Saints and Sinners

Chapter Two

Riverside Mansions

Meadvale

Surrey

Diane Slade moved as close to the front window as her leash would allow, watching the rain sweeping across the Meade and assaulting the balcony with real force, as the wind drove it against the glass. Behind her, on the other sofa, Caroline Blackstone was working on her needlepoint, a pastime she rather enjoyed, whilst the radio played a Chopin sonata. It was the famous cello sonata, which Diane dimly remembered having to play once at school when her mother was encouraging her to study music, despite her reluctance. She sighed at the thought of her poor mother, who had died during the pandemic, and shook out the skirts of her dark blue damask gown, still staring at the downpour. She had to wonder what her mother would think if she could see her daughter forty years later.

"Not much chance of any exercise this afternoon?"

"At least you have enough slack to stand up and stretch your legs?" Caroline moaned, not looking up from her frame.

"It is quite a mild punishment though, really?" Diane suggested, moving back to her sofa and sweeping her skirts beneath her as she sat down again. "Miss Bryant would have engaged your chips if you stumbled like that on a simple blind walk?"

"I was stiff...two hours on our knees at our age is torture?" Caroline said, lifting her head as far as her shortened leash would allow. She was dressed in dark green damask, in the very height of fashion, like Diane. "Poor Brogan has Miss Bryant and Miss Cooper all to herself now...that must be a nightmare?"

"She has regular visitors...and she visits her children quite a lot?"

"True...it was so nice to see the girls at Christmas, wasn't it? Even if it was just a day visit this time?"

"Yes...it was lovely...and your sons-in-law seem to be much happier with our new living arrangements? They might allow a longer visit soon?" Diane said, picking up her book again as she tried to encourage Caroline. Harrison would never restrict her reading habits, but the law did, banning anything the government considered unsuitable. But Jane Austen was not on the list, thankfully. "It's not too bad, is it?"

"You are clearly Miss Doyle's favourite?"

"Caroline...you sound like a child?" Diane said, shaking her head at her friend. They had been in the apartment since November, after selling Harrison's bachelor flat and pooling their resources. Bishop Osborne had recommended the large property to them, and although none of them had ever considered living in Meadvale, it was perfect for them. There was room for the keepers and guests, and the view of the river was spectacular. Harrison and Hugh could have moved them out of Ellington Manor earlier, but they had decided to recruit the right keeper first. Miss Doyle was an unusual candidate, in that she had not served her national service before qualifying as a keeper. She had been married at eighteen but widowed in her early twenties, after her husband died in an accident, tragic news that came on top of Gayle Doyle discovering that she was unable to have children. That made her hard to marry off again, and put her at risk of being donated to the Order if her father did not want to keep her at home, so she applied to Keeper Training College. She passed out with flying colours but had struggled to get a senior position because she had never been a nun, a fact which Harrison and Hugh saw as a positive rather than a negative. "Would you rather be back with Miss Bryant?"

"Of course not...but you are her favourite?"

"You mean that I behave better for her and earn a few favours?"

One floor down, directly below the Blackstone/Slade apartment, the weather had forced Miss Bates to continue training her charges indoors. Both Pamela Cartwright and her teenage daughter Candice needed a lot of improvement, and the stern keeper was using the hallway to walk Candice blind on her leash. Pamela was currently in the drawing room, switched off other than the prayers in her ears, tethered on a short leash on her knees, awaiting her turn for her second lesson of the afternoon.