Page 53 of The Laudanum Ladies' Society

‘It’s not too late,’ Jenny said, pulling out her pocket watch. ‘I don’t have a seat reserved. I usually stand in the galleries at the back.’

A daring idea swept over her.

‘Would you like to come with me?’

‘You want me to come with you?’ Gwen looked incredulous.

‘Only if you’d like to. Unless you need to go home. I’m sure Mr Walters will be wondering where you are.’

‘No, I don’t think he will be,’ Gwen said gloomily, and Jenny thought back to the snappish behaviour she’d seen before. ‘But I couldn’t possibly. I don’t have a chaperone.’

Jenny laughed. ‘But you do, of course. Me. And on the way, you can tell me why you’re here.’

‘Oh, yes, of course! It went completely out of my mind with the surprise of seeing you. We do need to talk quite urgently.’ Gwen frowned. She tapped her fingers together then looked up.

‘Do you know, I think I will come!’

Jenny suppressed her elation. For one awful moment, she had thought her escapades were at an end and Gwen would try to persuade her of the wrongness of her actions– or go straight to Uncle Conrad to inform him. It hadn’t escaped Jenny’s notice that the mention of Mr Walters waiting had made Gwen’s lips twitch downwards. Remembering again how unpleasant he had been earlier that day, she was hardly surprised at Gwen’s decision. The poor dear needed an evening of fun.

Jenny stood and held out an arm. ‘Well, then, Mrs Walters. Shall I escort you to this evening’s jollities?’

Gwen looped her arm through Jenny’s. They were of roughly even height and Jenny felt quite at ease strolling alongside her friend. They caught the underground line from Islington. The lamps in the carriages were dim enough that unless one was as close as Gwen was to Jenny, her disguise passed. There were one or two glances in their direction, but Jenny didn’t think they were of suspicion, rather just how some people looked at fellow travellers.

‘They’ll be thinking how kind you are to squire your mother around,’ Gwen told Jenny.

‘Gwen, you are far too young and pretty to be my mother. I suppose you could be my stepmother who married my father later in his life.’

Gwen’s eyes widened and she grinned. ‘It’s been a long time since anyone called me pretty. Thank you, dear, I appreciate your kindness.’

Jenny pursed her lips. ‘Doesn’t your husband tell you that at least on a weekly basis?’

‘I don’t think he has told me that for eight or nine years.’

Gwen glanced out of the window and Jenny caught the same look of misery she had worn when they’d spoken of Archibald. Combined with his manner earlier and Gwen’s reluctance to admit visitors, it suggested all was not well in their marriage.

‘So, tell me why you came to visit me,’ Jenny said, changing the subject.

‘When we’re back in the street above. I’d rather not be overheard,’ Gwen answered.

‘Now I’m very intrigued and slightly alarmed,’ Jenny said, furrowing her brow.

Once they had alighted, Gwen took Jenny’s arm again, drawing her close, and spoke in a low voice.

‘Augusta wants us to start working from the chop house to make the tincture. I told her I had to speak to you, and sheseemed satisfied, but earlier, when I left the house shortly after your visit, that awful man Wolf accosted me in the street and demanded to know why I had not yet given her an answer.’

She shivered.

‘How horrible!’ Jenny growled, outraged at the invasion. ‘You should tell her that you will not stand for it.’

‘I couldn’t do that!’ Gwen said.

‘Well, you should, because he has no right to threaten you. You should have reported him to the nearest police constable.’

‘What would I have said?’ Gwen rolled her eyes. ‘That I am being threatened by an underling of the person for whom I am producing an illegal concoction? I can imagine what the response to that would be, even if I were not a woman.’

Jenny’s stomach twisted. She had tried to speak to Miriam, and been politely but firmly rebuffed at the door. The money she had earned felt tarnished by Miriam’s condemnation of its source. She squeezed Gwen’s arm.

‘You’re right, of course. Well, you’ve told me now, so the next time you speak to one of her people, you can say that we have decided not to.’