The Redemption of Alexander Seaton

I wondered if in different circumstances, in another life, Jaffray and Lang Geordie would have met. In this matter they had a similar view of our world, but were so circumstanced that it was unlikely either would ever know it. ‘Marion and Patrick Davidson went to the wise woman for some sort of help?’

He nodded. ‘I think it likely.’

‘Why did she go a second time? After he was dead?’

‘I do not know. Perhaps there was a something …’ his voice trailed away. ‘But I do know that she was determined on going. I counselled her against it, as did Geleis Guild, who had called me to see to her, for she could see that the girl was not well. It was to no avail – I had had no great hopes that it would be, for I had got little of sense from her in all the time I spent with her after you left for Aberdeen. One thing she was adamant about was that she would free Charles, she was determined on it, for she knew he had not killed Patrick.’

‘And she has freed him,’ I said.

‘Aye, God rest her, she has.’ One of the candles in the sconce spluttered out, filling this homely room with melancholy.

‘When did she go to Darkwater?’ I asked.

‘It was on the day before her death.’

Ideas were forming in my mind, then threatening to slip away before I could take hold of them. ‘James, do you think it possible that this wise woman, this midwife, may have knowledge of the plant, the colchicum? That perhaps, indeed, she may have more to do with this business than we have guessed at?’ I could feel a growing excitement as I spoke. I knew what I would do, and so did Jaffray. He looked at me a long moment and began to shake his head.

‘You cannot be thinking of this. No good can come of it. Charles is freed. You must not put yourself in danger of taking his place.’

‘What kind of freedom is it to hide in the safe places while a murderer walks the streets? What rest can there be for the man who glimpses the right path but takes the wrong one, for fear he will snag his coat on some thorn? I can do some good in this, James.’

Jaffray was not to be persuaded. ‘You have some notion in your mind that you have been chosen to bring the killer of these two people to a reckoning – whether before God or man I cannot tell. You believe you have been called to accomplish this. But, Alexander, there are proper authorities whose place and function it is to investigate and try these matters, and you are not one of them. When Charles was falsely accused and falsely imprisoned by those authorities, it was for us, his friends, to do everything in our power to free him. But that thing is done now, and it is no business of yours to carry on in this. You trespass on the rights of those whose duty it is and in doing so may bring danger on yourself and on other innocents.’ There was a depth of sadness in his eyes that might have won me over were it not that there was something more than a grain of truth in what he said.