‘Be quiet, Davy,’ Lucy scolded.
Jane clicked her tongue and scowled. ‘It is your fault,’ she hissed into my ear.
‘How is it my fault?’ I hissed back, keen not to disturb Dowling.
‘You had a good job at the Tower,’ she said. ‘Then you gave it all up to go gallivanting about England trying to solve murders.’
‘Solving murders cannot be a bad thing.’
‘How can it be anything but a bad thing?’ Jane retorted. ‘How many men have you brought back to life? When a man is murdered it is because someone murdered him. You go sticking your great nose into other men’s business and what do you expect will happen?’ She let loose a great sigh of exasperation and edged closer to Lucy, studying carefully what she did in tending to Dowling’s belly.
I sighed too. How had I ever thought of marrying this woman? I might as well cut off my balls and soak them in vinegar.
‘We can take him to my aunt’s house,’ Jane said to Lucy. ‘She lives on the bridge. She will not mind us staying there a while.’
Lucy reached out a hand and brushed Jane’s cheek. ‘Thank you, my dear,’ she said. ‘Can we take him there now?’
‘Of course,’ Jane replied, licking her top lip with her tongue.
Lucy smiled gratefully. ‘God watches over us.’
‘Watches and wonders,’ said Jane, casting me another poisonous stare.
Dowling coughed and cleared his throat. ‘Harry saved my life, Jane. I thought God forsook us, but instead he worked through Harry. We travelled to Hell and back, men and women falling dead at our feet even as we walked. Ask yourself how it is we return, unharmed. There can be only one explanation.’ He closed his eyes and grimaced.
Lucy dabbed at his brow and cast me a quick smile, while Jane sat there stunned. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said about me, however fanciful the sentiment. I felt my irritation subside.
‘Help me, Harry,’ said Lucy, and we pulled the great butcher up onto his feet.
It wasn’t a long walk, but the crowds would be thick and impatient. ‘Can you manage, Davy?’ I asked.
‘That I would walk worthy of God, who hath called me unto his kingdom and glory,’ Dowling replied, lifting his chin. ‘As I said, ’twas but a prick.’
Lucy and I struggled to support him towards the entrance to Thames Street. It would be a long, slow haul.
‘Your house burnt down,’ said Jane.
‘I know,’ I nodded. ‘We will have to build a new one.’
‘We?’ she raised an eyebrow. ‘What makes you think I will be housemaid to a pauper?’
‘I am not a pauper,’ I replied. ‘I will find my money when it is safe to go back into the City, and I
had
thought you might want to live with me as my wife. Seems I was wrong.’
She pursed her lips. ‘You still plan to become an apothecary?’
‘Yes,’ I replied through gritted teeth, waiting for her to ridicule me again.
Instead she slipped her arm into my spare arm and brushed her cheek against my shoulder.
‘Jane,’ I said. ‘You know I …’
She reached up to touch my lips and smiled. ‘We can talk later,’ she said. ‘It’ll be many months before you can build a new home. Meantime we can get married at my aunt’s house.’
Her aunt’s house had but three rooms. ‘I think we can do better than that.’
‘Don’t argue, Harry.’ She pinched my wrist. ‘Your life is about to change for the better.’
She smiled happily and I wondered what I had let myself in for. I looked up to Dowling for Godly wisdom, but he bit his lip and struggled to keep walking. At first I thought he was in pain until I realised he was laughing.