The Old Wives' Tale
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You are Sophia Baines, fifteen and restless above the family drapery shop in Bursley, spying with your sister Constance on the maid's public new suitor. Left alone while your mother visits an aunt, you drape yourself in the good skirt against every rule Constance recites, and catch Mr Povey, who manages the shop, wincing over a tooth he was meant to have pulled in Hillport hours ago. What follows is laudanum, a stolen pair of pliers, and a tooth you pull yourself — not the one that was actually hurting him.
Read The Old Wives' TaleChapters
- The Tooth in Your PocketBaines Drapery Shop