Page 26 of The Pearl Sister
‘Please do, Mother. Whatever Father said about her descent into sin, she had definitely repented by the end.’
‘And she was delightful company. Oh, I do so hate the onset of winter. The season of death . . . certainly around these parts.’ Adele gave a small shudder and put a hand protectively across her belly. ‘Your father’s at a parish committee meeting this evening, then out to take supper with Mrs McCrombie. He’s hoping she will once more see her way clear to giving our church a donation. Heaven knows, it needs it. It cannot run on eternal salvation alone.’
Or on the promise of something we cannot even see, or hear, or touch . . .
‘Yes, Mother.’
‘Perhaps you would go upstairs to your sisters, Kitty dear? Bring them down to see me when they’re in their nightgowns. I feel so weary tonight, I simply cannot climb the stairs to the nursery floor.’
A surge of panic ran through Kitty. ‘You are still unwell, Mother?’
‘One day, my dear, you will understand how draining pregnancy can be, especially at my age. We two shall eat at eight, and there is no need to dress for dinner, as your father is out,’ she added.
Kitty climbed the interminable stairs, cursing the double blight of being a minister’s daughter and the eldest of a brood of four, soon to be five. She walked into the nursery and found Martha, Miriam and Mary squabbling over a game of marbles.
‘I won!’ said Martha, who was fourteen and possessed a temperament as stubborn as Father’s religious beliefs.
‘It was me!’ Mary retorted with a pout.
‘Actually, I think it was me,’ put in Miriam gently. And Kitty knew ithadbeen her.
‘Well, whoever it was, Mother wants you to complete your ablutions, dress in your nightgowns, and go and kiss her goodnight in the drawing room.’
‘Go to the drawing room in our nightgowns?’ Mary looked shocked. ‘What will Father say?’
‘Father is out having supper with Mrs McCrombie. Now,’ Kitty said as Aylsa arrived in the nursery with a washbasin. ‘Let’s see the state of your faces and necks.’
‘D’ye mind sorting them out, Miss Kitty? I must see to the supper downstairs,’ Aylsa pleaded with her.
‘Of course not, Aylsa.’ As their only housemaid, Kitty knew the girl was utterly exhausted by this time of night.
‘Thank you, Miss Kitty.’ Giving her a grateful nod, Aylsa scurried out of the nursery.
When all three of her sisters were in their white muslin nightgowns, Kitty marched them downstairs to the drawing room. As her mother kissed them goodnight one by one, Kitty decided that at least her early experience of childcare would stand her in good stead when she had children of her own. Then, looking at her mother’s burgeoning stomach and the fatigue plain on her face, she thought that perhaps she wouldn’t have any at all.
Once her sisters had been despatched off to bed, Kitty and her mother sat down in the dining room to eat a supper of tough broiled beef, potatoes and cabbage. They discussed church business and the coming festive season which, for the McBride family, was the busiest time of the year. Adele smiled at her.
‘You’re such a good girl, Kitty, and I am so very glad of your help, both inside the house and out while I am . . . encumbered. Of course, soon it will be time for you to have a husband and a family of your own. You’ll turn eighteen next week. Goodness, I can’t quite believe it.’
‘I’m in no rush, Mother,’ said Kitty, remembering the last time the minister of the North Leith parish had come to tea with his wife and pointedly introduced her to his son, Angus. The young man had blushed every time he’d spoken through thick, wet lips about how he was to follow his father into the ministry. She was sure that he was perfectly nice, but although she still didn’t quite know what she wanted, it certainly wasn’t to be the wife of a minister.OrAngus.
‘And I will be lost without you here,’ Adele continued, ‘but one day it will be so.’
Kitty decided to grasp the moment, for it was not often she and her mother were alone. ‘I wanted to ask you something.’
‘What is it?’
‘I have been wondering whether Father would consider letting me train as a teacher. I would so very much like to have a profession. And, as you know, I enjoy teaching my sisters.’
‘I am not sure that your father would approve of you having a “profession”, as you put it,’ Adele said with a frown.
‘Surely, he would see it as God’s work? Helping the less fortunate to learn to read and write,’ Kitty persevered. ‘It would mean I was no longer a burden to you if I was earning my own keep.’
‘Kitty dear, that is what a husband is for,’ Adele said gently. ‘We must remember that even though your father has selflessly given himself to the Lord and his path has led us here to Leith, you are a descendant of the Douglas Clan. No woman from my family has ever worked for a living. Only for charity, as we both do now.’
‘I cannot see how anyone – either my grandparents or the Lord above – would think it shameful for a woman to work. I saw an advertisement inThe Scotsmanfor young women to train as teachers and—’
‘By all means, ask your father, but I am sure that he will wish for you to carry on doing your good works in the parish until you find a suitable husband. Now, my back is aching on this hard chair. Let us go and sit in the drawing room where it is warmer and more comfortable.’
