Doctor Who_ The Adventures of Henrietta Street - Lawrence Miles [169]
Lisa-Beth fails to record how long the party stood there in the half-dark of the Tyburn passage, listening to the rushing of the water and wondering where it would take the casket. Eventually, though, they turned away one by one and headed back into the light of day.
…Till Death, and Perhaps a Few Days More
And on February 13, the Doctor finally departed.
He was well again by this point, so well that for some days he seems to have been darting in and out of his TARDIS on a variety of obscure errands. Those who were allowed into the mystical pleasure-gardens of the box claimed that he’d spent some time ‘setting and re-setting the machineries of the device’, but there’s some confusion here. Though the TARDIS was described as returning to the salon on its arrival from St Belique, by February 13 it was apparently standing out in the open on Henrietta Street, on the frost-bitten cobblestones in public view. Passers-by must have given it a wide berth, perhaps linking it with the stories of mysterious objects which had always accompanied Scarlette and her tribe. If the stories are to be believed, then the TARDIS had moved further than the short distance from the salon. It’s suggested that the Doctor had taken the machine ‘all across the globe’ (Lisa-Beth), searching for any remnants of the ape army which might not have followed the shamans into retreat. If this is so, then he might have been surprised to find that the matter was already in hand. He also expressed an interest in discovering the nature of the black-eyed sun which had inspired the creatures, admitting that he had no idea whether the object had been controlling them or simply driving them into a rage. Indeed, this was a quest that was to eventually obsess him.
The night before his departure, Lisa-Beth had found the Doctor standing in Scarlette’s old room, staring at his reflection in the looking glass. He had, once again, been contemplating his beard. Lisa-Beth hadn’t said a word, but the Doctor had told her that he thought it’d be best to keep it, at least for a while. Just to remind him that his form and function weren’t set in stone… not any more.
A short conversation had then occurred, during which the Doctor had asked Lisa-Beth about the future of the House. With some shrugging, Lisa-Beth had told him that the House would remain open. However, its direction would have to change a little. Lisa-Beth had herself sworn to give up the ways of the ritualist and the tantrist. The tantra might have taught her certain lessons about the nature of time and history, it was true, but tomorrow’s world wasn’t the world of the Hellfire Clubs. As on many other occasions, the Doctor only nodded. Sagely.
The last goodbyes were said in the salon of the House, the Doctor, Fitz and Anji on one side, Rebecca, Lisa-Beth and Katya on the other. There was a lot of embracing at the last minute. The Doctor held on to Rebecca for far longer than expected, while Katya made such a fuss of Fitz that Lisa-Beth feared ‘he might suffocate’. Anji was the first to leave the House after the farewells, followed by a reluctant Fitz, followed by an even more reluctant Doctor. He, far more than his companions, had his roots in this place now. Nonetheless, he eventually turned away from the waving women of Henrietta Street and walked across the cobbled, frosty road towards the TARDIS. There was a slight hail in the air, Lisa-Beth tells, but all three of the travellers did their best to ignore it as they headed towards the blue box that was tucked away between the buildings on the other side of the road.
The three women, once more dressed in their everyday clothes, didn’t follow the Doctor and friends out into the cold. They peered through the glass panes of the salon as the Doctor stopped on the threshold of his machine. They expected him to turn back and give them one final wave, or at least to smile over his shoulder.
He did neither