The Almanack

by Martine Bailey

  Tabitha’s smile felt entirely stiff and artificial. ‘To London.’ She was near to choking on her words.

  ‘Ah yes. Nell did tell me. You are abandoning the child.’

  Tabitha swallowed and did not reply.

  ‘So, what do you make of my wine cellar?’

  As he ushered her through to his hidden chambers, his face grew lively with pleasure. It was self-satisfaction, she decided; a chilling confirmation that she had truly stepped inside his trap.

  ‘You see here the remnants of the greatest of civilizations. There had always been legends of lost Roman temples hereabouts, sunk into the ground and destroyed by time. And then, one day, as I was surveying to create my cellar, I discovered this. Or, as I like to believe, I was led here. Look around you.’

  He pointed with the end of his cane to different characters rendered in chalky paint on the walls.

  ‘Here is Hermes, and there Zeus and Minerva. You are fortunate; I have never shared this room with anyone, save for Darius, who appreciated such things, and my manservant Florian, who would no more question me than God himself. If my brother John knew of it, he would of course be entirely Philistine in his views. Have you noticed what a fool that man is?

  ‘As Plato said, only the clever should rule – don’t you agree? John has always resented my intellect. Every day, as I selflessly gave of my time for the healing of others, that buffoon persecuted and belittled me. If I could only have taken his place I would have run a model estate here, set up a seat of learning, endowed a university. Do you have a brother, Tabitha?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘All my life he has cast a shadow upon me; the heir, the eldest son, who must always be paramount. Yet he is a creature of naught; he frittered away his days in hunting, eating, and coupling, like any low brainless animal.

  ‘And now Time has cheated me.’ He shook his head in stiff disdain. ‘Just as I had finally found the means to take John’s place, this ailment struck me. It is a fatal disorder of the blood. I above all should know it, for my aim in training as a physician was always to outlive my brother … Come along, let me show you my greatest treasure.’

  The doctor limped into the second chamber, and Tabitha hesitated before following. She had no key, even if she dashed up to the cellar door with Bess. No, she must play along, and pray that he would let them go.

  ‘There is not such a perfect collection of medical curiosities in all of England,’ he boasted, waving his graceful hand towards the macabre jars.

  ‘Where did you find these …’ Tabitha could think of no words to describe them.

  ‘Oh, the commonest sorts of persons were privileged to play a part in my studies.’ He peered into a jar of bloodshot eyes. ‘Sacrifice is always needful in the pursuit of knowledge.’ He raised his open hand towards another jar. ‘Perhaps you recognize your father’s heart?’

  Tabitha reeled in horror; clutching at the wall to stop herself swooning. She would not look in the direction this fiend was pointing.

  ‘And here he is,’ announced the doctor as he moved into the final chamber. ‘Behold: the only perfect image in relief of the great god Saturn. He is my true twin soul, my godhead, my divine shadow. Like me, he is the bringer of life and the servant of death. And here he was, waiting for me to discover him beneath my own floor.’

  Tabitha looked up at the veiled figure, for the first time apprehending its victory crown of laurel leaves.

  ‘You placed his image on the monument,’ she murmured.

  ‘Yes,’ he said breezily. ‘If I cannot be ennobled in life, I am resigned to be ennobled in death, at least. Sir John, as you observed yesterday, has very little time left on this earth; I am intending to complete his course of physic tonight. And I need only outlive him for a few minutes to be entombed as Baronet De Vallory. It appeals to me thus to have the final jest in this long game.’

  Tabitha understood all too clearly now that this man had entirely lost his reason. Her every instinct screamed to her to scoop up Bess and run away from him; instead she prayed that he was crazed enough to be diverted by a little play-acting.

  ‘Well, I have brought the skull watch for your inspection.’

  She lifted it from her pocket and held it in her palm, a little out of his reach, and he smiled greedily.

  ‘A powerful relic for a man in my circumstances. So, have you made your farewells yet? You are packed and ready to leave?’

  ‘Yes.’ As she spoke the word, she realized that she had tolled her own death knell; if she never left this cellar, no one would make even a brief inquiry.

  The thought made her frantic. ‘If you give me the money I shall go, and never come back. And never speak a word of this again.’

  Serenely, the doctor turned to pick up a wooden box – when he opened it, she saw it was full of shining coins. His bright eyes creased as he observed her.

  ‘I have made arrangements for the child.’

  She was perplexed. ‘I don’t understand, sir.’

  Bess, growing bored, had by now settled on the floor to play with the model of the planets, and had removed the golden sphere of the sun to roll upon the ground. She was in the act of loosening the lapis ball that represented the earth when she glanced up and, seeing them both intent upon her, chuckled and rolled it along the floor, to knock against the sun as if they were two balls upon a billiard table.

  The doctor watched Bess with a peculiarly benevolent expression.

  ‘She will live a life of great privilege. I have made a trust for the little orphan, to provide funds for her education and every advantage the De Vallory fortune can buy her.’

  ‘But why?’ Tabitha’s voice rose in perplexity.

  He watched Bess throw more parts of the astrolabe petulantly across the floor.

  ‘Come here, Bess,’ he crooned. ‘Would you like a sugarplum, my little maid?’

  Obediently, Bess rose and toddled towards him, her plump fingers outstretched and a greedy grin upon her lips. The doctor scooped her up and pulled a confection from his robe, and Bess sat chewing happily in his arms.

  ‘You reminded me, Tabitha, at the Manor Court. I had almost forgotten how, when I called upon her once, I found your mother lying in confusion from an ague and administered physic to make her sleep. Even I, trained to channel my animal spirits into my intellect, suffer occasional troublesome urges, and allow myself certain small indulgences. My medications do confer a most delicious stupor in my subjects, as well as providing a surety against detection. Indeed, I have always had a preference for insensible flesh.

  ‘And then you brought the child here – and she is delightful. I had no notion I could ever feel such pleasure at being confronted by my own flesh, a living descendant I can leave on this earth.’

  Cramps of disgust assailed her as she understood his meaning – that her mother had been attacked by this madman while she lay insensible. She had a stupid desire to punch the doctor in his smooth, triumphant face. But now he held Bess before him like a shield; and he was watching her carefully, flushed with triumph.

  Tabitha edged her way backwards, towards the door.

  ‘And then you had Darius kill my mother.’

  ‘That was her own fault entirely. Killing that hound was not only a test of my laurel distillation, but also a most amusing strike against my brother. Your mother was such a meddler in other people’s affairs.

  ‘I confess, Tabitha, you have been an entertaining opponent. Once that mongrel pretender to the De Vallory title, Starling, was arrested, I fancied you would retire from our contest. But, as I said, there can only be one victor.’

  He watched her, his benign visage entirely erased; triumph and madness now combined in his countenance, so that he more resembled a cunning beast than a dignified old man. She felt her blood freeze, as if a poisonous snake reared before her. Yet if she were going to act, she must do so now, she commanded herself. She could not abandon her little sister to this murderous lunatic. Nevertheless, she could not bring he
rself to look at Bess as she spoke.

  ‘You will pay me to be rid of Bess? That’s good. I feared I should be out of pocket to be rid of her.’ She forced herself to look with avarice at the box of coins. ‘Fifteen pounds will purchase my silence.’

  She looked up from the box and knew at once he would not be duped so easily. Yet there was another matter that drove her on and made her lay her hand protectively across her stomach. There was a natural reason for her recent weariness. A miscalculation of the calendar’s lost days against the moon was now growing within her, into a fruitful future to be shared with Nat. She must overcome the monster for this new child’s sake.

  She pulled out the skull watch. ‘Before I part from it, would you grant me one last favour? Would you show me the trick of how to open it? It defeats me.’

  Impatiently, he compressed his lips, but she sensed his vanity had been aroused, for he was a man who loved above all things to display his prowess. In the lamplight, the silver skull gleamed with malice. Now she thought it the most ugly piece of craftsmanship she had ever seen, and held her breath as he reached out to take it. Please God, she prayed, let the teeth only break his skin, and the mixture enter his blood. Her heart seemed to stop as his graceful fingers attempted to prise apart the jaws.

  With a chilling smile, he met her eyes. Using the thick cloth of his robe as protection, he slowly drew the skull’s jaws apart.

  ‘Tabitha,’ he said, in a gentle voice, ‘did you truly think I would let you poison me? I see your spirit is all a mere front for your stupidity. A self-flattering harlot is how Netherlea thinks of you, and that is all you are. I must confess, I was especially amused that you were vain enough to imagine yourself enticing to me.’

  This was too much. Fury at her own failure made her boil over at last.

  ‘Yes, we are all so stupid, are we not? Mere dolts who believed in the myth of your virtue! We are nothing but animated carcasses to you. God help me, but I hope you suffer on your own deathbed as my mother did.’

  He grasped her wrist; his grip was surprisingly strong. It took only an instant before she felt the skull’s needle-sharp teeth bite deep into her flesh.

  Her last thought was of how mighty fast-working was the medicament she had chosen to anoint the skull’s needling teeth. Then the room span around her and her skull banged hard against the stone-flagged floor.

  FORTY-NINE

  A Riddle

  In Paradise first, ’twas agreed, I believe,

  That I should attend upon Adam and Eve,

  And shed my kind influence over the earth,

  On birds, beasts, and fishes, and all who had birth;

  On the healthy I rarely forget to attend:

  And by the hard-working am styled their best friend;

  I alleviate cares and enable them still,

  To rise with the lark, and employ all their skill:

  At balls and assemblies and routs I’m ne’er seen,

  At church in a corner I sometimes have been;

  In short, I’m so odd, I confess with a sigh,

  Too much of me kills, and without me you die.

  The 25th day of December 1752

  Christmas Day

  Luminary: Sun sets 48 minutes after 3.

  Observation: Venus and Mercury are both occidental evening stars.

  Prognostication: Hope well and trust to providence.

  Like a pair of hounds chasing a scent, Joshua and Nat followed the footprints. Soon the light failed, but by then they knew the way, even without the tracks to guide them. When they reached the drive of the doctor’s house, however, all the windows were blank and dark.

  ‘She is still here,’ Joshua murmured, following the runner tracks into a stand of bushes and pulling out the sled. As they deliberated, a band of farm lads and a few watchmen met them at the drive. Then a rustling sound amongst the trees alerted Nat to a stealthy movement; a man was furtively heading off across the garden.

  ‘Catch him!’

  Three or four men hurtled after the dark shape, yelling and cursing. Soon they returned with the doctor’s servant Florian, his head hanging low and both arms locked tight in the lads’ strong grip.

  Nat dipped a torch down to the ground, seeking the impression of the servant’s footwear in the snow. Instantly, he recognized its pattern.

  ‘You pinned that paper to Tabitha’s door?’

  The little man jerked away from the potent fury in Nat’s voice. ‘I never harmed her!’

  ‘Where is she? Tell me now, or you’ll swing from that tree before you can catch your breath.’ Joshua shook the man’s collar with his meaty hands.

  ‘In the cellar,’ Florian gasped. ‘Through the kitchen; the low door, stuck with iron nails.’

  ‘Take him to the lock-up,’ ordered the constable.

  If Nat had been alone, the heavy door to the cellar would have defeated him; but a half-dozen villagers, using a heavy oak bench as a ram, broke it open with a few thundering blows. He was the first to spring through the splintered debris and race down the stairs.

  The first chamber was empty, as was the second. As he entered the third, the sound of a child weeping reached him. Tabitha lay prone on the ground, her body crumpled where it had fallen. Weeping beside her was Bess, who raised round, tear-filled eyes as he approached, and shook Tabitha’s inert hand in an attempt to wake her.

  He was too late. Nat fell on his knees and caressed Tabitha’s cheek. She was not yet cold to his touch. Bess tugged at her sister’s hand again and attempted to speak to Nat in her infant prattle.

  ‘What happened, little one?’ His question set her weeping again.

  Taking one of Tabitha’s hands in his, he saw a curious horseshoe-shape of blood spots upon it, as if her skin had been punctured by a small creature’s teeth.

  He looked around the room and, for the first time, became aware of the doctor, who was held fast by the watchmen.

  ‘I am a sick man,’ he quavered. ‘Have pity, Saxton.’

  ‘What happened to her?’ Nat demanded. ‘What are these marks?’

  The doctor answered him with a flash of his old arrogance. ‘She came here to try to poison me. But I was too clever for her; she took a dose of her own medicine.’

  Nat stood up, barging the doctor’s captors aside. Then he did what he had ached to do since he had first read the vaunting hubris of the inscription; with the flat of his hand he slapped the old man’s conceited face, sending him flying against the wall.

  ‘How do I restore her?’

  ‘How dare you strike me?’ demanded the doctor, cringing away from him.

  ‘The remedy? What is it?’

  ‘I don’t know what she used,’ the doctor muttered.

  ‘Damn you, I cannot listen to this,’ said the constable bleakly. ‘May you suffer what your victims suffered – a hundredfold.’ Turning to his men, he ordered them to walk the old man through the snow, and chain him to the wall of the lock-up’s coldest cell.

  Nat carried Tabitha up the stairs. Here she was at last; he felt her pliable flesh pressed against his chest, her tumbling hair, her smooth but chilly skin. He laid her on the couch and wrapped her in blankets, then built a fire, praying that he might once more be allowed to revive her. Joshua took his leave, insisting he would run no risk of the doctor’s escape.

  Nat nodded stiffly; he had tried to pour brandy between Tabitha’s lips, but she did not stir. Bess clambered on to her sister’s prone form and anxiously patted her face. Getting no response, she lay down on Tabitha’s lap, and soon quieted. Nat chafed Tabitha’s feet, stroked her head, squeezed her hand. The fire crackled and slowly sunk away into ash.

  The bright possibilities of a life with Tabitha hung before him in the firelight like a trembling vision that was every moment draining of its power. He knew that if she left him, he would face a great void, stretching before him like a pit of hell. If Tabitha ceased, he would rather his own time stopped altogether.

  Bess yawned and clambered down to
join him at the fireside, tear-swollen eyes staring dully at the flames. Recollecting himself, Nat coaxed her to follow him into the kitchen. One thing he did have a notion of was that children needed to be fed.

  As he provided Bess with a piece of cake and a cup of milk, he heard something stir in the drawing room. Running back, to his joy he found Tabitha half raised upon the couch, feeling her head, and blinking wearily. He folded her in his arms and she sank against him.

  ‘I thought I had lost you,’ he whispered. ‘Thank God the poison did not prove fatal.’

  She flung her head back, pale but gaining in strength. ‘I only intended to make him sleep; I have seen too much of death.’

  He studied the greenish-bronze of her iris, the obsidian gateway of the pupil, as if he could journey into her soul itself.

  ‘It is time to welcome life, Nat.’

  She took his hand and laid it on to the rounded swelling of her stomach.

  FIFTY

  A Riddle

  Deprived of root and branch, and rind,

  Yet flowers I bear of every kind,

  And such is my prolific power,

  They bloom in less than half an hour;

  My head with giddiness goes around,

  And yet I firmly stand my ground.

  No noble bishop in the land

  E’er joined such numbers hand in hand;

  I link them roundly in a ring,

  And e’en our Parson joins the thing;

  And though no marriage words are spoke,

  They part not till the ring is broke.

  The 1st day of May 1753

  May Day

  Luminary: Sun rises 19 minutes after 4: no dark nights.

  Observation: Venus an oriental evening star; Mercury is in the sunbeams.

  Prognostication: The stars are most propitious bringing Amity and Friendship to all.

  The pungent odour of May blossom releases its scent across the village; all of Netherlea has abandoned daily chores and drudgery to gather on the Church Green. Above the hum of chatter rises the rhythmic squawking of two fiddle players, their heads bent close together in pursuit of a melody. All the revellers wear their holiday best: white gowns and fancy stockings, treasured lace and pink-speckled blossom pinned at their breasts. The maypole stands at the centre, near twenty feet of tree trunk rising to the sky, bedecked with flowers and herbs and bound with a rainbow of ribbons from tip to tail. A circle of matrons and maidens are dancing, wheeling around the pole, reversing and advancing.