Walking the Dog by Bernard MacLaverty

Author:Bernard MacLaverty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

BY TRAIN

‘. . . your man was travelling from Glasgow to Aberdeen by train. In the opposite corner of the carriage sat a man pretending to be absorbed in his copy of the Scotsman. He did not speak until after they had pulled out of Dundee and then he had a strange, almost unbelievable tale to tell.

‘ “Recently,” he said, “I was travelling from Perth to Lancaster and my only carriage companion was a young woman. Even though she wore a veil of some kind I could see that her features were of great beauty. But what fascinated me most was her hands. She wore gloves for much of the journey but shortly after we had pulled out of Kilmarnock she removed them to reveal scars the like of which I have never witnessed. She must have seen my eyes flinch away because she said, ‘I hope, sir, I do not offend you but behind these broken hands is a story which some people find hard to believe. Recently I was travelling by train between Lancaster and Wolverhampton and the compartment was occupied by just one other person. He was of average height, a thick-set man in his forties, dressed in the garb of a country gentleman. He did not speak to me,’ she said, ‘but shortly after pulling out of Crewe he burst into tears. His whole body was convulsed with weeping. I offered him my handkerchief from my sleeve. “You are most kind, ” he said through his sobs. “Forgive me.” “There is nothing to forgive,” I replied. “Sometimes we are asked to endure things too heavy for the human heart,” he said. “Up until Tuesday last I was married to a girl of unsurpassable beauty twenty years my junior. On our honeymoon we were travelling by train from Berlin to Venice. In our carriage were two German farmers, each with a muzzled goose on his knee . . .” ’ ” ’

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