The Apothecary’s Apprentice 31
The Apothecary's Apprentice
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- 1. The Apothecary’s Apprentice 31
It was not to be.
Later on, the working day over and supper pots cleared away, there was a tap on the door that gave off on to the flight of stone steps that rose from the rear of the building.
Jennet scuttled to answer the summons.
Thomas stood there.
He carried a large canvas satchel bulging with books and items of clothing.
A spare pair of boots hung by the laces from a buckle of the bag. In his other hand he gripped his gatherer’s staff.
Defeat was evident on his face and in the droop of his shoulders.
“Oh, Thomas, come in.”
Jennet all but dragged him into the kitchen.
Alice left off what she was doing and called Eira to the scene.
Ned, rising awkwardly to his feet, propelled himself forward on his crutches.
“Ho, there, Thomas. How went it?”
Thomas shrugged.
“It was as I feared. Banishment. The council refused to accept a word I told them.”
There was a shocked silence. No-one had truly expected this, and the outcome took some coming to terms with.
Shaking her head in silent outrage, Alice divested Thomas of his baggage and pushed him towards a stool at the table.
Eira, herself looking drawn from a long day in the stillroom, clucked her tongue in distress and moved towards her simples box on the shelf.
“This is a bitter blow, Thomas. A restorative tisane would not come amiss.”
Thomas downed the offering of greenish, sharp-smelling liquid in one gulp.
“My thanks, goodwife. By, but I needed that. What a day it has been!”
“Have you eaten, Thomas?” Alice enquired.
He shook his head.
Tight-lipped, Alice poured him a cup of small ale from the pitcher on the shelf and cut bread and thick slices of bacon from the cupboard, placing the fare before him.
“Eat! Not another word till that platter is cleared.”
“Aye, get yourself outside of that, lad,” Ned added with rough kindness. “You’ll be all the better for it.”
Thomas surveyed the food in front of him as if he might push the dish aside, but the mouth-watering smell of fresh manchet bread tempted him.
He took a bite, sampled a taste of bacon, and began to eat.
No-one spoke until every last crumb was gone.
Jennet replenished all their cups with small ale and went to sit beside Thomas at the table.
“Now, tell us.”
Thomas gave his lips a downward quirk.
“It was clear from the start how matters would transpire. Whoever brought this about had prepared their case well.
“The council had an answer for every argument I put forward.”
Ned thumped his fist angrily on the carved wooden arm of his chair.
“If I get wind of who’s behind this, I shall have him driven from the town!” he cried.
“And how will you achieve that, pray?” Alice enquired.
“There are ways and means. Invalid I might be, but I still have the use of my senses.
“Folk talk to me when I go out on the steps for a breath of air. I hear what goes on right enough.”
Interest blazed on Thomas’s face.
“Could one of those compatriots come up with a clue as to who is responsible? I drew a blank in my search.”
“Thomas, it was too rushed. There was no time for leaving every stone unturned,” Jennet replied.
“No time at all,” Thomas acknowledged. “And now look at the result – damage to all those good folks who spoke up for me.
“Rules might be rules, but did the council need to go to such extremes?
“Amos, Cecily and the others ordered to move on immediately and the remaining groups to follow within the week?”
Alice looked puzzled.
“Why, Thomas? The company generally stays here till mid-autumn at the very least. It has always been so.”
“That is true, mistress. Seems it is a method of ensuring that nobody has any more to do with the guilty party. Myself, in other words.”
Jennet worriedly twirled a stray lock of hair around her finger.
“What will you do now, Thomas?”
“Find work, I warrant.” His eyes sought and held hers. “Here, in Nantwich.
“’Twill have to include bed and board. There has to be someone wanting a willing hand.”
“If we were still at Queen Street you could have shared our rooftree,” Ned said. “But here?”
He shook his grizzled head.
“Not ours to offer, is it?”
“Never fear, Ned. I shall find a place right enough.”
The atmosphere went bleak. The Parrys knew how it felt to be turned away from all that was familiar and necessary to one’s very existence.
In this overcrowded town a work situation was not easily come by.
A placing offering services all found, such as theirs with Henry Gryce, was near impossible.
To be continued…
