Shocked as Faro told her of his visit to Mr Jacob, she exclaimed, ‘This is dreadful, Pa. We had no idea Emily was in such dire financial straits. I understood that Erland hadn’t left her as much as she thought there would be, but needing a thousand pounds straight away and she’s never even hinted at it! What on earth can she need all that money for? It’s a fortune, more than most folk can ever hope for in a whole lifetime.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t understand it. She has always told me everything and she could be sure that we would help. But a thousand pounds!’ She sighed. ‘We certainly couldn’t raise that kind of money. Oh, poor Emily, trying to sell the Yesnaby Jewel. I know she doesn’t care about it – you can see how careless she is, never even locking it away, says who would want to steal it – but if Mr Jacob told her it is priceless … And it should go to Magnus.
‘I don’t know what has come over her, really I don’t, Pa. This changes everything. She is welcome to stay with us, of course, but she certainly won’t be able to send Magnus to Fettes. And she has already been there, she was so sure about it.’
A thought came to Rose. ‘If she was so desperate, I wonder if she has tried any of the big city jewellers, like Hamilton & Inches.’ She rushed upstairs to the bedroom but the jewel was still hanging there. She gave a sigh of relief as she returned.
‘Mr Jacob must have got the shock of his life too. A customer wanting a thousand pounds.’
‘Oh, he was very impressed by our Emily,’ Faro said. ‘Called her a lovely young woman.’
Rose shook her head. ‘Sounds as if he needs new spectacles. Let’s keep this to ourselves, Pa. I’ll tell Jack, though.’
Emily returned from Portobello in a merry mood, unaware of their brooding glances. Only the children were rather sour, having failed to win a prize with their sandcastle.
‘It was won by a lad from Bath Street, but these local ones can do lots of practise at castle building,’ said Meg.
‘We did get a highly commended, so that was something,’ said Magnus. ‘And some sweets,’ Meg added and Magnus was placated by an offer from Sven to take him rowing on Duddingston Loch, having been agitating for this since they arrived. He was not allowed to take a boat out at home; the waves were too dangerous and unpredictable, but the smooth waters of the loch were irresistible.
Emily was pleased to see that he and Sven had become friends and the Norwegian lad often went out with the children, happy to be with them rather than seek Alice’s company.
It was a fine evening, so Meg went along, disappointed to be told by Sven after a close inspection, that the boat would only hold two safely.
‘I’ll stay with Thane. I have my sketchbook so I’ll draw the church while I wait.’
Not until distant cries and shouts carried on the still evening air did she realise that she was alone. Thane was no longer lying peacefully at her side.
She ran back to the loch and could see the boat in the distance. It was wobbling a bit, but she couldn’t see either Magnus or Sven. After yelling for them both and getting no replies, she shouted for Thane, but he had deserted her too, so she began to run for home, for help.
She panicked. There was something wrong.
There was indeed. They had been halfway across the loch when Sven had suggested that as Magnus wasn’t managing to steer very well, they should change sides. Standing up, Magnus grabbed hold of Sven, lost his balance and fell into the water. Sven thrust out an oar for him to grip, missed him and hit his head. Knocked out momentarily by the blow, Magnus opened his eyes and realised he was drowning, his feet trapped in the long weeds in the loch.
But he wasn’t alone, he was being dragged by one arm towards the nearest bank on the far side of the loch. Thane had come to his rescue. When they reached dry land, Thane still panting looked at him anxiously. Magnus put his arms round his neck.
‘He saved my life,’ is what he told Emily when he and Thane arrived at the Tower having crossed the Musselburgh railway line at Samson’s Ribs. A sorry drenched sight of dripping water, they were met on the road by the parents, alerted by Meg, and rushed indoors to be dried off and Magnus wrapped in a blanket. A very wet Thane regarded all this attention enigmatically.
‘I never saw him go,’ said Meg. ‘He must have covered that distance in seconds, heard Magnus before I did. I didn’t know he could swim.’
‘All dogs can swim.’ But Rose already had her own theories about Thane’s remarkable rescue mission. He had saved Magnus’s life as he had often saved her own in the past.
But where was Sven?
He walked in at that moment white-faced and anxious as questions were hurled at him, his answers cool and collected as was his way. Why didn’t he try and rescue Magnus?
‘The boat had developed a leak and I had to steer it into the shallows and wade ashore. The boat was wrecked; it was very old and I shouldn’t have taken it out. Of course, I went to look for Magnus but I guessed he had swum ashore and would be home by then. I realise I am to blame for all this and I am very sorry. Now if you will please excuse me,’ and with that he gave a little bow, and departed up to his room.
The next day, all went about their business as usual. The ladies went into town to look at the art gallery and have afternoon tea, leaving Faro to his deliberations, Emily having observed that he seemed to have a lot on his mind – she was right about that. Meanwhile, the children, with Magnus none the worse for his experience, drifted off with Thane on their endless exploration of Arthur’s Seat.
When they gathered in the kitchen at supper time, Sven arrived with some surprising news.
Alice had gone.
They were aghast. She had never mentioned this to anyone, never said a word.
‘I am as surprised as you are, Mrs Rose. She asked me if I would go with her into town, she wanted to make some enquiries at the railway station. I said I would go with her and noticed she was carrying a small valise. I decided she must intend shopping. However, when we reached the station she asked me to wait until she went into the ticket office. She came out and said, “Goodbye, Sven, there is my train now over on the Aberdeen platform.”
‘“Did you intend this?” I asked, and she said, “No, I was going to let Emily know and go tomorrow, but when I saw this train was leaving in five minutes, I decided I would go now.” She wanted to go home again and she was very homesick in Edinburgh. But I was to give you her apologies and she would write when she got back to Aberdeen.’
Somehow Emily was not taken aback by this news, aware that she was secretly glad that Alice was now away from Sven. That was a great relief.
She would not be missed, since she never really wanted to be in Edinburgh with them.
Emily said: ‘We should have let her remain in Yesnaby.’
And it was from Yesnaby they heard the next day. Letters forwarded by Mary.
‘Here’s one from Alice, I recognise her writing.’ As Emily tore it open, Faro said: ‘That’s remarkably quick.’
While they were pondering about the speed of the mail, Emily was reading: ‘Sorry to hear about Erland, but I will not now be making the visit.’ Taking a deep breath, she continued: ‘It is a very long way. I know I should have come a while ago while I was still fit but I am sorely troubled with rheumatism in my old age, seventy next birthday—’
Emily threw down the letter, looked up at them, at their astonished faces as realisation dawned.
‘Seventy next birthday.’
Who, then, was Alice?
CHAPTER TWENTY
They went to the first mention of Alice and her arrival in Yesnaby. Who beside Erland knew of her existence?
John Randall knew and so did Theo Garth. Erland was known as a generous man, so why did she not get a mention in his will, he had wondered, as the only Yesnaby apart from his son and heir Magnus, who after Emily inherited everything.
Doubtless there were others who also knew about her.
They turned to Sven, who had stood listening, very pale and unhappy.
Emily guessed that this had been a shock to him, especially if he had been in love with her, as they had all suspected, and she had merely dumped him at the railway station. Emily felt torn between relief that she was rid of this young, pretty rival and sorrow for his distress. She said: ‘You knew Erland very well. You were always close to him. Did he ever talk about Alice?’
He looked miserable. ‘I knew of her existence, yes, and that he was looking forward to meeting her this summer. He talked of her just … just before.’ He looked imploringly at Emily. She reached out and touched his arm.
‘Did you get the idea that they were about the same age?’
Sven merely looked bewildered, shaking his head again and Emily said: ‘I had always imagined they were contemporary, that’s why I got such a shock when I opened the door and saw her.’
Sven put both his hands on the table, leant against it. He looked ill, exhausted. ‘If you will excuse me, I am not feeling well.’ Turning to leave them, he bowed and added: ‘Perhaps something I ate,’ although they all knew that wasn’t the real reason.
‘Poor devil,’ said Jack. ‘It’s been a great shock to him.’
‘And to all of us,’ said Emily sadly.
‘He keeps to himself, but he must have had a future together in mind,’ Rose added, looking at her sister, aware that the words must hurt her, but she must face up to the fact that, from Sven’s reactions as a rejected lover, she was wasting her time.
Still considering Rose’s words, Faro was deep in thought. ‘Her existence was not a secret. Randall and Garth knew of her, so there were maybe others in Hopescarth that Erland had talked to about her.’
‘I don’t think that was very likely,’ Emily said sharply. ‘He wasn’t the kind of man who would sit down and chat to strangers in the local pub. He never went to Skailholm, didn’t drink all that much and preferred to do it at home.’
Jack was also thinking hard. ‘So we can cross out local gossip, which got to this girl and gave her the idea.’ He looked across at the two children playing ‘Snap!’ rather noisily, uninterested in yet another grown-up drama.
Emily said: ‘She wasn’t a local girl, that’s for sure. Everyone knew everyone and she wasn’t the kind of girl who, once seen, would be forgotten,’ she added bitterly. ‘Now I realise why she was always so vague and didn’t want to talk about her background. I thought she was just bored!’
‘I think the answer is in Aberdeen,’ said Imogen. ‘Maybe she worked for the real Alice, a nurse or something.’ And turning to Faro, ‘Why don’t we go and find out? We can take the train to Aberdeen, and the local one the rest of the way.’
‘If this Kirkentilly she talked about really exists.’
‘We can soon find that out,’ said Jack, an enthusiastic collector of maps and railway timetables. He had local maps of most Scottish cities and triumphantly pointed to Kirkentilly a few miles west of Aberdeen near Banchory.
It was the only sensible solution, a crime to be investigated, if she was defrauding the real Alice by this impersonation. It remained to decide who would go.
Emily said: ‘Pa and Rose, of course. They are our detectives, our crime-solvers.’
Faro politely suggested Imogen, since it had been her idea, but she said no, she would stay with Emily and make the most of the novelty of being with Meg and Magnus, who seemed to enjoy her company.
She had sounded a little wistful and said to Faro, ‘I should have had bairns of my own, if I hadn’t been too busy with a career. Everyone I knew in Carasheen was amazed, seeing that they produce them yearly, dear God, in multiple numbers.’
She watched him changing his shirt. ‘Maybe if we had met earlier, got married when we first met in that border town long ago, when you were on a case and I was writing. Maybe you don’t remember.’
‘I must remind you I have an excellent memory and I remember every painful minute of our first encounter. Flaming red hair and a temper to match.’ He looked at her in amazement.
‘Holy Jesus, I thought, handsome devil of a man and the rudest I’ve ever met. Sure now, and you didn’t like me much then.’
‘It was mutual, I thought. But we’ve made up for it.’
‘And how!’ she laughed as he said, ‘Come here,’ and he took her in his arms.
They must leave as soon as possible and Jack consulted the timetable for the next suitable train, wishing he could accompany them but having no new excuse to provide for interfering with his daily schedule.
‘Sven will help to look after us,’ Emily said. She took some soup up to his room but he declined, saying he felt really dreadful, feverish, as if he was sickening for something. He said that she should stay away, and keep the children away from him, in case he had something infectious.
She came downstairs and reported it to Imogen: ‘Poor Sven, I think this is emotional rather than physical.’
Imogen laughed. ‘Sure now, but men with a cold in the head go back to being babies again.’
They had forgotten it was a local holiday weekend and the Aberdeen train was crowded. Faro and Rose were lucky to get seats in adjacent compartments but with no possibility of mulling over their speculations. Racing across the platform at Aberdeen, with minutes to spare they caught the local train that set them down at Kirkentilly.
‘I hope she got the telegram Jack promised to send her,’ Faro said anxiously as they hurried down the solitary village street. It was not an imposing address Emily had written down for them. Tiny houses, grey and shabby, tightly crammed together with front doors leading straight out on to the road. Gardenless, if any existed then they must be at the back, and it didn’t look as if the elderly woman who opened the door to them was well off, either.
‘Yes,’ she smiled. In answer to their question, she was indeed Alice Yesnaby, elderly and certainly more in keeping with the middle-aged relative Emily had conjured up from those cards to Erland through the years.
Invited in, they had decided not to frighten or cause her undue worries, if they could manage to get the vital information they needed without disclosing the real reason for their visit. They had agreed on their story, that they were in the area seeing a friend in Banchory and Emily had asked if they would look in on her. She had written a card, which Rose handed to her.
As the two women talked, commiserating about Erland’s sudden demise with Rose answering anxious questions regarding Emily’s future, this gave Faro opportunity to take in the surroundings. A room neat and clean, shabby with age but well-cared-for with embroidered texts, crocheted cushions and a few books.
Alice Yesnaby was eager to make them welcome and repeated over and over how glad she was to see them both, what a great pleasure to meet Erland’s sister-in-law and Emily’s father even in such sad circumstances. As she moved about the room, setting it to rights, straightening a cushion here and there, they saw that she was lame and walking with a stick, but although in obvious pain she insisted they have a cup of tea.
Rose gave her a hand with taking down the china cups from the sideboard shelf and received a grateful smile. ‘I have some scones, they are quite good from the shop. I used to make my own,’ she added sadly.
The conversation was still general and polite as befitted relatives meeting for the first time, although Faro and Rose both hoped for an opportunity when they could get to the point of their visit regarding the bogus Alice. Accepting a second cup of tea, Rose could not help glancing nervously at the loudly ticking clock and Faro had anxious thoughts regarding that local train back, the only one in the day if they were not to spend the night here.
When Alice said: ‘I lost both my parents when I was young. I used to teach in the village school here until the rheumatism got the better of me,’ she added ruefully. ‘I had no relatives that I knew of except Erland, and that was why I always wanted to meet him.’
‘Have you always lived on your own?’ Rose asked.
‘Always. I enjoy my own company, I like walking and there are lots of books to read—’
&n
bsp; ‘Have you never had a companion, or needed a nurse or a maid?’ Faro interrupted.
Alice smiled. ‘I’ve always been healthy, hardly ever seen a doctor. As for a maid, why would I need a maid?’ She stopped, something in their faces disturbed her. ‘Why are you asking all these questions, is there something wrong?’
Faro and Rose exchanged a glance. It was time to tell her the truth.
Rose said: ‘A young woman turned up at Yesnaby pretending to be one of the family. She was pretending to be you, Alice.’
Alice’s hand went to her mouth. ‘What a wicked thing to do. I haven’t anything to steal, no money, nothing like that. So why should this woman want to be me, an old woman?’
‘That’s what we are here to find out,’ Faro said grimly.
‘We thought you might have some idea who she was,’ Rose added. Producing her sketchbook, she showed Alice a quick drawing she had made on one of their outings at Yesnaby. ‘This is pencil, but she had long pale-blonde hair and hazel eyes.’
Alice studied the drawing. ‘She is very bonny, I can see that, but I’ve never seen anyone who looks like her around here.’
Remembering that Alice had been a schoolteacher, Rose added: ‘She was very well educated, could she have been one of your pupils?’
Alice shook her head. ‘I’d have remembered that face. Refined-looking, if you know what I mean. Upper class, certainly not a village lass.’
Rose looked at the clock. ‘Ten minutes to the station, Pa.’
They stood up and thanked Alice for the tea, said they had been glad to meet her. It was mutual and she apologised for not being able to help them. ‘I’d like to know, will you write me a wee note when you find her?’
They promised to do so, although both felt that explanations – if ever they did find her – might need more than a wee note.
As they boarded the train, Faro said wearily: ‘Bit of a wasted journey, Rose. We are no nearer to finding out the truth: who she was, and more important, why this imposture.’
Sharing seats with strangers in the railway carriage packed with returning holidaymakers, Faro was very thoughtful. They decided to walk home from Waverley Station and he said: ‘It’s being well educated that bothers me most.’
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