Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Chapter Three
Nigredo is called the Raven.
—Elias Ashmole,
Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum 1689
Phryne swept past Mr. Butler and paused in the doorway of her
own sea-green, sea-blue parlour in her bijou Esplanade house.
She needed a bath to rinse the prison smell off her person, and
she wanted to sit down and take off her rather tight shoes, but
it was a very pretty picture.
Dot’s policeman, Hugh Collins, who had been a faithful
kitchen visitor, had been let into the parlour, probably on the
urgent petition of the girls, to tend to something which whimpered.
Phryne could not see into the grocer’s box, but both her
adopted daughters were deeply concerned. The fairer Jane’s
countenance was creased; the darker Ruth was biting the end of
her plait, which she always did when she was worried. September
holidays had brought the girls home from school, and they were
dressed in the warm colours they affected when at home rather
than the severe school uniform, designed to iron out from any
female body the slightest shred of sexual attraction. Jane was in
green and Ruth in red, and the fire lit their faces: Hugh’s sharpened
with concentration, the girl’s with concern. They looked