The Apothecary's Daughter Part 11

Will Price-Winters hailed them, and she and Dr. Graves turned to join brother and sister, each bearing two gla.s.s licks of red barberry ice.

The following week, Lilly attended a rout with her aunt and uncle, and again wore the jonquille dress and topaz jewelry. The affair was grand, but her aunt was suffering from a headache, and Lilly from speculative and often cold glances, so they did not stay long. There seemed little point, as Roger Bromley was not in attendance.

Upon their return home, Lilly helped her aunt to her room before slipping downstairs to prepare a remedy. When she returned several minutes later, Dupree was just coming out, her aunt's dress in arms.

"Is she still awake?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, miss."

Seeing the tray in Lilly's hands, the maid knocked on the door for her. Lilly smiled her thanks and entered.

Ruth Elliott sat at her dressing table in her nightdress and dressing gown, brushing her long brown hair, which bore only a few strands of grey. When she laid down her brush and stood, Lilly swiftly set down her tray and took her aunt's arm to help her into bed.

"Thank you, my dear."

"How is your headache?"

"I shall be fine by morning."

"I hope you do not mind, but I have taken the liberty of preparing the Haswell remedy for headaches." Peppermint, blessed thistle, feverfew, willow bark. How long had it been since she'd thought in such terms?

Her aunt closed her eyes and released a breath. "My dear, you cannot have failed to notice the coolness, the speculation and gossip about your actions at the Willoughbys' last week. You know I would prefer-"

"I know you wish me to set aside that part of my life, but certainly it can do no harm here at home."

Her aunt looked up at her.

"Here in your home," Lilly awkwardly amended.

"No, my dear. I like hearing you saying that. This is your home now, for as long as you like."

"Thank you, Aunt. You are most kind." Lilly kissed her aunt's cheek. "Now, please, drink this." She handed her a teacup from the tray.

Accepting it, her aunt eyed the cup speculatively. "Dare I ask?"

"Merely peppermint and blessed thistle tea." Lilly held out two pills as well. "It is these you need worry about. Rather bitter, I am afraid."

"What are they?"

"Better not to know," Lilly teased. "Don't fret, I have put plenty of treacle in the tea to help you drink them down."

While her aunt swallowed the pills and sipped the tea, Lilly retrieved two cloth bundles from the tray. "And I've brought some wrapped ice."

Lilly arranged one bundle on the pillow and her aunt lay back against it. "There you are. One for your neck and another for your eyes." She settled the second iced cloth over her aunt's eyelids and temples.

"Heavenly," Ruth Elliott murmured.

Standing there, Lilly silently asked G.o.d to ease her aunt's pain. Touching her fingers to her throat and finding the necklace there, she said, "I had thought to return the topaz pieces to the jewel chest, but shall we leave it till morning?"

Her aunt's voice was drowsy. "Would you mind setting your things in there yourself, my dear? I prefer not to stir again this night."

"Of course. You rest. Shall I put your rings away as well?"

"If you would not mind. Thank you, Lillian. If you have any trouble, ask your uncle." She waved a limp hand toward the key on the bedside table. "He will likely be awake for some time yet."

"Very well. I shall."

Walking casually through her aunt's dressing room, Lilly opened the jewel chest with its many tiers of velvet-lined drawers opening one, then another, looking for an empty compartment. Her hand froze. Her stomach lurched. What on earth?

Gingerly, she laid aside her jewelry and picked up what surely was a mirage. A specter of her imagination. Her fingers touched the cool metal, the glossy black onyx, and trembled. Her eyes widened and her heart pounded as she lifted the necklace with its unusual webbed, burnished chain and octagonal onyx pendant. She would have known it anywhere. It was the necklace her mother had always worn. The very one she was wearing the last time Lilly saw her. How had it come to be in the chest?

She longed to rush to Aunt Elliott and demand answers, but her aunt was feeling ill. Taking the necklace with her, she went to find her uncle, but contrary to her aunt's prediction, she found him asleep in his favorite chair in the library. Retracing her steps to the dressing room, she carefully returned each piece and locked the chest its contents now more valuable and bewildering than before. Her questions could wait.

But not for long.

Run into Bucklers bury, for two ounces of Dragon-water, spermaceti, and treacle.

WESTWARD Ho, 1607

CHAPTER 9.

n the morning, her aunt was no better and stayed in bed.

"But you must still go shopping as we planned," she said. "Take Dupree with you."

"Shopping can wait." Lilly set aside her gloves and sat on the edge of her aunt's bed. "I shall stay and read to you."

Her aunt patted her hand. "Sleep is all I want, my dear. And I shall feel better if you are out enjoying yourself."

"Are you quite certain?"

"Yes, my dear. I am afraid your uncle has taken the carriage, but-"

"I shall hire a hackney. I do not mind in the least." In fact, she was relieved. This way only one servant would know where she'd spent her day.

With her aunt's maid to accompany her, Lilly climbed into a hackney coach and directed the jarvey to take them to Bucklersbury, to a row of shops known as Apothecaries Street.

Dupree looked at her in surprise. "I thought we were going shopping."

"We are. Just not for bonnets and ribbons and such."

"Are you unwell, miss?"

"I am quite well. Only curious."

She had thought of visiting the street once or twice before, though she had always dismissed the idea. But somehow her discussion with Dr. Graves about physicians and apothecaries as well as the previous night's discovery left her feeling unsettled and missing home.

When they reached Bucklersbury, near the east end of Cheapside, the two ladies alighted and Lilly paid the driver.

As she turned, she noticed Dupree craning her neck to look down a narrow street leading away from the shops.

"What is it, Dupree?"

"I know this place, miss. My sister lives just up that lane there."

"Does she indeed? Then you and she must have a nice visit while I peruse the row."

"On your own, miss?"

"I shall be quite safe and will venture no further. You can find me right here. Say, in an hour's time?"

"But the mistress a"

"We shall keep the specifics about how we spent the day to ourselves. Agreed?"

Dupree grinned. "Very good, miss."

Lilly watched as Dupree hastened up the narrow cross street. Then Lilly closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Smells familiar and foreign reached her. Sounds too. Her father had told her about London's Apothecaries Street, where nearly every shop housed an apothecary, chemist, or grocer. He had spent a great deal of time on the street during the two years he had lived in London, apprenticed at the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. She longed to see Apothecaries' Hall, as well as the society's garden in Chelsea, but would settle for Bucklersbury for now.

She began to slowly walk down the street, looking in bowed shopwindows so much like theirs at home. She took in signs advertising the latest patent medicines. She smiled in delight at the displays of the exotic -a shark hanging from one shop awning, a blowfish from another. There a statue of an Indian from the Americas, there a carved rhinoceros one of the symbols on the Society's coat of arms. A mother, in fine promenade dress and fruit-sprigged hat, held her toddler atop the wooden creature. The little boy grabbed for the horn on the rhino's back. A second horn graced its nose.

Unlike at home, she heard callers barking out their wares, offering free samples, and promising cure-alls. The further down the row she walked, the louder the clamor rose. She was about to turn back when a corner shop caught her eye. Its flaking window trim, its simple sign, reminded her very much of Haswell's. Stepping closer, she read the sign, L. Lippert, Apothecary, and peered through the window. Very similar indeed traditional displays, neat counters, even an ancient alligator hanging from its beams. Her heart started at the sight of a young woman bent over a ledger at a tall clerk's desk in the corner. She was alone; there were neither customers nor an apothecary to be seen. Then, from the back, a man entered in waistcoat and ap.r.o.n. He wore spectacles and was older than her father but had the same competent bearing. When the man paused and spoke to the young woman, reached out and tugged affectionately at a loose strand of her hair, tears filled Lilly's eyes. She was happy with the Elliotts but suddenly felt nostalgic. How she missed her father. How she missed them all.

As she pushed open the shop door, the bell jangled, a slightly higher pitch than their own. The woman looked up with a pleasant expression. She had fair, delicate features and appeared to be only a year or so older than Lilly herself.

"Might I help you?" she asked.

"I am merely looking."

"You are most welcome."

The man stepped forward. "If I can answer any questions, do not hesitate to ask."

"Mr. Lippert, I presume?"

"The very same."

"I admire your shop. I was quite drawn to it."

"Well, you are alone in that, I am afraid." He stepped to straighten his already tidy counter.

"It reminds me of my father's."

"Ah! Well, I hope his is busier at least."

"Yes. But, after all, he is the only apothecary in our village."

"Indeed? And may I ask the name of this village?"

"Bedsley Priors. In Wiltshire."

"I know it! " He turned to the young woman. "Your grandparents live not far from there, Polly."

"In Little Bedwyn." The girl smiled. "Do you know it?"

"Indeed I do."

"Many a happy hour I spent with my grandparents in that beautiful valley."

Lilly smiled at the genuine warmth of her words.

"When I started out," Mr. Lippert said, brandishing an ancient pestle, " I thought I would return to Little Bedwyn. But the opportunities here in London were just too great. But now you see how it is." He gesticulated toward the window. "My son says that if I am to compete, I must change update my equipment, displays, and labels; order the latest exotics from the East and West Indies; and stock all the popular patent medicines. Quite a head for business, my son. Unfortunately, prefers the shipping trade to medicine. Unlike Polly here. The draper offered her a position, but she won't hear of it."

"I like it here, Father. Are you wanting to be rid of me?"

"Of course not, my dear. In any case, I think the draper is in greater need of a wife than a clerk."

Polly smiled wryly. "I've no interest in that post either."

Lilly heard a voice shouting outside and walked to the window. She watched with interest a man with a market cart down the street, lifting a bottle high and proclaiming its virtues like a revivalist. "Who is he?"

Polly glanced up. "Just one of those irregular doctors."

"Irregular, indeed," Mr. Lippert said. "I'd call him a peddler at best, or a quack."

"What is he selling?"