Page 58 of The Book of Lost Stories
Alysalmostbelieved him, for he seemed so sincere … and yet, she had seen the incident with her own eyes.
‘The real purpose of my visiting so early is to see George,’ he said to Nell, ‘but I simply could not resist paying my respects to two such charming ladies first.’
‘I think you will find my husband in the study. He said earlier that he had a painful headache and did not wish to be disturbed.’
Nat looked at her sadly. ‘Ah, but I am convinced you know the truth of these headaches and your husband’s erratic temperament, do you not, Mrs Rivers?’
‘I – what do you mean?’ asked Nell, startled. ‘What …?’
He sat down next to her on the sofa. ‘If I may speak to you as a friend? You must surely have guessed by now, as I have, that poor George is quite addicted to laudanum, and though a most excellent remedy for many ills, if taken to excess it quite alters a person’s temperament and undermines their health.’
‘He – he does seem to take a great deal of it … but then, he has always been prone to these debilitating headaches, which have grown ever more frequent with the years,’ Nell said, wringing her hands. ‘Could this really be the cause of his change of character?’
‘Yes, I suspect he has grown to rely more and more on the drug. I am loath to interfere, yet I thought I would mentionthe matter to you. All his friends are concerned for him, and you must endeavour to persuade him to give up, or much reduce, his intake of it.’
‘I?I can do nothing. He will not listen to me!’
‘Perhaps the hint would be better accepted from you or another of his friends?’ suggested Alys. ‘This certainly explains much about his conduct and the change in his disposition, which I found hard to understand.’
‘If you think it best, I will be happy to remonstrate with him,’ Nat said earnestly.
‘Please – please do try it. How kind you are! And at least I now know that the change in my husband is not due to – to something I have done, but to his medicine. Perhaps, if he is weaned off it, he—’
She broke off as the subject of their conversation, having heard their voices, came into the room. The full force of what Nat had just told them struck the two ladies forcibly: George Rivers was the wreck of the healthy young man he had once been: pasty-faced, hollow-eyed and dishevelled. A tic twitched his cheek and his brown eyes were unfocused.
‘There you are, Nat! What are you doing in here? Come into the study. I have been waiting for you this age. Do you have … the little commission I asked you to do for me?’
‘I do, and will come this instant! Cousin, perhaps you would take a turn in the park with me when I have dealt with this business matter? I believe the day to be fine and quite spring-like.’ He bestowed one of his dazzlingly effulgent smiles upon Alys.
Feeling more kindly disposed to him, she smiled back. ‘Thank you, but on this occasion you must hold me excused: we have a prior engagement.’
‘Then I will see you at Bella’s coming-out ball,’ he said gaily. ‘And you must save at least two dances for me.’
*
‘George, you look all to pieces,’ Nat said bluntly when they were in the study with the door shut.
‘One of my plaguey headaches – nothing a dose of laudanum won’t cure. You did bring it?’
‘Yes.’ He handed over a small bottle. ‘But you should not take such quantities. Why, it’s enough to kill a horse! It cannot be good for you.’
‘Isn’t “excess in everything” the Brethren’s motto?’ George demanded, with a wild laugh.
‘Yes, but not theentiretime, burning the candle at both ends. Look at poor Chase: going to the devil as fast as he can run.’
‘That … that’s disloyalty! Treason to the Master and the Brethren.’
‘No, it’s common sense, and a respect for one’s person. Chase was never so bad until this last dose of the pox. I believe it must be eating at his brain, for his tastes have become ever more …esoteric, shall we say?’
George shuddered as he measured out drops of laudanum into a glass of water and downed it, his teeth rattling against the rim. ‘You are as bad as the rest of us, Hartwood, when we meet together,’ he muttered sullenly.
‘Within the walls of the Temple, once the other Brethren are gone, we Masters of the Inner Circle can do anything we please, although perhaps I do not drink so deeply of the wine as the rest of you, and so whatever it is laced with has less effect.’
‘That girl – the last girl, the one who …’ George shuddered, then poured another dose of laudanum into his glass, which Nat reflected would have killed a man unused to the drug.
‘Better not to think about it. She was just a drab; she will not have been missed. One rat out of many roaming the streets.’
‘But even so, I cannot believe … I seemed to be detached, watching myself – all of us – do vile things to the poor creature until …’
