The Argosy, Vol. X

# Bessy Rane by Mrs. Henry Wood

This serial installment from The Argos, August 1, 1870, continues the domestic and medical drama of Dr. Oliver Rane. A fever outbreak—possibly typhus or relapsing fever—has struck the poor of Dallory with fatal consequences, confining medical men Dr. Rane and Mr. Seeley to exhausting rounds. The illness has claimed lives and sparked public panic; the undertaker Henry Hepburn is dying from it.

Bessy Rane, the doctor's wife, spends her morning making an apple pudding while her husband tends patients. Though she carries camphor for protection, she agrees to her father Mr. North's invitation to stay at the Hall, fearing fever transmission through her husband's work. Her servant Molly obtains leave to visit her ailing mother.

The narrative reveals Dr. Rane's mounting anxiety when Jelly—a gossiping woman—confronts him about Timothy Wilks falling ill and hints at pressure to publicly clear Wilks of writing an anonymous letter. The encounter deeply disturbs the doctor, who has secrets of his own. He contemplates escaping to America and fixates on money locked in a Tontine investment as potential salvation.