Alchemist's Apprentice Read Online Free PDF

head.
    â€˜On the run?’ said Nancy. ‘Not you, Jack, surely? Who from?’
    Again Jack made a plea for silence, but Nancy was not to be deterred.
    â€˜You just tell me, lad. I’ll teach them something they never knew about widows.’
    Nancy made boxing motions in the air in front of her face. She made no secret of the fact that widowhood was the best thing that had happened in her life. In the ten years since her husband died, she had changed from a subdued servant into a successful businesswoman. She welcomed the attentions of the many bachelors who took a remarkable interest in her wares, but if they tried to get too close she wasted no time in setting them straight. Nancy was her own woman and had no intention of ever becoming anyone else’s again.
    Jack despaired of shutting her up and, instead, held up the object he had found. It had the desired effect. A puzzled expression came over Nancy’s face. She took it from Jack and turned it round in her fingers.
    â€˜What is it?’ she whispered.
    Jack’s heart sank. ‘Don’t you know?’
    Nancy shook her head, then giggled. ‘It reminds me a bit of a certain gentleman I used to know …’ She stopped, seeing the disheartened expression on Jack’s face. ‘No, no,’ she went on, her voice becoming quite serious. ‘I’m sure it’s something. Let me see now.’ For a long time she examined the mysterious pot, turning it this way and that, shaking it, polishing it with spit. She was kind to her suppliers and would gladly have sent Jack away with a handful of the raspberries that were under the stall, but she had a feeling that he expected more than that. Since she had no idea of what the thing was worth, she couldn’t make him an offer.
    A customer came and, after much haggling, bought two short lengths of chain. When he had gone, the cogs of Nancy’s mind were beginning to turn.
    â€˜It has to be something,’ she said, turning it round and sniffing at it. ‘Where did you find it?’
    â€˜In the river.’
    â€˜Where in the river?’
    â€˜Beside the monastery.’
    Nancy’s mind was engaged in such profound concentration that Jack feared for her. Then, suddenly, it happened. She looked up and met his eyes with a fierce certainty.
    â€˜I know what it is.’
    Butterflies danced under Jack’s ribcage. ‘Do you?’
    â€˜I do,’ said Nancy. ‘It’s a relic.’
    â€˜A what?’
    â€˜A relic. That’s definitely what it is.’
    â€˜Then what’s it worth?’ Hope created a terrible pressure in Jack’s chest.
    â€˜I can’t say,’ said Nancy, ‘because I don’t deal in relics. But I can tell you who does and you can go there yourself and find out.’
    She stood up and pointed across the street, not at the houses on the other side but straight through them, as if they weren’t there. ‘You have to cross over by London Bridge and go out of the city towards Dulwich. When you get there, you can ask anyone for Master Gregory’s house and they’ll tell you the way.’
    â€˜Is it outside London?’ said Jack.
    â€˜Of course it is. Haven’t you been there before?’
    Jack shook his head. ‘Never.’
    â€˜Well, it’s about time you did, then. You’ll have no trouble as long as you mind your manners. People are the same everywhere. And you’ll enjoy the countryside. It’s beautiful in this kind of weather.’
    Jack nodded and retrieved the pot from Nancy. ‘Will Master Gregory buy it from me?’
    â€˜Depends if it’s a good relic or not. I know he likes old ones.’
    â€˜It looks old,’ said Jack.
    Nancy reached into a basket beside her knee and pulled out a bundle wrapped in flannel. Inside it was a small loaf of bread and a pair of pigs’ trotters. She gave Jack one of them and half the loaf.
    â€˜Now get on,