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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

Little wonder. She had been sixteen years old and had just lost both of her parents. She had no experience of domestic service and was unsure what her new life would be like. She knew how to cook, to clean, to sew, this last skill being forced upon her at school when she would have preferred to continue with mathematics and Latin. She was sure that a lifetime of performing domestic chores would serve her well, but there were other aspects of her new situation which concerned her. She had heard the rumours of course; about hard labour and cruel treatment at the hands of unscrupulous employers.

She was unafraid of physical work – having grown up on a farm she was well used to it – but harsh punishments were unfamiliar to her. She had never been beaten as a child and had no desire to experience such a thing now. Having lost her family, she felt that she had surely suffered enough already.

She need not have been afraid. What she found here was kindness and inspiration. A household, as it turned out, full of remarkable possibilities, and through which remarkable people passed. Doctors, of course, but also writers, artists, politicians. She had been exposed to worlds that, until then, she had not known existed.

She watched as Raven negotiated a bend in the stairs, taking care not to make contact with the walls, as though he was carrying Archie himself and not just the sick man’s luggage.

She remembered when she had first seen Will Raven, when he had first moved in. What a terrible first impression he had made. She had expected a gentleman, similar in style and manner to the apprentice he was to replace. He had turned up on the doorstep inexcusably late, in stained clothes, reeking of alcohol and with evidence of a recent altercation etched indelibly upon his face. It was obvious that he was a man apart, unlike the others who had gone before. This made her wary of him. Understandably so. And yet they had become friends. More than friends.

Circumstances had thrown them together. She had thought that their attachment would continue, saw no reason why it should not, but Raven had seen things differently. She had been abandoned. She could think about it in no other way and it had been a source of pain to her for some time. She would be shy of any such connection in the future. Or so she had thought until Archie arrived.