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That was greeted by a frown. ‘That’s my name, but who’d leave me anything? I’ve got no close relatives left.’
Then my daughter and her husband were killed in that big railway accident down south a few months ago. Her husband’s widowed mother, who is a mean old devil, took my grand- daughter in and got the minister of her church to speak for her as being a proper guardian. As if he knows her, he’s a new man to this town, that one is!’ Lancashire, 1936.With her son Gabriel finally married, and her youngest following his dreams of becoming a doctor, Gwynneth Harte finds herself with an empty nest - until a fire forces her to move in with Gabriel and his wife Maisie at their home on Daisy Street. Biff realised that the men sitting nearby had fallen silent and were trying to listen to their conversation. ‘How about we go somewhere more private to discuss it, Mr Chapman? I could buy you a meal at the Star hotel. They’re open for luncheon and I’m hungry, even if you aren’t.’As a private detective, he’d found the heirs to the other two properties left by Miss Jane Chapman and her nephew, and now, hopefully, he was about to find the heir to the final house. Tears came into Arthur’s eyes and he blinked furiously. ‘I don’t deserve anything. I’ve made a mess of my life in the past two years.Yes, a right old mess, and all my own fault.’ Biff had seen unemployed men both here and in London walking the streets in the daytime come rain or shine, some carrying bundles, some without any possessions.
Lucas had already been to a week-long course at this workers’ college and had come home thrilled to pieces. Apparently he’d done so well they’d found a private benefactor who would pay for him to go to Manchester University and become a doctor. It was something he’d wanted since he was a small child, caring for an old teddy bear and ‘mending’ its broken limbs. His companion gave him another of those wry, twisted smiles. ‘I’ve not been eating well for a while, so I couldn’t fit anything else in. Thank you for the offer, though. That were extra kind of you.’ I’ve never met or communicated with anyone of that name. I’ve been sent by Mr Albert Neven, a London lawyer, to find Arthur Chapman who has been left a bequest by a distant relative.’ I’m not. It’s the simple truth. She left houses to three of her distant relatives who’d fallen on hard times, people she thought deserved a helping hand.’ She’d tried to introduce Lucas to suitable young women, but he’d told her bluntly that he didn’t intend to get trapped in marriage because he was determined to become a doctor. That would take him years, so he wasn’t likely to marry till he was at least forty, if then.
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When he nodded across the room, a waitress came to their table, smiling at him. ‘Nice to see you here again, Mr Higgins.’ Well, it’s good that you can identify him yourself,’ Biff said. ‘That’ll save me one job. What do we need to do next, Mr Lloyd?’
Biff’s companion seemed to relax a little once they were seated. ‘Eh, it’s a long time since I’ve been in a posh place like this.’Arthur flushed, looking embarrassed. ‘I don’t have proper lodgings. You could leave a message for me at the church hostel in East Rivenshaw. I earn my night’s shelter there by doing some cleaning, and they let me leave my spare clothes in the cellar, but no one can stay there during the day so I never know where I’ll be then.’ I’d recognise him by sight. Folk speak well of him.’ Arthur closed his eyes, murmuring, ‘I hope I don’t wake up and find this is all a dream.’ Biff knew what he still had to tell the heir would give him further difficulties, so he tried to think how to cheer the poor fellow up. As they left the lawyer’s rooms, he asked, ‘Would you like to see your house from the outside today?’ Then, as life improved slightly and they were getting on their feet again, she’d fallen ill and nearly died, costing them a lot of money for an operation. Now, however, her two eldest sons were in employment and married, so surely there was hope that they’d start families? I’d like to, of course I would, but it depends where it is. I can’t afford bus fares, and my shoes have holes in the soles, so I can’t walk very far. I put fresh cardboard in them every morning, but it soon wears through, especially on rainy days.’
She wished he was at home to open the letter and put her out of her misery about when he’d be leaving. She shouldn’t begrudge him this chance and she didn’t, but these people would take him away from her, she knew they would, and things would never be the same. After a searching gaze, the man said, ‘The poor sod definitely needs some good news, for a change. He’s the one in the corner by the fire.’ Lancashire, 1936. With her son Gabriel finally married, and her youngest following his dreams of becoming a doctor, Gwynneth Harte finds herself with an empty nest - until a fire forces her to move in with Gabriel and his wife Maisie at their home on Daisy Street.Biff turned to stare in that direction and saw a scrawny, sad-looking man of about the right age, who looked chilled through and was holding his hands out to the fire. Nod- ding thanks to the barman, he pushed the shilling across the counter, not surprised at how swiftly it vanished. At the hotel, the waiter glanced at Arthur and showed them to a table in the corner, away from the better-dressed folk. But kindly meant. Both Miss Chapman and her nephew were very pleasant people to deal with. Now, where can I con- tact you, Mr Chapman?’ Biff Higgins walked into the seedy pub in the poorer part of Rivenshaw, keeping a careful eye on the men sitting there, some of whom looked ready to cut your throat for twopence. He doubted anyone drinking in the middle of the day had any sort of job. Lancashire, 1936. With her son Gabriel finally married, and her youngest following his dreams of becoming a doctor, Gwynneth Harte finds herself with an empty nest – until a fire forces her to move in with Gabriel and his wife Maisie at their home on Daisy Street.
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