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Madaed "Dr Gall itzin said only that he believes the girls have influenza, and that he would return in theto check in on them"

Aurora Demidova slept on a nearby cot, her face as pale as Dariya&039;s and her hands even colder

"What does he recommend as treatment?" I asked I noticed a porcelain boith dried blood in it slid partially under Aurora&039;s cot Had the doctor decided to bleed them both? I drew the blanket back to search hed in relief

Madame Orbel ani put a hand on enievna And the other girls But you must allow the doctor to do what he thinks is best No ht,in my head Elena slept soundly, I noticed She seeht that surrounded her was nothing but a faint gray mist

I did not believe for one ht My cousin was not suffering froh, no other reports of influenza in St Petersburg

I knew Elena was responsible so her family But I couldn&039;t make sense of Aurora and the two servants I doubted Elena even knew the servant girls existed And why hadn&039;t I become ill? I was the focus of her attentionfrohtenin bed any longer I pulled on ray sky Creeping quietly down the hall, I peeked in the rooht enshrouding theave me no clue to the nature of the ill ness Was it caused by a contagion or by a Montenegrin spell? Without any firm evidence of supernatural causes, I had to assume that it was a natural ill ness, and that it could be cured Dariya wasbeads of sweat on her brow Madame Orbel ani dozed in the chair beside them, oblivious to the world

I didn&039;t like the way Dariya looked She did not seee clock downstairs chi todressed, I decided to sneak out to speak with Dr Kruglevski Whatever rong with the girls, surely he would be the best e front hall was dark and quiet The heavy front door locked frouarded by an elderly doorer days in the regiments I waited until he left his post to make his rounds, then quietly unlocked the door and slipped outside

The late-Januarywas bitterly cold, but I did not mind The Smolny Gardens were beautiful in their icy barrenness I skipped past theh the Peski District, I passed sleeping town houses and newly constructed aparths about this early in the irl on her way to work Nobody botheredHospital was just beyond the Greek church Dr

Kruglevski liked toto his research lab everywhite habits, did not look happy to see rim-faced nurse ! Co hours!" she told"I alevski"

"Are you ill, child? Where are your parents?"

I wasn&039;t sure if being the daughter of the hospital&039;s patron would help hed a little "Please, madam, I am from the Sht" I had no idea ould be maddest when they discovered my charade: the nurses, my parents, or the headmistress at Smolny I shivered

The nurse noticed and quickly hurried , then It&039;s levski is alreadyrounds He can see you in just a moment" She sat me by the fire, wrappedof tea before bustling off to take care of the patients on the ward

The doctor recognizedhere at such an hour?" he asked "Is yourthe blanket closer around me, I said, "Doctor, some of the students at Sest ill ness I&039;ve co for your assistance"

The doctor took a cup of tea one of the nurses handed hie ill ness? Tell eneral malaise, folloithin several hours by coldness in the extreirls have beco two servants" I&039;d spentto discover what the sick servants had in co that would explain why they were the only four in the school ere ill I&039;d not been able to co," the doctor htfully

"But the ill ness seems to strike randomly Madame Metcherskey called for Dr Gall itzin but he thinks it is a touch of influenza"

"Bah! Gall itzin is a fool Believes leeches can still cure everything" I nodded in agreehts or treatments

"Very well, I will come and examine your sick friends What did your cousin eat last?"

I struggled to think She had walked with ardens, where we had eaten pieces of rock candy, and then we&039;d had cold mutton and borscht and lemon tarts for our welcome-back dinner Dariya had eaten with the rest of us, but she and the others had not beco-and had not coirls until they were all confined to the sickrooenievna," the doctor said He gave the head nurse instructions to call for his carriage "I ," he told me as aited by the front door "None of my patients at the hospital have presented with quite the sa to co I knew Madarounds with no chaperone I hoped, though, that if ry Sick people needed proper et it without my interference

Madaate Mada in disapproval as I hastened out of the carriage Madame Orbel ani, however, seeoodness, we have been so worried about you," she said, e

Madalevski exit the carriage "Young lady, what is theof this?" she asked

I stepped forward and introduced the doctor to my instructor "He is Papa&039;s favorite doctor," I said "I&039;enievna and the others"

"Please forgive this foolish girl, Doctor, for disturbing you," Mada to be punished for this stunt Severely But I did not levski would know exactly what to do

"There is nothing to forgive, levski said "If there are ill students within this institute, I must be allowed to examine them Or I shal consult the tsar to ask permission, and tell him I was denied entrance Will you be so kind as to take an to retort so but closed her mouth into a thin line and turned around "follow me, then, if you please Madame Orbel ani, take Katerina to the headmistress&039;s office, if you will" Madame Orbel ani laid a hand on my arm as the doctor followed Madame Metcherskey "Oh, Katerina, ould you run off and do such a crazy thing? Running down the streets of the city before sunrise? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking of my sick cousin, and a doctor who I know can help her" Mada rooe portraits hanging in this room Many princesses had been educated here, and the halls were covered with their likenesses In this roo Madaown She had been a beauty when she was younger, and had been a lady-in-waiting for the dowager erandlevski exanosis And what his recoolden clock on Mada The longer I waited, the more I was convinced that I would be expelled froraced, my family would send me away to the South of France and I would never have to worry about Danilo or his sisters again

A sudden thought struck me

Perhaps there was a school of medicine that accepted women somewhere in the South of France? Somehow, exile from Russia did not sound so bad