"Almost an agent provocateur, wouldn't you say, Dr. Randall?" The vicar graciously handed the ball back to Frank, who seized it and ran.
"Yes, indeed. The language is very guarded, of course…" He turned the pages gently with a scrubbed forefinger.
"Oh, really?" I said.
"But it seems from this that Jonathan Randall was entrusted with the job of stirring up Jacobite sentiments, if any existed, among the prominent Scottish families in his area. The point being to smoke out any baronets and clan chieftains who might be harboring secret sympathies in that direction. But that's odd. Wasn't Sandringham a suspected Jacobite himself?" Frank turned to the vicar, a frown of inquiry on his face. The vicar's smooth, bald head creased in an identical frown.
"Why, yes, I believe you're right. But wait, let's check in Cameron"—he made a dive for the bookshelf, crammed with calf-bound volumes—"he's sure to mention Sandringham."
"How perfectly fascinating," I murmured, allowing my attention to wander to the huge corkboard that covered one wall of the study from floor to ceiling.
It was covered with an amazing assortment of things; mostly papers of one sort or another, gas bills, correspondence, notices from the Diocesan Council, loose pages of novels, notes in the vicar's own hand, but also small items like keys, bottle caps, and what appeared to be small car parts, attached with tacks and string.
I browsed idly through the miscellanea, keeping half an ear tuned to the argument going on behind me. （The Duke of Sandringham probably was a Jacobite, they decided.） My attention was caught by a genealogical chart, tacked up with special care in a spot by itself, using four tacks, one to a corner. The top of the chart included names dated in the early seventeenth century. But it was the name at the bottom of the chart that had caught my eye: "Roger W. （MacKenzie） Wakefield," it read.
"Excuse me," I said, interrupting a final sputter of dispute as to whether the leopard in the Duke's crest had a lily in its paw, or was it meant to be a crocus? "Is this your son's chart?"
"Eh? Oh, why, yes, yes it is." Distracted, the vicar hurried over, beaming once more. He detached the chart tenderly from the wall and laid it on the table in front of me.
"I didn't want him to forget his own family, you see," he explained. "It's quite an old lineage, back to the sixteen hundreds." His stubby forefinger traced the line of descent almost reverently.
"I gave him my own name because it seemed more suitable, as he lives here, but I didn't want him to forget where he came from." He made an apologetic grimace. "I'm afraid my own family is nothing to boast of, genealogically. Vicars and curates, with the occasional bookseller thrown in for variety, and only traceable back to 1762 or so. Rather poor record-keeping, you know," he said, wagging his head remorsefully over the lethargy of his ancestors.
It was growing late by the time we finally left the vicarage, with the vicar promising to take the letters to town for copying first thing in the morning. Frank babbled happily of spies and Jacobites most of the way back to Mrs. Baird's. Finally, though, he noticed my quietness.
What is it, love?" he asked, taking my arm solicitously. "Not feeling well?" This was asked with a mingled tone of concern and hope.
"No, I'm quite well. I was only thinking…"I hesitated, because we had discussed this matter before. "I was thinking about Roger."
"Roger?"
I gave a sigh of impatience. "Really, Frank! You can be so… oblivious! Roger, the Reverend Wakefield's son."
"Oh. Yes, of course," he said vaguely. "Charming child. What about him?"
"Well… only that there are a lot of children like that. Orphaned, you know."
He gave me a sharp look, and shook his head.
"No, Claire. Really, I'd like to, but I've told you how I feel about adoption. It's just… I couldn't feel properly toward a child that's not… well, not of my blood. No doubt that's ridiculous and selfish of me, but there it is. Maybe I'll change my mind in time, but now…" We walked a few steps in a barbed silence. Suddenly he stopped and turned to me, gripping my hands.
"Claire," he said huskily, "I want our child. You're the most important thing in the world to me. I want you to be happy, above all else, but I want… well, I want to keep you to myself. I'm afraid a child from outside, one we had no real relationship with, would seem an intruder, and I'd resent it. But to be able to give you a child, see it grow in you, see it born… then I'd feel as though it were more an… extension of you, perhaps. And me. A real part of the family." His eyes were wide, pleading.