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Back The Art of Dying Save as PDF
Chapters (90)
  1. PROLOGUE
  2. 1849
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. EDINBURGH
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EPILOGUE
  86. HISTORICAL NOTE
  87. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  88. Extract from A Corruption of Blood
  89. 1850
  90. ONE

logo missings Sarah made her way back out of the Infirmary, she passed the entrance to one of the wards, beds lined up either side. She saw a doctor making his rounds surrounded by a gaggle of young students, all jostling for position, trying to hear what the great man said. A nurse stood to the side, awaiting his command. She imagined the place much later in the day, all but deserted, lamplit and quiet, and thought about Mary Dempster recklessly experimenting with medicines, the effects of which she did not fully understand.

Sarah had mixed feelings about putting all of this before Raven. Was it enough to convince him that the nurse was somehow implicated? And if she was continuing to instigate her own treatments, what was she administering that was proving to be so detrimental to the health of her patients? On the other hand, it did provide an answer of sorts as to why she was doing it and why the symptoms experienced by the patients did not correspond with any of the commonly known poisons. And yet, even if all that were true, it did not explain why her sister seemed afraid of her.

Her thesis about deliberate poisoning seemed to be floundering, but the elusive nurse still seemed to be key to the whole thing.

As Sarah strode across the courtyard, she noticed movement from the porter’s box. He had seen her approach the gate and was coming out to talk to her again.

‘Are we going to be seeing more of you, then?’ he asked.

Her blank look invited him to elaborate, though she suspected that little invitation was ever necessary.

‘I assumed you were speaking to Miss Peat about taking up a job here,’ he continued, pointing back towards the Infirmary as though she had forgotten where she had just come from.

‘I was merely making some enquiries.’

‘Well, if you’re interested in working in this place, Miss Peat is not really the one to give you the full picture. A good woman, for sure, and a formidable one, but she doesn’t know everything that goes on under her nose, much as she’d like to think so. If you want to know how things really are, you ought to eavesdrop on the nurses’ common room. It’s on the second floor. I say common room, for that’s what they call it, but it’s merely a disused store-room – one they make sure nothing ever gets stored in. A little cubby hole where they sit and drink tea. Or more likely gin if they’re there overnight.’