Beyond Reason by Gwen Kirkwood Page B

explained, ‘but Mother was born there when her father was coachman. It would upset her to move. I could train as undercoachman with Donald if you will allow us to stay in the cottage, sir?’
    ‘Ah, Fingal, you have only one more year to do at university. Would you throw it all away to become a coachman?’
    ‘If it means allowing my mother to keep her home, sir, and if you will employ me?’
    ‘You’re a good son, Fingal. I know how hard you have worked, and it would be a waste to throw away your education. One day I hope to offer you more than work as my coachman. I value your mother’s care of me and my household as much as I value my coachmen’s care of my horses. Donald tells me young Mark Wright is a good worker and he is careful when driving the pony and trap. He assures me the two of them should manage very well. Mark’s father is horseman at Home Farm so he is happy to live at home with his parents and walk across the field to work each morning. So you see you have no need to worry. You must continue your studies.’ He asked a few more questions about Fingal’s time at university before they parted. Fingal’s heart was lighter than he had thought possible considering the state of his father’s health.
    Janet felt sad and alone when Fingal left for his journey back to Edinburgh. She struggled to hold back her tears. Fingal returned her hug, then bent his head and kissed her cheek, muttering fervently, ‘I wish we were older. I wish I could take care of you, Janet.’
     
    As Mary and Janet entered the kirk on Sunday morning, Mr Cole caught Mary’s eye and gave a polite nod. He watched her followPeggy and her family into their seat, instead of taking the seat she had always occupied with her father and her husband. Dominie Todd sat there alone, his expression grim, his mouth a thin line. He knew he did not have the respect Dominie McWhan had commanded from young and old alike and he resented the dead man’s continuing influence. Gossip spread rapidly in the small community and other members of the congregation were quick to notice Mary Scott and her daughter had relinquished her family’s pew.
    ‘The rumours must be true,’ whispered one to another. Janet was too innocent to grasp the significance of the change of seats but she sensed that everyone was looking at them. The wheals from Dominie Todd’s cane still showed bright pink on their faces. She shivered and glanced across at him
    She was pleased when she saw Molly Foster and three of her brothers. She knew there were more young Fosters who must be at home with their mother. Janet guessed the man must be their father. His stare made her feel uncomfortable. She tried to catch Molly’s eye but the older girl kept her head bowed, her eyes downcast. Janet thought she looked pale and unhappy. She raised her eyes and found Mr Foster looking at her strangely as though he was assessing her in some way. It reminded her of the way her grandfather had looked at the two pigs which he had kept in the pigsty behind the schoolhouse. He had looked that way when he was deciding whether one of them was ready for Mr McPhee, the butcher. She shuddered and lowered her own gaze.
    The Reverend Peter Drummond was a good man and a fine preacher but Mary Scott kept her eyes lowered. She knew he, like everyone else, had noticed she was not in the family pew she had occupied every Sabbath since she was a small child. All the congregation would know her disagreement with the dominie was a serious matter when she would not share the same pew.
    Josiah Saunders also noticed and concluded the disagreement at the schoolhouse must be as serious as Mistress McLauchlan had reported, but he had no idea how dire the situation had become for Mary Scott and twelve-year-old Janet. He was not a man who mixed in society and he abhorred the sort of idle gossip which his stepsister Eliza and her ilk relished. When Dominie McWhan hadarranged for Fingal to win the bursary to attend