GILES,” Georgiana said frantically. “Where is my wrap?”“But you haven't eaten!” Fitzgerald protested. “There's nothing more you can do for Lizzie—she's gone, Georgiana. She's gone.”“I might examine her.” She moved swiftly to the hall. “Certify the death. It's the least I can do—having failed to save her life.”The bitterness in the words chastened him. “You mustn't blame yourself, lass. She was exceedingly ill.”Georgie stopped short, her bag in her hands. “Who else am I to blame? Do you seriously imagine that Uncle John ever lost a patient?”“O'course he did!”“Not within my knowledge! And I have so few patients as it is—” She swallowed convulsively. “Only the desperate are willing to trust a woman doctor. And when I fail, I am judged far more severely than a man should be.”“You judge yourself too harsh, surely?”“Patrick—that girl was fourteen! She had her whole life before her.”“And what a life it was! She was on the brink of death when you went to her—and not because of anything you did.”“How dare you?”
