‘It was so terribly stormy, as you know, and the wind was howling so much we both kept our heads firmly down, me holding onto my work cap, him onto his top hat.’

‘How was the hat?’

‘I couldn’t say, it was pitch black, the only lights were from inside the train itself and the one light inside the station waiting room. The two that usually hang at each end of the platform were blown away in the gale.’

‘His face. Did you see that?’

‘Again, I only caught the glimpse of some dark whiskers and that was all. He was in such a hurry once he saw the carriage approach.’

‘What did his bag look like?’

‘He didn’t have much with him, that I can tell you. That’s what made me think he had perhaps been away for a day and not overnight. I believe the bag was more a small valise; it certainly was not a large trunk, I’d have remembered that.’

He glanced up at the clock by the window.

‘And there is nothing else you can recall that might help me to know whether this gentleman was indeed my husband? His voice?’

Willie Robertson shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Craig. I heard nothing in that gale. Mr Smith has invited you here under false pretences. All that’s certain is that a gentleman got out of first class at Leuchars. No one knows who he was. But we must pray it was indeed your husband.’

Ann glowered at him. ‘Surely there is something else. Was he, for example, tall, short, lean, fat?’

‘I recall he looked tall, but that was perhaps the appearance from his hat. We were both bent double against the wind.’

Ann nodded, recalling how she and Baxter were also bowed over, heads down, as they struggled against the wind whipping across the Green on Sunday night.

‘I am so sorry but I must leave now for the ferry. I told my wife I would be home for tea. She’s been in such a state all week, worrying.’

Ann got to her feet and stretched out her hand. ‘Thank you for your time, Mr Robertson. If there should be any other fact you recall, please let me know.’

She strode along the platform and headed up the steps. Near the top she sniffed and detected a familiar smell. Pipe tobacco. She had always loved the smell, it reminded her of home. She walked out the entrance and saw her driver beside the carriage. From her right drifted the strong smell of pipe smoke. She turned and saw a beggar place her pipe on the ground and pick up her melodeon. She began to play and as she pulled the instrument out and in, Ann stopped and stared. The tune was so familiar, the strains of the music evoked vivid memories in her, memories she did not want to surface.