The Girl in His Shadow

It is 1845, 13 years later. Nora opens the door, expecting to see an applicant for a hallboy position. Instead, she meets Dr. Daniel Gibson, a well-dressed man who says he is Croft’s new under surgeon, inspiring Nora’s immediate resentment. Daniel silently curses Croft’s absentmindedness in forgetting to alert his housekeeper that Daniel would be arriving; he questions his decision to come. His upper-crust family has tried to dissuade him from becoming a surgeon, but he considers it a noble pursuit and a test of his own skill and courage. He decides that dealing with one ill-tempered woman is a small price to pay for the benefit of Croft’s tutelage, as Croft is a celebrated surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. As Mrs. Phipps shows him around the home and clinic, she explains that Nora is Croft’s ward. Daniel asks where he will sleep, and she does not yet know. The second-floor rooms are full of specimens, and the third floor is where Mrs. Phipps and Nora sleep, so it would be improper for him to sleep there. He shudders at the thought of bumping into Mrs. Phipps in her dressing gown. Though the house is shabby, the clinic is modern and bright.

Nora resents Croft’s carelessness, knowing that he did not consider her feelings when he decided to hire Daniel. Nora goes to the hospital and confronts Croft about Daniel. Croft explains that Daniel is a promising doctor who needs more surgical experience. She worries what Daniel will think about her being in the surgery, and Croft assures her that they will figure it out. She worries that Daniel might not be discreet. Croft is nonchalant, telling her to avoid the surgery for a week so that he can assess Daniel’s temperament.

Meanwhile, Daniel finds the house to be in appalling condition, with several unused rooms and no furniture covers. Mrs. Phipps gives him the bedroom adjacent to Croft’s. When Daniel is alone, he opens the door between the rooms and notes how disordered Croft’s space is. He unpacks, pleased by his own fastidious organization. When Nora and Croft find him, Daniel is surprised to see that they do not change for dinner. Daniel suggests that he and Croft talk shop after dinner so as to avoid boring Mrs. Phipps and Nora.

For three days, Daniel keeps busy in the clinic, marveling at the fact that Croft studies plant and animal anatomy in addition to his expertise on humans. One night, a boy arrives, asking the doctor to come and help the midwife with a woman in childbirth. When Croft and Daniel arrive, Croft works to free the baby’s shoulders. Once the child is born, the mother requires stitches, and Daniel must remind himself to think of her as a body rather than a person in order to inure himself to her pained whimpers. Her relieved husband goes to pour drinks, but the woman suddenly loses consciousness. She gushes blood, and they cannot save her. Watching her grief-stricken husband, Daniel wipes away tears, ashamed of his emotion. Croft speaks to the husband gently and gives him laudanum. Once the man is sedated, Croft asks permission to operate on his wife’s body to learn what happened. Daniel understands Croft’s reasoning but struggles to accept the idea of dissecting someone who just smiled at him. He walks home alone, and when Nora asks what happened, he tells her that she wouldn’t understand.

Nora is angry with Daniel for saying she wouldn’t understand what happened at the birth. She believes she knows more than Daniel, and the woman, Emily, was her friend. Nora thinks back to her early life at Croft’s, when she first heard patients’ screams and feared that she was living in a house of horrors. Despite her trepidations, she dreaded the day when Croft would turn her out, so she made herself as agreeable as possible, even after Mrs. Phipps said that she could stay forever. Later, Nora began to copy Croft’s messily written reports into her neat script. She went to school and tried to be as helpful as possible, though she was only 13. One night, having heard Croft lament an orderly’s disappointing sketch, Nora drew her own and left it for him. Impressed with her skill, he asked her to continue. By the time Nora turned 16, Croft realized that she was passing him tools in addition to watching his dissections, and he acknowledged his increased efficiency while working with her. Finally, one day, Croft enlisted Nora’s help during a difficult amputation. These days, although she has only been present at a few live surgeries, she often assists with childbirth and ailments in the clinic. Now, she decides to sneak into the surgery to find out why Emily died.

Nora finds a two-inch tear in Emily’s uterus, and Croft, when he awakens, is pleased with her work. She fears that he does not worry enough about what others would think of her work in the clinic. Croft has no respect for those he sees as his intellectual inferiors, including the chair of surgery at St. Barts, Dr. Silas Vickery. Croft is a surgical trailblazer, but Vickery prefers more traditional, conservative methods. Nora understands why her work in the clinic must be secret, but she is still irritated by Daniel’s glowing appraisal of the “excellent dissection” that he assumes Croft to have performed.

Later, Daniel sees a female patient who wants Nora in the room too, and he is unnerved to have Nora beside him as he examines the woman’s inflamed genitalia. When he diagnoses a swollen Bartholin’s gland, Nora softly corrects him; it is a swollen Skene’s gland. He acknowledges his mistake and treats the woman. When Nora mentions that Croft has a book on female ailments, he resists the urge to snap at her.

St. Bart’s is a charity and teaching hospital where board surgeons are paid handsomely and revered by students and younger doctors. Entering the surgical theater, Daniel notes the absence of his best friend and colleague, Dr. Harry Trimble, and watches as Vickery and Croft assess a boy’s head wound. They disagree about the boy’s condition, and when Croft proves to be nearer the truth in his assessment, Vickery grows irritated and resentful.

Nora treats a girl named Lucy for severe stomach pains and wants to keep her overnight, but Lucy’s father insists on taking the girl home. Nora and Mrs. Phipps chat about Daniel, and Nora says that Daniel believes in the notion of “separate spheres” for men and women, a common idea that relegates women to the domestic arena while men can freely enjoy the political, social, and occupational aspects of society. Mrs. Phipps asks if Nora would like anything from the market, suggesting new stockings or some lace for her gray dress. Nora gets defensive, eschewing the idea that she should dress more becomingly and insisting that she is happy as she is.

Daniel prepares to attend dinner with his parents. Croft says that he forgot about a dinner with the hospital board, so he too will be absent. Nora and Mrs. Phipps share a quiet meal before Nora goes downstairs to work. Later that night, she is awakened by the clinic bell and knows that the visitors must be the men who dig up bodies and sell them to the doctor for his research. They are delivering Lucy, the girl whom Nora treated a few days earlier. Nora washes the body and begins the dissection to find out how Lucy died. When she hears the door open, she assumes that it is Croft and asks him for help. She turns to see Daniel looking at her in horror.