The Lost Apothecary

Eliza arrives and proudly tells Nella of how well she performed with the poisoned eggs, and how quickly Mr. Amwell died after consuming them. She has returned to the shop hoping that Nella will be able to provide her with something to dispel Mr. Amwell’s ghost and cease her bleeding. She does not explicitly tell Nella this, though, because she fears the older woman will not take her seriously if she unveils the entire truth. Eliza only tells Nella that she does not want to stay at the Amwell house, but Nella senses that she is holding something back. Eliza finds another way to ensure that she can stay in the shop a bit longer, thereby stalling her return to the Amwell estate: She entreats Nella to allow her an apprenticeship at the shop, emphatically informing Nella that the woman will “not be disappointed with [her] work” (94). Nella denies her at first, concerned that Eliza does not truly know what she’s getting into by asking to work in her shop.

Eliza eventually tells Nella that she thinks Mr. Amwell is haunting her; this spawns a discussion wherein Nella reveals that, though she does not believe ghosts exist as wrathful presences, she does believe that “we feel remnants of those who have lived before” (96), but these are simply “creations of our own desperate imaginations” (96). Eliza takes a bit of offense, thinking Nella is implying she is imagining Mr. Amwell’s haunting and Johanna’s cries. Nella gives her a small book of magic that belonged to her mother, though Nella never saw the woman open it. Nella tells her a story of how her mother healed a burned newborn with a topical treatment of wild honey and emphasizes that such healing is as good as magic. Nevertheless, Nella understands Eliza’s curiosity about magic. Nella also alerts Eliza to an address inside the book’s back cover, the location of a magic bookstore.

While Nella and Eliza are speaking, Nella’s latest client finally knocks on the door. Since Nella finds her hands unsteady, she allows Eliza to help around the shop “just this once” (99) by pouring and packing the powder for the new client.

In the morning, before James’s arrival, Caroline goes to Bear Alley and finds that it is now a service route for delivery trucks. She hadn’t expected anything too obvious but had “hoped there would be a bit more intrigue than this” (101). Since Caroline’s period still hasn’t shown up, she sees this investigation partially as a distraction from her potential pregnancy (and James’s imminent arrival). Caroline goes further into the alley. She is a bit disheartened at not finding anything significant yet, but she eventually spots a small square clearing closed off by a steel gate.

She is spotted by a plumber working in the area and asks him about the clearing. Though the plumber does not know why the clearing exists, he tells her that there is a service door toward the left end of the clearing. He believes that it “probably just leads to a subcellar or something” (103). When the plumber leaves, Caroline steps on a dislodged stone to see further above the gate. She can discern “a large piece of wood set into the aged brick building” (104), as well as a rusted door handle about halfway down the wood.

Nella’s latest customer arrives wearing a veil to mask her identity. She is obviously very wealthy; Nella notes that she seems more “suited to the airy parlors of Kensington” (105) than her hidden shop. The woman mistakes Eliza for Nella’s daughter and reveals that though she has no children of her own—despite how badly she wants them and how much she and her husband have tried to conceive—she finds the presence of children comforting. Nella is surprised that she shares this wealthy lady’s desire for children but notes that, unlike her, this woman is still fertile. As Nella explains how effective the aphrodisiac is, Nella asks Eliza to step into the storeroom to avoid hearing. But the woman insists, “with the force of someone accustomed to getting her way” (107), that Eliza remain. Nella explains the efficacy of the powder: With a quarter of the powder, the women’s husband will die within the night, but with half the powder, her husband will die within the hour. At the mention of her spouse, the woman confesses that she does not intend to kill her husband but his mistress and cousin, Miss Berkwell. Nella refuses, adamant that “no woman [will] suffer” (109) at her hands.

The new client becomes upset, calling Miss Berkwell her husband’s “insect and whore” (110). In response to this, Nella’s internal reflection discloses her former status as Frederick’s unwitting mistress. Though she did not know Frederick was married while they were involved, she identifies with Miss Berkwell a bit. Nella refuses to sell the wealthy woman the powder. The woman looks at Nella with incredulity and declares that she is Lady Clarence of Carter Lane, and that she will pay double the original price for the vial. Nella maintains her refusal, at which point Lady Clarence “[reaches] for the jar of powder” (112) in an attempt to steal it. However, Nella grabs the vial and throws its contents into the fire behind her. Outraged, Lady Clarence tells Nella to remake the powder by the following day or else she will go to the authorities and tell them about the true nature of Nella’s shop. She looks around the shop and threatens that, unless Nella complies with her request, “every secret within this squalid hole will come to light” (113).

Caroline leaves Bear Alley. As she walks, she decides that if many people had died because of the apothecary, as indicated by the hospital note she found, then there should be some record of the apothecary’s notoriety online. When her own research yields nothing, she visits Gaynor at the library for a more refined search. Caroline asks Gaynor if she has any maps of the Bear Alley area from the 1800s. The women learn that Back Alley juts off of Bear Alley. With Gaynor’s help, Caroline concludes that the “narrow, jagged line representing Back Alley on the 19th-century map [is] related to the door [she] saw earlier today” (119). The investigation of these maps makes Caroline feel as though she is unknotting an important historical mystery, and she is hopeful for what this may mean for a potential future as a historian and researcher. Caroline asks Gaynor how she would go about verifying the existence of this apothecary. Gaynor helps her look through the British Newspaper Archive for any articles about apothecaries in the 1800s. This search proves fruitless, and Gaynor suggests that Caroline sift through the library’s manuscript database for any leads. But because this database is not fully digitized and accessible, Caroline’s investigation of it could take months—time that she, on her short vacation, cannot spare. Though Caroline is mentally exhausted by the thought of such an extensive search, Gaynor encourages her to continue hunting for information. As Caroline leaves the library to prepare for James’s arrival, she resolves to solve this mystery.

When Lady Clarence leaves the shop, Eliza encourages Nella to remake the powder. She points out that if Nella is captured, her detailed register will lead to her clients’ arrests as well. Eliza internally recognizes that if Lady Clarence seeks revenge, she, too, would be exposed. Nella replies that she could not remake the powder even if she wanted to because of her physical ailments. Eliza offers to collect the beetles and prepare the powder because she is “well-accustomed to doing another person’s dishonorable work” (125). Nella agrees and plans to accompany Eliza on the trip. They wait until sundown to make the journey because the beetles rest at night, thereby making them easier to collect. While they wait for the sun to set, Eliza repairs the names in the register for Nella. Eliza remarks that these pages should be destroyed to avoid detection, but Nella explains that she records the names of these women because this is one of the few places where women of her era can “leave an indelible mark” (127) on the world around them. While repairing the names, Eliza notices Mrs. Amwell’s name in the register and finds out that she came to Nella’s shop a couple years prior to retrieve a nonpoisonous treatment for her spasms.

Once it is dark, Nella and Eliza head to Walworth field and collect the beetles. There are no coaches running this late, so Nella and Eliza take refuge in a shed for the night and wait for morning so they can find transportation then. As they sit in the shed, Nella talks about how her own path is just a logical divergence of her mother’s path: Nella holds her mother’s same herbal knowledge, but “[her] mother’s knowledge was a weapon she never once used” (134). Eliza reveals why she and Mrs. Amwell killed Mr. Amwell, birthing a discussion on trust and betrayal wherein Nella advises Eliza that “first, there is trust; then, there is betrayal; you cannot be betrayed by someone you do not trust” (135). Nella tells Eliza about Frederick, who Nella suspects mixed motherwort, a toxin that encourages the uterine lining to shed and can induce abortions, into her food after she fell pregnant with his child, likely an attempt to salvage his marriage with his wife Rissa. Rissa came to Nella’s shop and asked for nux vomica to kill Frederick for his betrayal. Nella supplied her with it, and Frederick became her first victim, marking the inception of her identity as a lethal apothecary. Nella acknowledges that her work cannot go on forever, then falls asleep on a bale of hay as Eliza watches.

Caroline heads back to the La Grande hotel. When she arrives at her room, she finds a vase of baby blue hydrangeas with a note from James promising to make things up to her. James shows up a little while later, and Caroline weathers the awkward reunion. James becomes teary-eyed as he thanks her for letting him in the room. Caroline notes that she’s only ever seen him cry twice before: at their wedding and at his uncle’s funeral. This rare show of tearfulness does not draw Caroline’s sympathy. She decides to go out for lunch to put some space between them. When James asks if he can join, Caroline reluctantly acquiesces. Caroline internally resolves to not tell James about her possible pregnancy. Over lunch, James tells Caroline that he had his mistress transferred. Caroline is unsatisfied with this, irritated at James’s implication that the blame could somehow be completely attributed to the other woman. James tells her that, though it is unfortunate that his unhappiness in their marriage came to light this way, “maybe there’s some good to come of it” (146).

Caroline asks why he cheated. James replies that he feels like his life has been too safe, claiming that it was Caroline who wanted such safety. Caroline says that James prevented her from going to grad school in Cambridge. James diffuses responsibility because, according to him, “[he] wasn’t the one to rip up the application” (147). James wants to stay in London to work things out, guilting Caroline into giving in by bringing up the price of his expensive last-minute flight. Caroline relents but tells him that she still wants to be alone for the next few days; she directs him to sleep on the couch. James leaves and heads back to the hotel. As Caroline remains at the cafe table, she gets a text from Gaynor saying she got a few hits on the manuscript database for the apothecary killer; Gaynor has also requested those manuscripts. Both search results are periodicals from 1791, and one includes an image. After closing Gaynor’s text, Caroline’s attention returns to her issues with James. Given how they both seem unsatisfied with their lives, Caroline reconsiders their potential future as parents.