Free An Embarrassment of Riches by Margaret Pemberton Page A

vanished. Her mother was never ill. ‘Who told you?’ she demanded, alarmed. ‘What did they say?’
    â€˜Young Eamon drove down at lunchtime in the cart with the mending. When he returned he didn’t have the previous week’s mending with him and told Mrs Connor that it hadn’t been done because Mrs Sullivan was not herself.’
    â€˜Why on earth didn’t Mrs Connor send word to me?’ Maura cried indignantly, determining to have a sharp word with the housekeeper on her return.
    â€˜She wouldn’t like disturbing you when you were in the schoolroom and besides, I told her we were visiting this afternoon.’
    â€˜Did Eamon say if a doctor was needed? Has Mrs Connor sent for one?’
    â€˜No to both questions, but I thought it wouldn’t harm to have a doctor call by. I’ve already sent word to Rathdrum for Dr Pearse.’
    They had been cantering at a brisk pace across the parkland. ‘I don’t like it,’ she said filled with a terrible foreboding. ‘Ma’s never ill,’ and spurring her horse she began to gallop headlong towards the Lough.
    Any hopes Kieron might have had of his message to Dr Pearse being unnecessary were dispelled the instant they entered the house. Mary Sullivan had fallen in the kitchen, the bowl of eggs she had been carrying laying in smithereens at her side amid a mess of broken yolks.
    â€˜What happened, Ma!’ Maura cried, running towards her. ‘Did you fall? Did you faint?’
    Her mother tried to speak but her face was strangely contorted and the only sounds she produced were gutturally inarticulate.
    â€˜Let me carry her into the bedroom,’ Kieron said, lifting her in his arms. ‘Make some tea, Maura. Maybe that will revive her.’
    With shaking hands Maura poured cold water from a pitcher into a saucepan and set it on the hob. She didn’t need to wait for Dr Pearse’s arrival to know what was the matter with her mother. Mrs Connor’s predecessor at Ballacharmish had died of a stroke and she recognized the rictus of the mouth and the terrible inability to speak. ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, don’t let her die!’ she whispered to herself feverishly. ‘Oh, please, don’t let my mother die!’
    When she went into the bedroom with the mashed tea her mother was laying very still, propped up on pillows. Leaving the tea to cool Maura sat by her side, taking her hand between hers. Talking gently and lovingly, trying to reassure her mother that everything was going to be all right and that a doctor was on his way, she fought down her increasing panic.
    â€˜Have some tea, Ma.’ Tenderly she tried to spoon the reviving liquid into her mother’s mouth, but her mother seemed unable to swallow and the tea dribbled down her chin on to her dress.
    Maura turned towards Kieron, tears shining in her eyes. ‘Holy Mother of God! Where is the doctor? Can you ride to Rathdrum, Kieron, and make sure he’s on his way?’
    Kieron strode towards the door to do as she suggested and as he opened it, he said in relief, ‘There’s no need. I can hear his horse.’
    Seconds later Rathdrum’s elderly doctor was in the room with them. Maura remained at her mother’s side. Kieron turned away towards the window. After what seemed to him to be an eternity, Dr Pearse stepped back from the bed, saying regrettably, ‘There’s nothing much I can be doing, I’m afraid. It’s apoplexy and she may come out of it grand or she may never be herself again.’
    Maura turned anguished eyes on Kieron. ‘I shall stay with her.’
    Kieron nodded. It was obvious that someone would have to stay with her mother, but for how long? What if Mary was ill and incapacitated for years?
    â€˜I’ll ride back to Ballacharmish and tell his lordship what has happened,’ he said, wondering what Lord Clanmar’s reaction was going to be. He would not