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Back The Art of Dying Save as PDF
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

‘As I say, she was always strong and determined. They kept having to put her back to bed because she was impatient to be well. Perhaps in the end that was what did for her: she was vulnerable because she would not rest as she was supposed to. Nor did it help that she kept refusing her medicine. She said she didn’t like it. She was too young to understand. If only she had taken more of it …’

He swallowed back tears, his voice trailing off.

‘It stole the life from my sister. I saw her fade away before my eyes. Within a week of Eleanor’s death, she was bedridden herself. Tearful and wandering, as though the world no longer made sense to her. You could say she died of a broken heart.’

Raven turned to look at Sarah, as he knew that this would be hard for her to hear. He knew her father had passed away shortly after her mother died in childbirth, and Sarah maintained that it was his grief that had killed him.

‘And what of your friend, Stuart?’ Raven asked. ‘Did he die of a broken heart too?’

Iain glanced in the direction of the Forth, though there was only fog to see.

He cleared his throat. ‘Stuart …’ he began, then winced and looked away again.

The thought appeared to be too painful. They had been friends since childhood after all. But Raven detected another element to his reticence, and suspected he knew what it was. He thought of Archie’s request for perhaps the twentieth time that day.

‘You are a doctor, you say?’

‘Aye.’

‘Then I can speak to you in confidence?’

‘We can promise you the utmost discretion,’ Sarah assured him. Raven wondered if she suspected too.

‘Surely nobody could blame him for what he did,’ Iain said, almost as though talking to himself. ‘He had already been through so much. But people can be harsh judges when they sit at a distance. He had lost all; all but his mother, I suppose. But she was provided for, so he was not abandoning her …’

Raven was certain now of what Iain was reluctant to divulge and reasoned it would be easier if he said it for him.

‘He took his own life.’

Iain nodded solemnly.

‘We found him in his bed with Julia’s locket clutched in his hand.’

Raven was beginning to feel like an intruder upon a stranger’s sorrow. With every word spoken it looked less like this was a piece in the puzzle he hoped to solve, and thus they had little business troubling the man further.