Page 34 of The Laudanum Ladies' Society

‘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 thesituation 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.

Augusta gave a tight smile. ‘I’m afraid I don’t deal in matters of written contracts other than with tradesmen, and I won’t insult you by likening you to the fishmonger. My word is enough for most people I deal with. My word will have to be enough for you, as well.’ Augusta’s smile became slightly harder, reminding Gwen of a death mask she had once seen in a museum. ‘Of course, if my word is not good enough for you then please, do tell me.’

Gwen cast a glance at Jenny, feeling in the pit of her stomach that the consequences of doing that would be dire.

‘My worry is that I will not be able to honour my end of the bargain,’ she explained. ‘When Miss Rosewood and I started this little venture, we had in mind earning a few shillings by making a bottle or two of the tincture. The volume that you are talking about is rather greater and I’m not sure we could fulfil all your orders.’

‘Why not?’ Augusta asked.

‘Because—’ Gwen stopped and looked down at the ground. Her cheeks were growing warm, but it was time to prove that she could drive a bargain. ‘Because I have been using some supplies from my husband’s stock. I have paid for it, of course. I don’t want you to think that I am a thief, but naturally it means we are needing to buy more opium and… and the other ingredients at a quicker rate than we should need to. So far, that has not become problematic but, well, you can see how it is going to become impossible to do this without my husband becoming suspicious. I am sorry, Augusta, but perhaps we had better decline after all.’

She finished talking, breathless from the long monologue.

Augusta sat back. She lifted her two forefingers and pressed them together, looking almost as if she was playing the child’s game of the church and steeple.

‘Yes, I see your concern. However, I had anticipated that and I have already a solution in mind. I shall provide you with the opium myself. Your husband’s cupboards shall be, henceforth, perfectly safe. I would wager, if I was a gambling woman– which I am not– that anything I provide for you will be of a higher quality and much cheaper than what you have been using.’

Gwen forced a smile. That had been their trump card, and now they had no reasonable objections.

‘I shall arrange for a quantity to be delivered to your address and you can work from there. When you have manufactured it,you can bring it to me yourself here, or I will send one of my employees to collect it.’

‘But we don’t have the wherewithal to buy a quantity now,’ Jenny said.

‘No matter. I’ll put it on account,’ Augusta said smoothly.

She appeared to have an answer for everything. As a lone woman in a male domain, she would of course have to, if she had any hope of keeping her business afloat.

‘What if we can’t afford to pay you back?’ Jenny asked.

‘I will take what you owe into account when it comes to the matter of profits,’ Augusta said.

‘I don’t want anyone coming to the pharmacy,’ Gwen said hastily, imagining Wolf appearing at the door bearing a parcel or demanding bottles. ‘My husband is likely to ask who he is, and I will not be able to answer in a satisfactory way.’

‘I employ women, too, many who pass as respectable members of society.’ Augusta walked from behind the desk and stood before Jenny and Gwen.