Archie smiled. ‘Of course. It is after all your area of expertise and you have been spending a considerable amount of time with my wife.’

Raven wondered if there was a barb within this remark but decided against seeking clarification.

‘If you know that, then you will understand why I am so concerned. To leave her to bring up a child alone: it pains me to think about it, almost as much as it pains me to think about all that I will miss. Will you help her?’

‘To raise your child?’ Raven asked. The words came out before he could censor himself.

‘To assist her, advise her. To ensure she is not left alone.’

He looked at Raven unflinchingly, as though he had an unassailable right to make these demands of a man he barely knew.

‘I got to have her just a little while. I am grateful, so very grateful for that much. But I am sure I will miss the best of Sarah. She will achieve remarkable things if she has the help of her friends.

‘I would not ask any of this if I did not know how much you cared for her already. And though I have not known you long, I have the confidence that you are a good man because of how much she cares for you.’

Raven bowed his head. He did not feel worthy of Sarah’s care or Archie’s confidence.

‘You are wrong about me, Archie. I am not a good man. If I was, we would not be having this conversation.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that if I was a good man and not the coward that I am, Sarah would be my wife, not yours.’

‘What were you afraid of? What stood in your way?’

‘I feared for my position, my status were I to marry a housemaid. It seemed important at the time.’

The folly of it all seemed so stark now that he had admitted it.

‘You deserved her more, Archie, and you deserve far longer with her. You were the better man. The stronger man.’

Archie’s expression softened and he put a hand on Raven’s shoulder.

‘Perhaps there are truths that you can only tell a dying man.’

‘I apologise if I was indiscreet,’ Raven said, his sense of foolishness deepening.

‘You miss my meaning. The consolation of my plight is the clarity it affords, to see what is truly important and to help others see it. We make different decisions when we know life is short. And yet life is always short, for all of us.’

Raven felt dazed as Archie accompanied him to the door. He could not fathom how things had become so complicated so quickly. He had only been back in Edinburgh a matter of weeks.

‘Think about what I have said,’ were Archie’s parting words.

Raven considered them unnecessary. It was unlikely he would be able to think about anything else.

FIFTY-ONE