LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      “In truth, Bridget, it will be a pleasure to deal only with bairns rather than with what passes for ‘gentlemen’ here in the gold fields.”

      Bairns? I knew that word. It was Scottish for small children, infants. I hadn’t realized that Jenny was married, was a mother. She was so young, and I had thought... bairns? She had more than one child?

      I wanted to ask about those children, to find out if I had misunderstood, but I couldn’t form the words. How did I ask such a thing? I stared at Bridget and her cousin, wondering why I felt so unsettled by the news of Jenny’s married state. And of her babies.

      Jenny continued talking, but I wasn’t listening, even though it was hard not to listen, for she talked loudly. She was still angry at me, and now everyone in the restaurant knew just how much.

      Bridget sighed, then reached across the table to take her cousin’s hand. “Jenny, Jenny, dear, do be quiet for one moment and let Ted explain. You’re as cross as a hen who has lost her only egg to the farmer’s wife, and your face is almost the same colour as Ted’s hair. It’s not ladylike.”

      “I have every right to be crabbit, Bridget,” she said. “I shall also be angry if I wish to be. Besides, I don’t care to behave like a proper lady in front of him!” She turned her attention to her bowl of baked beans, ignoring both me and Bridget. In the silent restaurant I could hear the clank of dishes, the scrape of spoons across bowls. No one spoke, and I wondered if everyone had been listening to our conversation.

      “Ted,” Bridget asked, “what on earth have you done to upset my little cousin so badly? To make her so ‘crabbit’ as she says?”

      “Nothing at all,” I said.

      “Nothing? Nothing? How can you say that when you—” Her food forgotten, Jenny stood and pushed her chair back so vigorously that it nearly fell over. Her head tossed in agitation so much that her curls bounced. I took a step backward for, though she was shorter than I was and was of slight build, she seemed incensed enough to throw a punch or two in my direction. This small young lady appeared more dangerous than any other woman I had ever met. Not that I was afraid of her, not at all. It was just that I didn’t know what I would do if she attacked me. It would be most awkward to run away, but...

      I took a few more steps backward, but now Bridget, too, stood. She put her arms around her younger cousin and held her close. “Hush now, little Jenny. Whatever’s happened, I’m sure Ted can put it right. You know you’re quick to fly into a rage, sometimes with no good reason. Ted is a close friend of mine. For my sake, please, sit down, be calm, and tell me what’s upset you so. I’m sure Ted will explain if you quiet yourself long enough to listen. Please, Jenny. For me? I’m afraid that today I have little patience with your temper.” Her voice trailed away, and the two cousins embraced, neither one speaking.

      After what seemed to me to be a long time, Jenny slowly nodded. Then, in a small voice, most unlike the one she had been using, she said, “Perhaps I was too quick to anger, Bridget. Forgive me, for I know how much you grieve, how much you miss your friend, the doctor.”

      Both women continued to hold each other, and when they separated, I saw that Jenny’s face was no longer red and that there were tears on her cousin’s cheeks.

      Bridget’s voice was low when she spoke. “Please, Ted, sit down, join us. It’s difficult to believe it’s been a year since Dr. Wilkinson died.”

      “Very hard to believe,” I said. “I think of him so often. I went to the cemetery this morning.”

      “Ah,” Jenny said softly to me. “Now I understand your tears.”

      This time I did not deny them.

      “I will go to visit his grave this afternoon,” Bridget said. “I only wish there were flowers, something I could take.”

      “I shall come with you, Cousin, if I may,” Jenny said. “You wrote to me so often of Dr. Wilkinson that I feel as if I, too, knew him.”

      “And in my letters did I tell you the colour of his hair?” asked Bridget, trying to smile.

      “Nae, I don’t think so. But you did tell me of his peculiar manner of speaking and how you and he would go dancing. And how much he loved your buttermilk biscuits. Oh, I wish I could have met him, Bridget.”

      “So do I,” Bridget said. “But that can’t be. However, allow me to introduce you to another good friend, Ted Maclntosh. Perhaps we can pretend this is the first time the two of you have met, and you can begin all over. Ted, this is my little cousin Jenny. She recently arrived from Inverness, travelling with Mrs. Fraser’s mother who has come to visit her first grandchildren. Jenny is to be nursemaid to Mrs. Fraser’s twins.”

      “A nursemaid?” I said. “So you don’t have infants of your own?:

      “Of course not! Although it seems foolish to pretend that we have never met, I’ll play the game to please my cousin. I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. MacIntosh, but yours is a ridiculous suggestion. I am far too young to have children. Indeed I’m not even married—or affianced.”

      “Please, don’t take offence, Miss Jenny,” I said quickly. Please do not take offence again was what I meant, though.

      “Nae, I shall not. But should you not also say that you’re pleased to make my acquaintance?”

      “Of course. I’m very pleased to meet you.”

      “Good,” Bridget said. “That’s settled, and your disagreement forgotten. Now, Ted, sit with us and have something to eat.”

      “I am hungry,” I said.

      “Ted is often hungry, Jenny, as you’ll learn if you spend more time in his company,” Bridget explained with a smile in my direction.

      “Actually I’m ravenous,” I said, pulling out a chair and sitting. “Though earlier today I didn’t have much of an appetite.”

      “You not hungry?” Bridget said. “What on earth could have caused that unusual occurrence?”

      “A small matter of a murder, I imagine,” a voice behind me said.

      We all jumped, and I rose hastily to my feet. Mr. Walkem and Henri Tremblay had come into Wake Up Jake’s, unnoticed by the three of us. Now they stood close to our table. It was Mr. Walkem, the lawyer, who had spoken. He bowed toward Bridget and Jenny. “Excuse me, ladies, for speaking of such distasteful matters, but you’ve no doubt heard of the morning’s events.”

      “Yes,” Bridget said. “Yes, we’ve heard.”

      The lawyer bowed again. “Distressing for all concerned. Your young friend, Ted Maclntosh, found himself in the middle of an unpleasant scene. No wonder he couldn’t eat.”

      “But the boy has found his appetite again,” Henri Tremblay said, staring at me. “The stupid thing he did—taking the side of the Chinamen against me, a white man—is perhaps how he worked up an appetite.”

      Once more the restaurant fell silent. Not even the clink of a glass disturbed the hush. I didn’t know how to answer the Frenchman, or if I should reply at all. I sat down again, praying Mr. Tremblay and his lawyer would leave us alone. But that didn’t happen.

      “Have you no tongue?” Mr. Tremblay asked. “I remember you speaking freely to your Chinese friends.”

      “I took no sides,” I said. “And now I want to order some food. I don’t think I have anything to say to you, sir.” My hands were shaking, but my voice stayed calm. I thrust my hands into my pockets, hoping no one would notice the tremors.

      “Mr. Walkem,” Bridget said, “I believe this man is your client. Was he not just accused of murder?”

      Both men nodded. “Ah, the coroner’s jury did find that Ah Mow met his death at the hands of a person or persons unknown,” said

Скачать книгу