Read Online Time and Tide by Shirley McKay - Free Book Online Page B

. we will go back precipitate, and look out for the doctor,’ he concluded lamely. The brothers Boyd were quick to follow, leaving James alone with Maude and Lilias.
    Maude whispered, ‘Go, my petal, find Gib Hunter. He has had a fright.’
    Lilias ran gaily, calling for the cat. Maude looked helplessly at James. ‘He was well enough before, I swear it, James, in spite of what I said.’
    James Edie answered sceptically, ‘Perhaps.’ He eased the deadman from Maude’s arms, and let the body drop back on the bed. ‘The corpus is decayed,’ he pointed out.
    â€˜Tis what I said before. I swear to you, he spoke to me. He ate and drank.’
    â€˜So it would seem.’ James was sniffing at the piss pot, looking at the tray. He picked up a piece of bannock. ‘Someone here has breakfasted on bread.’
    â€˜So I did not give him baxter’s bread. What can that matter now?’
    â€˜It will matter still, if Honeyman should come to hear of it. He will not let a death deflect him from the rules. It will mean a fine.’ James Edie shook his head.
    â€˜James . . .’ Maude pleaded.
    â€˜Do not fear.’ He threw the crust into the embers of the fire, ‘We will not tell him. Let us clear the tray, and the piss pot too, and tell them that he did not eat or drink. Then we will go and wait.’
    When they came through to the tap room, Elspet had returned, with a doctor by her side, who was not Professor Locke. For that doctor could not come, as she explained to Patrick Honeyman; his wife was at that moment labouring with child. ‘His servant said, he canna come today, nor yet tomorrow, as he thinks.’
    She had expected thundering, a summer storm, at least, and was surprised when Honeyman said mildly, ‘You did your best, I doubt. It is the barber-surgeon that ye brought?’
    Elspet nodded, ‘Aye . . . and sir, I couldna find a man that spoke the Flemish tongue,’ she ventured timidly.
    â€˜What? No matter, lass. He is not wanted now.’ Honeyman was thoughtful, and the bluster had gone out of him. Elspet was encouraged and astonished. She had feared his wrath, and worried what to do. And then she had remembered the barber surgeon’s boy. His name was Gilbert Blair, and one night in his cups he had told to her his trick, and it had made her smile. The boy was not a prentice, or anything as grand, but acted as a lure, for Gilbert kept a pocket full of worn and broken teeth, to be hidden in his cheeks for the surgeon to draw out. When strangers came on market day, the boywould step up first, in painless exhibition of the surgeon’s art. This small deception never failed to please, though Gilbert Blair had far more teeth than cavities, and the next brave man to follow soon saw through the fraud. This surgeon seemed to Elspet as good as any doctor, wearing his credentials spattered on his coat. And so she had resorted to his buith upon the market street, where she had had to wait while he drew out a tooth.
    James Edie looked at Honeyman. ‘I suppose this man can certify the death?’
    The bailie nodded, ‘Aye.’ He showed the surgeon to the closet room. James Edie followed to the rear, while John and Christie Boyd hung back, and Maude remained with Elspet, Lilias and the cat, who had come in from the kitchen, none the worse for wear. ‘Take Lilias out,’ instructed Maude.
    The kitchen lass stared at her, ‘I am just back!’
    â€˜Go and tell Mary, we will not be open today.’
    â€˜Why won’t we open?’ Elspet asked, wide-eyed.
    â€˜For there is a death in the house.’ Maude was clear now, and calm, which was how it should be. She did not understand why she had been so moved. For this was not the first death that had happened in her house. Or even, she reflected, in her bed.
    James Edie and Patrick Honeyman stood watch over the surgeon, as he examined Jacob’s body. They were