Three Round Towers by Beverley Elphick Read Free Book Online Page B

and Germany the male speedwell is termed European tea and is by many preferred to the Asiatic teas. As a medicine it has also a considerable share of fame, being stomachic and diuretic. It is also considered very salubrious in many affections of the lungs, as asthma, consumption etc., and to possess the power of healing internal ulceration.
    MacKenzie’s Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts
    Cecilia was well on her way to a full recovery and it gave me great pleasure to prepare tasty drinks and morsels to tempt her. The doctor had been back to the house to check on her and I found him to be a kindly man beneath the booming voice. He greatly approved my herbal tea when he took a cup himself. Farmer Elwood invited him to supper one night when he had called late in the afternoon and he seemed pleased to sit with him in the study before Cecilia joined them. I was walking by the open door when I heard them talking about the body that had been dragged from the Ouse.
    â€˜What makes you think it was murder?’ Master Elwood was asking.
    I breathed a sigh of relief: they couldn’t be talking about Becca.
    â€˜There was a massive gash in her head, poor thing. She was local, you know. A comely wench with lovely hair, or it must once have been so.’
    Cecilia had entered the room and asked, ‘Who was she?’
    â€˜Well, her father identified her as a daughter from his first marriage. Rebecca Franklin. He has recently taken up with the widow Skarrow and I gather the girl was put out to work at a farm near Hamsey some eighteen months ago.’
    My soul fainted within me as I heard Becca’s name. Murdered. Wicked lies, I fled up the stairs to my room and flung myself on the bed. Why would anyone think that? I had seen Becca with my own eyes; I had dragged her limp body from the clutches of the freezing cold water, seen the mud, reeds and vegetation caught in her clothes and her open mouth. I dragged the chamber pot from beneath the bed and vomited into it as the cold fear of the master’s threat came back to me. He had threatened me if I talked about him but I hadn’t said a word to anyone except Becca’s pa.
    I barely slept that night and when I ventured downstairs the next day everyone commented how pale I was. Dear Cecilia wanted me to return to bed for the day and offered to help Mary-Jane with Beth. Gladly I accepted and returned to my room where I tried to calm myself. Should I go to Becca’s father and find out what was happening? Had Master Coad done what he threatened and blamed me for Becca’s death?
    I tossed and turned in my bed and when I wasn’t doing that I paced up and down – seeing myself in that all-revealing mirror, tormented.
    Cecilia knocked lightly on my door and entered with Cilla and a tray of my own concoction of tea. ‘How are you feeling now, Esther? We thought you would like some refreshment.’
    I struggled to compose myself and smiled weakly. ‘I am well enough now. How has Beth been?’
    â€˜Oh, she has been chirping and waving her little hands at anyone who will stop and play. Your young friend Billy-alone has been entertaining her in the kitchen. Mrs Fisher has returned so everything is back to normal. I don’t think she approved of your cooking lessons – there has been a great deal of noise and slamming of pans. Cilla says she was very put out at you taking over her kitchen.’
    I tried to laugh but my heart wasn’t in it. ‘Is Billy still here?’ I asked.
    â€˜Yes, he doesn’t seem to want to leave,’ Cilla replied, her face pinking up.
    I’ll come down and take a walk in the fresh air, perhaps it will revive me.’
    Once Billy and I were alone I pushed him for details. He told me that the body had been removed to the coroner’s and the constable was ‘investigating a most tragic crime’.
    â€˜Why do they think she was murdered?’ I pressed.
    â€˜She