He Opened A Matchmaking Agency In 18Th Century London [EN]: Chapter 81

81. Hurry, Sir Sanderson!

◈ The next day, at Lord Butler’s residence, in the living room.

Lord and Lady Butler, along with their three sons, listened to the doctor’s explanation with grave expressions.

The stout doctor wiped away sweat, looking perplexed.

“Indeed, her condition has changed again since last week… As of now, I cannot pinpoint a definite cause.”

Eliza’s condition, which had worsened since yesterday, deteriorated rapidly this morning, prompting them to urgently call the doctor for treatment.

However, the doctor couldn’t even identify the cause of the illness.

“The medicine you prescribed last time didn’t help at all. Shouldn’t you prescribe something else?”

Lady Butler’s words made the doctor shake his head with a troubled expression.

“Well, I’ve never seen such a bizarre ailment in my medical career. Frankly, I’m not confident that giving her other medications will be effective. It seems there’s no special remedy other than giving her warm tea and letting her rest.”

Lady Butler hesitated several times before asking.

“Doctor, could it be that our Eliza… might lose her ability to speak… or her sight?”

The doctor was taken aback by her words.

“What? Lose her speech and sight? Haha, those are excessive worries. It’s just that she’s losing strength and her body is weakening, but it has nothing to do with speaking or seeing, so don’t worry. In my opinion, if she gets through the next few days, she should recover.”

The doctor reassured her that there was nothing to worry about, but Lady Butler’s expression remained uneasy.

*

Soon after the doctor left, Lady Butler gathered her husband and three sons.

She then told them the story she had heard from Theo yesterday.

“…Sir Sanderson warned that if Eliza is left unattended, she might lose her speech and sight.”

Lord Joseph Butler clicked his tongue with a displeased look.

“Tsk, tsk, so that’s why you brought up such strange things in front of the doctor earlier? Is this Sir Sanderson really the one recommended to His Majesty as his personal physician? Losing sight from such a minor illness? Even I, who knows nothing, can tell that doesn’t make sense. You worry too much.”

The eldest son, Jonathan, also comforted his mother.

“Mother, don’t worry so much. I’ll look for another good doctor.”

“Where can you find a better doctor than the one who came from Jamaica today? I have a bad feeling. It’s as if our Eliza is dying… Waaah.”

Lord Butler scolded his sobbing wife.

“Hey, what are you saying? Who’s dying? Eliza is just sensitive, so stop thinking such nonsense. It’s a problem that will be resolved with time.

Even when our dog died, she was depressed and groaned like that for a month, didn’t she? But as time passed, she got better as if nothing had happened.”

“Still, Sir Sanderson is practically His Majesty’s personal physician, isn’t he? He’s not some backwater doctor from Jamaica! There’s no way he’d give such a warning for no reason! He warned me so frighteningly, as if something terrible would happen if we didn’t act immediately!”

“Oh, come on! No matter how skilled Sir Sanderson is, he can’t know everyone’s illnesses, can he? Even the most outstanding doctor can make a misdiagnosis…”

Just then,

Bang!

The black maid who attended to Eliza burst into the room as if to break down the door.

“Oh, my!”

Lady Butler flinched in surprise.

“Madam! Madam!”

“What? What! What’s wrong?”

Lady Butler, who had jumped up from her seat, couldn’t get a word out of the maid.

“Miss… Miss…”

Before the maid could finish speaking, Lady Butler, her husband, and sons rushed to Eliza’s room.

Thump!

“Eliza! Eliza! What’s wrong? What happened?”

Lady Butler grabbed her daughter and asked like a madwoman.

“Mom… Mom…”

Eliza waved her hands in the air, shedding tears.

“Yes, yes, my dear! Mom is here. Why? Why are you crying? Where does it hurt?”

Eliza turned her head, trying to find the source of Lady Butler’s voice.

But she looked around at the wrong places.

Lady Butler’s eyes widened menacingly as she noticed her daughter’s odd behavior.

“You… your eyes… what’s wrong with your eyes? What’s happening?”

“Mom… I’m scared… I’m so scared. I can’t see… I can’t see anything. When I opened my eyes… suddenly I couldn’t see anything. Waaah-”

“Wh-what did you say?”

The only daughter of the four siblings and a friend to Lady Butler.

Such a daughter was suddenly going blind and dying.

Above all, the fact that the symptoms were exactly as Sir Sanderson had warned yesterday was terrifying.

Lady Butler screamed at her husband like a half-crazed person.

“Look at this! The symptoms are exactly as Sir Sanderson said! Ah- what are we going to do! What are we going to do about this! Aaaah-”

Lord Butler was also flustered and didn’t know what to do.

The eldest son, Jonathan, said urgently.

“Father! We need to bring Sir Sanderson here quickly!”

“That’s right! He wouldn’t be His Majesty’s personal physician for nothing! Since he knows about Eliza’s illness, he might be able to cure her too. We need to bring him here quickly!”

When Lord Butler hesitated, his wife shouted at her eldest son as if she were about to pass out.

“Jonathan, Jonathan! To Lord Gray’s house… Sir Sanderson is at Lord Gray’s house, so hurry, Sir Sanderson! Bring Sir Sanderson here! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes, Mother!”

**

Lord Gray’s mansion.

Knock, knock, knock-

“Sir Sanderson! Are you asleep? Sir Sanderson?”

The butler urgently knocked on Theo’s door.

Theo, who was leaning against the bed reading a book, got up and opened the door.

Thump!

“Simpson? What’s the matter?”

“I’m very sorry to disturb your rest. The thing is, Lord Jonathan Butler is outside right now, urgently looking for Sir Sanderson.”

“Lord Jonathan Butler…”

He remembered him as Eliza’s older brother.

“Lord Butler’s son is looking for me?”

“Yes. But he seemed very urgent.”

Instantly, Theo realized that something had happened to Eliza.

Theo quickly grabbed his coat and rushed outside.

When he went out to the yard, he saw a young man talking to Lord Gray with a serious expression.

The man bowed to Theo as he ran out and then ran towards him.

“Are you Sir Sanderson? I’m Jonathan Butler.”

“Yes, hello. But why are you looking for me?”

“Eliza… Eliza has suddenly gone blind. So my mother told me to bring Sir Sanderson here quickly…”

The disease was progressing faster than expected.

“What? Already? This is a big problem. Let’s go quickly!”

“Yes. I brought an extra horse here. Let’s ride this one.”

“Yes, let’s hurry.”

Theo quickly climbed onto the horse that Jonathan handed him and set off immediately.

“Giddy up-”

“Giddy up!”

Clatter- Clatter-

Soon, Theo and Jonathan disappeared into the darkness.

Lord Gray, who was watching the scene from behind, muttered.

“Goodness gracious, what on earth is going on this night…”

◈ Lord Joseph Butler’s mansion

In front of Eliza’s bedroom.

Theo had never met Lord Butler or his sons before.

But there was no time to greet them and exchange pleasantries.

Standing in front of Eliza’s door, Theo once again urged the family.

“Miss Butler is blind and must be feeling confused and extremely anxious. So when you go into the room, you must not show any worrying words, tears, or anxiety.

Excessive attention or concern from family members can worsen the physical illness that has occurred in Eliza’s body and cause irreversible problems. You must be careful to maintain the usual peaceful atmosphere as much as possible.”

Lady Butler wrung her hands and worried.

“What should we do? We already cried and made a fuss before Sir Sanderson arrived?”

“It’s okay. Eliza was probably confused and disoriented at that time. What matters is from now on, when I come to treat her.”

When symptoms of acute conversion disorder appear, the panicked family tends to actively intervene or sympathize with the patient’s symptoms.

But you must never do that.

It is most important to maintain composure as if nothing is wrong.

“So, should we just say that she’s okay?”

“There’s no need for such words either. If family members rashly talk about the illness, Eliza is likely to regard herself as a patient with a serious illness and collapse.

I’ll go in and consistently persuade her that these symptoms will soon disappear naturally and that she’ll be fine, so it’s important for other family members to create a comfortable atmosphere by bringing up the same stories or things they’ve heard around them as usual.”

Lady Butler asked, tearfully.

“Can she get better if we do that?”

“It’s not an illness that can be cured at once. You have to make her get better gradually. Fortunately, it’s not an incurable disease, so if you find the cause of the illness and treat it, it can be cured completely. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yes, yes. I will. If only my child gets better… of course, I will.”

Thump!

As Theo opened the door, the black maid who had been nursing Eliza quickly moved to the corner.

Theo approached Eliza and asked softly in a bright voice.

“Miss Eliza Butler, can you hear my voice?”

Eliza was flustered by the sudden unfamiliar male voice, but she was relieved to know that it was Theo, whom she had met yesterday.

“Ah, yes. I can hear you well. You’re Sir Sanderson, right?”

The fact that she responded even to a small voice and immediately recognized Theo meant that she was not yet in the stage of hearing loss or decreased consciousness.

‘Phew, that’s a relief.’

In psychiatric treatment, the patient’s strong trust in the therapist must be prioritized above all else.

“Miss Butler, have you heard the rumor that I cured His Majesty’s illness?”

“Yes, I have. If you’re from Jamaica… everyone knows about it.”

“I’m going to treat Miss Butler, can you trust me?”

“Yes… I’m just grateful.”

Feeling that he had gained sufficient trust, Theo decided to check her specific condition one by one.

“Miss Butler, can you move your arms or legs now?”

Eliza, who had been moving her arms and legs at Theo’s question, nodded.

“Yes. It’s a little uncomfortable, but I think I can move them enough.”

“How about your sense of touch or sensation?”

“There are a few places where I feel a dull sensation… but I think I can feel most of it.”

Other physical organs appeared to be in normal condition.

“Listen carefully, Miss Butler. The sudden loss of sight is a very temporary phenomenon. It’s something that more people experience than you think.

There is no special medicine to cure this. If you just relax and let go of your anxiety, you will soon be able to see again.”

“…Really? Is it really a temporary phenomenon?”

“Yes, of course. I’ve treated many people who have experienced this before. So trust me and just follow my instructions, and you’ll recover soon.”

“Ah… thank you.”

Eliza, who had been trembling with anxiety until just now, showed a gradually stable emotional state.

Theo gestured to the family who were watching, and the eldest brother, Jonathan, said with a smile.

“Eliza? Do you remember Matthew, Mr. Morgan’s son?”

Eliza showed interest in Jonathan’s question.

“Matthew? Ah… I remember him, brother. He was the little boy with a lot of freckles, right?”

“Yes, yes. But I saw him at the party yesterday after many years, and he was taller and bigger than me, haha.”

“Oh, really?”

As Theo instructed, the family followed well, and Eliza’s emotions, which had been shrinking from anxiety and fear, gradually regained stability.

*

After the treatment, in the living room.

Lord Butler’s family sat around Theo with dark faces.

“Sir Sanderson. Please tell us honestly. Does the fact that she can’t see like that… mean that our daughter already has some serious illness? Otherwise, how could such a young child suddenly go blind?”

Joseph Butler asked with worried eyes.

If a child who had been fine suddenly couldn’t see as if she had gone blind, any parent would have no choice but to suspect that she had a serious illness.

The whole family stared only at Theo’s mouth.

Theo could feel how deep their affection for Eliza was in their eyes.

Eliza, the only daughter and youngest child in a family with only sons, seemed to have grown up receiving a lot of attention and love.

“Miss Butler’s illness originated from a mental distress and has rapidly manifested as a physical symptom.

Fortunately, she is still in a state where she can fully recover, but if she is left untreated without addressing the underlying mental distress, it can turn into a very serious physical ailment. If that happens… Miss Butler may live with a disability for the rest of her life.”

Lady Butler trembled and asked.

“Oh, my goodness… then, are you saying that our Eliza… may never see again?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The wife clasped her hands together and pleaded.

“Sir Sanderson, please… please tell us how to save our daughter. Please, I beg you.”

Eliza’s condition was a case where restricted and suppressed desires had suddenly turned into physical symptoms.

In such cases, unlike chronic and gradually accumulated cases, simply adjusting the stressful situation can lead to a quick return to normal without any special aftereffects.

But conversely, if you can’t create such an environment and the problematic stressful situation continues, the disease becomes chronic and treatment becomes difficult.

“Based on your words yesterday, Madam, it seems that Eliza’s problem is very closely related to Sir Leonard Evans.

So, as I said, we need to call Sir Leonard Evans to observe the situation in order to get an accurate assessment.”

Lord Butler tilted his head with an uncomfortable look.

“Call Leonard? What nonsense is that?”

Lord Butler didn’t seem to know about the relationship between Eliza and Leonard yet.

“I guess your wife hasn’t told you yet. I believe that your daughter’s illness was caused by her feelings for Leonard.”

“What? Feelings for Leonard? So are you saying that all these symptoms are just because our daughter likes Leonard?”

“Of course, I haven’t met Sir Leonard Evans in person yet, so I can’t say for sure… but based on the current symptoms and story, I think that’s almost certainly the case.”

However, Lord Butler refused to accept Theo’s diagnosis.

“Well, it’s true that our Eliza and Leonard have been close since they were young and have good feelings for each other, but their relationship was never so close that they would be in such a state! Going blind because she likes Leonard… what nonsense…”

Then the second son looked at his father and carefully asked Theo.

“If Eliza and Leonard have deep feelings for each other and that’s why she has this illness, does that mean she might get better quickly if we bring Leonard here to care for her?”

The second son, Benjamin, seemed to be aware of the deep relationship between the two.

Lord Butler widened his eyes and asked his son as if he were interrogating him.

“Benjamin? What are you talking about? Deep feelings for each other?”

“Father… I’m sorry. I’ll tell you separately later.”

“What do you mean later? So you’re saying that they were deeply involved?”

“……..”

Theo calmed Lord Butler down.

“Lord Butler, I’m sorry, but now is not the time to investigate such things. I think we should invite Sir Leonard Evans to the house tomorrow, even if it’s just to allow me to examine him. That’s the fastest and most certain way to find a way to treat Miss Eliza.”

Theo said firmly to the hesitating family members.

“Isn’t Eliza’s health much more important than the feelings between families? If you miss the timing, it will be really difficult to recover. If that happens, there will be no way for me to help. I sincerely hope that you will make the right choice for your daughter.”