10 Mushrooms And Elderflower Wine
Cal had set up a workbench in the clearing in front of his hut, so he busied himself at his woodworking while he waited for Hammond to appear.
His first visitor, however, was one much more to his liking.
Having discovered that he was usually at home late in the afternoons, Cora had begun taking her daily walk at that time of day, and then calling to enjoy a cup of tea with him.
Sometimes he asked himself whether he was beginning to enjoy these visits more than she did and told himself sternly that they were dangerous to his peace of mind, but he couldn’t quite convince himself to give them up.
He was not sure if he could drive her away even if he wanted to, for she was a determined lady who knew her own mind, but as it happened, he didn’t want to and so she kept coming to visit.
She brought a chair outside, the very same plain wooden chair that had been in the hut when they had first discovered it.
There she sat, placidly hemming curtains for the newly glazed windows, watching him work and telling him all the small doings of her day and asking about his, in the most companionable manner.
It was, he supposed, something like being married, this ease that existed between them.
Whatever it was, he was glad of it. Her presence never failed to lift his spirits and left him in a little glow of happiness afterwards.
Then there was the anticipation of the next meeting, which warmed his heart until they were together again.
And still he could see nothing wrong with it.
Hammond arrived bearing a large basket.
“I come bearing gifts,” he said cheerfully. “The duke left certain instructions before his departure, thus I bring you two bottles of claret, one of brandy, one of port and a suitable number of glasses for each.”
“That’s kind of him,” Cal said. “I doubt I’ll need such things myself now that my barrel of ale has arrived from the Dog and Duck, but I’ll be able to offer a drink to a caller, won’t I? Like yourself, perhaps, Mr Hammond?”
“That is very obliging of you, Mr Garford. I might try the claret. There is also a more modest gift from Mrs Hammond, in the shape of a cherry cake.”
“Georgie is a treasure,” Cora said. “I should love a slice of her cherry cake.”
Hammond went rather pink. “I think she is a treasure, too.”
“Well, of course you do,” Cora said. “Come inside and let us find homes for these gifts. Cal, you will be ready for a pot of ale, I expect, and I shall make myself some tea.”
Cal took the hint, went inside to wash and tidy himself up, and the three of them moved round to the bench on the other side of the hut, overlooking the lake. Hammond drank claret, Cal had his ale and Cora her tea, and they all ate Georgie Hammond’s cherry cake.
Eventually, Cora murmured about changing for dinner and left the men still drinking in the sunshine.
“You wanted to talk about something,” Cal said.
“I did,” Hammond said, setting his glass down carefully on the bench, and removing his spectacles to polish them. “It was something you said one evening… I could not help overhearing. Not that I usually listen in to other people’s conversations, but—”
“Dinner table talk is public,” Cal said. “Nothing private or secret.”
“No, but still… well, never mind. I heard it, and it has been bothering me ever since. You mentioned a herb… a plant that Mrs Merrington saw in that book of yours. You said it was medicinal, and it could be crumbled and made into a tea.”
“Oh, Red Jenny. Mushroom.”
“Is it? But you said that midwives use it and I wondered… it crossed my mind that it might cause a woman to lose a baby… if she should be enceinte… increasing. Might it?”
Cal took a long sip of his ale and considered his answer carefully. “I have never asked a midwife how she uses it, but I could not knowingly supply it for such a purpose, so if you have a lady in difficulties—”
“Oh! Oh, no, no, no! Nothing like that. Good Lord, no! But— I should tell you the whole story, I suppose, and then you can comment. About a year ago… a little more… Georgie entertained the ladies of Staineybank in our apartment. It is a great pleasure to her to have her own establishment, however humble, and she loves to have callers. Ever since we married and moved into our attic home, she has held these afternoon meetings. She makes cakes, which she loves to do, and the ladies eat and drink tea and gossip, and everyone has a charming time, or so Georgie tells me.”
“I can believe it,” Cal said wryly.
Hammond laughed. “Quite. But on this one occasion, Georgie realised that she had not enough tea on hand to supply the ladies, and insufficient time to go to her usual supplier. Like you, we prefer to provision ourselves, but since the matter was urgent, she went downstairs and begged for some from Hester Merrington. Hester persuaded her to take some of Rowena Merrington’s supply, which she did.
Georgie thought it tasted a little odd — bitter, she said — but no one else complained, and everyone drank plenty of it, so she assumed it was just not to her taste.
But that evening, she lost the baby she was carrying. ”
“That could just be coincidence,” Cal said. “The tea might have tasted odd because she was pregnant — that does happen sometimes.”
“Oh yes, she quite went off honey, which normally she loves. And yes, it could have been coincidence, except that the same night Sophia Payne lost her baby, too. I took a sample of the tea to Fothergill’s, who supplied it, and Mr Fothergill agreed that it was tainted in some way.”
“And now you think it could have been Red Jenny contaminating the tea?”
“I wondered, that is all,” Hammond said.
“We could not understand why one batch of tea would be contaminated and not any of the others. Hester was very suspicious that it might have been done deliberately for some reason, so now she keeps the tea locked away, and there has been no recurrence, and Georgie and Sophia — and Rowena, too — all had healthy babies in January.”
Cal stretched his legs out and folded his arms. “Curious. You’re right, Red Jenny could have that effect.
If you dry it, it goes very dark, and crumbled up it looks very like tea leaves.
Midwives use it to bring on a birth if a woman’s past her time and also to regulate bleeding if a woman’s courses are erratic.
No doubt it’s also used to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, but it would be a strange thing if it got into the tea at Staineybank, and especially Mrs Richard Merrington’s tea. ”
“Why hers especially?”
“Because she’s the heir’s wife. She’s the one woman in the house who absolutely must produce babies, yet if her tea was contaminated with Red Jenny—”
Hammond sat bolt upright. “You mean that she was trying not to have a child?”
“Or someone wanted her not to have one.”
“And as soon as the tea was fixed, she conceived.” There was a long silence, then Hammond let out a long, slow breath. “No. There must be a more rational explanation.”
“Hard to think of one,” Cal said.
“But what should we do about it?” Hammond said. “We cannot simply let this go.”
“First thing is to find out where the Red Jenny came from — if it is Red Jenny. Ben Lovell’s the most likely person to find it in the woods, and the local midwife’s the most likely person to keep some in the house. I’d start there.”
“Yes… Ben Lovell, Mrs Trout. Georgie knows Mrs Trout very well, and it is a job for a lady, I think, so I shall leave that to her. I can talk to Ben Lovell. And you…”
“And me?”
“You can note where you see Red Jenny, and whether any appears to be cut, in case anyone else is taking it.”
“It’s a rare type. Not often seen. There was some right here a while back, but someone cut it. Lovell, most likely. Not likely to catch anyone in the act.”
“No, but let us see what we can find out and then compare notes. Would you like to have dinner with us on Sunday? Georgie likes to cook a proper meal in our apartment on Sundays, and my father comes too, so we will have the benefit of his thoughts, as well. What do you say?”
“I’d like that. Thank you. I’d like it even better if you’d invite Cora Merrington, too. She’d enjoy the change in routine, I think, and she started this hare running by talking about this mushroom in the first place.”
Hammond’s mouth flapped open in surprise, before he snapped it shut again. “Well… of course. Good idea.”
“No other comment?” Cal said, amused.
“None of my business,” Hammond said firmly. “On Sunday, then, we will all share what we have found out, and… hmm, we will see where that leads us, I suppose. Nowhere good, I suspect. I enjoy a puzzle, as a rule, but this one feels… unsavoury. ”
Cal couldn’t disagree.
***
Cora was pleased, but a little surprised, when Georgie Hammond invited her for dinner.
The two were ensconced in Georgie’s little sewing room, the smallest bedroom in her apartment, since she was helping Cora make curtains for the hut.
The baby slept peacefully in his crib as Georgie rocked him with her foot.
“It will only be the two of us, and Jamie’s father, and Mr Garford is coming, too, but Jamie has one of these puzzles in his head that he likes to worry away at, and you are a part of it, seemingly.”
“I am?” Cora said, startled. “Is this the puzzle about Mr Goodenough?”
“Oh no! Jamie thinks he has solved that one. No, this is about something called Red Jenny and how it got into the tea.”