Jane Forxworthy

by Paul Kelly

  Evie was rooted where she sat as she listened to this tale that seemed more like a drama on a stage than anything that would happen in real life and she wondered, if she had remained in Richmond, could anything like this ever have happened there. It could have done, she surmised, but it was very unlikely. Town people didn’t do things like that. Like hanging themselves on kissing trees after they had given birth to a child . . or did they. Wimbledon Common wasn’t so far from Richmond . . and then there was the Hill . . . There were plenty of trees there and she shivered at the thought.

  “Young Bella must have given the old man the slip then, Jane, eh?”

  Evie smiled nervously as she spoke, but Jane Foxworthy’s face remained grave as she stared into space.

  “It was a very sad time for everybody,” she said softly. “I think there’s a curse on old McPherson. I really do.”

  “Oh! God . . Don’t say that Jane. Think about poor little Danny who has to live with him. Didn’t he ever want to marry again, Jane? It would have been the best solution when he was left with a young baby on his hands, wouldn’t it?” Jane Foxworthy did not answer. She only shook her head in silence as Evie went on. “After all, if he was as handsome as you say he was, he wouldn’t have much of a problem finding someone, would he?”

  Jane continued to stare into space. Her expression was blank and it was some time before she spoke again.

  “I don’t know Evie. When he came out of prison, he was a different man. He just seemed to go right into himself and didn’t want to know about anythin’ or anybody and havin’ Bella at that time, didn’t help I don’t suppose and then when Bella gave birth to her baby and she was landed on him too . . that seemed to make him go really weird.”

  “What happened to Bella then Jane? Couldn’t she look after the baby herself?”

  Jane Foxworthy swallowed hard and looked at Evie as if she had some dreadful secret in her heart that she wanted to share, but wondered if she dared. She hesitated and Evie became concerned as her friend’s face grew pale and perspiration broke out on her forehead.

  “Are you alright Jane? Sit down and I’ll get you a drink of water.”

  “I feel a little sick Dear,” Jane said wearily and yawned.

  “Do you want to go to the bathroom Jane? Come, I’ll help you upstairs.”

  “No . . I’ll be O.K. here Dear. It’s just that I get a little pain now and again . . here, you know.”

  She touched her breast and Evie looked at the whisky decanter, but it was empty, however the sherry had not been touched.

  “Would it help if you took a little something to ease the pain,” Evie tried to console, but Jane waved her hand feebly in the air.

  “No thank you Dear. I shall have to get back to the shop soon. I’ve overstayed my welcome with you already. I know that and anyway Cyn will be wonderin’ what has happened to me, won’t she?”

  “But Jane. You are not well. You mustn’t think about going into the shop to work today. Let me phone Cynthia and tell her you’re not well. She will understand.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “HAVE YOU GOT THE NUMBER O.K. DARLING?”

  Evie read the number back to Wills as she wrote it down on the pad. “Dundee 5095 . .The Hotel Glenarthur, right?

  “That’s right Sweetheart. Miss you.”

  “Miss you too Darling, but I haven’t been lonely since you went away. I’ve had Miss Foxworthy round to tea the evening before last.”

  “That’s nice. I’m sure you had a lot to talk about. Did she give you the history of Glenfarach and was there enough scandal to your liking?”

  Evie twisted her lips as she sat listening to Wills, with her leg swinging carelessly over the arm of the settee, very unladylike, as she would be the first to admit, but she just felt like sitting that way . “Yes, very entertaining, Darling, but I’ll tell you all about it when you come home. What time do you think you’ll be back tomorrow?”

  “Not sure Sweetheart . . after lunch sometime I should think Say around 3.30, O.K?”

  “Yes, that’ll be fine. I’ll have a nice lunch waiting for you. Will Mark be coming with you?”

  “Well, that would be nice Darling, but please don’t bring up the subject of marriage again, will you?”

  Evie sighed down the phone and shifted her position, so that both her legs were over the arm of the settee.

  “Why, you know me, Willson Slade . . The very essence of discretion . . wouldn’t say a word . . Why? Is there something interesting you have to tell me?”

  “Oh! You are incorrigible. It’s a very delicate subject, so DON’T . . please. I’ll speak to you when I get home. I’ll have to run now as I can see someone waving at me . . Bye.”

  “Bye Darling . .”

  Evie waited to hear if he would talk to her again, but the phone went dead and she blew a kiss into the mouthpiece as she pulled her legs to the floor.

  “Mmmm . . .Wonder what’s going on between Mark and his Missus,” she groaned as she straightened her skirt and went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

  ***

  The afternoon was bright and the sun kept streaking meekly through the thin clouds as Evie prepared to make another visit to Miss Foxworthy’s sweetie shop in the hope that she might be able to extract some more information about young Danny and her recluse grandfather.

  She sauntered along the lanes into the village but she was in no hurry and the Scottish country air was a luxury that she knew would only last for a very short time and she thought of what life would be like when they returned to Richmond and Wills went back to working as an ordinary architect. There wouldn’t be the same gossip . .she was aware of that fact, but she wondered why? People in Richmond must have had similar worries to the people of Glenfarach and yet . .

  Maybe it was because everybody was so busy down there . .flying her and there to work every day, without time for a real family life, especially if they had to work late almost every night like Wills did.

  She looked about her and studied the various heathers, with their multi-hues. Would she be able to take some back to Richmond with her? Would it grow there or would it die in the strange and hostile atmosphere of the workers who had no time to stand and stare . .

  A lump came to her throat and her eyes began to smart as a tear formed slowly and trickled down her nose. She wiped it away with her gloved hand and threw her head back.

  What sort of sentimentality was this, she thought . . What sort of mood had taken hold of her to make her feel this homesickness ? A homesickness, not for Richmond . . but for Glenfarach.

  She thought of Danny and the life that she would lead here, after they had gone back to civilization . .. . a life with no future and with damn little present, considering the situation in which she was in and in which she was unable to help herself. She thought of Angus McPherson and of the gruff welcome . . if you could call it that, that she had received from him on her visit to his home . . his castle, as he thought and then she thought again of Jane Foxworthy . . . Now there was a font of wisdom which had to be tapped and she pulled her coat collar tightly around her neck as she stepped out in quicker pace to do just that.

  ***

  The bell pinged as she pushed the door open, but there was nobody in the shop except a ginger haired boy wearing a kilt, who looked as though he had just stolen something and was embarrassed to be caught. Evie looked at him and smiled, but he looked away.

  “Hello . . Hello, Is there anyone there?” she called out hoping that Miss Foxworthy might emerge from her back shop, but it was Cynthia who appeared in her stead. She was chewing something, as Evie had expected she would be doing and she giggled as she saw the red-haired boy, who giggled back as if they had a code of some kind between them.

  “Is your Aunt in please?” Evie asked politely and smiled, but Cynthia scowled and continued
to chew as she answered in a monotonous tone, “Naw . .”

  “Will she be back soon?”

  The young girl stared at Evie and gave her the same answer, “Naw,” before she turned to the ginger boy and giggled again, leaving Evie to her own embarrassment, which she didn’t intend to endure.

  “I’ll have a box of Cadbury’s milk chocolate then in that case,” she said, but Cyn shook her head and giggled again. “Naw . . we havnae got any,” she said dryly and turned her attention to the boy again.

  “You’ve got rare legs for a kilt,” she said and the boy laughed.

  “What’s that up there then, if it’s not Cadbury’s chocolates?” Evie asked in annoyance and scowled at the boy beside her. Cyn turned her head lazily and looked up at the shelf to where Evie had pointed.

  “They’re dummy’s Ye canni eat them,” she said and giggled again, as she took the box and threw it from the shelf . The ginger boy laughed as it bounced off the counter and fell to the floor and Cyn stuck another sweet in her mouth and licked her fingers as she turned to the boy.

  “Ye doin’ anythin’ the night?” she asked, but before he could answer, Evie moved towards the shop door and it pinged as Miss Foxworthy walked into the shop.

  “Hello Evie. Did that bell ping for you leavin’ or for me comin’,” she said jovially, “Nice to see you again.”

  “Hello Jane, I hope you are well today.”

  Miss Foxworthy was about to smile at Evie, but her face fell when she squinted at her niece who was totally absorbed in feeling the tartan of the young boy’s kilt.

  “Much better Evie thank you. Very much better as a matter of fact and I’m glad you’ve called in Dear. I wanted to see you about somethin’. Have a you a few minutes to spare?”

  She glowered at Cynthia and then at the ginger boy as she was talking to Evie.

  “Have you got what you came in for Laddie?” she barked.

  “Oh! Er. . . er . . yes, Miss Foxworthy,” he stammered and blushed where his freckles took on a new lease of life.

  “Then OUT . .” she demanded and opened the door with another ping. “And you madam,” she glared at Cynthia, “When I sell tartan in this shop, you can feel it all day if you want, but here . . we sell sweeties.”

  “Yes Auntie Jane.”

  “Now look after the shop properly. I’m just goin’ out for a little while with Mrs. Slade and I don’t want any shenanigans when I’m out. Do you understand?”

  Evie and Jane Foxworthy left the shop together, ensuring that the freckled laddie with the kilt was ahead of them.

  “My car is just round the corner Evie. Shall we go for a little drive?” Jane Foxworthy looked somewhat distressed and large drops of heavy rain had already fallen on her eau-de-nil velour hat and the plastic flamingo feather was beginning to droop, “Or we can just sit in there out of the rain if you’re pushed for time . . but we can have our little chat, eh?”

  Jane Foxworthy shuffled down the High Street towards her Beetle car in her new apple green suede boots, with stockings of just a finer shade of pink to compliment . . Two matching colours were just too dull in her estimation and she loved colours! ! . . . Evie followed at close distance, trying to hold her breath in the speed in which she had to keep up with her new friend.

  “Now then Evie. Here we are. If you’d like to get in Dear, we can have our little chat in peace and away from that gorgon of a girl, in my shop . . Oh! I’m sorry if I sound uncharitable Dear, but Cynthia does get me down sometimes . . well, most of the time, but I have to tolerate it you know. She’s young and she is my own flesh and blood, isn’t she?”

  Evie sat in the car, bewildered at what she was hearing. It seemed that every time she met Miss Foxworthy, something new and exciting was about to befall her.

  “Is she Jane?” she asked quietly and the spinster turned towards her as she swiftly pulled a large pearl hat pin from the crown of her head.

  “Is she what Dear?” she enquired as she took the hat off and threw it into the back seat.

  “Your . . flesh and blood, Jane . . Cynthia I mean?”

  “Why yes dear . . Oh! Of course, you don’t know do you? I should have explained that to you before this. I’m sorry, do please forgive me. I am getting rude and forgetful in my old age. Cynthia is right. She is always tellin’ me that .”

  Evie felt very sorry for Miss Foxworthy in that moment and she did look so vulnerable as she sat there, blinking nervously at the windscreen.

  “You are not old Jane . . Cynthia is very young, in every way and that is why she says the things that she does. You mustn’t pay any attention . . but you were saying about her being your own flesh and blood?

  Evie was quite prepared to compromise as long as she got the answers to all her queries . . and she had quite a few . . Even more now with this latest explosion of information.

  “Yes dear. . Perhaps I shouldn’t tell you, but I’m goin’ to. I’m tired hidin’ all this information and goin’ around in secrecy over somethin’ that is nothin’ directly to do with me . . Well, I suppose it is in a way . . Maybe I shouldn’t tell you then Evie . .”

  Evie pouted and pulled her lips tightly together.

  “Well, we girls should always stick together, whatever happens . . That’s what I always say, Jane . . Don’t you . dear?”

  Jane Foxworthy glanced in her driving mirror and smiled coyly.

  “It was when I was a young girl, Evie . . Not much older than Cyn there . . but a lot more sensible, I must add,” she spoke with anger in her last sentence, “I was never . . never pretty, Evie. Well, I thought I was, but . .I had a sister and she was very beautiful. Everyone said so at the time . . but her beauty was . . well, I can’t really describe it.”

  “Oh! do try Jane.”

  “Never mind. It doesn’t matter, but anyway, I fell in love with a young man. He was everythin’ you could want in a man, Evie. Tall, dark and handsome and he carried himself like an officer of the Guards. Oh! He fair swept me off my feet . . I shall never forget that feelin’. It’s the sort of thing that only happens to you once Evie . . If you know what I mean, Dear . ?

  “Yes, yes Jane and was he in love with you?”

  Jane Foxworthy stared into her mirror and her eyes grew hard as her face jerked in a peculiar fashion and Evie became alarmed for a moment.

  “Are you alright Jane?”

  Miss Foxworthy said nothing for a few moments, but kept staring at her reflection in the mirror and then she began to laugh.

  “Love, dear? What is love?” she said rather cynically, “I really don’t know now what that word means and I most certainly didn’t then . .”

  Evie reached across and touched Jane Foxworthy’s hand as it rested on the steering wheel.

  “I understand Dear . .” she said slowly and patted the spinster’s hand.

  “No you don’t Evie. You don’t understan’ at all.”

  Miss Foxworthy seemed to come out of her momentary trance as she spoke and she turned to Evie, glaring at her as if she had personally done her a serious harm. Evie was afraid.

  “You don’t understan’ at all.” she snarled. “How could you. You weren’t there. You probably weren’t even born.”

  A tear came to Miss Foxworthy’s eye as she sighed and straightened herself in the driver’s seat of her car.

  “I should never speak of this to anyone Evie . . I know I shouldn’t . . should I?” she said giving Evie a look that implored her to go on and Evie was waiting for the opportunity that Jane Foxworthy gave her and she took it greedily.

  “Yes, yes, Jane. A worry shared is a worry dispelled. Let me share this secret with you Jane. I am your friend. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Well Dear . . I too fell in love with a man . . when I was much younger, of course.”

  Evie held her br
eath. There were so many things she could conclude from that simple admission as her mind went into a spin and she hoped Jane would put a name to her lover, but she didn’t.

  “He was ever so handsome, he was . . .ever so bloody handsome . . the swine,” Jane concluded angrily. “He should have married me an’ not her, he should . .” Evie looked out of the car window onto the road. “And Margaret was your sister, Jane. That is right . . isn’t it?” she concluded.

  Jane Foxworthy nodded her head slowly and her tear fell.

  “Yes . . as I’ve said, Margaret was more beautiful than I could ever hope to be and when she came on the scene, all the men in the village gave her the eye . . including the man I loved and whom I thought loved me.”

  “By the man . . you do mean Angus McPherson, don’t you Jane?”

  Jane nodded again and sobbed audibly. “Came on the scene, Jane. What do you mean. Was your sister not with you at home in this time?”

  “Oh! No dear. She had just come out of hospital . . she hadn’t been . . well, she hadn’t been too well, if you know what I mean?”

  Evie hesitated.

  “Yes, I think I know what you mean, Jane. Go on.”

  “Well . . Angus McPherson married Margaret very soon after he met her.”

  “So Margaret is Bella’s mother. The woman who was found hanging from the tree in the woods?”

  Jane Foxworthy nodded again and kept nodding repeatedly.

  “But she wasn’t responsible Evie. Margaret wasn’t responsible for a lot of things she did in her life. I told you, she was a little eccentric. She wasn’t mad, you understand. None of my family were mad . . but Margaret was . .strange.”