Page 20 of The Sisters of Sea View
“Mamma?” She knocked again, quite forcefully.
Still no response.
She would have thought her loud knocking would summon Viola from the dressing room, but neither answered.
Please, God, let Mamma be all right.They could not lose their mother too.
She tried the door and found it latched from within. Something Mamma had not done before they began housing strangers.
Although Miss Stirling’s friend Mr. Farrant had installed keyed locks for the guest rooms, they had not gone to the same expense for the family rooms, nor the internal connecting doors. These still held only traditional latches.
Sarah knelt to study the door. She pulled it open as far as the catch would allow, until she saw a thin crack of light from within and the metal latch across the space.
Yanking a pin from her hair, she slid it into the crack and, after some fiddling, lifted the inner latch.
“Mamma, I am coming in.”
Steeling herself, she opened the door. Light from the unshuttered windows illuminated the room, yet their mother lay unnaturally still. Sarah hurried to the bed, dreading what she might find. She put her hand to her mother’s slack mouth, and with relief felt a faint breath, and saw a slight rise and fall of her nightdress-clad chest. Sarah sat on the edge of the narrow bed and even at that rocking movement, her mother did not stir. She picked up her hand, thankfully warm, and felt for her pulse. Slow and steady.
The dressing room door opened, and Viola shuffled into the room, yawning.
Sarah asked, “Did you not hear me calling and knocking?”
Viola stared blankly, then pulled something from each ear. Cotton wool. “I’ve taken to plugging my ears at night. Mamma has been snoring so loudly, I can hear her through the wall.”
“Really? I don’t recall her doing that before.”
Viola shrugged. “Me either. But I never slept in the next room before. I think it is due to her sleeping draught.” Viola nodded to the side table. Sarah looked and saw a bottle and a glass of water beside it.
“Mamma?” Sarah gently shook her mother’s shoulder. No response. “Viola, please wet a face cloth and bring it here.”
Viola hurried to the wash basin and quickly returned with a damp cloth.
Sarah dabbed it to her mother’s cheeks and neck. “Mamma? Time to wake up!”
In an aside to Viola, she said, “How much of that did she take?”
Again Viola shrugged.
“Hmm?” Mamma mumbled and slowly opened bleary eyes. “Sarah? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“We could not wake you, Mamma. You gave us a fright. How much of that sleeping draught did you take?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah lifted the bottle and studied it. “What is in this?” She removed the stopper and sniffed, wrinkling her nose. “Laudanum,if I had to guess. With a high percentage of alcohol and who knows what else. No wonder she has been so groggy.”
“Old Dr. Porter prescribed it before we left May Hill, to help her sleep,” Viola said.
Together they helped their mother sit up, and after they bathed her face again in the cool water, she seemed to revive.
“Are you sure you need this, Mamma? Something so strong?”
“She might do,” Viola said, “with guests clomping around all hours. We all might need some to get any sleep.”
“That is not helpful, Viola.”
Sarah took her mother’s hand. “How about I talk to one of the apothecaries here in Sidmouth about something milder to help you sleep? Or perhaps we ought to ask a local doctor to call and make sure nothing else is wrong?”
