and come back. I'll call you if anything changes. Clara stood for a moment and then she went in the main room. Wesley watched her come out and sit at the table and put her head down on her arms, and he went to the kitchen and got the last of the bread and a cup of water and brought it to her without comment because that was what you did.
Clara ate without looking up. The storm went on. Around midnight, Wesley stationed himself at the window with a blanket around his shoulders, watching the road. He did not tell anyone why he was watching the road. He did not need to.
Everyone in the room knew the fire crackled. Rain hit the windows. Margaret's voice came low from the bedroom. Not her usual voice. She was saying something to Maisie, something quiet and steady.