The Rescue

y 1811
“How are you?” Anne Gardiner asked as she slipped into the small cottage and embraced her friend, Lucy Digby.
“I’m very well, and even in my condition,” Lucy rebuked her gently, “I can tell I’m getting more rest than you are.”
Anne smiled tiredly at her very expectant friend and took a seat on the small sofa when Lucy urged her that way.
“Father isn’t always this bad, Lucy,” Anne explained when both women were seated. “But lately he’s been very restless.”
“And that means what for you exactly?”
Anne thought about the question for a moment.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean more work in a physical sense, but he’s on my mind more, and of course that can be very tiring.”
“I saw him not too long ago and thought he looked very well.”
“Yes, he does. He enjoys rather good health for all his absentminded ways.”
“So he eats regularly?”
Anne chuckled a little before saying, “Not always at home, but I