Page 36 of A Lovely White Christmastide
“Balderdash. Two and thirty is not nearly old enough to sit with the aged.”
Lord Bingham shook his head but made no further protests, his eyes straying to Beth. Julianna grinned. The way he looked at her sister gave her hope that Beth would be happily settled in her own home by spring.
The group gathered in a large circle, every other chair being male then female. Once everyone was assembled, Mrs. Waverly announced that Mr. Kaye would play the part of the doctor.
Julianna shared a glance with Beth who rolled her eyes in return, but the slightest quirk of her lips led her to believe she had her sister's support. After she’d shared how Mr. Kaye had intervened on her behalf, Beth had been far more accepting of him, even going as far as to thank him when they were alone at breakfast.
Mr. Kaye had seemed relieved to find that Caleb would not be underfoot, and since then had spent a good majority of the day in various sorts of entertainment with them.
“Bingham, I believe you shall be my first patient.”
“Wait,” Mrs. Waverly said. “We have not chosen a forfeit.”
Eyes danced and excited chatter began. It was no secret that most young people chose a kiss as the forfeit of choice, Christmastide being the only time when such intimate behavior was acceptable.
“A kiss,” one brave gentleman called out.
“Here, here,” the others agreed.
“Anything else?” Mrs. Waverly asked. “Or would the gentlemen like to kiss each other as well?”
Women tittered as several men made sour faces.
“They must share a secret,” one said.
“No, they must accept a dare.” The second man received the most support so it was agreed upon.
Mrs. Waverly’s eyes danced with delight as she clapped her hands together. “Very well. Mr. Kaye, you may proceed.”
Slowly he made his way around the circle asking each person what sickness they suffered. After each answer he would give them a remedy. The first few seemed normal enough: hot tea for a cold, sweet bread for a sour stomach, snowballs for a fever. But the further around the circle Mr. Kaye got, the more ridiculous his requests became.
By the time he reached Beth, Julianna worried she’d never remember some of these remedies.
“Miss Haynes, what is your ailment?” he asked.
“A complaint of the head,” Beth answered.
“Then I prescribe one hundred toe tickles and warm socks with holes for your toes to receive their remedy.”
Several ladies and gentlemen chuckled.
Julianna was last in the group, having sat next to Lord Bingham.
“Miss Julianna, what is your ailment?”
“A pain in my chest.”
Mr. Kaye peered at her a moment, then a slow knee-weakening smile spread across his full lips.
“Then I prescribe one large piece of parchment to be placed on your back and ten circles to be drawn on it.”
His diverting treatment shook her out of her near trance in observing his fine smile. She nodded and thanked him as the others had and the next part of the game began.
Mr. Kaye chose a person at random and asked them what treatment had been prescribed to another player. The first five guessed the treatment correctly, but after that, things became more confusing. Two men misremembered the remedies entirely and one lady almost got her own wrong. Then it was Julianna’s turn.
“Miss Julianna, what would you use to treat Miss Haynes’s ailment?”
Several people whispered to one another.
