Doctor Who_ The Adventures of Henrietta Street - Lawrence Miles [93]
Unusually for the age, it was decided to settle the matter democratically. There might have been some stigma attached to being ‘disloyal’ to the House, so a secret ballot was to be held. At Lisa-Beth’s suggestion, each of the women was given two feathers (taken, one has to assume, from Scarlette’s wardrobe), one red and one black. Each woman in turn was to put one of the feathers Inside a black oriental vase which was one of the few decorations remaining in the salon. If at the end of the process there were more black feathers than red, then all the women would agree to close the House and (if necessary) depart. If the vote said red, all would agree to stay. Not being a ‘working woman’ of the House, Juliette had no vote – in fact, she was in her room at the time and didn’t even know what was happening – but Lisa-Beth suggested that if the vote were a tie then Juliette should have the deciding voice, something which made a few of the women uneasy as it seemed to favour the Doctor.
It was at this point that things became somewhat complicated.
All the votes had been taken, and Lisa-Beth was preparing to tip out the contents of the vase, when the door of the House opened. The women hadn’t been expecting Scarlette to return, and so Lisa-Beth describes them as looking like ‘thieves discovered’. But it was Anji, on her own, who walked into the salon.
It transpired that although she and Scarlette had returned to London, Scarlette had immediately headed towards Soho on an errand she refused to discuss. As a result, Anji was thoroughly peeved by the time she arrived back at Henrietta Street. She’d gone all the way to Brighton to warn the Doctor about Juliette; the Doctor had failed to take any notice; Scarlette was, as ever, keeping her in the dark; and to make matters worse, when Anji asked where Fitz had got to she was told that he was out, and that he’d recently been spending time with a certain tobacconist of St James’s who was also notorious for doing a sideline in laudanum.
It was all too much for Anji, who stormed upstairs to Juliette’s room, determined to have it out with the girl. As the women watched her go, none of them had the nerve to call out to her and tell her about the vote. An angry, exotic elemental was the last thing they needed.
Anji’s confrontation with Juliette was recorded, and one look at the text reveals who recorded it. The witness was in Juliette’s room at the time.
My friend was telling me how the aipes had come to her the previus evening. I listened for her story was most thrilling tho it made me feel a shudder for the safety of my friend… I did as I was told to do in her company and said what I had been instructed to, which was that if she could axept [accept] the aipes as part of her then she understood much indeed. I asked her if that ment she was in the mode of [i.e. in tune with] the world around her. She open’d her mouth and I think she was about to give the anser but then there was someone at the door…
It was the woman who they call an elymental and she was in a grate rage, so that I was afraid of what she mite do. She shouted that my friend had been a witch and other things that I scarce like to write down. She said that my friend had been poisoned in the mind by Scarlette, which I did not understand, and that she had begiled her frend Mr. K [Fitz]. Juliette tryed to be most civil but the Indean woman said as soon as the Doctor got back there would be a reckoning. After that she slammed the door and I heard her in a great distemper on the stairs.
My friend looked at me and thought for moments, then she got up from the bed where she sat and went to follow. I did not know wether I should go too.
The story is taken up by Lisa-Beth. The women, distracted by the shouting, still hadn’t tallied up the feathers in the vase. Lisa-Beth was among those who watched as Anji stormed downstairs and left the House altogether.