The Daughters of Eden Trilogy: The Shadow Catcher, Fever Hill & the Serpent's Tooth Read Online Free PDF

mother hugging the flannel package which contained the baby. She was smiling and crying, and giving little delighted spurts of laughter. ‘We’ve done it, Maddy. We’ve done it! You have a sister. A perfect, perfect, beautiful little sister.’
    Out of loyalty Madeleine forced a smile, but inside she was churning with disgust. How could her mother still think everything was all right? Couldn’t she see?
    All babies were definitely not like this one. Babies were pink, and they smiled at you and looked about with big round eyes.
    ‘What’, said her mother, ‘does Dr Philpott say next?’
    Madeleine retreated to the dressing-table stool. It was a relief to sit down, but she didn’t like being so far away. She wanted her mother to smile and coo at her , and forget about the baby.
    ‘ Wash the woman’s external geni— ’ she scowled at the unfamiliar word, ‘ geni-talia – in warm water and Condy’s fluid, and apply a napkin or sani-tary towel. Change the bed, and bind the woman’s abdomen to prevent flooding. There must be no sitting up or talking. ’ She threw her mother a doubtful look, but she was lying meekly on the pillows with her eyes closed.
    ‘Don’t go to sleep,’ Madeleine said sharply. ‘Dr Philpott hasn’t said that you may.’
    Her mother nodded. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not. But we’ll have to ignore the bit about not talking. Read on, Maddy. You’re doing magnificently.’
    Slightly mollified, Madeleine read on. ‘ The mother being quietly settled, and the infant having been washed— ’
    Her mother’s eyes snapped open. They exchanged startled glances.
    ‘I’ve got to wash it?’ said Madeleine in horror.
    Her mother studied her, as if gauging how much more she could take. ‘I’m so sorry, Maddy. But remember. It’s not an “it”. It’s a “she”. Your little sister.’
    As if that helped.
     
    Half an hour later, Madeleine grimly draped a napkin over the fender to dry and decided that she deserved a medal. Dr Philpott himself should be here, telling her she was wonderful.
    She had done almost everything he said, except for the bit about washing her mother. (That had been accomplished in secret, while she was out of the room.) She had even made friends with the geyser, which had belched helpfully into life as soon as she turned the tap. Or perhaps she was simply too tired to be scared of it any more.
    Somehow, by the time she had refilled the jug and carried it back to the bedroom, her mother had washed herself and struggled into the abdominal binder and the clean flannel drawers, and the flannel nightgown which Madeleine had put out. She had also taken one of the Barnett’s Hygienic Wood Wool Diapers for Ladies from the packet which Madeleine had fetched at her direction from the dressing-room bureau. ‘How lucky’, Madeleine had said, ‘that you thought to buy those in advance.’ She had been puzzled by her mother’s wry smile.
    Changing the bed had also been easier than Madeleine had expected. ‘Just bundle up the dirty things and throw them out of the bathroom window,’ her mother had said. ‘Someone will deal with it tomorrow.’
    But washing the baby had been far, far worse. As soon as Madeleine had put it in the washbasin it started crying, and when she rubbed it clean with a handkerchief the crying became an outraged caterwaul. She couldn’t bring herself to touch the worm coming out of its belly-button, which was probably why she got soap in the baby’s eyes – although it was hard to tell, as its face was so tightly screwed up that she couldn’t see. All this trouble, and it wouldn’t even look at her.
    It was an incredible relief to get it clean and dry and wrapped in fresh napkins – ‘Use three,’ said her mother, ‘the thickest flannel ones, we don’t want her catching cold.’ And to Madeleine’s astonishment and annoyance, the caterwauling stopped almost as soon as she handed it to her mother, who told her to turn her back while she ‘got the