Eventually it grew dark and the two of them locked up for the night, blowing out the candles and throwing covers over the various displays. Gideon turned the key in the compounding room door, while John locked the main door in the front. Tapers had just been lit in the rooms above the shop and the Apothecary felt reassured that two law students lived up there. He had heard tell that women visited them from time to time but other than for that — or perhaps because of — they were excellent tenants who paid their rent on the day it was due.
He and his apprentice walked home through the gloaming, John falling in love all over again with the city in which he had been brought up. He relished this hour of day when there was enough darkness to hide the filth in the streets, the dead dogs, the human detritus, the strewn litter. But the attraction of every window as it came to life, as chandeliers were hauled up, as servants drew curtains across the space, entranced him. There was a softness about it that appealed to him, a beauty that raised his soul. Beside him Gideon trundled along, whistling and cheerful, pleased that he had been granted jurisdiction over the shop in his master’s absence. But John ignored him, in a kind of spell, adoring everything about this time of day including the delicious smells of dinner that wafted from the various residences he walked past.
Some twenty minutes later they arrived in Nassau Street where they parted company — Gideon going off to eat with the servants, John having a quick wash before he went to join Sir Gabriel in the library. Tonight Rose was still with him, wearing her nightgown, her feet bare and held out to the fire for warmth.
‘Goodness, child,’ said John, ‘you’re only half dressed.’
She turned to look at him, her hair glinting in the firelight. ‘But I’m quite comfortable, Papa. Grandfather and I were just having a chat.’
‘What about?’ asked her father, pouring himself and Sir Gabriel a small sherry and handing the older man a glass before sitting down.
‘About life,’ she answered so seriously that John could not help but smile.
‘What particular aspect were you discussing?’
‘History, actually,’ she answered, and gave him a look in which John saw Emilia.
He exchanged a glance with his father.
‘I was telling Rose about the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire that followed a year later.’
‘The Plague, eh?’ said John thoughtfully. ‘That was a terrible time. Hundreds died every week. And no apothecary and no physician could do anything about it.’
‘Is it true that the people were buried in plague pits?’ Rose asked.
‘Yes, there are several dotted round and about.’
‘Where?’ she enquired eagerly.
The Apothecary became deliberately vague. ‘Various places in London. Their actual location is secret.’
‘Why is that?’
‘So that curious people won’t go digging them up and start the epidemic all over again.’
Rose pulled a face. ‘What a horrid thought. I do not care for the sound of it.’
John grinned. ‘Then the best thing is to think about something else. How would the two of you like to come away with me next week?’
Rose jumped in the air. ‘Oh, yes please. Where to Papa?’
‘To Sussex. To a small country town called Lewes. I’ve got some looking around to do and it would be so nice to have your company. Father?’
‘I don’t know, my son. I don’t move about much anymore as you well know.’
‘Nonsense, Sir. You are known for your walks round Kensington.’
‘They are on the level. I pant going up slopes and what I can remember of Lewes is that it is very hilly.’
‘Indeed it is. But if we travel in my coach Irish Tom can take you wherever you please so that you need only perambulate on the flat.’
Sir Gabriel considered, putting his superbly turbaned head on one side so that the zircon adorning it glinted in the light of the flames. John, as he had so many times in his life before, silently drew breath in wonderment at the magnificence of the great man.
‘Please come, Sir,’ he said quietly.
Sir Gabriel raised his head. ‘Put like that, my boy, it would be impossible to resist.’
Rose leapt to her feet and gave her grandfather a thorough hugging. ‘T’will be a great adventure, Grandpa. We might discover something.’
‘What sort of thing?’ he asked, holding her at arm’s length and looking at her quizically.
‘I don’t know exactly, but something exciting and mysterious,’ Rose answered, and throwing her head back laughed the laugh of a happy child.
Twenty-Five
They set off in fine fig two days later. The coach which Sir Gabriel had given John for his wedding present had been newly washed and polished by Irish Tom, who was seated on the box wearing a long caped driving coat, boots and a three-cornered hat. A footman sat beside him acting as guard, while within a nursery maid — a quiet, shy girl, quite flustered by the thought of going to Sussex — excitedly adjusted her best scarf. She had dressed Rose very neatly in a dove grey travelling cloak and a straw hat trimmed with flowers, while Mr Rawlings himself was sporting the very latest fashion — a double-breasted coat. Sir Gabriel was resplendent in an old-fashioned but stunning ensemble of black with silver buttons.
John, not wishing to tire his daughter too greatly, decided that they would spend the night at East Grinstead which they made comfortably by early evening. They put up at The George and after Rose had gone to bed, John and Sir Gabriel enjoyed a meal together served with two bottles of particularly fine wine. Next morning they set off once more and arrived at Lewes some four hours later, heading straight for The White Hart. That done there were several hours before the time to dine and John filled these by taking his daughter and Emily, the nursery maid, on a tour of the town and a climb up the hill to what remained of the ancient castle. Rose gazed at the ruinous buildings wide-eyed.
‘Does anybody live there, Papa?’
‘No, I don’t think so. It used to belong to the Earls of Surrey but the family died out and I don’t think it’s inhabited any more.’
‘But I can see a lady sitting outside in a garden chair. There.’ She pointed.
John stared and sure enough a woman in a pink gown wearing a shady hat was taking her ease outside the keep.
‘You are right, Rosebud. Somebody is obviously in residence.’
And enquiries over dinner at the inn revealed that the castle, ruinous though it was, now belonged to the Earls of Arundel who had decided to convert the keep into a summerhouse and were currently in situ.
‘I must say,’ Sir Gabriel stated, having taken a gentle stroll round the town while his younger relatives braved the heights, ‘that Lewes is quite fashionable. I passed several well-dressed men and women, to say nothing of coffee houses. And I also saw a poster advertising a prize fight.’
John was all attention. ‘Really? How interesting. Who were the fighters?’
‘That I can’t tell you. My memory is not what it was, you know.’
The Apothecary gave his adopted father a fond smile. ‘Yet you still manage to win at cards, Sir. I think you protest too much.’
Rose piped up. ‘When are we going on an adventure, Father?’
‘Tomorrow, my darling. We shall go and visit Vinehurst Place tomorrow morning. Will you come, Sir?’
Sir Gabriel waved a long thin hand. ‘I shall sleep late and then stroll to a coffee house and read the newspaper.’
‘Will you be requiring the services of Irish Tom?’
‘I may do so later in the day.’ Sir Gabriel patted Rose on top of her foxy head. ‘Are you looking forward to venturing forth with your father, my child?’
‘Very much, Sir,’ she answered in such an adult way that John saw the older man supress a smile.