"The Mystery of O'Connor Death"

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

   At that moment, Georgiana, who was upset and lost in thought, ordered the carriage driver to stop by the beach. Georgiana ran on the sand like a child and laughed. When she reached the edge of the sea, she shouted with all her might: "I am Mr. Ellington's daughter. I am his daughter. Nothing else matters. It doesn't matter to me." Then she looked around and saw that a twelve or thirteen year old girl was standing on the edge of the sea with a short distance from her, looking at her with astonishment. She felt a little embarrassed and blushed for a few minutes until she finally regained control and said calmly: "Did you hear everything I said?"
   Alice, who had been surprised by the sight of that strange woman and her movements until then, and had stared at her, suddenly laughed after hearing this sentence, and although she tried hard to hide her laughter, she failed.
   Georgiana sighed and said: "I'm not crazy; I'm a thirty-five-year-old woman who acts like a five-year-old girl; you know, twenty-three years ago when I was twelve I got lost. Now it's been almost five years that I have amnesia and that means I don't remember nineteen years of my life." Then she sneered and said again: "I don't even know why I'm telling you these things." Then she looked at the girl's face.
   Alice, who saw her face more carefully for the second time, suddenly turned pale and immediately irregular drops of tears slid down her face. Alice lowered her head to hide them and tried to quickly wipe the tears with a handkerchief.
   This movement did not escape Georgiana's eyes. For this reason, she said: "Are you upset?"
   Alice tried to laugh but could not do it well and said with regret: "I came here when I was nine years old. When I first heard about you, I was very curious to see you, but now …" Alice left her speech unfinished and changed the subject and said: "My name is Alice. You know when I was eight years old I lost my parents in a week and I've been waiting for my mother ever since."
   Georgiana was very surprised and wanted to say didn't you say they both died when she heard in disbelief and astonishment that Alice said: "Are you sure you are Mr. Ellington's daughter?" It took a few minutes for Georgiana to understand whether what she heard was true or not. It was really hard moments for Georgiana. She said with more surprise than before: "Yes, I'm absolutely sure." And immediately asked curiously: "Why did you ask me this question?"
Suddenly a heavy rain started and they looked at each other without saying anything for a few minutes regardless of the rain. But Georgiana came to herself and took Alice's hand and ran with her towards the carriage.
     When Alice and Georgiana sat in the carriage, they were both soaked like drowned mice.
   Georgiana looked at Alice whose face was red and while hugging herself and her teeth were chattering said: "It's very cold here; it's very cold." Georgiana touched Alice's face to see if she had a fever or not then said: "Oh my God, you're so hot. You have a fever." Georgiana had no means to keep Alice warm and prevent her from shivering so she hugged her tightly to warm her up then while ordering the carriage driver to move fast whispered in Alice's ear: "Tell me where your house is? Tell me where it is?"
   But Alice was not feeling well at all and was shivering badly. Her eyes slowly closed.
   Georgiana panicked for a moment and while trying to wake her up kept saying anxiously: "Open your eyes."
   Alice was still unconscious and this made Georgiana more anxious and had no choice but to take her home as soon as possible.
     When they arrived home, all the family members had gathered for a small family celebration. Suddenly, a servant entered and whispered something in Karen's ear that made her face turn pale for a brief moment. She tried hard to maintain her composure and not worry anyone else. Eventually, she left the room.
As soon as the doors closed behind her, she ran towards the guest bedroom. When she arrived at the room, she suddenly stopped at the threshold and was surprised to see that Georgiana had half-risen to put a girl she was holding to bed. But the girl, who had wrapped her arms around Georgiana's neck, wouldn't let go of her and was softly saying, "Mother, don't leave me alone."
   Georgiana tried to gently untangle Alice's arms from around her neck and put them under the blanket. But Alice reached out and moved towards her. Georgiana, who was sitting on a chair next to Alice, moved her chair forward a bit, held her hand tightly, and stroked her hair with the other hand while smiling. She kindly said, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay with you. Don't worry, dear."
   Karen finally came to her senses and asked anxiously, "What happened?"
   Georgiana looked at her sister and said worriedly, "Karen, this girl has a fever and is sick. I sent the coachman for the doctor but now I don't know what to do; help me."
   Karen told one of the servants, "Quickly bring a bowl of water with a clean cloth." Then she said to Georgiana, "We need to bring down her fever as much as we can until the doctor arrives." Karen suddenly noticed Georgiana's wet clothes and said, "Oh my God! You're soaking wet. Go change your clothes so you don't catch a cold. I'll take care of this girl."
   Georgiana said, "I can't move from my place. Alice hasn't let me leave her for a moment. She has a fever and is constantly delirious." After a few minutes of silence, she said again, "I'm really sorry that the party was ruined."
   After Mrs. Ellington was informed of the incident and the party was cancelled, she quickly went upstairs to see Karen waiting behind the door. She asked, "Why are you standing behind the door?"
   Karen replied, "Because Georgiana is changing her clothes in the room. She was soaking wet. She might be sick."
   Mrs. Ellington curiously asked, "What's going on?"
   "I'm not entirely sure, but Georgiana has brought a girl here who is seriously ill and won't let her move away from her side. The girl is delirious and calls Georgiana 'mother'."
   "So she's very ill. I hope the doctor arrives soon."
   When the door opened and they both entered the room, they stood by the bed where Mrs. Ellington said with concern, "It's clear that the child is suffering a lot."
   When Georgiana wet a towel and pressed it on Alice's forehead, Alice moaned and said, "Mother, open the door; answer me, mother; open the door." Then she half-rose and cried out in a terrifying state, "No; no. My mother is not mad. Don't take her away."
   All three were terrified and tried hard to calm Alice down and put her to sleep. When they finally managed to put her to sleep, Alice tightly held Georgiana's hand and moaned, "Don't go, mother; please don't go."
   This made Georgiana very upset to the point that she suddenly started crying uncontrollably but after a few moments, she regained her composure.
   Alice's condition was getting worse and worse and what was worse was that apparently there was no doctor around or despite the large amount of money being offered to him, he was not willing to work that day or something like that. Anyway, Georgiana took care of Alice more than anyone else in the family. When it was past three in the morning, Alice's fever finally subsided a bit and Georgiana was able to rest a bit. That's when she got up from her seat with boredom and fatigue, left the room, sat in the middle of the stairs and put her head between her hands. All this time all family members were awake sitting around each other in another room.
   The first person who noticed Georgiana was her brother James, so he quickly went to her and asked anxiously: "Has something bad happened?"
   Georgiana lifted her head from her hands and looked at James and said: "Oh, no. No. She's better. Her fever has gone down and she's asleep now."
   When James was relieved about that, he helped Georgiana join the crowd. When they sat next to each other, he said again: "If you're not worried about the girl's illness, why do you look so upset?"
   Georgiana said softly: "She called me mother." James said: "Georgiana, are you really upset about this? But she's delirious."
   Karen said: "The more important thing is that her family doesn't know where she is and they're worried about her."
   "I don't know anything about her family, so I had to bring Alice here. When I asked her where she lived, she fainted. I only know her name is Alice."
   In the discussion that was going on, Georgiana's mind was not distracted for a moment from the conversation that had happened between her and Alice.
     The next morning, Dr. Gates, who was on the move day and night, arrived at Alice's bedside and after examining her, he told the Ellington family: "It was a hard illness, but the danger is gone. But she is very weak. She has to stay in bed for a few days and rest. I gave the medicines that are needed to the maid. By the way, that young lady wants to see Mrs. Georgiana."
   At that moment, the maid wanted to take the food tray for Alice, but Georgiana took advantage of this opportunity and took the food tray from the maid to take it herself. When she entered the room and put the tray on the table, Alice tried hard to sit up but couldn't. Georgiana helped her to sit comfortably on the bed and said: "You shouldn't tire yourself. You're sick."
   Alice tried not to look at Georgiana's face and said: "Mrs. Ellington, my aunt has been in town for a while; but Mrs. Harris and my cousins are worried about me. Can I go home?"
   Georgiana smiled with a food dish in hand as she sat on the edge of the bed and helped Alice eat and said: "Dear, unfortunately you can't go home because you're weak. The doctor said this: 'Your illness was hard.' Whenever you're completely well, I'll take you to your home; but if you miss your relatives, I can send the carriage driver after them to bring them here. By the way, call me Georgiana. We're friends now, aren't we? Do you feel unhappy here?"
   Alice laughed and said: "No. Actually, your family members are kind to me and I feel a bit strange." During all this time that Alice was eating with Georgiana's help, she tried to act normal but there was turmoil in her heart.
     When Alice's acquaintances arrived there and saw the size and beauty of that house, they looked around it with surprise, especially Jack who was smaller. Even when they entered a room where Alice was resting, Jack said hastily and excitedly: "Alice is very big." He wanted to continue his speech, but Charles slapped Jack and gave him a reproachful look, so Jack lowered his head and remained silent. Then Charles said angrily: "Alice, why didn't you come home when you got sick? You know if mom finds out she will scold all of us. We are also angry with you, we thought you were lost. Last night I searched everywhere for you with some people."
   Georgiana, who had not left the room yet, felt that she had to defend Alice, so she said kindly: "Alice's illness was very hard, so much that she fainted from the fever. I didn't know where to take her, so I brought Alice to this house."
   Charles shrugged his shoulders with indifference and said sourly: "Anyway, I'll tell mom."
   Linda, who was trying hard to hold back her laughter, said: "Alice, don't be upset by Charles's words. He always gets grumpy when dad and mom leave the house. It's not his fault, Charles treated all of us like this during this time. You also don't pay attention to his words like us. Charles is always punished because he is a naughty child. Now whatever happens he thinks there is a punishment involved. It's not his fault, don't be upset." Then she said more softly: "Sometimes I think Charles likes us to be punished too."
   All the children laughed except Charles who was shocked but after a few seconds he laughed because part of this speech was very close to the truth.