Death at the Beggar's Opera (34 page)

John was aware that a tactful interval had elapsed before his father had gone to call, only to find the house empty, all the furnishings gone. And then a letter from Mrs Harcross had arrived from Italy telling Sir Gabriel that she had gone to live with an invalid cousin, whom she was intending to nurse for the rest of his days in order to atone for all her past wickedness.

‘A ruined life! How sad,’ said John, remembering both her and her daughter with a desperate sense of pity.

‘What do you mean? Your life is ruined because we are both still young?’ Coralie exclaimed, astonished.

He seized her round the waist and executed the initial sequence of steps. ‘No, just for a moment I was thinking about something else.’ He smiled down at her. ‘Do you know, it suddenly occurs to me that at long last we are even.’

‘Even?’ she repeated, looking still more puzzled.

‘You saved my life once and I, though somewhat clumsily I admit, also saved yours.’

‘Then are we not supposed to be responsible for one another? Is that not the superstition?’

John shook his head. ‘I really don’t know.’ He paused, then drew her closer still, ignoring the others who by now were dancing in the centre. ‘But perhaps when we have done all this living you talk about we might be able to find out,’ he said softly.

Coralie Clive regarded him with a quizzical expression.

‘Perhaps,’ she said as, with the music gathering momentum and the lights from the chandelier glistening in their eyes, the two of them started to dance.

John Rawlings, Apothecary, was born circa 1731, though his actual parentage is somewhat shrouded in mystery. However, by 1754 he had emerged from obscurity when on 22 August he applied to be made Free of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. After two unsuccessful attempts to be made Free, he eventually became a Yeoman of the Society in March, 1755, giving his address as number two Nassau Street. His house still stands and can be found in Gerrard Place in Chinatown. Well over a hundred years later, this was the address of H. D. Rawlings Ltd., Soda Water Manufacturers, proving conclusively that John Rawlings was probably the first apothecary to manufacture carbonated waters in this country. After some early research on him, his ebullient personality continued to haunt me, and I brought him into the spotlight, in the first book in this series, Death in the Dark Walk.