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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

Dr Simpson knelt down beside the bed and laid a gentle hand on the child’s head. There was no movement, not even a fluttering of the closed eyes in response. He removed the wooden stethoscope from his bag, placed it on the child’s chest and bent his head to listen.

Sarah noticed that the younger child, still clasped in the mother’s arms, was transfixed by this strange prostration. The mother, too, was watching intently, silent tears coursing down her cheeks. She lifted the corner of her apron with her free hand and wiped her face. As the doctor stood up, she put out her hand and clutched his arm, pulling on the thick material of his coat as though afraid she was about to fall. She looked directly at him and said in a whisper: ‘Doctor, what am I to do?’

Dr Simpson paused, then covered her hand with his and replied gently, ‘You must give her back to the Lord.’

The woman began to cry in earnest, letting go of the doctor’s sleeve and clutching the younger child closer to her.

‘My little Maggie was the same age when He took her,’ Dr Simpson said quietly. ‘I know how it is: how hard.’

Sarah felt the tears coming to her own eyes and was powerless to stop them. As she stood in the corner, witness to this most tragic of scenes, she wondered who her tears were really for.

SEVENTEEN

logo missingaven settled in behind his desk in the consulting room, preparing himself for the tide that Sarah would unleash when she began calling the morning’s patients. He tidied sheets of paper into neat piles, ensured his ink pot was full and noted the marked contrast between this desk and that of the professor. He imagined the inside of the professor’s head would resemble his untidy desk: a jumble of thoughts, stacked one on top of the other, ready to be blown about by the next cerebral tempest.

He heard a cursory rap upon the door and looked up to see not Sarah but Jarvis, who wordlessly handed him the first post before turning on a heel. Raven was about to put it aside for reading later when his eye was drawn by the unexpected profile of Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia upon the stamp, and, upon a closer look, Henry’s handwriting.