A sudden, fearful death by Anne Perry

was dominated by dark eyes
that were of a beautiful shape and a mouth both sensual and humorous. His
expression of preoccupation vanished when he saw her and was replaced
immediately with one of pleasure.
    "Lady Callandra. How good to
see you again. I hope your visit does not mean that there is something
wrong?"
    "Nothing new." She closed
the door behind her. Before she came she had formulated a good excuse for being
here, but now the words escaped her. "I have been trying to prevail upon
Sir Herbert to have the nurses cover the slop pails," she said rather too
quickly. "But I don't think he sees much purpose to it. He was on his way
to the operating theater, and I had the feeling his mind was on his patient."
    "So you are going to persuade
me instead?" His smile was sudden and wide. "I have never yet found
above two or three nurses in the hospital who can remember an order for more
than a day at a time, never mind carrying it out. The poor souls are harried
from every quarter, hungry half the time and drunk the other half." His
smile vanished again. "They do their best according to their lights, for
the most part."
    His eyes lit with enthusiasm and he
leaned against the table, engaging her attention. "You know, I have been
reading the most interesting paper. This doctor, sailing from the Indies home
to England, contracted a fever and treated himself by going out on deck at
night, stripped of his clothes, and taking a cold shower with buckets of
seawater. Can you believe that?' He was watching her, searching the expression
in her eyes. "It relieved his symptoms marvelously and he slept well and
was restored by morning. Then in the evening his fever returned and he treated
it the same way, and was again restored. Each time the attack was slighter, and
by the time the ship docked he was fully himself."
    She was astounded, but his
eagerness carried her along.
    "Can you imagine Mrs. Flaherty
if you tried drenching your patients with buckets of cold water?" She
tried not to laugh but her voice was shaking, not so much with amusement as
with nervousness. "I cannot even persuade her to open the windows in the
sunlight let alone at night!"
    "I know," he said
quickly. “I know, but we are making new discoveries every year." He
grasped the chair between them and turned it so it was convenient for her to
sit, but she ignored it. "I've just been reading a paper by Carl Vierordt
on counting human blood corpuscles." He moved closer to her in his
keenness. "He has devised a way, can you imagine that?" He held up
the paper as he said it, his eyes alight. "With this kind of precision,
think what we might learn!" He offered her the paper as if he would share
with her his pleasure.
    She took it, smiling in spite of
herself and meeting his gaze.
    "Look," he commanded.
    Obediently she looked down at the
paper. It was in German. He saw her confusion, "Oh, I'm sorry." A
faint pink flushed up his cheeks. "I find I speak with you so easily, I
forget you do not read German. Shall I tell you what it says?" He so
obviously wanted to that it was impossible to deny him, even had she thought of
it.
    "Please do," she
encouraged. "It sounds a most desirable treatment."
    He looked surprised. "Do you
think so? I should hate to be drenched with buckets of cold water."
    She smiled broadly. "Not from
the patient's view perhaps. I was thinking of ours. Cold water is cheap and
readily available almost everywhere, and requires no skill to administer, nor
can the dosage be mistaken, A bucketful too much or too little will make no
difference."
    His face relaxed into sudden,
delightful laughter. "Oh, of course. I fear you are far more practical
than I. I find women often are." Then as quickly his expression became
grim again, brows drawn down. "That is why I wish we could draw more
intelligent and confident women into the treatment of the sick. We have one or
two nurses here who are excellent, but there is little