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Chapters (90)
  1. PROLOGUE
  2. 1849
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. EDINBURGH
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EPILOGUE
  86. HISTORICAL NOTE
  87. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  88. Extract from A Corruption of Blood
  89. 1850
  90. ONE

When he asked her to marry him, she had no doubts, no second thoughts. How could she deny him? How could she deny herself? It was true that she had glimpsed the pain to come, but it seemed a speck of cloud on the distant horizon when all around was sunshine and warmth.

Now the sky was black, and when the rains, the thunder and the lightning commenced, she would be alone.

THIRTY-NINE

logo missinghe rule of man is consolidated by structure, by the erection of institutions. And though a woman might sometimes rule an institution, it is the laws of men that she upholds, and primarily she does so to protect her own position. She prosecutes the laws of men more strictly than men themselves because she knows her power is merely borrowed. She is in permanent fear of the power that has been entrusted to her, and she is merely its vessel and their instrument. As long as she is wielding power in the interests of those who handed it to her, then she knows she will not find herself on the wrong end of it. This is true whether she be in charge of a schoolroom, a hospital or indeed a household, and I can testify to the truth of this in all cases.

Upon the stage in my memory is a parlour in Canonmills, Edinburgh. It was bright and airy, with a view to the Water of Leith from the windows. On this day the chairs were turned from the fireplace towards a low table upon which tea would be served. As though counting down the time to this decorous moment, a recently polished clock was ticking on the recently polished sideboard. All was neat and ordered, a world away from Cumberland Street or the Belmont Institute.

The audience might believe it to be the set for one of those lighter plays about social mores, replete with competing suitors and comic misunderstanding. They would not realise that what they were looking at was in fact an arena for blood sport.

This was the living room of Mrs Olivia Dempster, wherein a number of ladies would soon gather: old friends, good friends. They would sip tea. They would nibble delicately at cake. They would smile warmly at one another. And all the while, they would be vigilant of their own defences and gimlet-eyed in the lookout for a weakness in someone else’s armour that might let them slip a blade between her ribs.

Mrs Emily Robertson would not be attending today, though in her absence she would be the focus of more attention than her presence ever commanded. She had had to withdraw from polite company because her youngest daughter had been caught reading something inappropriate.