Page 94 of A Sight to Behold
“Carolyn, you schemed with your father against my family, but with the help of the Countess and Earl of Langley, I was able to prove that both of you have colluded against many others in this room.”
Silence.
“As the future wife of a doctor, I must not reveal the identities of your victims, but I hope they will come and find the real doctors. There, they will finally get the help they need.”
“You have no proof that—”
But Pippa held her hand up and commanded Carolyn to allow her to finish.
“The proof in medicine rests in the body of the patient. Nothing else matters. Your father profited handsomely from the pain he inflicted.”
“My father administered medicine—”
“When a patient doesn’t consent to taking a medicine, then it’s poison. It injures the body. And may I remind you, Carolyn, for a crime against a peer of the Realm, you might hang!”
The crowd remained silent. Pippa knew she had their support. They may have mocked her but when there was a danger posed that threatened the aristocrats, the Ton operatedlike a closed front. She was using the attribute that Carolyn had relied on to build her ploy for years against her.
“And whenyourfather has to repay the blackmail, I don’t suspect he’ll have enough mushroom cap powder to influence the guards in the Tower of London to let him out.”
“My father is a healer!” Carolyn protested weakly.
“He never made anyone better! That’s why he had to make them dependent on his drugs and his stones and his crystals. He needed them to return for more treatments and pay him for more. That’s all he cared about. That and getting more information from them to use against them.”
“As if the doctors at 87 Harley Street cured…” But Carolyn choked on her words when the Earl of Langley and Lance cast her looks.
“I’m cured,” Lance said.
“As am I,” the earl added.
“It’s not medicine if you make vulnerable people dependent on drugs. More blackmail, more misery, more gossip,” Pippa said.
“That’s not true.”
“Oh, but it is. I’ve been on the receiving end of your schemes for long enough and I have had enough. Today, my father gave his blessing that I shall marry Dr. Nicholas Folsham and I will make sure that the wedding will be as soon as possible. Not thanks to you, but despite you!”
“And I will help her to arrange the wedding of the year!” Violet called out, her husband’s arm wrapped around her.
“As will I!” Bea said.
And then the crowd burst toward them, a wave of aristocrats of all shapes, sizes, and maladies.
“I want to be cured, too,” a tall man with a short great beard came to Nick. Another patted his shoulder and asked for an appointment.
“Which one is the orthopedist?” a lady with an orange feather in her upswept hair asked, and Pippa pointed to Andre.
And a swarm of guests encircled Felix.
The crowd was a mess and so many people were around the doctors.
The crowd moved like a single entity, a wave of velvet and silk crashing towards the epicenter of the commotion.
Felix, Andre, and Alfie, the doctors, found themselves in the eye of the storm. Each guest wanted a piece of them, and their personal space was invaded by prying eyes and curious hands. People asked for appointments or just demanded to be seen now, here, in this very room if not sooner.
Of course, the doctors adeptly reminded them they would want the privacy their offices would provide and that they promised each and every patient—unlike Matthews. Pippa felt her heart expand as she knew the practice would be overrun with noble patients for a long time.
Still, some people tried to get medical advice. Andre was subjected to a different kind of scrutiny. A man had taken hold of his hand and tried to place it on his hunchback.
Alfie was led away by a gaggle of ladies, their faces a mix of concern and excitement. They bombarded him with questions about various ailments, each woman eager to share her symptoms and seek his advice.
