Read Online Bury Her Deep by Catriona McPherson - Free Book Online Page B

that it was hardly sensitive to draw attention to her mourning.
    Mr Tait dropped his spoon into his porridge, but Lorna only smiled gently and fingered the little brooch before answering.
    ‘Yes, it was my mother’s,’ she said, and I winced slightly in case I had caused Mr Tait pain too.
    ‘You must have been flattered to see the Howie ladies attempting to imitate it,’ I said. Lorna looked momentarily puzzled by this.
    ‘Well, that was by the by,’ she said. ‘The Rural badge is a very similar design, based on it indeed, except the Rural one has just four points to the crown. For S. W. R. I., you know. But the older ones like this always had five. Why would that be, Father? Why was it always five?’
    ‘A lucky number, I daresay,’ said Mr Tait, looking uninterested.
    ‘But it’s seven that’s lucky, isn’t it?’ I asked.
    ‘That’s right,’ said Lorna. ‘I remember from the skipping song.’
    ‘I’m not familiar with that,’ I said. ‘The girls on the green didn’t include it in their repertoire yesterday. How does it go?’
    Lorna hummed a few notes and then shrugged. ‘I can’t remember it,’ she said. ‘It must be a skipping song, though, mustn’t it? One and one make two and two makes true love. Then, how does it go, Father? Three is mighty, five is good. Seven is certainly luck.’
    ‘I can’t bring it to mind at all,’ said Mr Tait, sounding rather strangled and looking a little pale. Perhaps it was not a skipping rhyme after all; perhaps it was a lullaby or even a love song and it reminded him more painfully of his wife than even the brooch itself.
    ‘I wonder what happened to four and six?’ I said, trying to lighten the mood.
    Lorna giggled.
    ‘They’re both terribly unlucky,’ she said. ‘I mean to say, six is the number of the devil himself, Mrs Gilver.’
    Mr Tait, if anything, looked more troubled than ever although whether it was the minister or the man who was suffering was hard to say. Lorna did not seem to notice, at any rate.
    ‘Well, be thankful the Rural doesn’t have six initials, then,’ I said, and Lorna laughed again.
    ‘But why is four so unlucky, I wonder?’ she said. ‘Father, do you know?’
    ‘Do I know why four is an unlucky number?’ Mr Tait echoed. ‘It’ll be lost in the mists of time. And anyway, you might as well ask why the sky is blue, Lorna dear. Luck and sense have no connection.’
    ‘Hear, hear,’ I replied. ‘I have never had much patience with luck, good or ill. I always find it impossible to remember what I should and shouldn’t do in the cottages I visit. I must give tremendous offence.’
    ‘You’d be better off at Luckenlaw,’ said Lorna, ‘with just one big source of luck that everyone agrees on.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I thought my father had told you. About the sealed chamber in the Lucken Law.’
    ‘I told Mrs Gilver the facts, Lorna dear,’ said Mr Tait. ‘I did not trouble her with the rest of it. It’s the usual thing, Mrs Gilver. Any secret chamber you care to mention has engendered some tale or other about all the good fortune depending on the sealed door and trouble raining down if it is broken. Thankfully, though, not everyone gives it credence, no matter what Lorna says.’
    ‘You are not usually so scornful,’ said Lorna.
    ‘I’m not scornful at all,’ her father protested.
    I was feeling scornful enough for all three of us, being firmly with young Jessie Holland in believing that such fancies were for those with too much time and nothing better to fill it.
    ‘I promised Jessie I would visit this morning,’ I said, using her name since it had come unbidden into my thoughts. ‘I’d like to see how she’s bearing up, of course, but also I thought I might sound her out about household matters. In advance of my talk, you know. In fact, I might pay a few visits around the district to get some ideas about what might be useful.’
    Mr Tait looked tremendously impressed,