“Do you find it so?” Thank you, George, I thought, for concealing my indiscretion. I had informed him of the Earl’s failure to consummate his marriage, along with every other detail of my visit to the palace and the silk factory. George, in turn, had told me that the Earl had not admitted this insufficiency to him.

“Sometimes he thinks he is hungry, but when it comes to … it … his appetite deserts him. I worry he will not regain his vigor or else that he will seek food from other tables that better accommodate his tastes.” There were rumors of prostitutes. “I believe that he will accept assistance only from you, Dr. Turner, and only if you have no other patients at Court, he is so afeared of talk. My proposal is that you both come to live in our household. It has taken all this time since I saw you, Anne, for him to agree to my coming to ask this of you, even though I could not broach the reason why I wished it.”

I knew that George would not agree to the Earl’s stipulations, and nor would I, but I felt a strange desperation not to lose her.

“That is a generous proposal,” I said. “We could not leave our children but can offer help in other ways.” I looked to my husband, but he said nothing.

“You would see them often,” said Frankie.

“We are too tenderhearted toward them to do what others do.”

“My wife is right,” said George. “I cannot abandon my children or my patients. Your husband must trust to my discretion, as did the Queen of England, God rest her soul.”

“It is not a lack of trust, only shame. He will not speak of what ails him. He becomes enraged if I so much as hint at it.”

“That is not to be surprised at,” George said, gently. “He is but seventeen. A wife must not question her husband any more than I may question a King; especially a young husband, in need of the support and obedience of his spouse as he brings to bear his authority over his household. When all is in its proper place, then he will rule with kindness and mercy. I have observed that too lusty a wife can dishearten a husband. Until he sees fit to speak of it to me, I can do nothing to encourage him. However, you are wan. I suspect you are suffering from greensickness, for which I can treat you until such time as it is cured by your husband’s seed.”