Chapter 5 #2
‘Nonsense, if it is safe for you, then it is safe for me,’ Mrs McAllister said. ‘Shall we all partake of this remedy?’
Mrs Browne shook her head, but Mrs Casper eagerly sat forward and clapped her hands.
‘Why not? It sounds rather fun. I’ll pay you, too, Mrs Walters. Please, say you will let us have a little!’
Gwen looked at Miss Rosewood and nodded. ‘If you are sure.’
Miss Rosewood smiled back at her with perfect innocence, but Gwen was certain that inside she was elated; her eyes were sparkling.
‘Let me see if I can find some little bottles. You can take it home and add the water at the point you want to try it.’
‘Or better still, a pillbox and a sugar lump. I shall pretend I am in France and take it in the manner of drinking absinthe when I am home this evening,’ Mrs McAllister said.
Her forbidding manner was thawing by the minute and her face creased into a mischievous smile.
Gwen decided that she quite liked the woman, after all.
She tried to hide her astonishment that any of them were even considering sampling the tincture.
None of them were the sort of women she thought would really throw themselves into the idea.
When Miss Rosewood returned with an assortment of bottles, Mrs McAllister eagerly fished into her reticule and brought out a handful of pennies and put them on the table.
Mrs Dowson and Mrs Casper did likewise. Unexpectedly, but doubtless spurred on by her friends, Mrs Browne threw in her lot with the others, and soon there were four shillings in assorted coinage on the dining table.
Gwen added the dose of tincture to each bottle and handed them out.
‘Remember to add water,’ she cautioned them.
The women had come in two carriages and departed shortly afterwards. Gwen stayed, and Miss Rosewood turned to her triumphantly and clapped her hands.
‘That was marvellous. Our first customers. Would you care for more tea before you leave? The pot is half full.’
Unlike the other guests, Gwen had arrived by public transport, and as a wild gust of wind screeched round the side of the house, she decided she was in no hurry to venture out and so agreed.
Miss Rosewood’s expression grew sombre as she handed Gwen a fresh cup of tea.
‘I want to thank you for your comment before about marriage not being everything, by the by. You didn’t need to, but I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
I am reconciled to my marital status and, in truth, I don’t particularly feel the lack of a husband.
Indeed, when I hear tales of snoring and grumping, I’m quite grateful for it. ’
Gwen sipped her tea, bowing her head over the cup to hide her expression. Miss Rosewood had a point, but loyalty to Archibald prevented her from admitting the fact.
Miss Rosewood gathered up the coins and began dividing them.
‘Here’s to a successful afternoon. Do you think we should have charged slightly more?
Two shillings each won’t go very far but I’m sure once these women tell their friends, we shall have quite a number of others asking to sample our cure for all ailments.
We could even take it together and share the effect, and expand our creativity. ’
‘That sounds rather like an opium den,’ Gwen said warily.
‘Nonsense! Men gather to become dissolute. We shall gather to release the creative spirit. A salon for discerning women much in the manner of the Royal Society. If men can drink or take opiates together, I don’t see why we women shouldn’t be able to.’
Gwen concealed a smile, remembering Archibald’s criticism of Miss Rosewood as a bluestocking and reactionary. If only he knew what she was proposing, he would be thoroughly shocked!
‘Now, my uncle is acquainted with a woman who I might be able to persuade to join us next month, especially if Mrs McAllister is satisfied with the results. She’s very grand and I’m a little scared of her, to be perfectly honest, but I believe this is exactly the sort of thing that she would enjoy.
And if she does, then she will surely tell her friends and we may make a lot more in the future.
I feel certain we’ll have a ready supply of women hoping to find some respite. ’
Miss Rosewood barely stopped to take a breath before continuing. ‘The Ladies’ Creative Society. I like the sound of that. That’s what we’ll call it. I think the last Friday of the month, once a month, will do very nicely – and our little salon will become most popular.’
Gwen felt her chest tightening. She sat back and sighed.
‘I have always thought of myself as having strong morals, but in the past few weeks I’ve broken the law, drugged my husband and stolen from his stock.
Now I’m considering a clandestine society with the intent of intoxicating women. I’m not sure I know who I am.’
Miss Rosewood patted her hand. ‘Perhaps you’re finally being the woman you could always have been, had you been given the same opportunities as a man. If you’d been educated in the same disciplines as your husband or my uncle, for example.’
She walked to the bookcase and ran her fingers over the spines. ‘Who knows what inventions and treatments lie dormant in the minds of women whose days are occupied with sewing, or breeding children instead of inventions.’
‘You’re right about that, but it does not console me that my morals appear to be slowly diminishing,’ Gwen said quietly.
‘Then you must clear your conscience, Mrs Walters,’ Miss Rosewood urged, swinging round to face her.
‘If you don’t, then I fear your husband may wait years before he will be able to see clearly, and the women to whom we are offering an hour or two of diversion would be carrying on with their drab lives as always. ’
As they walked to the door, she took Gwen by the hand. ‘Don’t deliberate for too long, Mrs Walters. The world has been created by men, but we women might adjust it to suit ourselves occasionally, if we have the opportunity. And opportunity has fallen into our laps. We should not let it pass us by.’
Gwen nodded. ‘I will let you know what I decide very soon, I promise.’
Gwen’s good spirits were slightly diminished by discovering Archibald was in a petulant mood at having had to occupy himself all afternoon.
‘Where have you been? Why didn’t you tell me before you left the house?’ he grumbled as she walked through the door into the pharmacy. ‘It isn’t right that a husband doesn’t know where his wife is traipsing about.’
Gwen’s eyes widened. He’d never questioned her right to come and go as she pleased in all the years they had been married. She swept through the curtain into the back of the shop, barely able to contain her indignation.
‘I told you yesterday that I was going to visit Miss Rosewood. I was introduced to some of her acquaintances. I hope they might consider buying their medicines from us in the future.’
‘We’ll see,’ Archibald said, sniffing. ‘I don’t welcome your absence, Mrs Walters, especially not in my currently vulnerable state.’
Gwen’s jaw tightened. ‘I’m sorry for leaving you alone, but I was trying to increase our customers so that we can pay for your operation sooner,’ she told him, as placidly as she could manage.
She wondered what he would think if she told him that she had already started building savings, or about the source from which she had earned the money.
‘You are dreadfully neglectful of my needs,’ Archibald grumbled.