Second Time Around by Marcia Willett Read Free Book Online

want to get this sorted out.’
    Isobel stared down at the papers upon which Mathilda’s neat writing was quite clear. Names stared up at her. ‘Who are Maria and Albert Holmes?’ she asked.
    â€˜Maria was my father’s sister.’ Mathilda sipped her tea. ‘She married Albert Holmes and had three children. Ruth died young and Peter and John were both killed in the Great War but John had already married a woman called Ada and had a son by her.’
    â€˜It’s fascinating.’ Isobel peered at the names and the dates. ‘What about your mother’s family?’
    Mathilda shook her head. ‘I never knew my mother’s family. I can very vaguely remember an old woman who might have been my grandmother but I think she must have died whilst I was still very young. My mother died when I was ten and my father was not good at keeping in touch with relatives. Even with his own family.’
    â€˜I can believe that,’ murmured Isobel, who guessed that Mathilda was much like her father. ‘And who are William and Edith Rainbird?’
    â€˜William was my second cousin and died at Dunkirk.’ Mathilda frowned. ‘It’s all rather complicated.’
    â€˜And how have you tracked down these people?’
    â€˜Some of it was in the family bible and I found a few notes amongst my father’s papers but a friend of mine in London is putting in the
real work,’ admitted Mathilda. She replaced her cup in its saucer and looked at Isobel. She noticed that she was looking thinner, sharper around the nose and cheekbones, and the old woman studied her for a moment. ‘Perhaps you should have a holiday?’ she suggested..
    Isobel, surprised both at the sudden change of subject and that Mathilda should make such a personal remark, looked at her quickly. ‘Do I look as if I need one?’
    â€˜You do rather,’ said Mathilda bluntly. ‘Are you losing weight?’
    â€˜I’m worried in case you’re thinking of turning me out,’ replied Isobel lightly. ‘In favour of all these relations.’
    â€˜Oh, I shan’t do that.’ Mathilda shook her head. ‘You will have all the rights of a sitting tenant. No one shall turn you out.’
    â€˜That’s a comfort.’ Isobel tried to maintain her lightness of tone, wondering whether the beneficiary would require a housekeeper and, if not, how she, Isobel, would afford the rent of her little cottage. ‘So which one have you decided on?’
    â€˜There appear to be three possible contenders,’ said Mathilda. ‘Edward Holmes married the year after I was born so, though it’s unlikely he’s still alive, he might have offspring. Then William married in 1914. He was the one who died at Dunkirk. Apparently he had a son but we have been unable to find him as yet. We have traced the third possibility down to the last decade at which point the entire family appear to have vanished without trace.’
    â€˜But what will you do if you find them all?’ Isobel’s question had a certain self-interest behind it. ‘How would you decide? Would you interview them?’
    Mathilda finished her tea and passed the cup to Isobel. ‘Yes, please. I should like another if there’s any in the pot. It’s a rather difficult decision. There might be an obvious candidate, you see. On the other hand I might decide to leave it to several of my father’s descendants.’
    â€˜That sounds fraught with difficulties,’ said Isobel, pouring the tea and feeling more nervous by the minute. ‘They could hardly be
expected to live here all together. Surely they’d simply sell it all up and divide the spoils?’
    â€˜You may well be right.’ Mathilda looked at her papers thoughtfully. ‘We are not a particularly fruitful family,’ she observed. ‘Perhaps there will be no one left to inherit after all.’
    Â 
    ISOBEL CARRIED THE