“Mr. Lowell?” The voice that spoke was feminine, soft and soothing, a mere whisper almost. Henry grunted his response and sensed the woman came nearer. “I hope I did not disturb you.” A soft hand settled upon his brow for no more than a fleeting second. “You do not seem to have a fever, which is excellent news.”
He drew a deep breath, focused on the tightening effect it had on his chest, and gradually expelled it. “No.” Again he tried to open his eyes, to see the nurse who’d come to attend him. She sounded lovely and . . . The light was no longer as bright as it had been. It shone at the woman’s back, surrounding her in a halo of gold. She was fair, with dark blonde tresses catching the sun and tossing it back. Her face, however, was perfection itself, a pair of warm chocolate eyes and full lips portraying the deepest shade of rose he’d ever seen.
Perhaps he had died after all.
Henry closed his eyes on that thought and allowed himself to drift off again, certain he’d just caught a glimpse of heaven and one of its prettiest angels.
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
As you can probably imagine, writing this story required a great deal of medical research, especially pertaining to the early 1800s.
Although epidemic typhus was a known disease at the time, it was not until 1903 when Charles Nicolle, a French bacteriologist, traveled to Tunis to research an outbreak, that its connection to lice was discovered. Incidentally, Nicolle received a Nobel Prize in medicine for this accomplishment.
But even though Florian would have lacked Nicolle’s knowledge, he was still able to implement the successful treatment used at the Edinburgh Infirmary throughout the late 18th century. Fumigation was done daily there using tar water or muriatic acid, the tiled floors were mopped and the walls periodically whitewashed. Additionally, those who were admitted were ordered to surrender their clothes. They were then washed, their heads shaved, and their skin rubbed with mercurial ointment, a process Florian applies onboard the quarantine ship and also when treating Juliette.
It was known that dirt, poor air conditions and lack of proper food could spread and/or exacerbate disease. Typhus patients were therefore given hearty meals, especially meat and fruit, with diluted wine to accompany it, preferably eight ounces of wine in four ounces of water. For more serious cases, undiluted wine was called for, as much as a half to one and a half pints per day.
For the description of the disease’s progression, I relied on “Typhus Fever in Eighteenth-century Hospitals” by Guenter B. Risse since this provided a period accurate account. Domestic Medicine by William Buchan, which some of you may recall me referencing in There’s Something About Lady Mary, was once again an excellent source on contagion attentiveness from the late 1700s onward. It proves that awareness of hand-washing and general cleanliness in disease prevention existed even though it did not become a requirement for medical practitioners until much later. In fact, in spite of Buchan’s book, which was originally published in 1771, Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician, is credited with discovering the benefits of hand-washing in 1847 when he noted a connection between physicians handling corpses, then delivering children without cleaning their hands first, and mothers contracting puerperal fever.
Not to diminish Semmelweis’s findings, but Buchan’s were made eighty years or more earlier and would have been known to a well-read man like Florian.
Although morphine was not commercially used until the mid-1800s, a German pharmacist named Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner had managed to isolate the crystalline compound from crude opium by 1816. During his experiments, he discovered that the pain relief effect of this compound was ten times that of opium and named it morphine after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams.
Considering how well traveled and open to new medicinal discoveries Florian was, he would have wasted no time in acquiring this new narcotic and administering it to his patients when performing surgeries.
As with every piece of medical information I’ve used to flesh out this story, The Humane Society is a real organization which still exists today. Modeled after the Amsterdam Society for the Rescue of Drowning, it awarded a silver medal to one of its members, Charles Kite, in 1788. Kite not only advocated the resuscitation of victims in cardiac arrest with bellows as well as oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal intubation long before CPR is commonly known to have been discovered, but also developed his own electrostatic revivifying machine. This device used Leyden jar capacitors in a similar way to the DC capacitative countershock of the modern cardiac defibrillator.
Other historically accurate facts and characters include James Gregory, a Scottish physician whom Florian recalls having met, and the Spanish surgeon, Francisco Romero, who is indeed credited with performing the first heart surgery in 1801, even though, as Florian correctly tells Juliette, the surgery was on the lining of the heart and not on the actual heart itself.
I hope you have enjoyed this story. As you already know, Henry and Viola are destined to fall in love in the fourth installment of Diamonds in the Rough. It will be interesting to see what obstacles they encounter on the way to their own happily ever after, so please join me again soon to find out.
Until then, happy reading!
Acknowledgments
It takes more than an author to grasp an idea and transform it into a book. My name might be on the cover, but there’s a whole team of spectacular people behind me, each with their own incredible skills and experience. Their faith in me and in my stories is invaluable, and since they do deserve to be recognized for their work, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their constant help and support.
To my editor extraordinaire, Nicole Fischer: your edits and advice have helped this story shine. Thank you so much for your insight and for believing in my ability to pull this off.
To my copy editor, Libby Sternberg; publicists Caroline Perny, Pam Jaffee and Libby Collins; and director of marketing, Angela Craft, thank you so much for all that you do and for offering guidance and support whenever it was needed.
A special thank-you goes to the Royal College of Surgeons in England for the articles they sent me upon request and for their willingness to delve into eighteenth and nineteenth century medical education on my behalf. The information your library provided has helped me tremendously.
To my author friend Katharine Ashe, with whom I’ve enjoyed sharing facts that can only be found when one is willing to search the haystack, discussing medical research with you has been an absolute pleasure!
I would also like to thank the amazing artist who created this book’s stunning cover. Chris Cocozza has truly succeeded in capturing the mood of The Illegitimate Duke and the way in which I envisioned both Florian and Juliette looking—such a beautiful job!
To my fabulous beta readers, Jacqueline Ang, Maria Rose and Jennifer Becker, whose insight has been tremendously helpful in strengthening the story, thank you so much!
Another big thank-you goes to Nancy Mayer for her assistance. Whenever I’m faced with a question regarding the Regency era that I can’t answer on my own, I turn to Nancy for advice. Her help is invaluable.
My family and friends deserve my thanks as well, especially for reminding me to take a break occasionally, to step away from the computer and just unwind—I would be lost without you.
And to you, dear reader—thank you so much for taking the time to read this story. Your support is, as always, hugely appreciated!
About the Author
Born in Denmark, SOPHIE BARNES spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish, and Romanian. But, most impressive of all, she’s been married to the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses. When she’s not busy dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.
Visit Sophie Barnes at www.SophieBarnes.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter (@BarnesSophie).
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By Sophie Barnes
Novels
The Illegitimate Duke
The Duke of Her Desire
A Most Unlikely Duke
His Scandalous Kiss
The Earl’s Complete Surrender
Lady Sarah’s Sinful Desires
The Danger in Tempting an Earl
The Scandal in Kissing an Heir
The Trouble with Being a Duke
The Secret Life of Lady Lucinda
There’s Something About Lady Mary
Lady Alexandra’s Excellent Adventure
How Miss Rutherford Got Her Groove Back
Novellas
Mistletoe Magic (from Five Golden Rings: A Christmas Collection)
Coming Soon
The Infamous Duchess
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
the illegitimate duke. Copyright © 2018 by Sophie Barnes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-284973-1
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-284972-4
Cover design and art direction by Guido Caroti
Cover art by Chris Cocozza
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HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
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