She sank heavily into her chair by the hearth as she said that, and fell silent for a while. Then Corporal Morison sat, too, in the tall, rush-backed chair across from her, and reached to take her hand into his own.
Lily’s eyes stung because he was sitting in her father’s chair, and that was a hard thing to see, so she looked down, and her kitten climbed into her lap and demanded attention, as though understanding.
The kitten had no name yet. Lily had not settled on a name that suited him, though Jean had made suggestions. He had grown a little, and his coat of black and white was filling in most handsomely, and when he caught a mouse he made a habit of presenting it to Jean, who now seemed nearly as attached to him as Lily.
Lily was then unprepared when, two weeks after Argyll’s execution, Jean announced they could no longer keep the kitten, but would have to find it a new home.
The tears came instantly. “Why?”
Jean had turned her back. Her voice was light, but her tone meant there was no room for argument. “Because we cannot live in this house any longer. And where we’ll be living, we are not allowed a cat.”
It was unfair. And Lily said as much. She said it with a breaking heart, and did not care if all the neighbors heard her.
“Aye,” said Jean, “it is unfair. But life will be that way, sometimes.” Jean turned, and Lily saw that there were tears in Jean’s eyes, too. “Have ye learnt so little of me that ye think I’d wish to hurt ye?” From beneath her skirts and apron, Jean reached deep into her pocket and drew out a scant handful of coins. “This is what I have left now, Lily. All that I have left, to keep a roof above our heads until the summer’s end. I’ll not ask Captain Graeme for a penny more, not after all he’s done for us. Nor will I ask Jack Morison to put himself in debt for us. I’ll find a way, I promise, but I cannot keep this house past Lammas Day, ye ken? Or all of this”—she held the coins out—“all of this is gone.” She turned away again, as though she could not bear to look at Lily’s face. “I’m sorry, Lily. I am doing all I can, but I do have four mouths to feed, and no silver to do it with, and aye, it is unfair.”
Lily thought long on this, afterward, and on the following morning she asked for the small, covered basket. “The one with the handle.”
Jean asked her, “And what are ye doing with that?”
Lily took a pair of stockings and arranged them in the bottom of the basket, for their softness. “For my kitten,” she explained. “When Jamie comes the day, I’ll take the kitten to another home, so ye’ll not have to worry anymore.”
Jean hugged her, hard, and Lily kissed her, and when Jamie came to fetch her, Lily kissed Jean once again, and also gave a kiss to Bessie, and her baby brother, and went out into the strong midmorning sun.
Robin was there, too. He always came along now when they played outdoors, for reasons that had not been stated but which Lily gathered had to do with safety. Being Captain Graeme’s son had once been Jamie’s golden key to go wherever he might like within the town, with none to bother him—now it seemed more a key to hold him prisoner, confined to but a handful of the streets that were less troubled by unrest. The whispers ran beneath the cobbles like the waters of a swiftly flowing burn that had been deeply buried, hidden everywhere from light, but Lily heard them in the shadows.
They did not appear to bother Jamie, who skipped a small stone across the cobbles before letting her decide the day’s adventure. “Where are we away to?”
“To your house.”
“Why?”
“Has your daddie gone on duty yet?”
“Not till he’s had his dinner.”
“Then I need to speak with him.”
“He’s not alone,” warned Jamie. “Mr. Cant is with him, visiting.”
She did not think that Mr. Cant would mind the interruption. As the minister of their own church, he knew her well. “Your daddie telt me I could come at any hour I wished to speak with him, and he would always listen, and I ken he’d never say a thing that was not true.”
Robin took her side, with a slight smile at her reasoning. “No, he would not.”
They found Captain Graeme and Mr. Cant in the front drawing room, with the old chess board between them. Both men looked up in some surprise at the sudden invasion, but neither complained.
Mr. Cant went so far as to reassure Robin they’d done him a favor. “You’ve given my bishop a welcome reprieve, for he’s in mortal peril.”