Page 30 of A Devilish Element
Eliza indulged in a good swallow of tea, before indulging Henrietta’s curiosity. “She’s proving herself a terrible stay abed.” She paused, cleared her throat. “She’s yet to wake, but all has been calm overnight. I’m sure she’ll be quite herself again once she does rise.”
“I suppose Lord Linfield has gone up to greet her?” Henrietta proposed.
Truly the woman was a very determined busybody, but then with so little to entertain her, it was hardly a surprise that she’d wish to turn over every aspect of last night’s drama. Truthfully, there was plenty about it that Eliza wished to dissect too. She exchanged a meaningful glance with Jem, who nudged some marmalade towards her. Bell cracked an egg into his tea and added a splash of milk.
“Are you not going to eat, Doctor Bell?”
“What I have is quite sufficient, thank you, Mistress Cluett.”
“Oh, pish! It’s Henrietta, haven’t I said so since the first night? But you didn’t answer my question about his lordship, either.”
“I believe he is abroad on an early morning ramble.”
Henrietta gaped at him aghast, while Eliza took to her feet and crossed to the window. “Has it cleared out, then?” It had not, based on what little she could see of the gardens. Mist lingered just yards away, so all that was visible was a small square of terrace and the faint outlines of a couple of big trees. It was certainly not the right weather to be tramping the moors, but a glance at the doctor suggested that his answer may not have been entirely truthful. Perhaps Linfield was about business he wouldn’t wish to be discussed, or Bell simply considered Henrietta too nosy to be indulged.
“Will you check on Jane?” Eliza asked him.
“If you deem it necessary.”
“I didn’t say that. I’m sure she’ll be quite well.”
Jem leaned closer. “Don’t let him goad you. He has every intention of checking on his patient. It’s just he’s not adequately fortified himself yet. He functions entirely on tea. That, and he usually only deals with the deceased; I fear he finds the living rather more taxing.”
“They are certainly a deal less predictable, but to put all your minds at rest I’ll attend to Lady Linfield at once.” He took his cup and saucer and left.
“What a dreadfully unsociable man,” Henrietta complained.
While Bell was engaged, she could enter his domain without fear of disturbance. Eliza pushed her plate aside half-eaten. “I think I’ll just go and tag along.”
“Oh, must you?” Henreitta wailed, but Eliza had already left.
She did not race after Bell, but instead deliberately kept her distance. Once she was satisfied that he’d gone upstairs, she snuck through the parlour and into the ruins of the long gallery. The space must once have been glorious, light streaming in through a multitude of large windows and the central cupola. Now all that remained of the glass were the splinters on the marble floor tiles, while the frames formed a skeletal lattice work overhead. The still room lay ahead and down a flight.
Eliza put her ear to the still room door before letting herself in. All was quiet. Within, the air smelled of lye and the sort of heavy incense she associated with the catholic church. All the ingredients she could wish for were lined up and ordered on broad shelves or housed in apothecary-style drawers, each meticulously labelled. Given Cedarton’s long abandonment, she could only assume Bell responsible. He instantly rose in her estimation.
Though the vessel full of leeches rapidly tipped the scales in the opposite direction.
She immediately set out gathering the ingredients she required and adding them to the bowl of the conveniently placed scales. The recipe was a relatively simple one, refined over generations and through her own thorough testing. It was not a difficult remedy to mix, and thank goodness, for she did not wish to be caught should Bell come down. So far, he had proved himself efficient and not the sort to malinger. She supposed she liked him for that. Too many medical men outstayed their welcome, insisting on ruminating over their patients. At least he was decisive, even if his methods—she shot a glance at the disgusting leeches—were spurious. In any case, once this was done, she really did want to look around and see if she could determine what had caused Jane’s fright.
“Miss Wakefield, do you have permission to be in here?”
Eliza whirled around in response to the deep male voice. Jem was poised in the doorway and had clearly been present for several minutes. There had hardly been an opportunity to converse since their earlier reunion, and Henrietta’s beady gaze had prevented them from exchanging more than pleasantries at the breakfast table, now, she couldn’t help letting her gaze linger. His smart blue coat lent him an air of elegance; his overlong hair was attempting to counteract. The front had fallen over his brow and set one side of his face in shadow, resulting in a mischievous mien that his smile further called attention to.
“It’s a break in,” she replied, continuing with her preparation. “Are you going to arrest me? Summon the constable? Snitch on me to Bell?”
“He certainly won’t thank you for messing about in his drawers.” This he said with a chuckle in his voice that made Eliza blush. It was in her mind to say that she didn’t think he’d mind at all if it were his drawers she was choosing to mess about in, but they really didn’t know one another well enough for her say such a thing aloud, and in any case, it wasn’t the sort of thought a young lady of her standing was supposed to even have.
Of course, she did have them—thoughts that were distinctly lewd in nature and hopelessly distracting.
Not that now was the time for such things. “I aim to be done before he’s back. Unless you tell him, he won’t ever know that I’ve been here.”
Jem pushed away from the door and approached the counter where she was mixing her ingredients into a paste. “What are you about?”
“The remedy for Mrs Honeyfield’s toothache. Bell’s done nothing for the poor woman, and I don’t like to see anyone going around in such a pitiful state. Toothache’s the worst.”
He winced as if remembering some past episode. “To be fair, he has been busy with—”
“Jane! I know, but he’s not a very able doctor if he’s only capable of treating one patient a day.”
