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Sunday, 19th July 1908
Kirsty woke before Ethel. She had found it peculiar but strangely comforting to share a room with her friend. Downstairs, she could hear sounds of movement. She slid out of the bed and shrugged a robe around her shoulders. Raindrops trickled down the window. The summer heatwave had ended, at last. Was the change of weather an omen, signalling the change in her own life? Kirsty stared out to the glistening streets below. So much had happened since yesterday; her life would never be the same again.
A woman stopped in front of the church steeple and looked up towards the window. Kirsty started. It was Aunt Bea. Her aunt crossed the road. She was coming here. Kirsty grabbed her clothes and pulled them on hurriedly. Aunt Bea never visited anyone before ten in the morning. What had happened to make her break her own, strict rules?
Ethel raised her head from the pillow as Kirsty’s fingers fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. She buttoned the final one before grabbing a hairbrush and dragging it roughly through her curls.
‘What’s the hurry? Has something happened?’ Ethel dug her elbows into the pillow and pushed herself up.
‘My aunt’s heading in this direction. I spotted her in the street.’
‘So? She probably wants to check you’re all right.’
‘You don’t understand – Aunt Bea never leaves the house this early; she thinks it a mortal sin to call on anyone before ten. Something must have brought her here.’
‘I’ll come downstairs with you.’ Ethel swung her legs out of bed.
‘Can’t wait, sorry – see you down there.’ Kirsty ran through the door, letting it slam behind her. She was out of breath by the time she reached the drawing-room, where Aunt Bea and Martha were deep in conversation.
‘What’s happened?’
Bea rose from her chair and hurried across the room to her niece.
‘Your father is furious, and I felt it necessary to come and warn you.’
‘Warn me of what?’
‘He intends to have you incarcerated in a lunatic asylum and plans to arrange for a physician to detain you there. Your mother tried to talk him out of it, but she has been unsuccessful, and, of course, he never listens to me.’ Bea stopped and drew breath. ‘I cannot stand back and see you locked up in an asylum, Kirsty. I had to warn you.’
‘How much time do I have?’
‘He has arranged an appointment with the physician from Dundee District Asylum for later this morning. You are safe until after church comes out.’
‘Pack your belongings,’ Martha said. ‘We must act quickly.’
Bea leaned forward to embrace Kirsty.
‘I will go now. It would not be wise for me to know where you are going.’
‘Thank you, Aunt Bea. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me.’ Tears gathered in the corners of Kirsty’s eyes as she watched her aunt leave, and she brushed them away with an impatient hand.
‘Where will I go?’ she asked Martha.
‘Leave that to me. There is a safe house with Miss McGregor at Inverkeilor. You and Ethel can stay there for a few days, which will give me time to make arrangements for you to travel to Edinburgh.’
Kirsty rushed upstairs.
‘We’re leaving this morning,’ she said, throwing her clothes into a valise.
‘This morning?’ Ethel’s eyes widened.
‘Yes,’ Martha confirmed, entering the room. ‘I have found a carpetbag for your belongings, Ethel, and I’ve ordered a carriage to take you both to Inverkeilor. The faster I get you girls out of Dundee, the better.’
‘Why are we going to Inverkeilor, wherever that is? I thought we were going to Edinburgh or Glasgow.’ Ethel placed her few possessions in the carpetbag.
‘We have to get Kirsty to safety quickly, and you will be safe at Abbethune House,’ Martha said. ‘But within the week, you will be on your way to Edinburgh.’
Half an hour later, the packing was completed. Both girls took a last look around the room which had been their haven, then hurried out to the carriage waiting at the kerb.
Kirsty’s heart thumped as she stepped out of the close and on to the pavement, but a nervous glance along the street reassured her that her father wasn’t lying in wait for her. Her skirt caught around her feet as she jumped into the carriage with unseemly haste. Ethel and Martha followed after her, both looking anxious.
Kirsty’s eyes flicked back and forth as they sped through the streets of Dundee and she only breathed easily again once they were rumbling through the countryside. She was heading for safety and freedom; towards a destiny she felt was preordained. But it was a destiny which was to take her into the unknown, and who knew what dangers she might find along the way.
Kirsty settled back in her seat. For the first time in her life, she realised she felt free, and as long as Ethel was with her, she didn’t care how dangerous her destiny would turn out to be.
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