He rushed her to the straw and laid her down, covering her with his jacket. He again placed his hand on her head, and she felt even warmer than before.

He ran to the door, pounding, shouting, and desperately calling out, “Please! She is ill. I need help. Please. Come quickly.”

He rushed back to Scarlet and held her hand. Trying to remember his childhood illnesses, his mind searched for ideas to help her feel more comfortable. He knew he must immediately loosen her stays and remove some of her clothing layers. But she shivered in cold. She would be miserable. Her skin felt so dangerously, unnaturally hot that she must be cooled down. He longed for his dear housekeeper. She had nursed him through many an illness and scrape.

A noise at the door distracted him. The key turned in the lock, and Abella’s head peered in at him. She entered quickly, carrying two tankards, and shut the door behind her.

“Abella. Praise the heavens it is you. She is ill with fever.”

She took two steps back. “The plague?”

Matteo frowned. “I don’t know. But I have to help her. Do you have water?”

She nodded and brought forward the tankards. “Miss Duplay said no dinner, but she didn’t say anything about drink. So I brought the water.”

“Again, you are my ange. I wonder, could you help me with her dress? Her stays and things?” He didn’t want to invade her privacy if at all possible.

Abella hesitated for the briefest of moments and then nodded.

When she had finished loosening Scarlet’s stays and removing some of the petticoats, Matteo asked, “Could I trouble you to get us some different clothes from the coffers used to clothe the staff here?”

“You want the clothes from the dead?” her eyes were wide and questioning.

He swallowed and then nodded. “I do. She will need something less confining, simpler, to wear, and I too would love a change of clothing.” And the new clothing was their only hope of escape, if he could still manage it with a feverish and unconscious wife.

Abella nodded. Then, reaching into her pocket, she brought out a folded slip of paper. “I almost forgot to give you this. It came today.”

Snatching it up gladly, he grinned at her. “News. Let us pray it is good news.”