The Apothecary’s Apprentice 25
The Apothecary's Apprentice
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- 1. The Apothecary’s Apprentice 25
They moved house on the Saturday evening, borrowing a handcart for their few sticks of furniture and other belongings.
With Thomas Tewke enlisting the help of fellow herb gatherers and transporting Ned on a hurdle, the family found themselves in their new abode.
Wasting no time on niceties, Henry Gryce outlined what was expected of them, indicated the rooms he’d earmarked for his personal use and made himself scarce, leaving the family to settle in.
The women applied themselves with brooms and hot water to clean the grimy rooms thoroughly.
Thomas arranged their furniture, which looked incongruous against the grander pieces collected by the late Dorothea Gryce.
With Ned made comfortable in a bed in the raftered and plank-floored kitchen, the Parrys gathered wearily for the first decent meal they had consumed in weeks.
Later, lying in bed in a sloped-ceiling attic room intended for servants, too exhausted to sleep, Jennet wondered afresh at the logic of the move.
Common sense decreed that sheer desperation had robbed them of any choice in the matter, but apprehension about the master’s true motive for rehoming an entire family could not be dismissed.
Perhaps her best plan was to adopt Thomas’s views and take each day as it came.
They fell into a routine.
By seven a.m. Jennet was in the shop, preparing for the day ahead.
She was joined later by her grandmother, who chopped, measured and mixed with a set expression on her face.
Henry Gryce’s physic remedies did not always comply with her own and rarely met her exacting standards.
“Too little butterbur and too much poppy in this fever mixture. He will have the patient sleeping for a week!” she was heard to mutter.
The making of her own cures and simples she undertook in the seclusion of her cramped bedchamber next to Jennet’s.
Most evenings saw her leaving the premises, simples box in hand, to visit her clients in the town.
If the apothecary knew of the goodwife’s continuation of her practice, nothing was said.
In the main he kept to his own rooms, taking his meals there, while the Parrys made the kitchen the place where their living was done.
The roomy quarters above the shop would never be home to them, but compared to the dismal bothy on Queen Street their present rooftree was luxurious.
True to her resolve, Jennet applied her energies to her work.
From the master she learned the basics of shop management and book-keeping.
There were also areas of apothecary she was not acquainted with, and these she committed to memory for the future.
It was Ned who astounded them all.
“I see an improvement in your papa’s state of health,” Thomas commented on a visit one sultry evening in late July.
He and Jennet were in the long garden behind the premises, catching what little breeze drifted across the sooty ranks of flowers.
The garden sported a small rose arbour and splashy fountain, but even here, in the scented seclusion of a late flowering blush rose, the reek of the town was evident.
Much to the surprise of all, Ned had mastered his shame and regret at – to his mind – having let his family down and turned his attention to how he could best make use of his time.
There was no doubt that the improved living conditions and nourishing food played a big part in restoring him to better health.
“He’ll be using those crutches yet,” Thomas remarked.
“There is every chance. Grandmother has him performing exercises laid down by Master Gerard.
“Three times a day, and woe betide Father if he misses.”
Thomas chuckled.
“Is it helping his mobility?”
“Seems so,” Jennet replied. “The massage oil is good, too. It’s based on rosemary and wintergreen.
“Grandmother cannot get enough of either.”
“I shall see she is well supplied,” Thomas said.
“You must let us pay you for it, Thomas. I know how keen Amos is on keeping the accounts in order.
“Will he have to present the books to the council of herb gatherers when they assemble here in – when is it?” Jennet asked.
“Next month. Yes, every small detail has to be approved by the committee. It is expected of each branch.
“They will all be here. It promises to be a big gathering come August end,” Thomas explained.