There were drums of turpentine and white lead, crates of poppy heads, tins of castor oil, bran, sulphur, brimstone and camphor, barrels of rock salt, baking powder and starch.

Mr. Paytherus, a small man with a bald head and glasses, rose hurriedly at Lord Dorrington’s entrance.

“My Lord, this is a great honour,” he murmured.

Lord Dorrington drew the three tablets he had taken from the box that Alyna had shown him and put them on the table.

“I want you to tell me what these contain,” he said, “and to save time, let me inform you they come from the East and I suspect that one of the ingredients is opium.”

Mr. Paytherus picked up one of the tablets and smelt it.

“No doubt about it at all, my Lord,” he said. “I should know that smell anywhere.”

He crumbled the tablets up, placed portions of them in small glass containers and added various chemicals.

Finally he pronounced,

“If I’m not mistaken, my Lord, the main ingredient in this tablet is a very powerful cantharide. It’s present in comparatively small quantities, but, as your Lordship knows, drugs of that type are accumulative in the system.”

“And what would happen to anyone who took say one or two tablets a day?” Lord Dorrington enquired.

“It’s difficult to be certain without a great deal of research,” Mr. Paytherus replied, “but I should imagine, my Lord, the person in question would feel at first somewhat detached from their surroundings, they would be sleepy, they would find their will power undermined.”

“That, of course, would be the effect of the opium,” Lord Dorrington suggested.

“Exactly, my Lord,” Mr. Paytherus agreed. “But when the cantharide began to work, they would be a different matter.”

“What would happen then?” Lord Dorrington enquired. Mr. Paytherus shrugged his shoulders.

“With this particular aphrodisiac it usually means that the person who takes it becomes very excited. Passionate, as one might say. Taken in large quantities, of course, it can be dangerous, causing delusions, frenzy and perhaps death. In a lesser degree it means moral degradation.”

“Thank you, Mr. Paytherus,” Lord Dorrington said. “That is exactly what I wanted to know.”

“I’m gratified, my Lord, that I’ve been of service,” Mr. Paytherus said. “As your Lordship well knows I am always at your command.”

Lord Dorrington left the apothecary, climbed into his phaeton and drove towards the Foreign Office.

He was told that the Foreign Secretary was willing to see him immediately and he was shown into a large comfortable office where Lord Grenville sat behind an impressive desk.

He rose to his feet, held out his hand in greeting,

“I am delighted to see you, Dorrington. It is not often you honour me with a visit.”

“It is not often,” Lord Dorrington replied, “that I need information from your Lordship.”

Lord Grenville raised his eyebrows and, having indicated a chair beside his desk, seated himself again.