An Unlamented Death: A Mystery Set in Georgian England (Mysteries of Georgian Norfolk Book 1) by William Savage Read Free Book Online Page A

would be blighted by such words and my father could not bear that. So, in the end, I gave in, believing I could make my fortune, then return to help him reclaim his. It was not to be. He died within six months.’
    ‘Some of our vaunted authorities claim mind and body are quite separate,’ Adam said. ‘Yet both my studies of the most up-to-date natural philosophers, and my own experience, such as it is, tell me they are wrong. We are a unity: a thinking animal, using our brains to reason as we use our legs to walk or our gut to digest our food. Many a sickness of the mind has its causes in some bodily malfunction or imbalance. Grief and loneliness are as swift to end life as the smallpox or any fever.’
    ‘Enough of gloom,’ Lassimer said. ‘The past is past and cannot be changed. I have found happiness and good fortune in my new profession. I will not allow dark musings to take them from me. Does your practice show promise, Bascom? You may be very sure I shall send all my most difficult cases to you. Thus I will win a fine reputation as a healer by restricting myself to simple maladies. You meanwhile will struggle with the most intractable diseases.’

7
    Gossip and Punch
Monday, 30 April 1792, Aylsham, Norfolk
    M uch cheered by finding this unexpected friend and ally in the town, Adam now gave all his attention to his practice. He was pleased to discover several new patients had sent in their requests to consult him. Had they heard good reports of his skill? Or were they eager to have someone visit them who might be persuaded to pass on information about the archdeacon’s death? He neither knew nor cared. A patient was a patient. Without them, he would sink into penury.
    Even routine business was not to be spurned. Adam arranged several visits to the better class of people in the neighbourhood to inoculate them and their households against the scourge of smallpox. Even in his short period so far as a country doctor, Adam had every cause to bless the name of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Finding the procedure used by the Ottoman Turks with signal success, she had not only had her own daughter inoculated, but interested others. Amongst these were the King’s doctor, and soon the practice was introduced into the Royal Family. It was then but a small step for the gentry to follow suit. Although it was not yet itself free from risk, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.
    Many of the older physicians in the county were unwilling to learn the technique. Some were so set in their ways as to deny its efficacy altogether. As a result, inoculation was too often open to quacks and half-trained practitioners. Fearing such people, the gentry were eager to find a better alternative. As the only doctor in this part of the county willing and able to provide this service, Adam had a near monopoly of their business and could charge handsomely. He was, however, humble enough – and wise enough in the ways of business – to realise that others would soon come to challenge him. He therefore offered handsome reductions in his fees to any who would have their whole household, including servants, inoculated in a single visit.
    It was more than a week before he could visit Peter Lassimer again. As he expected, he was greeted with great delight by the young apothecary and they sat in the compounding room where they could talk at leisure. Peter Lassimer was an able and hard-working man, whose heart was as large as his smile. While some of the stricter sort might frown on his delight in pretty women, few of them seemed to complain. Lassimer might be faithless and have an eye that wandered far and wide, but he made no secret of this to anyone. Nor did he ever used false vows or declarations to smooth his path into a lady’s bedchamber. He neither gave nor demanded exclusivity in his affections. His much-admired prowess in the amatory arts, gained from a mass of experience, ensured a steady stream of female customers.
    Lassimer did have one