The Lost Apothecary

From the shelf behind Eliza, Nella retrieves a “small, milk-colored dish” (41) that holds four brown hen’s eggs. Two of them are slightly larger than the others, and they are the ones that hold the nux vomica toxin (rat poison). Nella and Eliza agree on a concrete plan for serving the poisoned eggs to the husband: Eliza will cook the smaller, nonpoisonous eggs first for her mistress, then the larger poisonous eggs for her master. Nella warns that Eliza should “not permit [herself] to see him” (43) after he ingests the poison because, in the hours after, he will suffer some grotesque physical symptoms, such as a rigid spine that causes his back to “arch backward like [his] body has been strung into a bow” (44). Nella assures Eliza that the poison will leave no traces of evidence, leading Eliza to identify the nux vomica eggs as “magick” for their potential for undetectability. Nella tells her that this is not so, that nux vomica, along with her other camouflaged poisons, “are earthly things” and work as “disguises” (44). Eliza asks if Nella has always sold poison, and Nella says no. Internally, Nella reflects on how her mother died when she was 21 and how she could barely maintain the shop due to her grief.