The Last Train to Scarborough Read Free Page A

her pushing had earned its reward. I was on the point
of giving in my notice, with a view to starting as articled clerk in the
offices of Parker and Wilkinson, an arrangement subject to my performing satisfactorily
during what was billed as a 'conversation' with Mr Parker himself about railway
law. His outfit was one of several firms that did work for the North Eastern,
and their particular speciality was cases of personal injury: the paying off -
or, better yet, fending off - of passengers' claims for damages.
    I
knew very well that this conversation was to be a test, albeit of a gentlemanly
sort, and it was now less than twelve hours off. Going into the office of
Parker and Wilkinson would entail at first a cut in my earnings, but the wife
had told me to see this as taking a step back in order to make a great leap,
and she was prepared to dip into the inheritance she'd had from her father in
order to help fund my training for the law.
    'Shall
we have another look at Buckingham?' she enquired.
    'Go
on then,' I said, and she picked up the book.
    'The
train he's waiting for is running late,' said the wife, after an interval of
reading lying down with her head propped in her hand. 'He takes a carriage
instead, and then sends the bill to the railway company. Will they settle?'
    'They'd
be better off just paying him not to use the railway,' I said. 'They should pay
him to leave the bloody country.'
    The
wife eyed me.
    'It
depends on the lateness of the train,' I said. 'If it's only running half an
hour late, that would be a reasonable delay. A day late would be unreasonable.
Anything in-between, you argue about.'
    The
wife yawned as she said, 'That's about right, Jim. I'm sure you'll do
brilliantly tomorrow.'
    'Are
you?'
    'It's
really nothing to worry about. Mr Parker said it would be a formality.'
    'That's
just what bothers me.'
    She
came across and sat on my sofa, lifting her skirts as she stepped up, like a
tomboy climbing a hill.
    'You'll
have a lovely day of it tomorrow,' she said. 'Your meeting with Mr Parker will
be over in no time, and when it's done, you'll be on the road to being a
solicitor ... I know you've the whole day off, but you might call into the
police office to let them know how you get on.'
    'To
put on swank, you mean?'
    '... You'll perhaps take a turn in
the Museum Gardens, then perhaps go to Brown's to see how your new suit's
coming on.'
    Owing
to the slowness of Brown the tailor my new suit would not be ready in time for the
interview, and I would be making do with my best suit.
    'I
think I'll sit by the river and watch the trains going over the Scarborough
railway bridge. They've the new Z Class on the Scarborough branch. They're just
running her in, you know.'
    'What
are you, Jim? Ten years old?'
    'I'm
pushing thirty, which is too late to be starting a new job.'
    'It's
not a job, it's a profession. You might come back here for a nap, then you've
your office "do" at the Beeswing.'
    'The
Chief says he has an important bit of business he wants to mention to me at the
Beeswing,' I said, and the wife frowned.
    'But
you've practically left.'
    Silence
for a space. I had deliberately stirred the wife up, and felt rather bad about
it.
    'It's
not a dangerous bit of business, is it?' she enquired. Would she be so
concerned if she knew that Robert Henderson might be put in the way of violence? I liked to think not.

Chapter
Four
     
    A
needle hung before me. It was the common run of needle - it had an eye in it -
only much bigger, and it did not go away until I started to count the seconds
of its persistence, whereupon it vanished immediately. I saw next a line of
paint tins against a wall in a room. They were not opened, and I knew that I
did not want to see them opened, for I did not like the smell of paint. Close
by, I strongly suspected, was a rattling window and beyond that the sea, which
was black with something ... something starting with the letter B, and ending
in S. The sea was black with butlers: