want to get this sorted out.â
Isobel stared down at the papers upon which Mathildaâs neat writing was quite clear. Names stared up at her. âWho are Maria and Albert Holmes?â she asked.
âMaria was my fatherâs sister.â Mathilda sipped her tea. âShe 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
âItâs fascinating.â Isobel peered at the names and the dates. âWhat about your motherâs family?â
Mathilda shook her head. âI never knew my motherâs 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
âI can believe that,â murmured Isobel, who guessed that Mathilda was much like her father. âAnd who are William and Edith Rainbird?â
âWilliam was my second cousin and died at Dunkirk.â Mathilda frowned. âItâs all rather complicated.â
âAnd how have you tracked down these people?â
âSome of it was in the family bible and I found a few notes amongst my fatherâs papers but a friend of mine in London is putting in the
real work,â 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. âPerhaps you should have a holiday?â she suggested..
Isobel, surprised both at the sudden change of subject and that Mathilda should make such a personal remark, looked at her quickly. âDo I look as if I need one?â
âYou do rather,â said Mathilda bluntly. âAre you losing weight?â
âIâm worried in case youâre thinking of turning me out,â replied Isobel lightly. âIn favour of all these relations.â
âOh, I shanât do that.â Mathilda shook her head. âYou will have all the rights of a sitting tenant. No one shall turn you out.â
âThatâs a comfort.â 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. âSo which one have you decided on?â
âThere appear to be three possible contenders,â said Mathilda. âEdward Holmes married the year after I was born so, though itâs unlikely heâs 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
âBut what will you do if you find them all?â Isobelâs question had a certain self-interest behind it. âHow would you decide? Would you interview them?â
Mathilda finished her tea and passed the cup to Isobel. âYes, please. I should like another if thereâs any in the pot. Itâs 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 fatherâs descendants.â
âThat sounds fraught with difficulties,â said Isobel, pouring the tea and feeling more nervous by the minute. âThey could hardly be
expected to live here all together. Surely theyâd simply sell it all up and divide the spoils?â
âYou may well be right.â Mathilda looked at her papers thoughtfully. âWe are not a particularly fruitful family,â she observed. âPerhaps there will be no one left to inherit after all.â
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ISOBEL CARRIED THE
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley