At first, it was only Mrs. Barlow there, and she was so busy fussing over her son that she did not even bother to inquire how the vicar had been.

“And you must have a hot bath,” she was saying. “Heavens, Luke, you will be the death of me!”

She looked mostly distressed, but also a little bit pleased as she fussed over her boy. I was reminded of how I disliked it when mothers deemed their grown sons hapless little babies, and Luke did not appear thrilled with it either.

“Miss Quinton should have the first bath,” he said, although he was already shivering. “I am happy to wait.”

“There won’t be hot water ready,” hissed the mother, “Just have a bath yourself before you worry about anything else.”

It was probably the last lesson that a mother should have wished to teach her son, at least if she wanted said son to be a gentleman, but the maid who had helped me the other day came by with another girl. “There’s hot water enough for two, if you please, ma’am,” she said. “Higgins said today we were to get it ready. He knew it would storm.”

After that, the pair of maids whisked me off to have my own bath, and I felt quite the great lady. Cold sponge baths were the order of the day when I was working, and on many dreary days I had envied the family their longer soaks. The bathroom that the maids brought me to was clearly meant for a more elegant visitor. I got to soak in the largest tub of water I had ever bathed in, and I delighted as my skin grew pink. With the double warmth of both my memories and my current state infusing me, I thought I could have stayed in the bath forever, and messed about satisfying my animal urges. But since both maids had stayed with me, I knew that I should be observed, so I had to satisfy myself with enjoying the feelings of warmth in a chaste way instead, trying to keep my fingers from straying under the water any more than the bathing required.

Indeed, I thought that I should surely be boiling hot for the rest of the day. But I had not been out of the water for ten minutes before I started sneezing.

The younger of the two, who was apparently named Maryann, did not seem concerned, but the older one insisted I be put to bed with a hot water bottle. “If it’s the beginning of a cold, we oughtn’t to let it go on, miss,” she said. “We’ll have the nurse called, and she will come see you.”

I protested, as I was still sensible that my place in the household was not assured. If Luke changed his mind about the marriage, his mother and even Miss Courtenay would be well within their rights to decide that I was a drain on the household and fire me. Nobody had ever heard of a servant taking both a bath and a nap in the middle of the day. If my mother had known, she would have been horrified, and probably pinched me while telling me to get back to work.

But by the time the nurse had arrived, I was feeling much worse, a fact that she handily confirmed.

“You’re in for a fever, I’m afraid,” she said. And when Mrs. Barlow came in, she spoke to the mistress herself.

“Miss Quinton will need care for a few days, ma’am. She seems like a strong one, but she’s got a nasty cold from being out in that rain.”

Mrs. Barlow frowned, and her reply seemed abstracted. “I could have told her not to go out in the rain. How long will it be before she can work again?”

At this, Luke entered the room. My eyes were closed, but I felt his presence as surely as if I had been looking directly at him.

“Is Miss Quinton well?”

“No,” said Nurse Britton, preempting Mrs. Barlow. “I am concerned for her health. And to answer your question, ma’am, she will not be able to work for some days at least.”

“This is most vexing,” said the mother, but Luke interrupted her.

“If you had been able to prevent Miss Courtenay from goading her, she would not have felt the need to go, well, to go to the church.”

His response was flustered. I prayed that his mother would not notice. Then again, she had apparently failed to notice that I had spent a good part of the day being not only idle, but idle with her son, so she likely had little suspicion of my true aims.

“And spend half the day there at the church! I tell you, it is one thing if it had been her half day, or at least a Sunday, but it was neither,” hissed Mrs. Barlow.

“Mama, you must see how unwelcome she has felt here. If she is to be Lillian’s governess, she should at least not have to worry about Miss Courtenay threatening her with dismissal!”

“If you’ll excuse me,” said the nurse, “I must tend to my patient.”

“Of course,” said Luke, “I am sorry.”

For a moment, he and his mother were quiet, and then he made another demand.

“You must have Nurse Britton sleep here, then. It will not be safe to leave Miss Quinton all by herself.”

Mrs. Barlow did not accede to this. “Nurse Britton has been busy enough, coming by to see your grandfather.”

“And now she has to watch that our governess does not grow any sicker. Think of it, mama! If something were to happen to her, and under our watch. I am to be married, and we can’t have any scandals.”

My eyes closed, I smiled into the pillow. I could feel Luke’s eyes on me before he left the room. Scandal, indeed! The family had no idea what sort of scandal was to befall them.