Beyond Reason (13 page)

‘Bring her up here. There is no time to lose and Mrs Mossy already has the fires burning here. Ask Mrs McLauchlan to come as quickly as she can. We shall attend the girl here. There is water boiling in the kitchen and a fire in the small sitting room.’ No one questioned Josiah Saunders when he issued orders. An unconscious Janet was carried into Crillion Keep and laid on a thick rug before the fire in Josiah’s own sitting room.

‘She lives, but only just,’ Maggie McLauchlan whispered hoarsely in answer to his question.

‘This is the warmest room in the house. She must stay in here.’

‘But this is your own room, sir. You dine in here when you are alone.

‘The child’s need is greater than mine. Do as I say and tell me what else we might do to revive her.’

Janet stirred but did not regain consciousness as Maggie McLauchlan towelled her damp hair and gently bathed her face
and hands in warm water. She tried to rub warmth and life into her limbs. She had been amazed to find Janet was dressed only in her nightgown beneath her sodden cloak. It was clear she had made a sudden flight and she pondered anew what could have possessed her to flee from Braeheights on a night like this. Had she heard how frail her mother’s health was? Was she on her way to see her? But no, she would not set out at night, in the snow, dressed in her nightgown.

‘Her poor feet are raw frae the blisters,’ Mrs Mossy said, interrupting her conjectures. She was gently drying first one foot and then the other, to restore Janet’s circulation as Mistress McLauchlan had bade her. ‘D’ye think she’ll live?’

‘I pray she will. I’ve never seen Mr Saunders so distressed, but he and the old dominie were good friends.’

‘Aye, they passed many an evening together talking about books and playing that game on a board,’ Mrs Mossy said.

‘Dear God, the bairn is beginning to shake,’ Maggie said. ‘Pass me more blankets.’ She clasped Janet in her motherly arms, hugging her, willing the heat from her own body to suffuse Janet’s with warmth and life. ‘Why, oh why, does she not open her eyes?’

‘Can I come in?’ Josiah called through the closed door.

‘Aye, we have rolled her in a blanket for now. When it is daylight I will bring one o’ my own nightgowns for her. It will be too big but it will do for now.’

‘I’ll get her own nightgown washed and dried as soon as I can,’ Mrs Mossy said. She was a kind-hearted woman and she didn’t like to see suffering in man or beast.

‘I have asked Donald and the gardener to bring my own bed in here for her,’ Josiah Saunders said. ‘Will you have one of the other beds brought downstairs and aired for me before tonight, Mrs Mossy?’

‘Y-yes, sir, if ye’re sure you should give the lassie your bed, and – and this room. It has always been the warmest and your favourite, especially in winter.’

‘I shall survive. I am not so sure about the child. We must do all we can. I shall ask Donald to bring the doctor when we can get through the snow. Why is she shaking?’

‘I d-don’t know. I think it is the circulation returning to her limbs. She has not opened her eyes or spoken a word yet.’

‘And you are trying to instill the warmth from your own body into hers?’

‘Yes, sir. I – I don’t know what else to do until we can get her into bed and warm it with a shelf frae the oven.’

‘Then I will sit before the fire and hold her close while you supervise the making of a bed for her.’

Maggie McLauchlan’s eyes widened. ‘Y-You sir? Are ye sure? I-I mean she’s not exactly a bairn now. She is nearly sixteen. I shall never forget Janet’s birth. She brought such comfort and joy tae Peggy after she had lost her own babe. The poor wee lamb, her mother lavished all her care on Andrew. Since he died Mary Scott is more in need o’ care herself, frae what I hear.’

‘That is true. Mr Cole is at his wits’ end to know what to do about her. He was telling me about his predicament the last evening we spent together. His own wife is an invalid. He cannot care for two of them.’

‘Aye, I heard he doesna ken which way to turn, but it grieves me to think o’ Mary Scott, the dominie’s only daughter, ending up in the poorhouse. I wondered if the lassie had heard o’ her mother’s plight. She must be sorely troubled to leave in her nightgown.’

‘She was dressed in her night clothes?’ Josiah stared at Mistress McLauchlan, then his eyes flashed with anger. ‘I heard vile gossip about the man Foster when his own daughter died. Surely Mistress Scott would not have allowed her daughter to stay there if there was any truth? Can you pass the child to me?’ He seated himself in his large armchair before the fire and held open his arms.

‘There was nowhere else for the bairn to go when Mary Scott went to work for Mr Cole. Janet was good friends with Molly Foster so we all hoped she would be happy at Braeheights. Hannah Foster was always a kindly woman, but they say Foster himself is a brute of a man.’ She placed Janet in his arms cocooned in her blankets.

‘I shall do my best to get her warm and keep her safe while you and Mrs Mossy make a bed for her. Maybe you could arrange to
stay here for a few nights, until she recovers. or until we can get someone to nurse her?’

‘Aye, I can stay, sir. Peggy will help to nurse Janet. She has aye had a tender heart for the lassie.’

‘I’ll do what I can to help,’ Mrs Mossy offered.

‘Thank you,’ Josiah Saunders said with genuine gratitude. ‘The dominie was a good friend to me from the first week I came to Crillion Keep. I shall do everything I can to help his granddaughter. I wish I had known she was unhappy, or in danger. We rarely saw her at the kirk in recent months.’

‘No. Foster hardly ever brought any o’ his brood to the kirk after they found the body o’ young Molly,’ Maggie McClauchlan said darkly. ‘There’s some reckon he was responsible for her death.’

‘What is this? Where did it come from?’ He lifted a small leather-bound book from a table beside the fire.

‘It belongs to Janet. She was clutching it as though her life depended on it when Donald carried her in frae the stables. Fingal gave it to her brother, Andrew. He must have passed it on to Janet before he died. She always loved reading.’

‘Yes, I remember the dominie telling me she was as intelligent as any of the boys he had ever taught. Well there are plenty of books here for her to read if only we can make sure she survives, and I pray to God we can.’

There were several days and nights when both he and Mistress McClauchlan doubted whether that was possible. Janet drifted in and out of consciousness for the next ten days, alternatively burning with fever, then shivering as though with ague.

As soon as the snow had begun to thaw, Josiah sent Donald Baird to bring Doctor Carr.

He shook his white head. ‘You’re doing all that I could do, Josiah, you and Mistress McLauchlan. I brought the lassie into the world. I’d hate to see her leave it before her time.’

‘So would I, so would I,’ Josiah said heavily. ‘If I had known she was so unhappy at Braeheights I would have made a place for her here. When I came to Crillion Keep I was glad of her grandfather’s help to guide me through the tangled threads of local society, the
gentlemen and the supposedly righteous elders of the kirk.’

The old doctor cocked an eyebrow at his cynical tone and accepted a tot of best French brandy.

‘I am an elder of the kirk. Some of them are good men but a few are hypocrites. I’m sure the Reverend Drummond must have told you some of us try to be good Christians. I hear he often spends an evening here with you, especially since Dominie McWhan’s death.’

‘Yes, he does, but I prefer to judge for myself now that I know them better. Mr Cole, now, he is genuine; almost a saint, I think. He is making a suit for me but he is extremely worried about his wife since Mistress Scott has become an added burden rather than a help to him. He is reluctant to ask her to leave when she has no one to care for her.’

‘Mary Scott lived for Andrew. Her reason for living died with him.’

‘But she has a daughter!’ He glanced towards the bed where Janet was tossing feverishly. ‘Even if she did not realize the danger she was in at Braeheights, surely she must have known how hard her life was.’

‘Mary Scott put everything out of her mind when her laddie died. I don’t think she has long in this world but that is no consolation to Luke Cole in his present circumstances and I see no solution.’

‘No.’ Josiah stared into the fire in contemplation, then he looked at the doctor. ‘If her daughter survives I may be able to provide a solution.’

‘You, Josiah? How so?’ But Josiah would not be drawn further, even by the good doctor, discreet though he knew the old man to be. Josiah was startled by his next question. Had the doctor guessed what was in his mind?

‘Does your sister know you’re nursing a young woman back to health?’ Archie Carr raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘I know she disapproves of your acts of charity.’

‘Whatever I do it is none of Eliza’s business. It is better if she does not hear. On the occasions she has visited the Keep she has caused trouble. I almost lost the good services of Maggie
McLauchlan and Jacob, a fine cook and the best horseman I ever knew.’

‘Aye, you were fortunate to inherit your uncle’s staff as well as his estate. He was a good judge of men and they respected him, as they do you now, if I may say so, Josiah. I heard the manager at the Home Farm trudged through the snow himself to bring fresh eggs and milk and make sure you have all you need.’

‘He did indeed. Hugh Bell is a fine man and I shall not forget.’

‘Aye, be thankful you don’t share the same blood as Eliza, despite her claim to be your sister.’

Fingal was concerned about his mother with the harsh winter weather, so he hired a horse to ride to Crillion Keep on the first Saturday afternoon the roads were passable. Maggie was not at home so he called on Peggy next door.

‘Mother is staying up at the Big Hoose.’ She explained about Janet being so ill and Mr Saunders insisting she stay at the Keep. ‘He has been wonderfully generous and kind. Mother and I have taken turns at nursing her.’

‘Janet is here?’ He could barely wait for Peggy to give him the details of Janet’s flight from Braeheights.

Maggie saw Fingal pass the kitchen window on his way to the back door of the Keep. She opened the door before he could knock, delighted as always to see her only son.

‘I’m fine, laddie,’ she assured him as she drew him through into the large kitchen. ‘I’ve told ye often not to worry about me when I have Peggy and Donald so close, and Mr Saunders is a most considerate employer. Did Peggy tell you we have a visitor here, though? I reckon ye’ll want to see her, though she will na ken ye,’ she warned. ‘She’s still very ill with the fever.’

‘How can this be? How did Janet come to be here?’

‘Peggy has aye been a second mother to the lassie. Where else could she go? Anyway I dinna think she had the strength to go any further. I thank God she reached the stable.’ She explained how Donald had carried her here, almost frozen to death.

‘Why did she come at night, in the snow? Why is she here, at
the Keep?’

‘Mr Saunders thought it best and I am glad. We can keep her warmer here. He and Mrs Mossy watch over her during the day. Peggy and I take turns to stay with her at night. She drifts in and out o’ the fever. The only word she’s uttered that I can catch, is your name, Fingal. She was clutching the wee book you gave to Andrew. She didna want to let it go.’

‘I must see her,’ he said urgently. ‘So many Sundays I have journeyed all the way to attend our own wee kirk but Janet has never been there. What can be wrong, Mother?’

‘I fear she must have run away frae Mr Foster. Nothing else would drive her out wearing only her nightgown on such a night.’

‘You think he has harmed her?’ Fingal asked, a muscle pulsing in his lean jaw.

‘We don’t know, laddie. She must have been badly frightened to flee like that. It’s obvious she hadn’t planned to do it.’

‘I’ll kill him if he has—’

‘Hush, hush, son. Don’t say such things,’ Maggie McLauchlan said in alarm.

Fingal was dismayed when he saw Janet’s slight figure tossing and turning restlessly beneath the blankets. Josiah Saunders watched the concern, compassion – and was it love in his troubled gaze?

‘I fear she is worse today,’ he said quietly, ‘but Doctor Carr warned us this might happen. He said it would be the beginning of the end.’

‘Oh dear God, surely she can’t die? So young? Not Janet….’

‘You care deeply for her, Fingal?’

‘You must know I do. She was like a younger sister to me. And more….’ he added in a choked whisper.

‘Then you will not return to your lodgings tonight? Tomorrow is the Sabbath. Tell your mother I have requested you eat here with us. She cannot be in two places.’

‘Thank you, sir.’

‘Your mother and your sister will watch over her tonight.’

Janet’s fever increased alarmingly. She tossed aside the bed-clothes and shouted unintelligible words, almost screams at times.
Peggy and Maggie stayed with her, willing the fever to break, each exhausted but unwilling to leave.

‘The doctor said we must keep her warm, but her brow burns like a furnace as soon as I have wiped it with a cooling cloth,’ Maggie McLauchlan said in a troubled voice. She was worried and weary.

‘It is the delirium which worries me,’ Peggy murmured brokenly. ‘She raves like a madwoman. It is as though all the demons in hell are chasing her.’

‘She has grown worse, and weaker. I fear we’re going to lose her,’ Maggie said. ‘Mr Saunders said we must call him if she reached a crisis during the night. I fear the time has come.’

‘Oh, Mother, surely not,’ Peggy wept. ‘Janet is as dear to me as my own bairns.’

‘I know. It is because you suckled her as an infant and she brought you comfort. I believe Fingal loves her too. He did not want to bide at the cottage tonight but I persuaded him to sleep so that he might help watch over her during the day while we rest.’ She sighed heavily as Janet threw off the eiderdown again and gabbled incoherently.

‘I will waken Mr Saunders. I fear the end is near.’

Josiah did not wait to dress but pulled on his woollen robe and slippers and followed Mrs McLauchlan back to the sick room. His heart had been heavy with dread when he went to bed and now his fears were confirmed.

He knelt beside the bed and helped Peggy Baird to hold Janet’s thrashing limbs and keep her covered with the blankets as Doctor Carr had advised, while Maggie bathed her burning forehead and cheeks and hands with a cooling cloth. They fought together until the first streaks of the winter dawn began to peep through the side of the curtains. Then, as though all the strength had drained from her exhausted body, Janet shuddered several times and lay still, her body drenched, her long hair dark and damp with sweat.

‘She breathes still,’ Josiah said and took her hand in his, stroking her wrist gently as he felt for her pulse. He began to talk to her in a low voice. Peggy Baird realized he was reciting poetry. Janet
showed no response but neither did she struggle any more. She lay white and still upon the bed.

‘I think we should bathe her and put on a dry nightgown and sheets,’ Maggie McLauchlan said, following her instincts. Almost as though recognizing her voice, Janet’s head turned slightly and for a moment she opened her eyes and actually looked at the two women. But then her eyelids fluttered as though the effort of lifting them was too great.

‘The wildness has gone!’ Peggy said. ‘Is the crisis past? And ma bairn still lives?’

‘I think you are right,’ Josiah said. ‘We must thank God. I will go and dress now while you wash and change her so that she may sleep naturally at last. Then I shall watch over her from my chair before the fire. You have both done well to nurse the child so diligently. Now you need rest.’

Although Janet was too weak to speak to him, indeed almost too weak to lift her eyelids, Fingal felt the faint pressure of her fingers in his own when he spoke to her. He uttered prayers of thankfulness as his mother assured him she had reached a crisis as the doctor had predicted, and she had come through it.

‘She will need time, a long time, before she is well and strong again. Mr Saunders says she will need good food and plenty of rest so she should stay here.’

‘Here at Crillion Keep?’ Fingal asked in surprise.

‘Yes.’ His mother chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. ‘Where else can she go, except with us? Mr Saunders is a kind man and he has the room here and he knows Peggy and I will do all we can for her. I don’t know what he has in mind but he told the doctor he would have found work for her here if he had known the granddaughter of his old friend was so unhappy and living in fear up at Braeheights. We – we don’t know what that devil Foster may have done to make her flee in the dead of night. Fingal, we must trust Mr Saunders’s judgement.’

‘I don’t like it but there is no place for Janet with her mother. I wish I did not have to leave today, but I need my work more than ever now. I must save enough money to rent a house instead of lodgings and then….’

‘And then?’ Maggie asked.

‘Then I will take care of her. I have nothing to offer yet, but one day I shall have more, and I….’ He looked at his mother, his blue eyes pleading for understanding.

‘You love the lassie, Fingal?’

‘I think I always have.’

‘She is so young still. And what if Foster has given her a child?’

‘A child? You think it is possible?’

‘We don’t know.’

‘Whatever happens I shall always love her.’ But could he love another man’s child, he pondered, especially the spawn of a devil like Foster was reputed to be?

His horse had been well fed and rested and Fingal decided to make a two-mile detour to call on Mary Scott on his way back to the town of Annan. He wanted to tell her that Janet was still frail and in need of her care.

It was Mr Cole himself who opened the door in answer to his knock early on Sunday afternoon. He explained his mission but the tailor stared at him in dismay.

‘You must come through and speak with Mistress Scott, Master McLauchlan, but you will see she is not in a fit state to care for herself, even less for her daughter; or my wife,’ he added almost to himself.

Fingal had seen the look of despair in the tailor’s eyes. When he came face to face with the woman who had been almost a mother to him during his years at the dominie’s schoolhouse with Andrew and Janet, he understood the tailor’s dilemma. There was no sign of the active young woman who had fed and cared for the winter boarders so diligently. He barely recognized the skeleton who stood before him, with her haggard face and wispy grey hair. She was around the same age as his half-sister, Peggy, but she looked old enough to be his grandmother.

On the other side of the fireplace sat Mr Cole’s wife, rocking silently to and fro in her chair, clutching her arms around her thin body as though she was cold, although the room was hot and she was warmly dressed. Her eyes were vacant and she never uttered a sound, apparently lost in a world of her own.

Mary Scott buried her head in her hands and began to weep silently.

‘If only Andrew had been spared,’ she whispered brokenly. ‘He would have cared for us, for Janet and for me. What am I to do? I can no longer do the work I came here to do. I am a burden to Mr Cole but I have nowhere to go.’

Fingal looked helplessly at the dapper little tailor in his best Sunday suit. He was an elder of the kirk and he attended every Sunday. Fingal’s parents believed he was one of the most genuine men in the parish and anyone with a less kindly heart would have dismissed Mrs Scott. He bit his lower lip.

‘I am so sorry to have disturbed you all on the Sabbath,’ Fingal apologized, moving backwards toward the door, recognizing an impossible situation, knowing he could do nothing to help. ‘I thought you would be glad to have news that your daughter has survived the fever, Mistress Scott, but I see you have problems of your own. Do not worry about Janet. My mother and sister will take care of her until she regains her strength.’

‘Thank you, Fingal,’ Mary Scott said listlessly.

As he followed the tailor out of the small cottage and into the crisp cold air, Mr Cole wagged his white head.

‘I wish I was in a position to offer help,’ Fingal said sincerely, ‘but I am still a clerk in training and the pay is low until I am a fully-fledged lawyer. Sometimes I wish I had taken the dominie’s advice and become a teacher. I owe him, and Mistress Scott, a debt I cannot repay,’ he said unhappily.

‘I understand, young man, and I know your intentions are good, but the problem is not yours. I wanted to send word to Miss Janet but she rarely attends the kirk these days.’

‘No, I think Foster was responsible for her absence,’ Fingal said grimly. ‘I am sorry to have troubled you, Mr Cole.’

‘But what will happen to the child?’ Mr Cole asked with genuine concern. ‘Her father was a fine tailor and a hard worker when he was in good health. The dominie was a good friend to many of us.’

‘Mr Saunders regarded Dominie McWhan as a good friend too and he seems willing to allow Janet to stay at Crillion Keep for
now. Her mother’s plight is more serious, I think.’

‘You are right, young man. I don’t know how long I can go on supporting two invalid women. The Reverend Drummond assures me the Lord works in mysterious ways and my prayers will be answered. I pray He may not take too long.’

The following day, the housekeeper from one of the large houses on the outskirts of the village called to collect the suit Mr Cole had been making for her master, an elderly bachelor. Her husband was also employed as coachman and gardener and he had driven her down in the pony and trap.

‘It was Mary Scott who wrapped up the parcel and wrote the receipt when I handed over the money,’ Mrs McBain told her husband. ‘She looks like a ghost. I’m sure a puff of wind would blow her away. She barely had the energy to tie the string. She doesn’t have the same look as her husband and son did but I’m sure she doesna have long for this world.’

‘Did ye tell her what we heard at the kirk yesterday?’

‘No, but I asked how her lassie was keeping. She gave a sorrowful sigh and leaned on the table as though she hadna the strength to stand. She said she hadna seen Janet but Fingal McLauchlan told her Janet had been close to death with a fever but his mother and sister are nursing her at Crillion Keep, so ’tis true she must be biding there. Mary’s eyes filled with tears and she muttered. “I can only thank God for Mr Saunders’s generous heart for I canna look after my own bairn.” She turned away frae me but I heard her whisper, “Only God knows what will become of us.” My heart felt sore for her because she was always a pleasant, kind young woman when she looked after the schoolhouse for the old dominie.’

‘Aye, our ain bairns liked her well when they attended the school. I’m wondering what Mr Saunders’s sister will say if she hears her brother is giving a home to the dominie’s granddaughter. Nae doubt he’ll be paying Mistress McLauchlan to nurse her, and from what I hear, Mrs Ross grudges every penny her brother spends on his good deeds.’

‘Aye, and she’ll take out her spite on your sister-in-law and the rest o’ the maids who work for her. Poor Maisie, I dinna envy her
working for that vicious-tongued woman.’

‘Maisie has worked for the Ross family since she was thirteen, long before Mr Ross married that she-cat. Maisie said his first wife was a gentle, sweet-natured woman.’

‘I’ll bet he regrets his second choice, then,’ his wife said darkly, ‘but she’s given him a son. Some say the boy is as sly and spiteful as his mother.’

‘It’s hard to believe she’s Mr Saunders’s sister.’

‘They’re not kin by blood. Her mother married his father.’