She struck a match and lit it. She turned towards the end of the bed and gasped

What was it Blind Mattie had said to Ann about her past? Do not ignore it. But why ever not? She lived in a different world now. She looked around the room to remind herself that this was now where she belonged. There was the tall oak grandfather clock, handmade by the best clockmaker in the city.

There was the crystal decanter filled with finest Madeira wine, with cut glasses on the silver tray.

There was the chandelier, resplendent and sparkling above her even in the dim afternoon light.

She turned back to the window and saw the children running across the Green towards home, Miss Graham struggling along behind them, clutching James’s hoop and stick under her ample arms.

“Mamma, there was someone on the green today who looked like Papa,” James said through a mouthful of scone.

“Manners, James, my darling. Do not speak with your mouth full.”

Ann swivelled round. “Where was this person?” James swallowed. “Standing under the lamppost at the far end, you know where we go with the Donaldsons and their dog?”

Snapped

Ann nodded. It was the man she had seen. “Why did you believe he resembled Papa?”

Lizzie was peering at her scone as she slowly and methodically spread it with butter and then jam. “Is this strawberry jam, Mamma?”

“Yes.” Ann stroked her daughter’s hair and looked at her son once more.

“Well, he had the same hat as Papa wears and though I could not see his face, I saw him looking at us.”

“James.”

Ann put down her bone china cup. “Do you recall what I told you the other night? Papa is, sadly, never coming back. He is in heaven and . . .”

“But Mamma,” said Lizzie, suddenly sitting up straight in her chair.

“Maybe he swam to the shore and got dried off and he has been getting better and drier since then and now he is returning to . . .”

“Your father is dead!” Ann snapped, immediately regretting it.

She kissed her daughter’s plump cheek. She rubbed the nape of James’s neck then kissed him too.

“Sorry, my dears, but you have to try to accept that. He will not be back. Never ever.”

She looked at Lizzie, whose head was bent low over her plate.

She tilted her daughter’s sweet little chin up and saw tears fill her eyes.

Lizzie blinked and swallowed then took a large bite of her perfectly buttered scone.

James nodded. “I am the man of the house now, Mamma. I shall take care of you and Lizzie.”

“Thank you, James, dear. Now, let us never talk of it again.”

She lifted the lid off the silver salver. “Another scone, while they are warm?”

Ann poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher beside her bed.

Lifting the phial from the bedside table she shook one drop carefully into the glass.

She had wanted to take more of the potion tonight but since Miss Graham was away, collecting her black clothes from her home, she did not want to sleep too deeply.

She was worried that Lizzie might wake during the night and need her.

James she knew would never wake and even if he did, she felt sure he would never come to seek comfort.

Robert had been telling him for the past year or so that he was no longer a little boy.

He had said to him that he must be strong and stoical, like a man, no tears, no whining.

James was still her baby, Robert had never understood that.

Breathing deeply

She turned out the little lamp by her bed, lay down and shut her eyes. Sleep came fast.

She was lying still, breathing deeply, when all of a sudden she opened her eyes.

The room was still dark. What had woken her? It was a pity she had not slept through till the morning.

Then she heard something, a rustle, and looked towards the noise.

There was a figure standing at the end of the bed, just like in her nightmare.

The sleeping draft obviously did not agree with her, she was having bad dreams again.

She shut her eyes and turned onto her side. Then she half opened one eye and looked towards the door.

Once more it was ajar, she saw the gleam of the handle in the dark.

She sat up, felt for the lamp by her bed, struck a match and lit it. She turned towards the end of the bed and gasped.

Standing there, in a dark coat and with a top hat by his side, was Robert.

2015

“So you last saw him under the lamppost, then you three went up the slope towards home and presumed he was following?”

The boys nodded in unison.

“And there’s no way he’d have gone down to the funfair on Riverside Drive by himself?”

“Mum and you both told us a million times we weren’t allowed. He wouldn’t have,” Jack said.

The three boys, Fiona and Chris strode down the sloping grass towards the lamppost, their torches flashing.

When they got there they stopped and looked around. It was deserted, as if the wind had blown everyone away.

“Why on earth did you come here?” asked Fiona. “None of the other lampposts are working so it was the only place we could see properly.

“We emptied our swag bags out onto the grass to divide up the money and we were eating those funny chews that lady at number 10 gave us and no one could speak, remember?” said Tom, the tall cousin.

“Yeah, then we went back up the slope. We thought he was behind us but he must’ve been picking up the sweeties and putting them back in the bag.”

Sighed

Andrew, the shorter cousin, looked at the other boys. “Remember we ran up the slope, to see who could get to the top first, thought he was with us.” “But obviously he wasn’t.”

Fiona spoke through clenched teeth. She sighed and looked south towards the river and the bright lights of the funfair.

“Jack, did you and Jamie talk about going to the funfair at all?”

Jack shook his head and screwed up his eyes. Fiona knelt down so she was face to face with him. “Are you sure? Listen, we’re not going to be angry with anyone, are we, Chris?”

She glanced up at Jack’s dad. “But we just need to find him.”

Jack shook his head and she could see tears in his eyes. “No, we didn’t.”

More tomorrow.