The Bloodletter's Daughter (A Novel of Old Bohemia) by Linda Lafferty

Author:Linda Lafferty [Lafferty, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2012-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

The cold waters of the Vltava numbed Marketa’s fingers as she scrubbed the porcelain trays. She watched as the blood stained the coursing waters red and then dissipated in swirls, washed clean in the flow of the Vltava.

She heard a cry above her.

Looking up, she saw Don Julius staring down from the window of the castle. She stood and dried her hands on her apron. Don Julius leaned precariously out the window. She saw Doctor Mingonius at the prince’s shoulder. Don Julius shoved him away and called down to her.

“Marketa! Marketa, soul of my soul. Come to me!”

The birds took flight, frightened by his voice and wild gesticulations. The guards pulled him from the window, and Doctor Mingonius reached out to pull the shutters closed. His face was riven with creases of consternation, not lost to the sharp eyes of the sixteen-year-old girl.

Marketa knew that this was the time to strike the bargain she had been planning. She set the trays in the sun to dry and hurried across the bridge toward the castle.

Mingonius seemed not at all surprised to see her as one of the servants accompanied her to the parlor where he was waiting.

“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, Fräulein Pichlerova?” he asked, pulling out a chair for her by the fire. “Have Don Julius’s entreaties finally convinced you to take him as a lover?” he joked. “Such a passionate suitor, so demonstrative in his love.”

“I want to accompany you to Prague,” she said without hesitation. “I want to see Doctor Jan Jesenius perform the autopsy.”

Mingonius, for once, stood silent. He stared at her as if she were mad. His hands fumbled for his chair, and he eased himself down.

“Doctor Mingonius, you must take me!”

After a moment to gather his thoughts, he answered, “Do you really think that your mother and father would approve of your traveling to Prague unchaperoned? To observe a dissection of a human body? You are a young lady, and the women of Prague do not interest themselves in the business of medicine. It is unnatural, a woman witnessing such indelicate spectacles.”

“Do not concern yourself with my delicacy, Doctor Mingonius,” she said. “I am sure there is nothing I will see that will not educate and intrigue me thoroughly.”

Mingonius rubbed his chin. “Well then, if we are not to be concerned with you, I will have to consider myself. What makes you think that I will risk my own reputation by consenting to your mad request?”

“Because if you do not, I shall not assist you in bleeding Don Julius again. You know he will never permit you to approach him with leeches unless I am there. The cure will be halted.”

Mingonius sat still, his eyes scrutinizing the girl. He had underestimated her. He wondered if Don Julius, in his madness, had sensed qualities in this girl that he could not. Why else would the son of a king be so love-struck by a commoner? Mingonius had attributed it to madness, but now he wondered if there might be something more to the girl.

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