There is definitely something going on. I can't believe that a newlywed man would subject his ill wife to a long and precarious sea voyage. They are pressing the point too urgently for it to be kindly meant, I believe.

And the mention of Dr. Lancaster, a doctor specializing in nervous disorders. What I've read of treatment of nervous disorders in those days makes me, well, nervous! That whole exchange between Randolph and Parrish in chapter 9 sounded like a set up to me.