A Forlorn Hope by Lorna Peel

Author:Lorna Peel [Peel, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

In the morning, Isobel was passing Will his hat when the front doorbell jangled. She quickly backed into the morning room doorway while he opened the door.

“Good morning, Will.” It was her mother’s voice. “I have come to keep Isobel company… oh, there you are,” Mrs Ellison said, stepping into the hall as Isobel emerged from the doorway. “Good morning, John.” She beamed at the boy, coming slowly down the stairs with Florrie. “How are you today?”

“Very well, thank you, Grandmamma.”

“Ready to go?” Will asked him and he nodded.

“Yes.”

“I shall see you this afternoon.” Isobel bent and kissed the top of John’s head then kissed Will’s lips.

“Have a lovely day at school,” her mother added, kissing John’s cheek, and Isobel smothered a laugh as he grimaced, took Will’s hand and they left the house.

Isobel closed the door after them before giving her mother’s hand a grateful squeeze.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, nodding her thanks to Florrie and the maid went back upstairs. “Come into the morning room, there is something I need to tell you.”

“Oh?”

“It’s Margaret Powell,” she continued, following her mother into the room and shutting the door. “I want to warn you that if you happen to see her – avoid her if you possibly can – for your own safety – and young John’s if he is with you.”

Mrs Ellison’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why?” she asked as they sat down on the sofa and her eyes bulged as Isobel related the events of the previous day to her. “But-but,” she sputtered. “Margaret could have killed poor Dr O’Brien. Will was right to insist that David inform her family.”

“Yes, but it remains to be seen whether David does that.”

“Alfie went through hell but he is so much stronger now he is rid of David.”

“Yes, he is. Is James a Freemason?” she inquired suddenly and her mother’s eyebrows shot up.

“Why on earth do you want to know that?”

“Will’s father is one,” she explained. “And, yesterday, Will saw him going into Freemasons’ Hall with David.”

“I see. Well, no, James isn’t. But Ronald was. James told me Ronald invited him to join but he politely declined. Did Will’s father never invite him to join?”

“Never, because he knew Will would say no.”

“John is treating David more and more like a son, isn’t he?” her mother asked softly and Isobel nodded.

“And Will says he feels like a hypocrite for feeling jealous and hurt. It’s strange,” she said with a comical smile. “Because it reminds me of how I found the few days I spent living at number 55 up until Mr Henderson died very unsettling. It wasn’t simply because of what I had just been through, it was because you were married to a man who wasn’t Father. And after all Father did – to you – to me – to Alfie – I should have been happy for you but one morning when you were coming down the stairs to breakfast with him, I found myself looking behind you both for Father because it didn’t seem right that he wasn’t with you.

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