Free The Queene's Cure by Karen Harper

sample for you to try on whomever might dearly need its benefits. I've noticed that your assistant Bett has a puckered scar on her chin.”
    “I could try it on her. But if I'd sell such and it got out, I could be closed down and worse.”
    “Not sell, mistress, but use gratis on persons who might need a godsend, like Bett. I've seen how she helps you and how much she loves her son, the queen's mute artist, as you described him. Indeed, perhaps I can work to cure his muteness too.”
    “Oh, Dr. Clerewell, we'd all be so grateful.”
    “But let's keep that our secret now too, not to get peo-ple's hopes up. And I'd ask only that you—and they— keep quiet about the source of this emollient till we are certain it would work well for others too. I cannot be besieged for it, not now. And if they ask you what is in it, that I cannot tell at this time, to protect my work. Will you help? And do not fret that this is underhanded, for I intend to drop off a second petition for its legal sale to the Royal College of Physicians on my way home.” He lifted his surcoat so she saw a wax-sealed letter stuck in his belt.
    His eyes were as warm as his voice and hands. The fact he'd admitted to her that this letter was his second petition to those unfeeling, pompous physicians madeher sympathize the more. Their fingers touched as he slid the box toward her and she nodded.
    “You have my word I'll help and keep your secret,” she whispered. “May I know what you call it, then?”
    “Venus Moon Emollient. Named for the goddess of beauty and the white-faced moon. And I give it into your care, fit for a goddess.”
    Meg blushed, unsure if he'd meant to compliment her or not. She took the box from him almost reverently. For one moment she had thought he was going to say “fit for a queen.”

    I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I'M ABOUT OUT OF CAKES , questions, and patience,” Jenks muttered to Ned as the morning wore on in Knightrider Street. They had set themselves up several doors down from the physicians' hall. “No one's seen one damned thing out of the ordinary, and Bess won't like us coming back empty-handed—without information, I mean,” he added, stuffing a piece of broken cake in his mouth.
    Ned Topside rolled his eyes and shook his head. He'd never gotten used to how dense Jenks could be with his blunt, naive approach, when Ned was certain using various voices and personae was a better tactic of discovery.
    “I'm not surprised,” Ned muttered as they dumped their sacks of crumbs for the ravens that scavenged in the streets. “The crowd only had eyes for Her Grace and,according to what people have said, the coach was down a bit out of their line of sight. But I think we should suggest to her we return to knock on doors farther down the street, since folks there might have had the coach in their view, especially if they were peering out an upper window.”
    “Maybe we should do it now and surprise her.”
    “Let's just tell her what we found—or didn't find— and suggest it, and don't forget who came up with it first. Halt there!” Ned called to a man with a large hat as he strode down the street. “Were you in the queen's crowd yesterday?”
    The man was tall and stately and seemed in a rush. Ned would have given a fortnight's salary to get his hands on that dramatic, French-looking hat.
    “No, as I'm just visiting the doctors. The queen's crowd, you say? What's amiss?”
    “Nothing's amiss,” Jenks put in, elbowing Ned.
    “You mean,” the man said, looking sideways at them and shifting his big package and the wax-sealed missive he held to his other hand, “you're queen's men?”
    Ned was going to give a grandiose answer, but Jenks elbowed him in the ribs again. “If you weren't here yesterday, go on about your business then,” Jenks ordered. “Good day to you.”
    As the fellow hurried on and knocked at the front door of the physicians' hall, then stepped inside, Jenks mounted, and Ned followed suit.
    “He