Part 11 (1/2)
”This should simmer overnight,” she went on, indicating her pot. ”I need some fresh air.” ”Agreed,” Roger said.
They both stumbled out of the stillroom and took great gulps of laundry-scented air in the adjacent drying room. When the potion had cooled, Roger went back into the still-room and poured it into a gla.s.s for d.i.c.kon.
”Will he drink it?”
”I'll tell him it's Lady Ella's favorite tea,” Roger said.
Poppy laughed, and was still laughing when they went into the library. d.i.c.kon was awash in crumpled paper, and looked up with a dazed expression as they came in.
”Can you think of a rhyme for 'Ella' other than 'fella'?” he asked.
Poppy put one hand over her eyes. She could think of a number of things, like ”yella,” that would rhyme, but none of them made for good poetry. She didn't even want to know what was on the crumpled papers littering the table and floor.
”Poetry isn't really my strong suit,” Roger said blandly. ”Have a drink to refresh yourself, why don't you?”
”Ah, yes! Just the thing!”
d.i.c.kon reached for the tumbler eagerly enough, but when 153.
the odor reached his nostrils he recoiled, nearly spilling it. Roger grabbed the gla.s.s back just in time. ”I say! It smells like an old boot!”
Roger started to say something about Lady Ella, but Poppy stopped him with a hand on his sleeve.
”d.i.c.kon,” she said with a smile, ”it's a love potion.”
”Pardon?” the brothers said together.
”It will make you irresistible to Lady Ella.”
”Really?” d.i.c.kon licked his lips, then shuddered. ”Do you think I need it? I would much rather woo her with my poems.”
Poppy felt her nostrils flare and she bit back a giggle. ”Well, in case you can't find a rhyme for 'Ella'...” She took the gla.s.s from Roger and held it out to d.i.c.kon.
”Are you certain it will work?” He stopped with one hand outstretched. ”Why does it smell so ghastly?”
”Because it only works on Lady Ella,” Poppy improvised. ”We strained it through one of her stockings.”
”How did you get one of Lady Ella's stockings?”
”We bribed her maid. Now drink!”
d.i.c.kon hesitated only a second more, then he s.n.a.t.c.hed the gla.s.s, gulped it down, and gagged. He fumbled the gla.s.s to the tabletop, holding his throat with his free hand.
”Oh! You've poisoned me!”
”Nonsense,” Roger said in a worried voice. ”You just have to, um, twist the gla.s.s.” He made a wringing motion.
”Twist the gla.s.s?” Now it was Poppy and d.i.c.kon who spoke 154.
at the same time. d.i.c.kon, still retching, obediently turned the gla.s.s around on the table.
”That's doing nothing,” Poppy reported, twisting her own hands in the skirt of her gown.
”Din yun, din yun ...?” Roger pulled at his lower lip. ”Oh!” He shook his head. ...?” Roger pulled at his lower lip. ”Oh!” He shook his head. ”Throw ”Throw the gla.s.s!” the gla.s.s!”
”With pleasure,” d.i.c.kon choked, and tossed the tumbler into the hearth.
The gla.s.s shattered into tiny diamonds, which smoked and disappeared with a gentle chiming sound. Poppy closed her mouth, and looked to d.i.c.kon, who all at once sat up in his chair and looked around as if he'd just awakened.
”What was that for?”
”So you'd stop making a fool of yourself with Lady Ella,” Poppy said, carefully watching for his reaction.
”Lady Ella? That strange girl who kept hitting Christian with her fan?” d.i.c.kon shook his head and turned back to his papers and pen. ”Don't know what you mean. Now kindly leave me in peace while I compose a letter to Marianne. Her birthday is tomorrow, you know.”
Roger and Poppy fled to the hallway where they stood, looking stunned, for a moment.
”Goodness,” Poppy said at last. ”That seemed too easy.”
155.
Dreamer
Poppy stood up in the middle of her bed, just to make sure she didn't fall back asleep and continue her wretched, wretched nightmare. Why she had to endlessly visit the Palace Under Stone she didn't know, but she hoped the dreams would stop soon.
She crouched down and reached under her pillow to make sure the little white sachet was still there. It was. She plucked it out and held it to her nose. Still fragrant with herbs after all these years, the muslin bag had been a gift from Walter Vogel. He had given sachets to Poppy and all her sisters some ten years ago, to ward off bad dreams. Hers didn't seem to be working anymore, though it still smelled as fresh as always.
Something else to write to Galen about. Poppy wished she could ask Walter, but his work in Westfalin was done, though Poppy and her sisters still missed the strange old man. She wondered if there was some way to summon him, for surely his knowledge of magic was needed here in Breton now.
156.
She got up and wrote a note to Galen and Rose, including the strange dream, the questions about her sachet, and the possibility of reaching Walter Vogel. She sealed and addressed it so that it could go out with the first post, but even so it would reach Galen and Rose far too late to help. Marianne's birthday ball was only two days away, and Poppy was sure that ”Lady Ella” would be in attendance, causing even more mayhem than before.
Christian and Lady Margaret could talk of little else, and Marianne burst into tears whenever anyone mentioned either Ella or the royal gala. d.i.c.kon had needed two more doses of the potion, which seemed to wear off after a day, and Roger was frantically trying to brew more of the malodorous stuff, but was having trouble locating one of the ingredients. And the Thwaite's stillroom maid had turned off the spirit lamp under Poppy's pot of boiling wool, and now she would have to start all over again with the herbs and rainwater.
Roger had come to the house twice specifically to call on Ellen and try to winkle out her plans for the upcoming ball, but both times the girl conveniently vanished.
But when Poppy saw the dress that Lady Margaret had had made for her to wear to Marianne's ball, she resolved that she would confront Ellen in front of all the guests if ”Lady Ella” wore a copy of it.
It was of deep violet satin with an overskirt of smoky gray tissue that softened the color underneath and made Poppy look and feel like a fairy princess. There was silver embroidery around 157.
the neckline, and matching satin shoes. She already had a violet silk choker she wore to enliven a white gown she had inherited from Lily.