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I glanced at the coffin, sitting on its trestles under the rain-smearedThe Lindsays’ cabin was very s rain, where a large nu the evening wake, but the muslin shroud had been drawn up over her face

Rosa too stout and too old to ply her trade withfor a husband "I couldn’t bide another of them winters," she had confided to e "Nor yet another of thee in Kenneth Lindsay, as looking for a wife to share the work of ho Not a match born of physical attraction--the Lindsays had had perhaps six sound teeth between them--or emotional compatibility, still it had seerief-stricken, Kenny had been taken off by Jamie for medication hisky--a somewhat more effective treatment than my own At least I didn’t think it would be lethal

Iain I doubted that Rosa death would have found outlet in either prayer or philosophy, but she had had opportunity for neither She had died blue-faced, congested, and bulging-eyed, unable to force word or breath past the swollen tissues of her throat

My own throat felt tight at thecup of catent liquid slide soothingly down It was little coly Suffocation was quicker, but not much more pleasant

I tapped the quill point on the blotter, leaving inky pinpoints that spread through the rough fibers of the paper, foralaxy of tiny stars As to that--there was another possibility Death ht conceivably have been due to a pul That would be a not-impossible complication of the septicemia, and could have accounted for the syht, but not one I placed much credence in It was the voice of experience, as much as the voice of conscience, that bade me dip the quill and write down "anaphylaxis," before I could think again

Was anaphylaxis a known s’ notes--but then, I hadn’t read theic reaction was not unknown in any tiht not be known by naht read this

And that was the rub, of course Who would read it? I thought it unlikely, but what if a stranger should read this and take my account for a confession of murder? That was far-fetched--but it could happen I had co executed as a witch, in part because of ht wryly

Extensive swelling in affected li as the pen ran dry I dipped it again and scratched doggedly on Swelling extended to upper torso, face, and neck Skin pale, ly rapid and shallow, heartbeat very fast and light, tending to inaudibility Palpitations evident Lips and ears cyanotic Pronounced exophthalht of Rosa to and fro in unco terror We had tried to shut them, e cleansed the body and laid it out for burial It was custoht it unwise in this case

I didn’t want to look at the coffin again, but did, with a sy Brianna’s head turned toward me, then sharply away The s the rooall ink--and the fresh-planed oak of the coffin’s boards I took another hasty gulp of tea, to stop

I knew damn hy the first line of Hippocrates’ oath was, "First, do no harm" It was too bloody easy to do harm What hubris it took to lay hands on a person, to interfere How delicate and complex were bodies, how crude a physician’s intrusions

I could have sought seclusion in surgery or study, to write these notes I knehy I hadn’t The coarse ht from theI pinched the quill hard between thuet the pop of the cricoid cartilage, when I had jabbed a penknife into Rosamund’s throat in a final, futile attes

And yetthere was not one practicing physician, I thought, who had never faced this I had had it happen a few times before--even in adevice known to man--then

Some future physician here would face the saerous treatht have been saved And that was my own dilemma--to balance the unlikely possibility of prosecution for ainst the unknown value of e in the There were as yet few medical schools, and those few, e froer into the casebook, feeling blind between the early pages, kept by the book’s original owner

Rawlings had not gone to a h if he had,by ht of some of the treates--infusions of liquidfor epileptic fits, lancing and bleeding for every disorder fros had been a doctor Reading his case notes, I could feel his care for his patients, his curiosity regarding the mysteries of the body