The Apothecary's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

downstairs to break their fast. By that time the children had eaten all
     the bread, tormented the cat, and spilled coal on the parlour floor.
    ‘My darlings! Come to kiss your mama!’ said Arabella.
    ‘They have been very naughty children,’ said Susannah, almost at the end of her tether.
    ‘Nonsense! They are simply high-spirited. Could you not manage to amuse them for a little while? Come children, say good morning
     to your new father.’
    Susannah watched in amazement as, one by one, the little hellions filed up to Cornelius and bowed or curtsied. It didn’t surprise
     her, however, when a few minutes later she saw John stick his tongue out at her father’s back.
    ‘Susannah,’ said Arabella after she had breakfasted off a beaker of ale and some stale eel pie, ‘I will have the household
     keys and account books, if you please.’
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘The keys. And the accounts. I shall, of course, be taking control of the household affairs.’
    Susannah laughed, incredulous. ‘But I have been mistress of this household since I was fifteen years old!’
    ‘There can be only one mistress and I am your father’s wife.’ Arabella’s pointed little chin lifted.
    ‘Father?’ Susannah turned to her father. ‘Surely you don’t really mean to take the keys away from me?’
    ‘My dear, of course you must hand them to Arabella.’
    ‘But …’ She was unable to speak with the shock of his betrayal.
    ‘You may help Arabella until she finds out how we go on here.’
    ‘That won’t be necessary, Cornelius. I have my own way of going about things.’
    ‘As you wish, my dear.’
    Susannah watched him drop a kiss onto the top of his bride’s head and the foolish, adoring expression on his face made her
     stomach rebel just as if she had eaten meat on the turn.
    Arabella held out her hand to Susannah, a glitter of triumph in her ice-blue eyes.
    Shaking with rage and distress in equal measure, Susannah loosed her mother’s chatelaine from about her waist and slowly held
     out the keys.
    ‘I shall start by inspecting the store cupboards,’ said Arabella. ‘I have no intention of breakfasting on stale pie every
     morning.’
    ‘That wouldn’t have been necessary if your children hadn’t been so greedy with the bread,’ retorted Susannah, stung by the
     injustice of her comment.
    ‘I can see that you have a lot to learn,’ said Arabella with a flinty smile. ‘Of course, since you are a spinster with no
     children of your own you cannot be expected to know how to manage a family home. Children grow quickly and there must always
     be plenty of bread.’
    ‘There
was
plenty of bread. Your children ate their fill and then hurled the rest at poor Tibby until she was so terrified she ran up
     the chimney and burned her tail. Perhaps
you
have something to learn about governing your children?’ Susannah clenched her fists as her wretchedness turned to temper.
    ‘Cornelius!’ Arabella appealed to her husband, her lip quivering. ‘You cannot allow your daughter to insult me like this!’
    ‘I must go and see to the shop,’ said Cornelius, retreating. ‘Ned is not to be trusted on his own for too long.’ He made a
     hasty exit.
    Deep inside her breast Susannah felt a cold, hard stone of disbelief. How could her beloved father, her companion for so many
     years, suddenly care so little for her?
    Arabella waited until the door had closed and then turned toSusannah, hands on her hips and fury in her eyes. ‘Don’t you tangle with me,’ she spat, ‘or you’ll be sorry for it! I didn’t
     come this far to have a stuck-up miss like you get in my way. I’m telling you now that you’d best do as I bid you if you are
     to stay in this house. I will
not
be troubled by your tantrums.
Do you understand me?
’
    Susannah was so shocked to hear anyone in her home shouting like a fishwife that it rendered her speechless.
    ‘God knows,’ muttered Arabella as she turned away from Susannah, ‘everything