Nell by Elizabeth Bailey Page B

lessons.
    Entering the turret room, she was brought up short by the sight of Henrietta lying at full stretch in the middle of the floor, apparently unconscious.

Chapter Four
    A fter a brief moment of shock, Nell’s first care was to move quickly to kneel beside the motionless figure, feeling her hands and face. Her skin was warm, and a trifle damp. With perspiration? Nell took up the little wrist, pushing back the band and feeling for her pulse. It proved tumultuous and her concern grew.
    Where in the world was the nurse when she was needed? Should not the child have been abed by now? To allow for extra time at lessons, Hetty’s nap was now a short one after luncheon, with the result that a further couple of hours—if the child could be induced to remain in the schoolroom without becoming fretful!—was spent with Nell. After which, she was usually so tired, Duggan averred, that she went straight off to sleep. She usually woke for an hour or so later in the evening, when she partook of a light dinner and a glass of warm milk before settling back to bed for the night.
    Why in the world, then, had she been permitted to wander back into the schoolroom? Nell supposed that must be what had happened, although the girl was clad still in her blue school frock, but without the apron. Only why had she collapsed?
    Searching the lovely features, Nell discovered them to be pale and without animation. The pert little mouth was open, and her breath came in long drags, as if she laboured to breathe at all. Nell became alarmed. The child was ill!
    Her priority must be to get Hetty back to bed. Even as she slipped her arms underneath the girl, intending to lift her, Nell recalled the peculiarities of which Lord Jarrow had warned her, and wondered if perhaps this was a regular occurrence. Was there some certain method of dealing with it? It might be that she should not be moved. Nell recalled instances where the visiting doctor at the Seminary had deprecated any shifting of patients in some circumstances until he should have seen them. On the other hand, it could not be good for her to lie upon the cold stone floor.
    Seizing up an old shawl, which she had taken to leaving in the schoolroom for those occasions when the spring weather proved uncertain, Nell tucked it under the child’s head and about her young shoulders. Then she darted through the outer doorway, and raced across the roof to hammer frantically on the door to Lord Jarrow’s study, calling for him.
    ‘My lord! My lord, pray come out!’
    She heard movement within and stepped back as the door was tugged inward. Lord Jarrow’s features appeared, his brow black.
    ‘What the devil is the matter?’
    He must have seen the trouble in her face, for his look changed and he stepped through the doorway. His voice sharpened. ‘What is it, Miss Faraday? Has something happened to Hetty?’
    Nell breathlessly explained. ‘I found her unconscious on the floor in the schoolroom, sir. She feels as if shehas a fever and her breathing is tumultuous.’ Lord Jarrow was already on the move, and Nell sped to keep up with him. ‘I would have taken her down to her bed, only I feared to move her in case this had happened before.’
    His voice spat, but Nell heard the tinge of fear beneath. ‘God send she has not had another of her fits!’
    She said no more, but followed him as he hurtled through the schoolroom door, which Nell had left open in her haste. Almost she cannoned into Lord Jarrow as he stopped short. There was an instant of silence, and then he turned on her.
    ‘Where is she?’
    Was he blind? ‘There, between the desks.’
    Jarrow stepped to one side, and gestured angrily. ‘The room is empty, Miss Faraday!’
    Nell pushed rudely past him, and stared blankly at the place where she had left Henrietta. ‘But she was right here!’ Her glance swept the room, and caught on her shawl. It was back in its usual place upon the back of her chair. ‘Impossible!’
    ‘What is