The Ugliest Man in London: Regency Romance by McColl Charity

Author:McColl, Charity [McColl, Charity]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: PureRead
Published: 2019-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

7

Improving Under Matilda’s Care

“There, is that better? I am afraid that the view is not very inspiring now that the leaves have fallen from the trees and everything looks quite bare,” Matilda said, opening the curtains to let the scant daylight into view, “but there is a little bit of sunlight and it’s so much better than the rain which has plagued us all week.”

Marcus nodded. The young woman whose name was Matilda moved away from the window and returned to his bedside.

“Today is going to be quite an important day for you,” Matilda said as she held the spoon to his lips so that he could have a sip of broth. “You are going to be shaved. Dr. Loring thinks that your swelling has gone down sufficiently so that it will not hurt you. At least,” she corrected herself, “it will not hurt you so very much. Then you will feel much more yourself, will you not?”

Marcus nodded. Speech still eluded him, although the doctor had assured him that this was a temporary condition. The growth of beard on his face was itchy and irritating; he had always been clean shaven. At the prospect of a shave, Marcus brightened.

Matilda noticed his reaction. “Yes, that will make matters much better,” she said as he swallowed another spoonful of soup. “And I have more good news. Dr. Loring thinks that, now that your face is healing, and now that you have front teeth again, you are up to eating more substantial food.”

Marcus nodded his eagerness. No matter how Matilda tried to tempt his palate with broths, blancmange and other easily digestible offerings, he had come to loathe everything that was delivered to him by spoon.

“Nothing too demanding, of course,” Matilda said, not wishing to douse his eagerness but committed to telling the truth. “Cook is preparing a stew with bits of meat in it, and potatoes, and it will be quite delicious, I promise you. We dare not move to slices of meat until we have jumped the next hurdle.”

He tried to smile at her sally, not knowing that the effect, with his bruised, multi-colored cheeks, thick growth of beard, and lumpy, swollen face, was somewhat horrifying. But Matilda had grown used to his appearance and, although she would not confess it to the others, she no longer thought him quite as ugly as she had when she first saw him.

Marcus wished that he could speak. He wanted to thank the young woman for her care of him. He did not know who she was; he did not know the names of the other young ladies, either, who occasionally stopped by to greet him and wish him well and occasionally take turns feeding him. He thought of asking for ink and paper to pose his questions, but he hesitated to do so. How could he answer the questions that they were too polite to ask him? They had taken him in and asked for nothing in return. He was living in comfort; servants saw to it that he was bathed and attired in clean clothing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.