Page 72 - sons-and-lovers
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CHAPTER III
THE CASTING OFF OF
MOREL—THE TAKING
ON OF WILLIAM
DURING the next week Morel’s temper was almost un-
bearable. Like all miners, he was a great lover of medicines,
which, strangely enough, he would often pay for himself.
‘You mun get me a drop o’ laxy vitral,’ he said. ‘It’s a
winder as we canna ha’e a sup i’ th’ ‘ouse.’
So Mrs. Morel bought him elixir of vitriol, his favourite
first medicine. And he made himself a jug of wormwood tea.
He had hanging in the attic great bunches of dried herbs:
wormwood, rue, horehound, elder flowers, parsley-purt,
marshmallow, hyssop, dandelion, and centaury. Usually
there was a jug of one or other decoction standing on the
hob, from which he drank largely.
‘Grand!’ he said, smacking his lips after wormwood.
‘Grand!’ And he exhorted the children to try.
‘It’s better than any of your tea or your cocoa stews,’ he
vowed. But they were not to be tempted.
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