A Turn Of Cards

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Book excerpt

Prelude

Even now I remember that evening. If I close my eyes I can hear the soft snick of cards on the polished walnut table and the sonorous ticking of the long-case clock. I can feel the gentle heat of the fire that crackled in the grate at my back and see the shifting shadow of the chandelier that swung slowly from the ceiling. It is a layered memory, for it is set in the middle of my life story, with the past behind it and my then-future in front, a hinge-day from which much sprung, yet also a day that reminded me of the steps that had brought me to such a pass.

There were eight of us present that October night in 1803. Emily Napier and her silent husband James, Elizabeth Campbell and the amiable Colin Campbell, young Marie Elliot and Gilbert, her intended, Mrs Bessie Faa, famous as Mother Faa and me, Dorothea Flockhart, Miss Dorothea Flockhart. You will notice that alone of the company, I had neither husband nor sweetheart. I was alone in this world of turmoil and tribulation and determined to remain in that state of solitude for I neither sought nor wished for anything to do with the sterner sex.

You may wonder at my disdain for men when much of our female world revolved around matrimony and much of the conversation of the unmarried centred on beaux and sweethearts and marrying greatly. Not only women discussed the opposite sex for in the male world, where business or the military or the running of an estate took up so much time, matrimony also figured in large part. A man needed an heir, and only a good wife could adequately provide such a thing. Why was I out of step with the tune that society played? I had my reasons and excellent reasons they were.

'Now pay attention.' Although Mother Faa spoke quietly, everybody in the room heard her. She shuffled the pack and spread the cards like a fan across the table. 'You all know what night it is.'

We nodded, one by one, some serious, most amused.

'It's the 31st October,' Emily said.

'It's Halloween,' Marie watched Mother Faa's multiple-ringed hands pass over the cards.

'It's Halloween,' Mother Faa lowered her voice, so I had to strain to hear her, 'the night of the year when witches and warlocks come out. The night of the year when the door to our world opens and the creatures of the supernatural enter.'

I would have snorted disbelief until I saw the expression on Mother Faa's face and the attention that Emily and Marie were paying. Colin and James exchanged amused glances while Gibbie Elliot poured himself another drink.

'We are five minutes short of midnight,' Mothers Faa continued, 'when the power is at its height.' She flicked the cards together again and lifted one finger. 'I will tell one fortune at that time. One only.' She looked at each of us in turn, her dark eyes unsettling.

We all exchanged glances. James smiled and squeezed Emily's arm. The Campbells looked serious, and Marie put a hand over her mouth, shaking her head.

'Whose?' Gibbie Elliot tapped a finger on the table. He was smiling, as if eager to be chosen.

'Whoever needs it most,' Mother Faa shuffled the pack. 'You must decide.' She smelled of wood-smoke and earth and the wild places of the world although I knew the rings that weighed down her ears were of pure gold. She did not belong in that urbane company, but there again, neither did I.

I kept my counsel as the others began to chatter. I could see Marie watching Gilbert. Her left hand stole across the table and touched his arm. I said nothing. It was none of my affair.

'No,' Gilbert said. 'You decide, Mother Faa.' He leaned back with a devil-damn-you smile on his face.

'Yes, do, Mother Faa,' Emily followed his lead. 'You must decide.'

I listened to the soft whirr and tick of the clock as Mother Faa ruffled the pack again. There is something quite ominous about the sound of a clock. From the instant that we are born, we have a limited time in this world, and every tick of the clock marks one second less in which to exist. I counted the seconds towards my own end and wondered what life was all about. The minute hand flicked forward and vibrated slightly; it was one minute short of midnight.

I did not care.

'Is that what you all wish?' Mother Faa asked.

'Yes, yes, get on with it,' Colin said at once, and the others nodded. I followed suit as Mother Faa fixed me with a stare. Her eyes were dark, bottomless pits in a face seamed by wrinkles. Yet despite her advanced years, they were bright with life while mine had long since lost their lustre.

Mother Faa gripped my hand. 'Touch the cards,' she said.

I started. I had not expected to be singled out. Then I shrugged; it did not matter.

'Touch the cards,' Mother Faa repeated.

When I did so, they were slightly warm with a sticky residue. Mother Faa pressed my fingers hard onto the pack. 'Say your name.'

'Dorothea Flockhart,' I tried to ease away from Mother Faa's eyes, but they held me fast. I could see nothing but her dark dilated pupils, sucking me inside her mind. I did not wish to travel there, to a place unknown.

'Now think about yourself.' Mother Faa's voice bored into my head. I did as she commanded, thinking about my life, past and present. It did not take long for I had no desire to linger in the dark rooms.

'Good,' Mother Faa released my fingers although her gaze did not relax. I was within her eyes, lost in her darkness that was so different from my own. 'Shuffle the pack.'

The cards stuck together as I shuffled. I handed them back. 'There you are.'

Mother Faa's fingers brushed the back of my hand as she recovered the pack. Her gaze remained fixed on me. I knew there were others in the room yet I could not see them. Nothing existed outside the duo of Mother Faa and me. 'Now cut seven times and place the chosen cards on the table.'

I did so, and Mothers Faa removed the top card of the seven little piles and placed it in front of her. I could not watch. I could not ease away from her eyes. I could only exist as the clock ticked again, mercifully shortening my life by another second.

'I have selected one card for the past, one for the present and the rest for your future.' Mother Faa looked down, and I felt the physical release as the power of her gaze ended. The clock continued to tick away my life. There was no other sound in that room.

'You have had a troubled past,' Mother Faa said. 'I see great distress there.'

I nodded. I knew my past and had no desire to return there. It waited to ambush me if I thought of it.

'You are not as happy as you could be in your present,' Mother Faa did not look up from her cards. 'You are lonely.'

'I am not lonely,' I denied. Mother Faa snorted.

Emily tapped me with her fan and whispered something. I did not hear the words. I had forgotten that she was there.

For the first time, I glanced down at the cards. Only two were face up, presumably the ones that signified my past and present. Mother Faa turned over the others, one by one.

The cards meant nothing to me. Two number cards and three face cards, a knave, a king and a queen. Mother Faa pored over them.

'What secrets are you hiding, Dorothea Flockhart?'

I shook my head. 'I have none that I wish to share.'

'That will not do, Dorothea Flockhart, the cards don't lie!' There was venom in Mother Faa's words. 'You are more secretive than open, and you hide more of you than you reveal.'

I said nothing, acutely aware that everyone was watching me. Marie started to comment but closed her mouth as Mother Faa continued.

'There is a man in your future.'

'That's good,' Marie was of too amiable a nature not to comment. 'Isn't that good, Dorothea?'

I said nothing. I did not need a man. They were unnecessary, insidious complications and I liked things to be clean and straightforward. I had done with men and their lies and deceits and … Other things. I shook away the memories, knowing they would return later.

'Of course, it's good,' Gilbert gave his approval. 'Every woman needs a man and every man needs a woman.' He exchanged smiles with Marie.

'He will wear a uniform,' Mrs Faa said.

'Oh, that's even better,' Marie enthused. 'He'll be an officer, Dorothea, a Colonel maybe, or a brave Captain of cavalry.'

I thought of the officers that swaggered around Edinburgh with their scarlet uniforms, side whiskers and gold braid. I did not wish to have anything to do with them. 'I don't wish a man to control my life.'

'Oh, they're not that bad,' Emily glanced at James. 'We know you're not on the catch and some men are trustworthy.'

James gave a little smile. 'Some.'

'Not many,' I knew that I was insulting three of my companions and withdrew the statement. 'I do not mean anybody at this table.'

'We all know that, Dorothea.' Marie was always first to spread oil over troubled waters. She was a treasure, that girl, and I hoped that Gibbie Elliot valued her as such.

'I see trouble around you,' Mother Faa had waited for the comments to subside. 'I see trouble and the draining of wealth.' When she looked up, I saw concern deep in her shadowed eyes. 'Take care, Dorothea Flockhart, and be careful of the horned beast that will bring death or happiness.'

'The horned beast?' I said. 'What does that mean?'

Mother Faa skiffed the cards together. 'I do not interpret what the cards tell me. I only tell you what I see.'

'How on earth can you see a horned beast?' I asked. 'There was nothing like that in the cards, only faces and figures.'

Mother Faa put her cards together. 'Your life is set to change.' Standing up, she walked out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts and the remorseless ticking of the clock. Talk of a possible future had awakened nightmares from my past.

'A man in a uniform,' Elizabeth Campbell said. 'How wonderful, Dorothea. You never know, we may have you married off before we pass another twelve-month.'

'Unless the horned beast comes for me,' I tried to make a jest of it. I did not feel like jesting. It was five minutes after midnight, and I wished I had never come that night.

Chapter One

I gasped as the coach jolted over a rut. 'I wish somebody would do something about these roads.'

Emily nodded. She peered out of the window. 'We're nearly there now.' She smiled. 'It's not like you to go to this sort of expedition, Dorothea. You must have taken Mother Faa's words to heart.'

'You mean I should search for a man with a uniform?' I shook my head. 'No, Emily, I only wish a distraction. I am not interested in finding a man.' No man would want to know me, once he discovered my past.

Emily frowned. 'Why not, Dorothea? You can't live alone all your life. Don't you wish a husband to look after you?'

'I don't need a man to look after me, thank you. I can look after myself very well.'

I must have sounded testy for Emily gave me a sideways look, softened with a small smile. 'There are other benefits of marriage.'

'You mean money?' I decided to be deliberately obtuse. 'I have sufficient for my needs.'

'I did not only mean money.' Emily said. 'I meant something quite different.' She lowered her voice, no doubt in case she shocked the driver or frightened the horses. 'I mean the physical side of things.'

'Oh, that.' I said. I knew too much about the physical side of things.

'Yes, that.' Emily touched my arm. 'It's comforting to have a man who loves you. It is quieting to have a man hold you at night.'

I nodded. 'I'm sure it is.' I closed that subject.

Emily peered at me across the width of the coach. 'Am I making you uncomfortable?'

I shook my head. 'No, Emily. I am quite all right.'

'Mother Faa was correct,' Emily said. 'You do have secrets. You never talk about yourself.' The carriage jolted again, throwing her against me. We disentangled ourselves, with Emily laughing. 'I declare that I will be one large bruise by the time we reach Portobello.'

'Travelling does have its discomforts,' I agreed and relapsed into my accustomed silence as we followed the road.

'Look!' Emily tapped her finger on the window. 'We're here.'

I looked outside where the long cold waves splintered into froth along the sand. A flotilla of seagulls paraded above, searching for prey under the grey clouds. Compared to the brilliant colours and heat of Bengal, this east coast of Scotland was a dismal place in early winter.

'This is where they will land.' Emily held onto my arm. 'Right here.' She indicated the long sweep of Portobello beach. 'Look!' A troop of cavalry practised their swordsmanship on a row of turnips set on stakes.

They look the part,' I said. The cavalry wore splendid scarlet coats with blue collar and cuffs, silver breeches, black boots and helmets complete with leopard skin crest and white hackles. 'If ornamental uniforms could win wars Boney would take one look and surrender.'

Emily smiled. 'They are doing their best.'

One cavalryman made a galloping run and slashed at the nearest turnip. 'Cut them down, the villains, cut them down!' His sabre missed the vegetable by a wide margin.

'If that is an example of our defenders, Boney has little to concern himself with,' I said.

'That gentleman is the Quartermaster of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteer Light Dragoons,' Emily said after a moment's scrutiny. 'Walter Scott. He's an Edinburgh solicitor and a bit of a quiz.'

'I see,' I said, watching as the legal warrior dismounted and limped along the beach. 'I hope that our regular soldiers are more skilled than the Volunteers.'

Emily nodded. 'I don't believe you will be setting your cap at Mr Scott, then.'

'I don't believe I will,' I nearly rebuked Emily for using such a commonplace expression but forbore. It was not her fault that I was in a foul mood.

'The army will be waiting if the Frenchies come.' Emily was always forgiving. It was one reason I liked her.

I imagined the scene with the barges full of blue-coated soldiers approaching the bay, their bow-guns flaring orange as they fired at the defenders, the tricolour displayed at the stern and the hammer of artillery drowning the sound of the surf. 'Yes.' It was an inadequate response.

'It could be next month, or next week,' Emily gripped tighter. 'It could be tomorrow.' She looked out to sea as if the French fleet might rise from beneath the waves.

That might be so.' I pulled the shawl tighter around my shoulders against the smirr of rain. 'Let's hope Nelson can keep them at bay. When does this thing start, Emily?'

'Soon. Look!' Emily pointed. 'Here are the ships!'

I saw them, ten single-masted gunboats creeping under sweeps across the chopped water of the Firth of Forth. Each had a white spume of spray at her bow and wore the Union Flag on her stern; presumably, in case we thought the French had indeed come to infest the Forth.

'Nelson would be proud,' I said.

'Or Admiral Duncan,' Emily waved her handkerchief to the gunboats.

'The army will be here soon, then,' I looked around. A crowd was beginning to gather along the beach, men and women and families come to watch the fun. A couple of collie dogs gambolled, furiously barking as they ran from person to person. A group of children ran to the waves and paddled while their mothers endeavoured to take them to drier ground. A less warlike scene would be hard to imagine.

Emily grabbed my arm. 'Listen!'