Trial By Fire
876 Words
"I shall call for the physician right away," Jane said, trying very hard to keep her voice from shaking, as she didn't want to alarm Guilford unnecessarily.
The physician arrived, examined Guilford, and shook his head gravely.
"Have you already had smallpox?"
"No, sir." Jane had known what the diagnosis would be before the physician had even been summoned.
"You must leave immediately. He's very contagious."
"What about my baby?"
The physician just shook his head sadly.
Jane quickly arranged for Mary Sidney, who of course had already had smallpox, to come and care for Guilford. Jane planned to stay with Grace and Henry for the duration of Guilford's illness, and the younger children would be sent to stay with their Uncle Ambrose and Aunt Anne at North Hall in Northaw, Hertfordshire.
"Your father has smallpox," Jane told Grace by way of explanation when she arrived at her door.
"Oh, no!" Grace's eyes went wide with dismay. "When did he first become ill?"
"He felt poorly all day yesterday. I found his first pock this morning when I felt his forehead."
"Oh, my God!" Grace began to sob. "I don't think that I could bear to lose Father!"
"We must be strong and support each other. You know that that's what he would want."
"But your little one...my brother or sister..." Grace lightly touched Jane's swollen abdomen.
"We must hope and pray that God's will is that the little one and I shall be spared."
"Oh, Mother!" Grace clung to her mother, and they both sobbed.
For ten days Jane hardly ate or slept at all. She spent hours pacing back and forth like a caged animal in her daughter and son-in-law's home, alternatively praying and crying.
"Mother, you must eat something, for your little one's sake if not for your own," Grace begged her. Jane knew that Grace was right, but every time she tried to swallow, it felt as if the food would stick in her throat.
Finally news arrived from Mary. Guilford was feeling much better, and his scabs were almost gone. The physician felt that it was safe for Jane and the children to return home.
Guilford looked so pale and thin that Jane hardly recognized him. His face lit up when he saw Jane, and he rushed to her and embraced her tightly as she clung to him as if she would never let go.
"Praise God that He saw fit not to take you from me," she said.
"Have you been eating well and getting adequate rest?" Guilford asked.
"Oh, yes," Jane lied.
"What about the baby? Are the movements still regular and strong?"
"Yes, they are."
Guilford patted Jane's belly. "You are brave and strong, a fighter, just like your mother is," he said softly.
Things were fine for several days, and then Jane began to experience the same symptoms Guilford had originally felt. They both tried to tell themselves that perhaps it was just a passing illness, but when pox began to appear on Jane's forehead, they could deny the truth no longer.
"Whatever shall we do? I don't feel right about sending for Mary again, after all the time she has just spent caring for you," Jane said.
"I shall take care of you myself," Guilford assured her. "As I have just recovered, there is no danger of me falling ill again myself."
"The children..."
"They shall be sent away as before, and Grace and Henry shall be warned to stay away. My Jane, my precious Jane..." Guilford looked at her with eyes full of tenderness, longing, and deep sorrow. She knew that he wanted to cry but was holding it in for her sake.
The pox in Jane's mouth and throat made eating and drinking very painful, and the ones inside her eyelids made blinking excruciating, so she tried to keep her eyes closed as much as possible. Guilford moistened her lips with a wet sponge and rubbed an herbal ointment all over her body to relieve the itching. For hours at a time he read to her from the Psalms and the Gospels, and books of poetry. Sometimes he just held her and rocked her, which she found the most comforting of all.
Within a few days the pox dried up and formed scabs. Although she still felt very weak, Jane was able to be up and about, and the children were finally able to return home.
Several days later, Jane noticed that the movements of the child within her seemed to have lessened. One afternoon, she was bending to pick up an object that had fallen off a dresser when a sharp pain across her abdomen nearly took her breath away. She stood up and the pain went away, only to return with a vengeance several minutes later.
"Oh no, please no," she whispered. The expected time of her delivery was still a number of weeks away, and she knew that babies born before their time rarely survived. A third pain that was followed by a warm, wet trickle down her leg left no doubt in her mind what was happening.
Guilford heard her frightened scream and was there right away, helping her into bed and sending their son Robert to fetch the physician.
- Writer
