Hello Stranger

Garrett smiled. “Many people believe women aren’t suited to work in the medical profession.”

“But women can be nurses,” Carys said with a child’s clear-eyed logic. “Why can’t they be doctors?”

“They are many female doctors, as a matter of fact, in countries such as America and France. Unfortunately, women aren’t allowed to earn a medical degree here. Yet.”

“But that’s not fair.”

Garrett smiled down into the girl’s upturned face. “There will always be people who say your dreams are impossible. But they can’t stop you, unless you agree with them.”

 

After arriving at the Winterborne residence, Dr. Havelock looked her over with approval, pronounced her “quite presentable,” and collected her in his private carriage. Their destination was the Home Secretary’s private residence on Grafton Street, at the northern end of Albemarle. Many of the neighborhood’s grand homes were inhabited by government officials who insisted it was essential for them to live as men of high social position at taxpayers’ expense. “The drawing-room work,” it was claimed, “is but a part of the office work,” and therefore lavish social entertainments such as this were ultimately for the public benefit. Perhaps that was true, Garrett thought, but it had all the appearance of indulging in the sweets of high office.

They were welcomed into the opulently decorated house, its rooms filled with fine art and massive swags of flowers, the walls covered in silk or hand-painted paper. It immediately became apparent that at least four hundred guests had been invited to an event that could only have comfortably accommodated half that number. The crush of bodies made the atmosphere stifling and hot, causing ladies to perspire in their silks and satins, and gentlemen to stew in their black evening coats. Servants moved through the gauntlet of shoulders and elbows with trays of iced champagne and chilled sherbet.

The Home Secretary’s wife, Lady Tatham, insisted on taking Garrett under her wing. The silver-haired, heavily bejeweled woman steered her expertly through the crowd, introducing her to a large number of guests in rapid succession. Eventually they reached a group of a half dozen dignified older gentlemen, all looking serious and vaguely perturbed, as if they were standing around a well into which someone had just tumbled.

“Dr. Salter,” Lady Tatham exclaimed, and a gray-whiskered gentleman turned toward them. He was a short man of sturdy build, his face kind and jowly beneath a neatly trimmed beard.

“This fetching creature,” Lady Tatham told him, “is Dr. Garrett Gibson.”

Salter hesitated as if uncertain how to greet Garrett, then seemed to come to a decision. Reaching out, he shook her hand firmly in a man-to-man fashion. A gesture of equals.

Garrett adored him instantly.

“One of Lister’s protégées, eh?” Salter remarked, his eyes twinkling from behind a pair of octagonal spectacles. “I read an account in the Lancet about the surgery you performed last month. A double ligature of the subclavian artery—the first time it’s been done successfully. Your skill is to be commended, Doctor.”

“I was fortunate in being able to use the new ligatures Sir Joseph is developing,” Garrett replied modestly. “It allowed us to minimize the risk of sepsis and hemorrhage.”

“I’ve read about this material,” Salter said. “Made of catgut, is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How is it to work with?”

As they continued to discuss the latest surgical advancements, Garrett felt very comfortable in Dr. Salter’s presence. He was affable and open-minded, not at all the kind of man who would treat her with condescension. In fact, he reminded her more than a little of her old mentor, Sir Joseph. Now she was sorry for having been so grumpy when Dr. Havelock had insisted she attend the soiree. She would have to admit to him that he’d been right, and she’d been wrong.

“If I may,” Salter eventually said, “I would like to prevail on you from time to time, to have your opinions concerning matters of public health.”

“I would be delighted to help in any way I can,” Garrett assured him.

“Excellent.”

Lady Tatham broke in then, laying a glittering gem-weighted hand on Garrett’s arm. “I’m afraid I must steal Dr. Gibson away, Dr. Salter. She is much in demand, and guests are clamoring to make her acquaintance.”

“I can’t blame them a bit,” Salter said gallantly, and bowed to Garrett. “I look forward to our next meeting at my office in Whitehall, Doctor.”

Reluctantly Garrett allowed herself to be drawn away by Lady Tatham. She would have loved to prolong the conversation with Dr. Salter, and was annoyed by Lady Tatham’s insistence on pulling her away. One might have assumed from the woman’s claim about “clamoring guests” that people had been forming a queue to meet her, which was certainly not the case.

Lady Tatham guided her purposefully toward a looming gold-framed pier glass filling the wall space between two windows. “There is a gentleman you simply must meet,” she said brightly. “A close associate and personal friend of my husband’s. It would be impossible to overstate his importance in matters of national security. And he is a frightfully clever man—my poor brain can scarcely follow him.”

They approached a fair-haired man standing at the pier glass. His form was thin and elongated, as if he were a figure from a work of French Medieval art. There was something striking about him, something repugnant and yet compelling, although Garrett couldn’t identify what it was. She only knew that something twisted sickly inside her as she met his gaze. His eyes, unblinking and copper-colored like an adder’s, were set deeply in the narrow framework of his face.

“Sir Jasper Jenkyn,” Lady Tatham said, “this is Dr. Gibson.”

Jenkyn bowed, his gaze taking in every subtle variation of her expression.

Garrett was grateful to feel a sense of cold, steady purpose descend over her, as it always did just before a particularly difficult surgical procedure, or in an emergency. But underneath the surface, her thoughts raced. This was the man who posed such danger to Ethan Ransom. The one Ethan thought might have him killed. Why had Lady Tatham made a point of introducing them? Had Jenkyn somehow found out that Garrett was acquainted with Ethan? And if so, what did he want with her?

“Sir Jasper is one of the men in my husband’s inner sanctum,” Lady Tatham said lightly. “I confess, I’m never quite certain how to describe his occupation other than to say he is Lord Tatham’s ‘officially unofficial’ advisor.”

Jenkyn chuckled briefly. He didn’t smile naturally—the muscles of his face seemed poorly designed for it. “That description is as accurate as any other, my lady.”

How about “treasonous bastard”? Garrett thought. But she kept her expression perfectly bland as she said demurely, “A pleasure, sir.”

“I’ve been eager to make your acquaintance, Dr. Gibson. What an exceptional creature you are. The only woman admitted to the honors of this soiree on her own merit, rather than as some gentleman’s accessory.”

“Accessory?” Garrett repeated, her brows lifting. “I hardly think the ladies present deserve to be described that way.”