The Girl in His Shadow

Harry brings two puppies for Nora’s experiment and says that Daniel is still pursuing Mae. Harry spends the morning helping Nora in the clinic. She doesn’t want to tell Mrs. Phipps about her plans for the puppies. That night, she attends a birth and returns to find Croft returned. He went to Scotland to observe some experiments with ether, and he is now amazed by the possibilities. He tells Nora to bring the puppies to the lab so that he can test the gas on them. Mrs. Phipps demands to know where they are taking her dogs, and Nora promises that Croft won’t dissect them. After he demonstrates the ether’s success with one pup, it is Nora’s turn to try the substance. Croft promises that it is safe, so she climbs onto the table, breathes it in, and loses consciousness.

Daniel returns to Croft’s home with Mae’s engagement ring in his pocket. She didn’t cry when she returned it, and now, Daniel privately sheds tears in the privacy of the night-shrouded London streets. When he enters the clinic, he sees the unconscious Nora and fears that she is dead. Croft tells him about the ether, and Daniel cannot believe that Croft would use this “dinner-party” drug on Nora. She awakens with a cry, and Daniel is furious with Croft and desperately relieved that Nora is well. When she calls him “Daniel,” he feels an emotion that he cannot name. She recalls nothing, and Croft drugs the other dog to prove to Daniel how safe the ether is. After being shamed by his parents and rejected by Mae, Daniel realizes that he missed the chaos of Croft’s house and is grateful for Nora’s and Croft’s presence.

Daniel buries himself in work at the clinic. One night, he finds Nora there with a box of chicks. She has been checking their health before she begins her pig dung experiment on them. Daniel offers to help, asking if Nora is testing Croft’s theory that pigs excrete diseases that can contaminate an open wound. Before, he would have found her attitude and ideas to be distasteful, but now he thinks that she is brave. Ultimately, the test results are inconclusive, but Nora wants to experiment further. However, Croft’s enthusiasm for experimenting with the ether dominates much of Nora and Daniel’s time. Croft believes that ether could help women in labor, and he hopes to find a pregnant prostitute who might allow him to drug her. He has no luck, however, even though he offers to provide a home for the baby. Nora is shocked, telling him that a baby would be far more difficult than she was, and he argues that Mrs. Phipps doesn’t mind the puppies. Nora is horrified and hurt by his remarks. She goes to the park, where she is later joined by Croft. He apologizes for not considering her feelings when he spoke earlier and admits that he would be lost without her. He tells her that he took her in because of the cholera but asserts that she has become irreplaceable. Croft rejoices that Harry cannot yet afford to marry because that means Nora will stay a while longer.

Later that night, Nora considers what Croft said about Harry, and she wonders if Harry cares about her enough to marry her. She realizes that she would be an ideal wife for him because of her organizational, medical, and management skills, but she worries that he might grow to resent her opinions. His presence doesn’t affect her as much as it used to, but Nora will not allow herself to consider why this is. She is grateful for the distraction offered by the ether, as she, Croft, and Daniel have many hypotheses about how it could be used to help patients. Croft longs to try it on someone who needs a tooth pulled and convinces a dentist to try. The ether works well until the patient begins to cough and gag, though the man wakes with no memory of this and is happy to have slept through the pain. Croft reports that another doctor wants to try ether’s therapeutic effects on patients with mental health conditions, and he plans to join this doctor tomorrow.

While Croft is away, a man named John Prescott arrives, doubled over in pain. Prescott is looking for his friend, Harry, and Nora explains to Daniel that Harry introduced them. Prescott has a hernia, for which Harry has been treating him, but this is the worst it has ever been. Nora and Daniel struggle to get Prescott to the clinic, and Daniel curses when Prescott screams in pain. On the table, Prescott vomits and says he hasn’t had a bowel movement in days. He faints when Daniel tries to push the hernia back through his abdomen. They cannot reach another doctor in time and fear that Prescott’s bowel has ruptured due to an obstruction. Daniel could try to free it with a small incision, but it is likely that Prescott will die. Daniel has never cleared a bowel obstruction before. Nora once repaired a hernia on a cadaver, and she knows where to cut from reading about the French doctor who removed a patient’s appendix through a hernial opening. Nora grabs the ether, reasoning that Prescott will die if they do nothing, but he only might die if they operate. Daniel tells her to go ahead, and she doses Prescott, knocking him out. Daniel makes the first incision but hesitates, and Nora takes over.

Nora has never operated on a living person. While she does, Daniel manages sponges and spoons, anticipating her needs. She locates a length of bulging black bowel and untwists, then waits to see if it returns to normal. Daniel thinks that the section of organ is dead, but still Nora waits. Within 45 seconds, the bowel begins to resume its normal appearance. They replace it, push the hernia back through the abdominal wall, and stitch Prescott’s incision closed. Prescott wakes up in much less pain, but it is too early to claim success because infection could still set in. However, Nora notices Daniel looking at her and smiling.

Prescott felt nothing during the operation, and Nora is thrilled that the ether is so effective. Nora and Daniel decide to wait a few days before mentioning the ether. Daniel brings wine to toast Nora’s first surgery, and she sets to scrubbing the table. She feels like she did something crazy, but Daniel reassures her, placing his hand atop hers. She tries to untie her apron, but it is knotted tightly, and he must help her. Daniel considers what his mother would say about his being in “shirtsleeves” in front of a lady, and Nora suggests that he would get a lecture on propriety. They toast to the ether and celebrate their success as they savor their newfound closeness to one another. She asks about Mae, and he tells her that the relationship is over. They check on Prescott, and Nora falls asleep keeping watch.

Daniel takes notes on the operation, then covers Nora with a blanket. When Prescott wakes up, Daniel makes him comfortable before rubbing his own back and returning to the hard chair. When Daniel wakes the next morning, he feels uneasy, remembering the night before. He thinks of his reputation, which is still in shambles. If he wants to share what he and Nora accomplished, he will have to take credit for a surgery that Nora performed, and no one will believe that he operated alone.

Prescott still is still sleeping, and Nora dozes in the room’s other bed. Daniel is also exhausted. When Harry arrives, looking for his friend, Prescott awakens, startling Nora. Harry’s face hardens when he sees Nora and Daniel and learns of Prescott’s surgery. Outside the room, Daniel explains that they had no choice, but Harry condemns their decision to operate on the abdomen. Harry knows that Daniel could not have operated on the powerfully built Prescott alone, and Daniel admits to using ether and letting Nora assist. Daniel explains that Nora suggested freeing the bowel and waiting for the blood to flow again. Then they sewed the hernia closed. Daniel says Nora was brilliant, that the ether made the operation safer because Prescott couldn’t move. Harry tells Daniel that Nora’s involvement could damn him and that no one will listen no matter how credible he seems. Daniel believes they can still publish their findings without mentioning Nora’s involvement and asks Harry to lie and say that he assisted. For several days, Daniel tends Prescott and coaches Harry. He feels guilty about depriving Nora of recognition, but he knows that society would crucify her for operating, no matter how successful her efforts have proven to be.