We Are The Cure : The Plague Doctor's Tale.

Chapter 36

They were standing at the cemetery and observing as the two Catchstone Ladies were arguing. The priest was about to leave but the constable made him stay grabbing the priest's broad arm.  Giovanni and Rosalynn didn't know what happened and who the hell could be Janette Catchstone, however, Doctor had his idea of whom might she has been. Now, the fish seller's words made more sense to him.

"Dear Janette, we are both true Catchstone Ladies..." Lady Margaret tried to calm the other Lady down in vain. 

"What a nonsense!"Lady Janette seemed to lost her temper. She threw her arms into the air with annoyance. "I am born into Catchstone family and you were married into it by marrying my cousin! It's obvious I am the true one! Besides, don't change the subject matter as we were talking you are a criminal!" Her face turned red from anger. 

"To my knowledge, we have just disproof Lady Margaret's acquisition of murder." Doctor joined the conversation what caused Lady Janette to become even more mad. 

"How can I believe such bizarre creature that he is a true doctor as I can't even see his face!" Lady Janette looked at Doctor challenging and with disbelief. However, Doctor remained calm, it wasn't the first time somebody was questioning him or his medical skills.  

"My Lady, you are not obligated to believe neither me nor any words I utter, although the law and order organs shall respect my medical expertise as I am the plague doctor and I preform my duties on the exact same basis as regular doctors do. "

"Then show me any proof you're a doctor! Else it will mean Margaret called for any disguiser to proof her innocent." She crossed her arms as Lady Margaret was trying to say something to fend herself but found it unable as she lacked words. 

"As you wish." Doctor put his bag on the grass, opened it and grabbed a very small and thin notebook. He passed it to the constable who read it carefully.

"I must say, I haven't thought I would ever met real Doctor Rae in my life. I'm truly honoured." He passed it back to Doctor and when Janette wanted to have a look, Doctor threw the notebook into his bag and closed it loudly. 

"Now as everything is settled, please constable, show us the way to your office-"

"Wait a minute!" Janette shouted desperately. "Don't we need more expertise on the corpses? How can we know that Margaret didn't pay him to-" It was visible that Doctor was fed up with the nonsense she was saying.

"In terms of money, I have not received the payment from Lady Margaret for our service yet. What is more, it would be quite demanding to find any other plague doctor in Britain, except for Giovanni who is here with us. Don't you agree,  Lady Janette?"  He looked at her and she nearly turned purple. 

"Fine! Do as you wish! I will find other reliable person who can confirm I'm right. " She was slowly approaching the cemetery gate and suddenly pointed Lady Margaret with her finger. "I know you wanted to get rid of Henry and accidentally killed your children! You will pay for this!" Lady Janette looked directly at the other Lady Catchstone and left the cemetery leaving them alone. 

They all looked at each other confused until the constable asked Doctor and the priest to come to his office to sign the deposition which was the key document in clearing Lady Margaret of charges. Doctor told Rosalynn and Giovanni to escort Lady Margaret and wait for him at the Catchstone mansion. They nodded and with Lady Catchstone and her maid Natalie they set off to the residence. 

...

At the mansion, Giovanni and Rosalynn went to their rooms to clean themselves and to change for the dinner and afternoon tea with Lady Margaret. Unfortunately, Lady Catchstone wasn't well enough to join them but promised to do so whenever she felt better. So they ate alone and later went for a walk into the garden which was blooming beautifully. 

"Have you ever paid enough attention to flowers? Their shape, smell, and colours?" Started Giovanni as they were strolling around. 

"You know, when you deal with herbs, you have to pay attention to all the details of a plant." She looked at him and he suddenly remembered the time he mistook parsley and felt stupid for asking such obvious question. "Did you know that certain flower colours have their meanings?" Rosalynn noticed Giovanni got sad so she tried to cheer him up.

"Actually no, do they?" He seemed interested.

"Of course! Some women pay attention to that when they receive a bouquet." She smiled and started naming. " So red symbolises love and passion. You can give red flowers to someone you love. Pink means sweetness and tenderness, romantic love. White is a symbol of purity and innocence. Yellow symbolises optimism and friendship. It's a good colour to give to your friends. Finally, purple flowers mean respect and admiration*. "She could name even more but when she noticed the confused look on his face she stopped.

"That's quite a lot at once." He said and looked around at the flowers planted in the garden. "So red flowers mean passion, yellow joy, and white purity?" 

"Exactly! We can tell Lady Margaret is such person, don't you think?" She smiled.

"Hmmm... Well, I think these colours suit her. But I'm wondering about something... Which colour should I give to Jyne." Giovanni seemed like he had some important issue to settle.

"It depends on your relationship and how you feel about her." Said Rosalynn sitting on the bench with a beautiful view at the garden. "If you want to give her a hint that you like her back you can give her a pink flower, but when you want to clearly show her you're interested, then red flowers."

"If you were to give flowers to Doctor, which colour would it be?" He looked at her curiously as she blushed. 

"In general, women don't give flowers to men..." She started hesitantly. " But if I were to give him something, it would be purple because it reminds me of him and it suits him." She smiled gently and looked at the sky. Giovanni nodded and soon they stood up and were about to leave when somebody bumped into them. 

Giovanni caught Rosalynn as she was falling and looked with hostility at the man. Due to the clothing and the watering can in his hand, he was probably the person in charge of this beautiful garden.

"Hey, pay attention to where are you going." The man looked at them with surprise on his face. 

"Rosalynn? Is that really you?" Rosalynn knew this voice pretty well and couldn't believe it was him. 

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*Author's note:
Hi there! When I was writing this part I had to do a research as the meaning of flowers' colours is different for some flowers in my native country (Poland). For example:
- yellow flowers are perceived as a symbol of dishonesty and jealousy
- purple flowers mean sorrow and grief
- orange flowers symbolise not clarified feelings, like when somebody is not quite sure about their feelings. 
If the flowers' colours have different meaning in your countries or cultures, let me know!