On, on, Redriffe, as the watermen named Rotherhithe, was on one bank,
the marshes of the Isle of Dogs were gay with white cotton-grass and
red rattle on the other. Then came the wharves and building yards of
Deptford, and beyond them rose the trees of Greenwich Park, while the
river below exhibited a forest of masts. The boat stopped at a
landing-place to a little garden, with a sanded path, between herbs
and flowers. "This is Mistress Darke's," said Loveday, and as a
little dwarfish lad came to the gate, she said, "We would speak
with your mistress."
"On your own part?'
"From the great lady in Hanover Square."
The lad came down to assist in their landing, and took them up the
path to a little cupboard of a room, scented with a compound of every
imaginable perfume. Bottles of every sort of essence, pomade, and
cosmetic were ranged on shelves, or within glass doors, interspersed
with masks, boxes for patches, bunches of false hair, powder puffs,
curling-irons, and rare feathers. An alembic [a device used in
distillation--D.L.] was in the fireplace, and pen and ink, in a
strangely-shaped standish, were on the table. Altogether there was
something uncanny about the look and air of the room which made
Aurelia tremble, especially as she perceived that Loveday was both
frightened and distressed.
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