Page 73 of The Laudanum Ladies' Society

‘I don’t know, but you don’t have to think alone. I’m here. We’ll do it together.’

Miriam laced her fingers between Jenny’s, squeezing tightly. At her touch, Jenny began to cry in earnest– painful, loud sobs that stifled her breath and tore at her throat. It felt for the first time since their argument that she and Miriam were on the same side, but the circumstances were so dreadful, it made Miriam’s gentle forgiveness worse.

Chapter Twenty-One

Gwen was standing at the desk doing the accounts. She found it easier on her nerves than sitting and waiting for news from Jenny. Archibald was sitting at his desk, putting tablets into bottles. The mood between them was still icy and showed no signs of thawing, but Gwen found that she didn’t particularly care. The silence meant she could concentrate on the takings, and once again she caught herself suspecting that Conrad Rosewood was doing his niece out of a great deal of money. Archibald coughed.

‘Mrs Walters, did you take my tweezers? I can’t find them. These damned new spectacles are completely wrong.’

The tweezers were on the edge of the bench. Gwen passed them to him without comment, but her heart filled with dread. Was it the spectacles? Or could it be that his eyesight was already fading again?

She had no more time to consider this, because Jenny burst through the door, pushing it back so that the bell rang loudly. She was quickly followed by Miriam who was wearing a grim expression.

Archibald jumped when she entered and uttered a sharp cry of admonition, glaring at the unruly customers. When he recognised Jenny, though, his glare turned to fawning smiles.

‘Miss Rosewood, how unexpected to see you. Is your uncle with you?’

‘Good morning, Mr Walters. I’m so pleased you’re back at work. My uncle is not with me. I am here on a matter related to… to women’s troubles.’

She gave him a weak smile and rocked back and forth from one foot to the other, clearly agitated. Gwen tensed. She had been waiting on tenterhooks for word of Jenny’s investigation, and from her uneasy manner and the fact that she wasn’t alone, it appeared the news wasn’t good.

Gwen closed the ledger. ‘Miss Rosewood, you look unwell. Let me take you and your friend through to the back and I’ll make a pot of tea. Archibald, you can manage here.’

She ignored his grumbling and took Jenny firmly by the elbow through to the kitchen. Miriam followed.

‘You have to get rid of the tincture. All of it,’ Jenny declared, almost before she was in the room.

‘But I’m making some for Mrs McAllister. She said it does wonders for her hip pain.’

Gwen gestured to the Kilner jar on the side, in which cloves and nutmegs floated. It stood alongside one of bottled pears, Gwen having rightly suspected that Archibald would dismiss both as household ingredients.

‘Augusta isn’t selling it to the customers. She’s using it to drug the girls,’ Miriam growled.

A fist of horror punched Gwen’s ribcage. Her hand halted halfway to picking up the kettle.

‘No! Are you sure?’

Jenny’s lips pursed as if she was trying to control nausea. Her complexion was grey.

‘I overheard her persuading, then forcing, one to drink it. I don’t know if that’s all she’s using it for, but isn’t that awful? She’s making them compliant before they have to do whatever things they have to do.’

Gwen slumped against the table, thoughts of tea forgotten as Jenny told her how she had sneaked in and what she had overheard.

‘The worst thing is, I think Augusta genuinely believes she is helping them and doing them a kindness,’ she finished.

Gwen covered her face with her hands. ‘I imagine she does. She has such a twisted idea of right and wrong. She told me that giving them a roof and room was better than letting them walk the streets. Oh, Jenny, how horrible! And how awful for you, too, to have gone in there and heard that. What a clever idea to blow the whistle. Do you think it worked?’

Jenny grimaced. ‘I don’t know. Miriam and I didn’t wait to find out in case we were caught. I wanted to go back. I feel so responsible!’

‘We didn’t intend this to happen, though,’ Gwen said bleakly. ‘We were just providing enjoyment, an escape for an hour or so, for people who chose it willingly.’

Her breath caught in her throat, feeling as though her stays had been tight-laced. It was a pathetic excuse. She hugged herself protectively, thinking of all the people who had been hurt as a result of her actions. Ruth, Sally, even poor Mrs Browne whose husband had beaten her for falling asleep after taking it. She looked at the Kilner jar in dislike.

‘I didn’t want any of this to happen. All I wanted to do was help Archibald make his stock while he had his eyes treated so that we weren’t thrown out onto the street. I never wanted to start making tonics or potions.’

Her lips quivered and she looked at Jenny, narrowing her eyes accusingly. ‘That’s all your doing, you know.’

Miriam folded her arms, staring at Gwen with contempt. ‘Yes, but when you took the opportunity you embraced it, and now…’