Henry contracts influenza

Henry contracts influenza while his family is away from him, turning a spreading public-health emergency into a family crisis and intensifying Theodosia’s race to return the Heart of Egypt to its tomb. The news arrives by telegram, but it has been foreshadowed by a succession of newspaper reports that make the illness seem part of a much wider calamity.

Warnings in the Newspapers

Before the telegram arrives, reports chart the worsening situation. One headline warns of crop blight in the northern counties and an expected record shortfall. Another reports that a virulent illness has struck dozens in Hampsford. Later, Theodosia sees that hundreds have been hospitalized with virulent influenza. The figures and headlines give the outbreak an escalating scale: local illness is becoming a national emergency, with food shortages adding to the sense of danger.

These reports also resonate with the disasters Lord Wigmere had named—plague, pestilence, and famine. The connection is important to Theodosia, who has heard the curse’s demand that the Heart of Egypt be returned to its rightful resting place. The newspaper accounts do not prove that the curse caused the outbreak or crop blight, but they make its threats feel increasingly present in ordinary life.

The Telegram

A man from the telegraph office delivers a thin envelope to Alistair. As he opens it, Henrietta looks over his shoulder and reads along. Her hand flies to her throat; she gasps and calls out Alistair’s name in despair. Alistair puts an arm around her shoulders and tries to reassure her that Henry is strong and will pull through.

The message itself is not reproduced, but Henrietta’s response makes clear that the family must return to Henry at once. She says she could never forgive herself if something happened to him while they were far away, and specifically fears the severity of the influenza. Her voice falters before she breaks off and buries herself against Alistair’s shoulder. The telegram thus communicates not only the illness but the emotional distance separating the parents from their son.

Theodosia’s Recognition

Theodosia understands that Henry has caught influenza. She wraps her arms around herself and holds tight, frightened by how closely the disease seems to approach the plague invoked in the curse. In that moment, the curse’s language is no longer remote or confined to the tomb: the public reports and the news about Henry make its threatened suffering immediate to her family.

Her fear is compounded by what she knows about the Heart of Egypt. Henrietta wants to go home immediately, but Theodosia has not yet returned the relic to the tomb. She believes that if her mother learns the Heart’s removal is connected to the illness, Henrietta may discover that she was responsible for Henry’s danger. The text presents this as Theodosia’s anxious understanding of the situation, not as a separately confirmed medical explanation for Henry’s infection.

Consequences and Stakes

The news leaves Theodosia feeling that she has run out of time. Her family’s urgent need to return to Henry collides with her own need to restore the Heart of Egypt first, before the curse continues and before Henrietta can discover the connection. Henry’s illness therefore raises the personal stakes of Theodosia’s mission: the consequences she fears are no longer an abstract threat to Britain but a danger touching her brother and dividing her attention between home and the tomb.