Page 14 of Lady for a Season
Maggie said nothing. Who was she to question a physician? He must know what was correct, but Edward’s white face and hunched shoulders made her stomach clench, it could not be right to visit so much pain on him.
The doctor smiled. “You are very young and unused to this line of work, Maggie. You will learn. Bridget, now she was a very handy woman with Edward’s treatments. She could even do the bloodletting and blistering all by herself, indeed, she took something of a pride in it. Sadly, I lost her services to an asylum who valued her experience. But I shall train you up just as well, you will see.”
He had Edward remove his breeches and lie down on his stomach on the bare wooden floor while he administered the enema by means of a large pewter and wood syringe. Edward remained silent throughout while Maggie looked away, embarrassed and horrified. She would have liked to have left the room, to grant Edward some sense of dignity, but knew without asking that she would not be allowed.
“Now,” said the doctor. “We will leave him to feel the effects, I do believe it is midday and I am in need of sustenance. Eliza being the good cook that she is, I shall be well tended to, I believe. Come, Maggie.”
“May I stay with him, sir?”
“A faithful companion indeed! If you wish to.”
He nodded his approval and swept from the room.
“Leave, Maggie,” murmured Edward.
“I cannot leave you alone and in pain.”
He grimaced. “The cramps and their… results are not something I would wish you to witness, Maggie. They are humbling enough when I am alone.”
She winced. He was already in pain from the blistering and bloodletting, now the cramps would grip his belly and bowels until he had voided everything in the pail left here for the purpose. All she could offer him was dignity. “I will wait downstairs,” she said gently. “If you have need of me, call for me.”
He grimaced in pain as another cramp came but nodded and she backed out of the room.
In the parlour the doctor was sitting down to a bountiful meal of sliced ham, a wedge of cheese, fresh-baked bread and a pie, as well as a dish of strawberries, seed cake and a pot of tea.
He ate heartily over the next hour, apparently oblivious to the groans and sometimes cries of pain from upstairs. Maggie had food to eat with Eliza and Agnes in the kitchen, but sat, all appetite gone, her hands clenching under the table. The other two women were sombre, but did not speak, so that the three of them sat in silence, making the sounds above them even worse.
As Doctor Morrison came to the end of the meal, he called for Agnes. “You will help Maggie make all tidy upstairs. Let me know when you are done.”
“Yes, sir,” said Agnes, fetching a second pail of water and more cleaning rags.
Upstairs, Edward sat on the chair in exhausted silence. The room stank, but Agnes made short work of cleaning away the chamber pot, pail, and dirtied water that Edward had used to clean himself. Maggie opened the window to bring in fresh air and used clean water and soap to ensure his hands were clean and wiped his sweat-riven face with a strip of linen. He seemed barely able to sit upright, body half-folded in on itself in the chained chair.
Once Agnes had left, the doctor made his way back to them.
“Let us see about these blisters, eh?”
He unwound the linen strips and Maggie gasped, for Edward’s chest and back were now covered in raised blisters, each more than two inches across.
“Have you not seen blistering before?” enquired the doctor as though making polite small talk.
“No, sir.”
“Well now, we will snip each one open to release the effluence that has gathered and dress each wound. Some physicians leave them undressed, but I am of the opinion it is better to dress them.”
The paste was wiped away, then the doctor used a scalpel to cut open each blister and drain away the liquid within it, before dressing each one. Maggie swallowed hard as Edward gritted his teeth so as not to exclaim with pain as each one was cut open and dressed.
“Now to our last treatment of the day,” said the doctor, apparently well pleased. “Cox’s Swing.”
“Sir?”
He indicated the chained chair. “It is known as Cox’s Swing. Joseph Mason Cox oversees Fishponds Asylum, near Bristol. He is a preeminent physician in the field of lunacy. His book,Practical Observations on Insanity, is a most excellent source of reliable and efficacious treatments. The patient sits in the chair, which is hoisted upwards, so that their feet are comfortably off the ground. We revolve it in one direction for forty turns, until it is very tightly wound, before releasing it, so that it revolves very rapidly in the other direction. The rotation causes nausea and dizziness, as one might expect, which has been proven to be highly beneficial patients suffering from lunacy.”
Maggie took a deep breath but couldn’t stop the words spilling out. “It seems… unkind, sir?”
He chuckled. “You are soft-hearted, my dear. Let us proceed.”
“Please.” It was the first time Edward had spoken to the doctor. “Please, sir... not the chair.”
