Puritan Bride by Anne O'Brien Page A

granted it back to him. So we returned. Not an edifying story!’
    ‘And the lady—the guardian? What happened to her?’
    ‘She would not stay. I cannot blame her. She was very angry.’
    Felicity returned, followed by Verzons bearing a tray. He poured the wine, handed the glasses to the ladies and arranged a small table conveniently beside Elizabeth. As he presented Viola with her wine, she looked up at him in thanks to surprise an intent look on his face as he studied her. He immediately dropped his gaze and became once again the self-effacing steward, but it left Viola uncomfortable. It was not a casual look at all.
    As Elizabeth reached to put down the glass, she caught the stem with a clumsy hand and the glass fell to thefloor, smashing the fragile vessel and spilling the wine in a spreading puddle. She cried out in distress as Felicity leaped to her feet to mop up the mess. ‘I am so clumsy,’ she fretted. ‘Some days it is insupportable.’
    Viola was horrified to see tears gather in Lady Elizabeth’s eyes and only sheer effort of will prevent them from spilling over down her cheeks.
    ‘Is it …?’ She hesitated, unsure of such a personal enquiry. ‘Is it the rheumatic disease that causes your suffering, my lady?’
    ‘Yes. So painful! For some little time now—and the cold and damp aggravates it.’
    ‘I believe I can make things easier for you if you would allow me.’
    ‘I doubt anyone can,’ Felicity intervened, still on her knees where she dealt with the spilled wine and glass. ‘Lady Elizabeth has suffered from such pains for many years and nothing helps. We must pray for deliverance.’
    ‘But I know how to ease the pain.’
    ‘Do you really?’ The spark of hope in Elizabeth’s eyes and voice touched Viola’s heart.
    Yes, because …’ She hesitated, frowning, as if the reason had slipped away from her grasp. ‘I do not know why I know,’ she continued, ‘but I know that I have the skill and knowledge to ease the pain and reduce the swelling. Someone must have taught me. I remember a number of potions and balms, and a pain-relieving draught, that would be of use.’ Viola took a deep breath, eyes closed infrustration. ‘Why can I remember such trivial details and yet not know my own name?’
    ‘I know not. But you could make such a potion for me? You could make the pain go away?’
    ‘I believe I can ease it. Do you wish for me to try?’
    ‘If only you would.’ Hope illuminated Elizabeth’s face. ‘What would you use?’
    ‘Herbs and hedgerow plants. Dried leaves mostly at this time of the year when little is growing. It is not difficult to prepare something that should give you relief.’
    ‘But what if her memory is wrong, dear Elizabeth?’ Felicity came to stand protectively beside her cousin, one hand on her shoulder as if in warning. ‘Her so-called remedies could have disastrous consequences. You could be poisoned and we would not know what to do for you. I advise very strongly against it.’ Her eyes, fixed on Viola, were cold and full of implacable hatred.
    ‘Felicity—’ Elizabeth’s voice was weary in the extreme, but she recognised the jealousy that afflicted her companion and understood it even as she would have condemned it ‘—I appreciate your concern—and your motives—but some days I would accept a remedy from the devil himself if I thought there was only the smallest chance of success.’
    ‘I never thought to hear such blasphemy from you, dearest cousin!’
    ‘It is not blasphemy.’ Elizabeth remained calm, although her eyes snapped with temper. ‘It is desperation.Nothing else has any effect. Perhaps Viola is an answer to our prayers.’
    ‘As to that, I know not. But I will use the skill I have. Do you have a still-room?’ Viola enquired, rising to her feet. ‘And I presume there is a herb garden.’
    ‘Yes. Sadly unkempt, but I make you free of it.’ Lady Elizabeth looked at her hands with swollen joints and ugly reddened knuckles, and