Read Online The Persuasion of Miss Jane Brody by Isabella Hargreaves - Free Book Online Page A

after the children’s lesson when he stumbled and fell. He couldn’t get up. Christopher, Katherine and I had to help him to his bed. We sent for Dr Logan and he is with him now. We are waiting to hear what is wrong.”
    Katherine and Christopher hovered in the background.
    Jane opened her arms and they stepped into them. She hugged them wordlessly for a few moments. She tried to calm the situation. “We shall hear what Dr Logan says before we panic, shall we?” Their bodies relaxed in her arms at her words.
    Jane guided them upstairs to her room and sat them on her bed while she stripped off her pelisse, gloves and bonnet, asking them for details about how their father had appeared before his collapse.
    By the time they had finished answering Jane’s questions she had led them downstairs to the sitting room where Dr Logan sought them out soon afterwards.
    Jane led him into her father’s study so that he might talk unrestrained. Pointing him to the sofa she sat down herself.
    Dr Logan, his mouth grim and his greying brows drawn together above his aquiline nose began abruptly. “Well Miss Brody, he is resting comfortably now but he has had a serious brain seizure. He may recover or he may continue to have these seizures, slowly reducing his bodily functions until his passing.”
    Jane gasped as the seriousness of her father’s condition sank in. “What can we do to give him the best chance of recovery?”
    “There really is nothing except good nursing, keeping him calm and praying for his improvement. Time alone will tell us which outcome to expect. I’m sorry Miss Brody, that I can’t be clearer than this.”
    “Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do, Dr Logan.” She hesitated. “Perhaps also, after so many years, you should call me Jane.”
    His professional mask slipped slightly and he smiled. “Thank you Jane. Now, I presume you and your sister Anna will nurse him, so I will give you both some instructions before I leave. I’m on my way to a delivery.”
    Jane hurriedly found Anna and together they listened closely to Dr Logan’s instructions.
    The sisters found their father weakened by his seizure. He found it difficult to talk, but clutched their hands in relief when he saw them as if to convey his gratitude for their care.
    For several weeks the two sisters shared the nursing of their father but as each week passed it became apparent that he wasn’t going to improve. Little by little his ability to move his limbs and speak declined until late one evening after his younger children had made their evening visit to his bedchamber, he had another severe seizure and gradually his breathing reduced to nothing by the morning.
    Jane felt all the devastation of her previous experience with her mother’s nursing and death. At least, she told herself, she wasn’t alone in the caring role and her younger siblings were much older than when their mother died. Still, she felt numb with tiredness and grief. Afterwards the sisters spent hours making their black mourning clothes – their uniform for the next six months.
    The funeral was a well-attended and gloomy event held a week later. The following day, Jane marshalled herself to visit the family solicitor to gain some understanding of their financial state.
    She was greeted with sympathy and gravity by their short, wizened and white haired solicitor, Mr Pettigrew. He sat her down in the visitor’s chair opposite his desk and pulled her father’s will from a drawer.
    “Well Miss Brody, I’m sorry for your loss.” He fixed her with a steady gaze. “Are you aware of the terms of your father’s estate?”
    “No. Not at all. My hope is that there are sufficient funds to support my three siblings and myself in our family home for the foreseeable future. I expect my sisters will marry eventually and my youngest brother wishes to enter the navy like his older brothers.”
    Mr Pettigrew listened impassively, cleared his throat, then read the will