“And if you had died in his office, after consuming the very plant you were trying to prove didn’t harm Mrs. Henry, Dr. Maxwell would have been blamed. He’d have been even worse off.” Saffron flinched at the cold words and the even colder look Alexander gave her. “I’m glad you’re all right. I’ll see myself out.”
* * *
Elizabeth had very little sympathy for Saffron and her woes. She slammed around the kettle and frying pan early the next morning, awakening Saffron from fitful sleep.
Elizabeth, as was her wont, went to elaborate lengths to ignore Saffron, turning her whole body this way and that as Saffron walked around the kitchen, avoiding her face entirely. Saffron was used to this tactic, although her friend hadn’t deployed it since the time Saffron had ruined a beautiful silk scarf Elizabeth had lent her six months ago. Elizabeth would forgive her. They had been friends far too long for this recent episode to end their friendship.
From there she progressed through glaring while frying eggs, muttering while eating them, and finally to huffing as they did the washing up. Elizabeth always cracked after huffing.
“Elizabeth,” Saffron began after a particularly loud sigh, “look, I know I did a very stupid thing—”
To her amazement, Elizabeth let out a great sob, letting a soapy plate sink back into the dishwater and splashing water over their dressing gowns.
“Eliza, what on earth—！” Saffron set the dish she was drying down and swept her arms around Elizabeth.
“Y-you are so stupid, Saff!” she choked out, wiping her eyes. “You are! How could you poison yourself? Not after those dreadful berries you ate. You were sick for days. Your parents thought you were going to die!”
Saffron was overcome again with guilt. Of course Elizabeth would remember the time she’d eaten berries of one of her father’s specimens as a young girl. She had indeed been sick for a week, and the doctor had been uncertain of her fate for the first day or two. Saffron barely remembered the incident, apart from resolving to avoid eating things off her father’s plants in the future.
Saffron squeezed her friend’s waist. “I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. It was terrifically idiotic.”
“I just don’t want to see anything happen to you. You’re practically my sister. We’ve been through life and death together! How could I explain to your mother how I let it happen? Can you imagine how I felt when Mr. Ashton called?”
Saffron sighed and rested her forehead against Elizabeth’s heaving shoulder. What would her mother have said when she heard her only child had died of a self-administered poison? After the ordeal of her father’s death, Saffron didn’t know if her mother could handle another. Losing her husband had nearly killed her. The thought filled her own eyes with tears. “I really am terribly sorry, Eliza.”
Elizabeth wiped her tears forcefully away, wriggling out of Saffron’s embrace.
“I’m feeling much better, pretty much back to normal really,” Saffron said with a watery smile.
“Lovely.” After a long interval of sulky glances at Saffron, the table, and the stove, she said, “What did Alexander say when I stormed out? Did I scare him off?”
Saffron made a face at her and sat down to the table. “No, I think I did that myself. I apologized, then he just left.”
“Skittish, is he?” Elizabeth brought the kettle to the table. Her tone turned businesslike. “Dear, have you had any sort of conversation with him? Set anything up yet? Stepping out?”
“Certainly not! I’ve known him a week, Elizabeth.” Granted, he’d examined her bare arms and legs at length yesterday, but she certainly wasn’t going to tell Elizabeth that. She might faint from excitement. Excitement over nothing more than a passing interest. It would be hard not to be interested in Alexander Ashton. His intelligence and academic accomplishments were attractive, yes, but he’d been kind. He hadn’t shied away from her when she’d described Dr. Berking’s actions, but in fact had defended her on more than one occasion. And, apart from his reaction to the obvious misstep in her planning with the xolotl experiment, he seemed to be a level-headed sort of man. That his dark eyes were rather captivating was an added bonus.
Elizabeth gave her an arch look.
Saffron slumped back in her chair, stabbing a spoon into the bowl of sugar with a sigh. “Even if I did want to know him better, what would be the point? He’s off to explore a jungle in a few weeks.”
“Oh, you have a problem with a strapping young man fighting through the jungle while pining for you?” Elizabeth’s hazel eyes gleamed.