Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Gwen sat more upright, attempting to mirror Mrs Charles’ stance.
In truth, she was nervous, and seeing that Jenny was too had not made her feel any easier.
She was determined to be brave and match Mrs Charles for forthrightness, however.
She had been quite full of admiration for the way the other woman had briskly gone off to deal with whatever issue had arisen, and wished that she had some of that confidence.
Chasing debtors to pay their bills would be a lot easier if she did.
‘What do you have in mind, Mrs Charles?’
Mrs Charles smiled at her. ‘Augusta, please. I use no honorifics or titles. Selina has told me about your excellent creation and the effects it has. She has also told me that you have been less than successful in selling it. I would like you to make it for me.’
‘To sell here, Augusta?’ Gwen asked. ‘In a chop house?’
The downstairs rooms had been as interesting to her as the wonders in the British Museum, which Gwen had once visited with Archibald, but in essence the chop house had seemed a respectable establishment.
She couldn’t imagine any of the patrons who had been sharing stories and laughter as they ate, indulging in drug-taking, but possibly in the evening the clientele changed.
‘You don’t need to know the specifics.’ Augusta spread her hands eloquently.
‘In times past, I worked with my husband in an establishment on Narrow Street. It was profitable, but sadly that area was too popular for any one business to outshine any other. Here, there is no competition, and I intend to build an establishment to rival my husband’s. ’
‘Is that what he would have wanted you to do?’ Jenny asked.
Augusta looked at Jenny and her eyebrows arched in surprise. ‘Would have?’
She smiled, her lips growing thin. It was not a nice expression, more like the grin of a cat about to eat a mouse. ‘You think he’s dead, I see.’
‘I thought you were a widow,’ Gwen said.
‘Ah, Selina, is that what you told them?’
Miss Salisbury shrugged carelessly.
Augusta put her hands together and bent them outwards, clicking her fingers. Gwen’s teeth set on edge.
‘That reputation suits me. It suits both of us, I imagine, because who could respect a man whose wife up and left him. No, he lives on the other side of our fair metropolis, where he runs an opium den and a dozen houses of ill repute in Soho. If, or rather when, he hears of my success, I hope the knowledge will be enough to make him apoplectic. Perhaps I will finally achieve that happy state you mentioned.’
Gwen opened her mouth then closed it again, struck dumb by the harshness of Augusta’s words. Imagine wishing her husband would actually die! Her callousness was abominable. Jenny’s face gave nothing away, but Miss Salisbury shook her head and smiled indulgently.
‘Really, Augusta, do you have to be so candid?’ Her manner was composed, though her voice had an edge of mild reproof. Gwen suspected it was at Augusta’s tone rather than the revelation itself.
Augusta did not look remotely contrite. If anything, she looked grimly amused at the effect she was having, because her eyes glinted like tinder-flints.
‘Selina, I am not having this argument again. We both know that my husband is a fool who couldn’t take an opportunity when he was offered one, yet resented anyone who did, his wife included.’ She looked away, fixing her eyes on the doorway that had at one point led to the landing.
‘His wife, in particular.’ Briefly, her face hardened, her jaw clenching. When she looked back, her eyes bore a resolve that made Gwen grow even colder.
‘I decided one day that I would never again submit to another man’s hand on my body or in my business, unless I deemed it acceptable. I left him and I do not regret it for an instant. All I regret is that the law and values of this land mean I am looked down upon.’
She looked around defiantly, challenging her audience to contradict her, but Gwen had no such intention. If anything, she was filled with admiration for Augusta’s decision to take her destiny into her own hands.
‘Look at you, Mrs Walters,’ Augusta sighed. ‘An intelligent, resourceful woman whose husband curdles with resentment at your increased participation in his trade.’
Gwen raised her head. ‘I don’t know what you mean!’ she snapped.
‘Yes, you do. Do you think I haven’t investigated your life before inviting you here? You are wasted keeping house and serving in a shop. How much more successful could you be? Are you too respectable to take the opportunity?’
Gwen hid a wry smile. If only Augusta knew she was doing so much more!
She looked down at her hands, though she couldn’t help thinking back to the early days of their marriage and wished she had been firmer in her encouragement of Archibald to take Conrad’s offer.
They’d be in a better position than they were now.
She shouldn’t let this offer pass or she might spend the next ten years regretting it.
‘And you, Miss Rosewood,’ Augusta said, her eyes settling on Jenny.
‘No, thank you. I don’t need my life eviscerating!’ Jenny’s voice was firm but with a touch of humour.
Augusta laughed. ‘As you please. You know yourself whether your life as chatelaine of your uncle’s household is meaningful.
Mrs Walters, Miss Rosewood, I know I have shocked you.
Well, I don’t care about that. I’ve shocked many people in my time, and I’ll shock many more before I’m dead.
Respectability is overrated. I feel it is better we understand each other before we go any further.
I’m offering you both the chance to make money.
Are you going to take it, or will you let the notion of what is right prevent you? ’
‘I think my colleague and I need to confer,’ Jenny said.
‘Of course. I would expect nothing less. I shall be in my office. I can see you have concerns – and yes, you are right to ask questions before you sign away your souls.’ She laughed.
‘I am a formidable woman and I have had to become so. Do not worry, though. I am also a very keen businesswoman. Again, I have had to become so.’
Augusta went next door. Selina poured herself another cup of coffee and sipped it genteelly, as if she was at Claridge’s. Jenny and Gwen walked to the corner window. From there they could see Augusta sat at her desk, writing in a ledger.
Jenny spoke first. ‘It seems an excellent opportunity to make money.’
‘Too excellent when we don’t really understand how we’re going to make it.
’ Gwen frowned. ‘What exactly is she going to do with it and why do we not need to know the specifics of that? She does make it sound rather like an opium den, with all the talk of outdoing her husband. It feels almost as if she only wants to do this to spite him. What if he takes exception to her competing with him and becomes dangerous?’
‘I really don’t think we need to worry about what he might do to us, and other than that I think it sounds promising.
’ Jenny set her jaw and folded her arms. ‘Gwen, I’ll try to be as frank as Augusta.
You and I have had this conversation before, and I don’t want to keep having it.
We need the money, and if she can sell the tincture, then why shouldn’t we take advantage?
Your husband will regain his sight quicker, and I will not have to give up the comforts I enjoy. ’
‘You’re right, I need to stop listening to my misgivings,’ Gwen answered.
‘Good. Have confidence!’ Jenny leant closer and dropped her voice. ‘I have met somebody that I would very much like to set up home with, and I need money if I’m to do that.’
‘You have found a young man. How wonderful!’ Gwen tried to deny the little twinge of jealousy. How lucky Jenny was to be free to meet somebody.
‘I’ve met someone,’ Jenny repeated. Her eyes grew soft, and her cheeks were suffused with pink, but there was a catch in her voice that seemed at odds with happy news.
‘Is there some difficulty?’ Gwen asked.
‘I worry that time might catch up with me. It would be good to make money quicker. We really could have started with selling doses at two shillings a time.’
Gwen patted her arm sympathetically. ‘Even if we did, we hardly have customers beating down the door. Looking at the situation now, it seems impossibly foolish to think we could do it slowly with a handful of sales every month.’
‘So, you do have a mind for business,’ Jenny said triumphantly.
‘Of course I do, and it was very unfair of Augusta to imply Mr Walters would be unhappy about that.’ Gwen scuffed her foot on the floorboard, remembering Augusta’s perceptive assessment of her as wasted in the pharmacy.
‘Though I do feel wasted at times,’ she admitted.
Her belly filled with a sensation like a fire bursting.
‘We’ll do it. The more we make, even if we have to give a commission to Augusta, the better that will be for us. ’
‘I’m sure Miss Salisbury and Augusta will help us to grow our business. They both seem awfully shrewd. A slice of a larger pie still leaves us with a lot more pie ourselves,’ Jenny agreed.
‘Very well. But if anything goes wrong, then we stop. Is that fair?’
‘Perfectly fair,’ Jenny answered.
‘Let’s not sound too keen or Augusta will think we are a pair of milksops.’
They walked into the office. Augusta remained seated but closed her ledger when the women approached her desk. Gwen had caught sight of three columns of figures in a cramped hand. Outgoings, income and what else?
‘Augusta, we are inclined to agree to what you propose, but obviously we shall need to read the contract carefully,’ she said.