For a more information on laudanum and the anecdote I borrowed, see museumofhealthcare dot wordpress dot com/2015/07/20/laudanum-freedom-from-pain-for-the-price-of-addiction/ For a fascinating account of the origins of Gowland's Lotion, see theinvisiblefaces dot blogspot dot com /2015/05/john-gowland-apothecary-and-impromptu dot html
During the following year Anne regained a bit of her vigor, if not her vivacity, through the pursuit of medicinal lore. The Robinsons were indeed skilled and Anne found much to admire about them both. She had never before realized how much went into preparing medicines. Many of the medicinal plants were grown in their very own garden and distilled by Mrs. Robinson in their still room. The recipes of how these concoctions were assembled was knowledge that was passed from apothecary to apothecary, though Mr. Robinson said that there was still room for improvement in each generation.
Anne was a quick study and within three months of lessons had already learned the proper ways to distill all the medicinal plants that were grown locally, as well as how to test whether one that another had distilled was as advertised, though Mr. Robinson had cautioned her that it was risky to test medicine from an untried source. Her little volume of notes had soon come to be filled and she was currently on her third volume.
She was glad for her meticulous notes as Mr. Robinson often did not recall what he had and had not instructed her on. Thus, when he again cautioned her most vigorously about laudanum, while she listened attentively she knew she need not make a complete set of new notes on the topic, though she did jot down a bit of additional information he imparted on her.
"While it has much value, Miss Anne, especially to those dying or in grievous pain, as well as some intestinal issues, it is all too easy for someone with only slight pain to continue to demand it long after the cure has been effected. Other apothecaries might simply sell it in their shops to whomever might desire it, but I find this to be a serious error. I dislike selling most of my cures without examining the patient to see what truly ails him. While concoctions for coughs and sore throats are harmless enough, little else should be sold without a consultation. I also do not like to sell more than what might be used up during a current course of illness and I even offer a slight discount on their accounts if they bring back the empty dispenser. Perhaps you might have heard the report of an infant who was given but one drop by his parents for teething and died. The error was not the dosage, but that through time and evaporation the little left in the bottle was likely pure opium."
The Robinsons quickly became Anne'a one example of marital felicity. While they might tease each other and vigorously debate the merits of certain approaches to the preparation of various brews, it was clear that they had a deep and abiding love for one another. Anne grew quite fond of them both. In physical characteristics they were an odd sort of match, with Mr. Robinson being quite tall and stout, while Mrs. Robinson was barely bigger than a child and quite thin. He could be gruff when frustrated while she was almost universally sweet and even tempered, with a high piping voice that seemed more fit for a bird than a woman. They had no children but seemed to be entirely content in each other's company.
The Robinsons, too, appreciated Anne. On more than one occasion, Mr. Robinson bemoaned the lackadaisical approach of his cousin, apprentice and presumptive successor. "Do you know, Miss Anne, that in the year you have studied with us that you have learned more than Henry in his nine years working for me? I have no hesitation in telling you that if you were a man and in a position in life to be an apothecary, that I would gladly make you my apprentice and send my cousin home."
During her current visit, she met with both of the Robinsons. Mr. Robinson told her on the previous occasion that he planned to teach her more about advertisements and how to exercise caution. Thus, she was not at all surprised that when he began such a lesson.
He explained, "Be cautious of claims others make for what their medicine can do. There are many a formulation that only serves to separate customers from their coin. While my father in general only administered true medicines, I have concluded that at least two formulas I was made privy to in my training by him were complete hogwash. The freckle remover and skin purifier was complete nonsense and if I am not mistaken the current Gowland's Lotion may contain the same formulation. Mrs. Robinson, will you give me permission to tell of your encounter with the stuff?"
Mrs. Robinson answered, "Yes, Mr. Robinson, but only if afterward I get to tell my own tale about you!"
"You may my dear and then, perhaps Miss Anne will see how foolish the two of us, who should know better, can be. Do you know that my own sweet wife, before she was so savvy, bought some Gowland's Lotion while visiting family in London? She was impressed, you see, by the reports of her aunt on how effective it was, and the exclusive nature of the shop which sold it. Mrs. Robinson was forced to confess to me of her error when her face became afflicted with irritated bumps. I noticed upon examination of the stuff that there was a distinctive odor to it that made me believe that its underlying ingredient was the very same as in the formula that I refuse to sell (and which incidentally seems to cause an allergic reaction in my Mary). She was soon put to right once I threw the bottle out, though she was aggrieved that she had spent so dearly for it. You see, the current Gowland's Lotion is not the same formulation which made apothecary John Gowland famous when he concocted it as a cure for the complexion of Princess Augusta's maid. Instead, the current version is a formula distributed by his successor's wife, Marie Elizabeth Vincent, who claimed to have obtained the secret formula but had instead made a clever counterfeit from that passed on to her husband, Thomas Vincent."
Mr. Robinson shook his head and sighed before adding, "It is a sad matter how the two versions of the lotion were advertised by competing shops and a pity that Mr. Gowland did not see the folly in bequeathing the formula to an oboist. Mrs. Vincent won out."
"Did the original Gowland's Lotion work?" Anne, who was intrigued, inquired.
"Never for curing freckles, though it did strip off the paint some ladies use on their faces most effectively and perhaps diminished freckles which have darkened from the sun, as it removes the top layer of one's skin. I would never recommend anything for your skin, Miss Anne, but perhaps a dab of sweet olive oil as my Mary uses should it grow dry in the winter."
"Mr. Robinson, do not try to get us on the cures for dry skin. It is my turn to show Miss Anne how foolish a man can be for his vanity. Unlike my trying of the lotion on the recommendation of my aunt, Mr. Robinson relied on a formula his father taught him."
"Can you guess what cure I might have sought?" Mr. Robinson inquired, with a gleam of glee in his eye.
"I certainly cannot."
"Are you certain Miss Anne?" He bent quite low and gestured to the large bald spot on the top of his head.
"Mr. Robinson, for shame, stealing my story! My Elias was determined to always have a full head of hair and faithfully applied his father's formula for hair elixir for many a year, even though he continued to grow thin on top. Yet he still had me distill it year after year. I began to grow quite disgusted with the whole matter and decided to attempt an experiment. I kept the more pleasant elements, the bit of honey and mint, and replaced the key ingredient with another. I then told him I had believed I had come up with a superior method of distillation and was sure this would be even more effective than before. Well my Eli kept pouring over his scalp in our mirror and imagining that he saw new hairs a sprouting. He used up the full bottle and demanded I make more. I was forced to confess my subterfuge, but never underestimate the value of hope in making someone quite convinced that something you have administered has effected a cure."
"Yes, I was a right fool," Mr. Robinson confessed, chuckling a bit. "That hair elixir was completely ineffective. While it might be of some use in styling one's hair and had a pleasant odor, as far as I can tell," he said pointing to his own pate, "it has no true value besides depriving my fellow bald-headed men of their coin. I had to stop selling the stuff, as I am an advertisement to it not working."
It was a true testament to her growing closeness with the Robinsons that they now had no hesitation in being lighthearted around her. Mr. Robinson jokingly told her, "Miss Anne, if you were to so much as hint that you would only consent to marry a man with a full head of hair, I could peddle this stuff by the gallon. The local men would be lined up dozens deep. Ah, but there only seems to be one man with eyes for the fair Miss Anne, the younger Mr. Charles Musgrove, and unlike his father he still has a head full of hair."
Anne blushed and then inquired of them both, "Do you truly think he admires me?"
Anne had danced with Mr. Charles once time at each of the last three assemblies (just as he had with her elder sister) and he had called on them both with his mother, but she had not noticed any particular admiration from him toward her. At one time she thought he admired her older sister Elizabeth, but if he had Elizabeth was quick to quell such interest. Elizabeth was holding out for someone of higher consequence than the younger Mr. Charles Musgrove, who only stood to inherit Uppercross, and if Elizabeth had not yet found him in her frequent forays to London with their father (and Anne privately thought she looked too high from all that Anne could gather of the matter), Elizabeth had not yet given up her ambition.
Anne thought any friendliness between Mr. Charles and herself was largely derived from the fact that they were both relatively good humored and their relative positions in society and general proximity, rather than any affinity between them. She found him pleasant enough, but he had made but little attempt to develop his mind and while generally attractive, he was nothing to Frederick in all essentials.
Mrs. Robinson took one of Anne's hands and held it between her two smaller ones, and earnestly looked up in her eyes. "Dearie, he has done nothing but admire you since your sister showed her disinterest. He is a good enough man, you could well do worse."
"I . . . he is nothing to me. I do not plan to marry." Anne's eyes suddenly grew thick with unshed tears. She hated crying in front of others as she feared she was about to do and so silently pleaded for Mrs. Robinson to let the matter lie. However, her sudden vulnerability only seemed to spur Mrs. Robinson to continue.
"Why ever not?" Mrs. Robinson took a step in to Anne, looking at her so sweetly, a sort of living cherub, that Anne wondered how she would ever be able to not cry and not confide in her. "Are you in truth pining over some mystery man who is as of now very far from home? Eli and I have been speculating about the matter. He thinks you are in love with a missionary and hope to aid him in curing the natives of their jungle diseases as a way to bring them to God, while my theory is that he is a retired officer from his Majesty's Army, recuperating in Bath with some malady which you hope to alleviate enough for him to abandon his vow not to marry."
"No, neither," Anne muttered before the threatened tears spilled down her face.
"Come with me, dear," Mrs. Robinson gently steered her out of the still room, through the kitchen and into her attached parlor, "Mr. Robinson never knows how to react to tears that do not relate to his patients relatives being told bad news. He has good words rehearsed for such occasions, but none for heartbreak."
So Anne found herself in Mrs. Robinson's tiny parlor filling many a hanky with her tears and snot, while telling Mrs. Robinson about how happy Anne had been with Frederick and how it was she who at the instigation of her godmother caused their separation. Mrs. Robinson was everything good and kind and Anne felt yet again (though these feelings were surely unworthy), that her godmother did not understand the first thing about her if she could believe that separating herself from Frederick was a good thing.
After Anne's tale was concluded, and her tears dried, Mrs. Robinson offered her compassion and, Anne felt, true understanding, "Dear Miss Anne, what a heartbreak you have had and how loyal you are still, trying to prepare for the role he planned for you. From everything you have told me, I cannot imagine that all hope is lost. It is just a matter of waiting for Captain Wentworth to come to his senses and renew his addresses. All of Lady Russell's previous objections have lessened with the improvement of his position and you surely know your heart."
"It felt like all I was doing was waiting," Anne confessed, "but it has been so difficult to be stuck in one place, all of my hope hinging on his deciding to act. I thought, at least if I prepared for the role he imagined for me that I was in some way beckoning him hither."
"I understand," Mrs. Robinson told her, "you are a romantic and a practical woman all wrapped up in one. It is a lovely gesture you are making so that if he does return you will be ready to aid him and his crew to the best of your ability. Now that we know what your goal is, there is much more we can teach you. You can learn about setting bones, more specifics about storing medication for those conditions, and even how to tend to deep wounds with the limited resources you can bring with you. I would also advise you get some learning from the midwife. There are brews she knows to prevent a woman from becoming with child which might prove valuable to someone in your situation. She can also teach you about the delivery of babies and how she instructed her own young daughter in what to do when the midwife herself was to deliver her fourth child and her aunt who was to attend the birth was called away when her son was injured. If you had to travail aboard a ship you might be instructing your own husband on how to catch your own baby."
That evening Anne wrote in her journal, I do not know whether you would approve, but I told Mrs. Robinson about you. I am glad that I did. Although she is just as uncertain as I about whether you will return, I can now do my best to be fully prepared to aid your crew should you come. Now that she knows the reason why I have sought such training, she and her husband will teach me more specific skills most suited to a nurse aboard a ship. She has also advised me as to what knowledge I should seek from the midwife that might pertain to a woman at sea without other women to assist her. When you come for me, as you must if your heart contains even a tenth of the longing for me that mine has for you, I will be ready. I am yours for the asking; I shall accept no other.