A movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention: a pair of women, upriver a long way, walking toward me. They must have come down another set of steps. I paid them no mind as I prepared for my final task.

I clutched the vial to my chest. Eliza must have done the same while standing on Blackfriars Bridge, not far from here. Raising the vial above my head, I thrust it forward to the water with as much strength as my arm allowed. I watched as the bottle made an arc upward and over the water, then splashed gently in the far depths of the Thames. A single ripple made its way outward before a low wave overtook it.

Eliza’s vial. My vial. Our vial. The truth of it remained the one secret I would not share.

I remembered Bachelor Alf’s words on the mudlarking tour, about how finding something on the river was surely fate. I hadn’t believed it at the time, but I now knew that stumbling upon the tiny blue vial was fate—a pivotal turn in the direction of my life.

As I stepped onto the concrete steps to make my way up and out of the riverbed, I glanced once more upriver, toward the two women. This stretch of river was long and straight; they should have been closer to me now. But I frowned, studying the area, and then smiled at my own wild imagination.

My eyes must have been playing tricks on me, for the two women were nowhere to be found.

Nella Clavinger’s Apothecary of Poisons

Excerpt from dissertation submitted by Caroline Parcewell,
MPhil candidate in eighteenth century and Romantic studies,
University of Cambridge

Annotations & assorted remedies as recovered
from the journals at Bear Alley
Farringdon, London EC4A 4HH, UK

HEMLOCK JULEP

For a gentleman of exceptional intelligence and command of language.
These qualities will remain until the very end, which may be useful
when needing to extract a confession or account of events.

Fatal dosage: six large leaves, though an especially large male may require eight. Initial symptoms are vertigo and the sensation of being very cold. Recommended preparation is a decoction or julep, similar to thorn apple. Extract juice from fresh leaves, crushed and drained.

ORPIMENT (YELLOW) ARSENIC

Because this remedy takes on the consistency of flour or fine sugar,
it is suited for the especially gluttonous gentleman, one who
may enjoy a sweet lemon or banana pudding.

A most curious mineral. Note: highly soluble in hot water. Fumes smell like garlic; hence, do not serve warm. Used to kill household varmints of many kinds, human or animal. Lethal dose is three grains.

CANTHARIDES BLISTER BEETLE

When arousal before incapacitation is desired,
such as at the brothel or in the bedchamber.