Later that afternoon Mary arrived, ready to do anything that was required of her, and Nick brought home three more very poorly patients. Everyone worked together, including Hilda, who took charge of the children, keeping them well away from the sickrooms. She also helped Mrs Bee by preparing vegetables for the evening meal and they worked in perfect unison. Daisy suspected this was due to the fact that Mrs Bee was clearly in charge, and Hilda was content to take orders and obey them to the letter. Kind and generous she might be, but Mrs Bee was queen in the kitchen and not about to abdicate.

Daisy sent Billy with a note to her aunt explaining her absence. He returned later with her luggage and a response from Aunt Eleanora expressing her fears that Daisy would succumb to the disease. Daisy chose to ignore the note. There was nothing she could say that would make the situation any easier to bear, and she was too busy looking after their existing patients to worry about anything other than their progress.

Sadly, one of the older men passed away during the night, but his wife survived and next morning the Harker sisters were showing hopeful signs of recovery. Daisy had taken turns with Dove to watch over their patients during the long hours of darkness, giving Mary time to catch up with some much-needed sleep.

During the next few weeks there was a steady flow of patients admitted to Creek Hall Hospital, as it was now known in the village, and many simply turned up at the door demanding to see the doctor with a variety of ailments and minor injuries. Nick treated everyone, taking a fee from those who could afford to pay, but Daisy suspected that he let most people off or accepted garden produce and the odd chicken or rabbit in return for treatment. Charity and Patience recovered slowly and Mrs Jones paid the bill for their care promptly, a benefit that Nick said would not have happened had the colonel been at home. The gentry, he added, were notorious for keeping tradesmen waiting for months, if not years, for their money, and that included medical fees. But the news that both the Harker girls were recovering well had circulated and Nick had urgent requests for treatment from people who were more than able to pay. He was too busy to keep the accounts, but Daisy discovered that she had a head for figures and she kept a detailed ledger, noting down each remittance and their day-to-day expenditure. At the end of the first two months the books balanced. They were not making a fortune, but they could pay the staff, and she had even managed to put a little aside for repayments to the squire.

Gradually, aided by Dove and a couple of women from the village, Daisy managed to get all twenty bedrooms ready for the inevitable influx of patients. The suffering were admitted, treated and many recovered. The tragedy was that equally as many succumbed, and the village graveyard was filled to capacity. The vicar did his best to comfort the bereaved, and Mrs Peabody organised Eleanora and the other ladies on her committee to make calf’s foot jelly and other nourishing foods for those who were recuperating. Elliot Massey’s mother was one of those who died, and Linnet spent most of her time at the school, taking lessons in Elliot’s absence and assisting him when he returned. Daisy suspected that a romance was blooming, despite the sad situation that had brought Linnet and Elliot together.