"He treats me the same as he does everyone else." As soon as the words left her lips she knew it wasn't really the case.
"No, he doesn't," Evelyn said shaking her head. "He treats you as though he is your protector. He looks at you as though you're a juicy piece of pie, and he cannot wait to tuck in. He talks about you as though you are an angel sent down to cleanse him of his sins."
Grace swallowed deeply. Evelyn's honest opinion caused her stomach to perform a range of death-defying somersaults. "I find him the most honourable gentleman I have ever met," she said truthfully. She found him to be the most wickedly handsome, the most desirable gentleman of her acquaintance, too.
Evelyn gave a teasing smirk. "He must be very special to you indeed, for you to judge him so highly."
Grace considered her comment. He made her feel his equal in every way. He made her heart soar, soothed her soul. "He is."
They sat in silence. Her reply still echoed through her mind as Evelyn studied her with what could only be described as a look of excitement.
"And when you find your sister," Evelyn asked, "what then?"
Grace shrugged. She had not thought that far ahead. "We might never find her. But I will not stop looking. I can't think beyond that."
Evelyn offered her a compassionate smile. "I'm sure we will find her." She glanced out of the window. "Indeed, I believe we are stopping outside the apothecary."
As the carriage rolled to a halt, Elliot's footman opened the door and let down the steps. "Wait for us on the corner of Swallow Street," Evelyn said. "We won't be more than twenty minutes."
The footman bowed and relayed the information to the coachman.
Grace studied the dark brown facade of the apothecary shop and noted the number forty-two painted in gold on the arch above the door.
"You seem disappointed," Evelyn said casting a sidelong glance.
Grace shook her head. "I don't understand why Caroline would record something as insignificant as visiting an apothecary in her diary."
Evelyn threaded her arm through hers. "I'm sure it has more to do with who she was meeting and not where she was meeting them. We knew when we set out that it could be a wasted journey."
"Well, the only way to find out is to go inside," Grace said trying to rouse some optimism.
There were a few people milling about inside the shop. One gentleman sat in a chair in front of the counter while the apothecary, a painfully thin man with white hair, pounded away with his pestle and mortar grinding his herbs into powder. The shelves behind him were brimming with a range of glass bottles containing a rainbow of coloured liquids.
On the opposite side, an assistant dispensed perfumes, soaps and balms.
"Let's try over here," Grace said nodding to the perfumery counter. "Perhaps if I make a purchase it will be easier to strike up a conversation."
The assistant acknowledged them immediately.
"I'm looking for sandalwood shaving soap," Grace said with a smile, aware of Evelyn's gaze shooting to her face.
"Certainly, madam. It is one of our most popular products." He scurried off to a cupboard and returned with a small earthenware pot.
Grace removed her glove, pulled off the lid and sniffed the contents. The intoxicating fragrance flooded her senses, rousing a memory of her inhaling Elliot's scent as she kissed along the line of his jaw.
"I would like two pots."
Evelyn tapped her on the arm. "Are you buying those for Elliot?"
She would give one of the pots to Elliot, to thank him for all his help. The other pot, well, she would look foolish if she said she planned to take one home to Cobham and so she simply nodded.
"That will be two shillings, madam."
A shilling for a small pot of shaving soap! No wonder he smelled so divine as it must surely contain only the finest ingredients.
Grace paid the assistant and used the opportunity to ask, "I had an appointment with Hodges last week, and I wondered if I could speak to him again."
"Shush." The assistant's frantic gaze shot left, then right, and he tapped his finger to his lips twenty times or more. "You're not to mention it when there are customers in the shop." The man jerked his head back and blinked rapidly. "Did you say him?"